"Jamal Kanj's biography provides an invaluable prism through which to comprehend the simple truth that Israelis and Palestinians both love the same land. Transcending facile black-white thinking, he humbly weaves his life story as a refugee in Lebanon into often misunderstood facets of Middle East politics. By honestly portraying heart-rending stories of his family's pain, he lifts the veil that continues to obscure Palestinians' humanity and dignity. For anyone wishing to grasp the contradictions and complexity of the Middle East, this book is required reading."

Kanj is not trying to ‘change history’, only to draw attention to what is too often ignored, or may later be forgotten.

"Jamal Kanj’s Children of Catastrophe: Journey from a Palestinian Refugee Camp to America is a moving and powerful narrative. Its gripping details are weaved through personal and collective accounts, which relay the story of Palestinian Diaspora through the life of the author and his family. Kanj’s personal story of the refugee camp of Nahr El Bared paints an unmatched picture of the realities that shaped the impoverished refugee camp, from its early formations to its violent presence. Such narratives are of immense import, for such accounts humanize a place, and a people who have been seen for too long as mere subjects of statistical data and academic discussion. There are people, faces, personal tragedies and triumphs, dreams that were crushed and others waiting to be fulfilled in Nahr El Bared – as well as in the rest of the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and elsewhere. Kanj tells the stories of these resolute people, steadfast even in their weakest moments, through his own."