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A children’s book about Palestine was shelved by Penguin Random House days before it was due to reach shops, following an ‘editorial dispute’ between the publisher and its Palestinian-American writers over how Palestinian history was presented, The Guardian reported on Thursday.

Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House, struck the deal in November 2024 with Alana Hadid, a philanthropist, activist, and sister of models Bella and Gigi Hadid, and Jenan Matari, an award-winning author. Displacement and the Palestinian American Story was set for a September release this year.

Matari shared the news on Instagram, saying that working with Penguin Random House — one of the world’s largest publishers — was the “ultimate dream”, but she wouldn’t pursue it if it meant betraying her own community.

“It is very simple to not sacrifice your morals for personal success. You simply choose who you want to be,” Matari wrote.

“Understanding an oppressed people’s legal right to resistance by any means necessary is central to decolonising one’s mind and understanding the chokehold that colonialism has on this world. And it is also our only shot at defeating it. We will never betray our own people for anyone’s comfort — and especially never for personal success,” she added.

Aimed at readers aged 10 to 13, Displacement and the Palestinian American Story traces Palestinian history, Israeli occupation, resistance and the diaspora, linked with the writers’ own family stories of being uprooted.

Alana and Matari, who handed The Guardian the draft and email extracts, said the standoff dragged on for months, based on wording about the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. Their version contended that people living under “colonial domination” possess the “right to resist”, while Random House pushed them to accept that the attacks broke international law.

The British newspaper reported that an editor dropped in the sentence: “These actions were a violation of international law.” The writers then pulled the title in early September.

A Random House spokesperson told The Guardian the process “followed our standard bookmaking procedures” and that the publisher stood behind the writers’ choice, adding it stayed “committed to bringing the Palestinian perspective to young readers”.

This news comes a day after it was reported that bestselling Irish novelist Sally Rooney’s books will no longer be sold in Britain over her plans to use her royalties to support Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian group banned as a terrorist organisation, Rooney and her publisher said on Wednesday.

Rooney, known for novels including Normal People and Conversations with Friends, has been a vocal supporter of Palestine Action, even after the British government banned it as a terrorist group last year. In a witness statement to London’s High Court supporting a legal challenge to the ban, she said her plans could mean her books stop being sold in Britain.