The Difference Between Bullets and Stones – Children of Palestine
Support a new book uniting the work of Pulitzer Prize–winning Gazan poet Mosab Abu Toha and National Geographic photographer Michael Christopher Brown, with an introduction by photographer, entrepreneur and social activist Misan Harriman. Backers receive a signed hardcover book (Printed in Italy, ~420 pages, Winter 2026 delivery), prints, and more.
Per Kickstarter rules, funds raised will cover printing, packaging, shipping, and fulfillment. All future revenue will then be donated to Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) in Gaza. MSF is providing life-saving medical aid and MECA is providing emergency assistance to children and families to help them survive. This is only possible because of donations from people like you. We are committed to full transparency and will share donations publicly once fulfillment is complete.
To support the production of this book on Kickstarter and get a copy, click here.
A message from the poet
Every child in Gaza is me. Every mother and father is me. Every house is my heart. Every tree is my leg. Every plant is my arm. Every flower is my eye. Every hole in the earth is my wound. -Mosab Abu Toha
Hi, I am Mosab Abu Toha, a poet from Gaza. Together with National Geographic photographer Michael Christopher Brown, we’re making a book that brings together words from Gaza and imagery from the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Since October 2023, more than 63,000 Palestinians have been killed and around 90% of Gaza’s 2.1 million people – about 1.9 million – have been displaced. There is little to no clean water, famine has been confirmed with widespread child malnutrition. Medical care is almost gone.
The book, titled The Difference Between Bullets and Stones, bears witness to the grief, resilience, and vitality of the Palestinian people—those living through siege, dispossession, and the weight of generational memory. The book humanizes lives too often reduced to headlines, illuminating the deeper emotional and spiritual story of a people who continue to survive, create, and dream of freedom.
We believe in the power of art to illuminate, connect, and help turn awareness to action. By backing this campaign, you’re not just purchasing a book or rewards. After it’s funded and fulfilled, 100% of the future profits will be donated to Doctors Without Borders, as well as the Middle East Children’s Alliance, to provide life-saving medical aid and emergency relief for children in Gaza. Their operations are only possible because of donations from people like you.
If contributing financially isn’t possible, consider sharing this campaign with friends and family. Your support means everything. Thank you.
To understand the weight of this moment, one must understand the history:
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict stretches back over a century, rooted in overlapping claims to land, nationalism, and survival. In 1948, the creation of the state of Israel led to the displacement of over 700,000 Palestinians—a catastrophe Palestinians call the Nakba. In 1967, Israel took over the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza during the Six-Day War, a military occupation
that continues in various forms to this day. In Gaza, Israel’s blockade—now in its 17th year—has created one of the world’s most densely populated and restricted territories.
The crisis is ongoing. The need is immediate.
Beyond Gaza, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinians face checkpoints, military incursions, land confiscations, and expanding Israeli settlements. Twenty-two new Israeli settlements were recently approved—“the most extensive move of its kind in more than 30 years,” according to the anti-settlement group Peace Now. These moves are reshaping the territory and escalating violence.
Additionally, water shortages are contributing to the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank since 1967.
To stay updated on what is happening in Gaza, consider reading these news sources: Al Jazeera, BBC, Democracy Now, Standing Together, and The New York Times.
About the artists
“Though both of us worked separately and made our work from different places, our poems and photographs speak in unison—about the shared Palestinian experience of dispossession, the endurance of Palestinian identity, and the emotional and existential weight of being shaped by the myriad forces of war.”
Mosab Abu Toha is a Pulitzer Prize winning writer, poet, scholar, and librarian from Gaza whose words pulse with memory, grief, and fierce hope. His poems from Gaza, where he and his family lived through war after war, carry the intimate textures of siege, survival, and spiritual endurance that are deeply felt across all of Palestine, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem. His poems give language to the shared Palestinian experience, illuminating lives shaped by parallel forces and collective memory.
His debut book of poetry, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear (2022) won the Palestine Book Award and an American Book Award. It was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Walcott Poetry Prize. He is also the author of Forest of Noise (2024) and Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear (2022), and has been featured on The New Yorker, Democracy Now, and NPR.
Abu Toha is the founder of the Edward Said Library, Gaza’s first English language library. He was detained by the Israeli army in November 2023 when he fled to Egypt with his family. He was later released after being questioned and has since worked as a chronicler of the war from
afar. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2025 for his portrayal of the Gaza war in The New Yorker.
On winning the Pulitzer Prize, Abu Toha said, “It is my biggest hope that this achievement and recognition will be a step toward greater understanding of the decades-long plight of the Palestinian people and that it will inspire people, especially those in power, to act and put an end to this tragedy.” He posts regularly on Instagram and Twitter.
Michael Christopher Brown is a photographer, filmmaker, and author. Above all, he is an artist and storyteller who passionately explores the human experience through all mediums. His photographs in The Difference Between Bullets and Stones mostly document Palestinians living in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Brown spent the past two decades documenting human struggle and resilience while living and working in countries across the world, including eight trips to Palestine. He has been a National Geographic Photographer since 2004 and was previously at Magnum Photos. Michael became known for pioneering the use of a smartphone in conflict reporting. His coverage of the 2011 Libyan Revolution culminated in the book and short film Libyan Sugar (2016), a road trip through a war zone which documents his near death experiences in the country while exploring themes of resilience and transformation through the iconography of warfare. The book won the Paris Photo Book Award and the ICP Infinity Award for Artist’s Book. He is also the author of Yo Soy Fidel (2018), and his work can be seen across National Geographic. He is also found on Instagram or his website.
Misan Harriman is a Nigerian-born British photographer, entrepreneur and social activist. As well as being one of the most widely-shared photographers of the Black Lives Matter movement, Harriman is the first black man to shoot a cover of British Vogue in the magazine’s 104-year history. In July 2021, Harriman commenced his appointment as Chair of the board of trustees for Southbank Centre, London.
Book specs + production fees
This book has been a labor of love, but there are also real expenses in the production of the book, prints and other rewards, for which your support is needed. In exchange for a copy of the book and/or rewards we will need to cover the hard costs of production for this campaign, book designer fees, book printing fees, print and reward production fees, reward distribution costs, and other necessary expenses such as travel expenses for Michael or Mosab (one will need to travel to the other so they may sign books together in one location!). We will keep you up to date here on Kickstarter of the detailed costs.
Title: The Difference Between Bullets and Stones
Authors: Mosab Abu Toha (poet), Michael Christopher Brown (photographer)
Format: Hardcover, ~420 pages,
Size: 6.5″ (width) x 9.45″ (height)
Delivery Date: Winter 2026
Kickstarter Goal: $45,000
Charities: Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA)
To support the production of this book on Kickstarter and get a copy, click here.
