A glimpse into the daily suffering of the palestine people
347816
Of course this documentary is made solely from a palestine perspective. That taken in account, it is still one of the strongest most upsetting documentaries I have seen. It bluntly pictures the way the palestine people is oppressed by Israel and captures some appalling criminal acts that the Israeli soldiers are committing (for instance, an arrested palestinian with handcuffs is put beside a army car whereafter a soldier slowly aims and shoots him in the leg at point blank). Clearly this is one side of the story, but much of what you see in the documentary must be extremely hard for the Israelies to defend. The argument that Israel must build a defence wall to protect themselves from suicidebombers and rockets doesn't explain why they consequently move into palestinian land, bulldoze their property and build apartment complexes there. I mean, if the area is so dangerous that it must be temporarily occupied - why do Israel build apartments there?!

In these times, when everyone has a camera and can connect to the internet, it will be much harder for oppressors like Israel to continue their activities without the world knowing. Please note that I don't defend terrorism against Israel and realise that Israel is indeed having a lot of security issues that needs to be dealt with. But even with that taken into account, it is extremely hard to see how Israels activities on Palestinian land can be justified at all. And this film is a very explicit document in the rightful critique against Israel.
1786528
I have read a great deal about both of the books in question and the true tragedy here is, as in many cases, when oppressed peoples refuse to stop the oppression but insist upon passing it along.

Not unlike an adult who chooses to abuse his children after himself suffering abuse is the story of Isreali aggression in Palestine; and the fact that anyone can be shocked at the lies spread by hate groups who deny the holocaust but then turn around and spread their own lies about Palestinian suffering is the real tragedy.

It is not anti-semitism but a revealing lens aimed not just at the US aggressions channeled through Isreal but at all attempts to hide atrocities.

It is tragic that you fail to see the error in your own ways.
3814375
This is a book to be read with an open mind and no preconceived ideas. The problems that exist today between the Palestinians and Jewish people in the land go back to the very beginning of Jewish emigration to the area and have never been fully faced by either the Jewish Israeli's, the Arab Israeli's or the Palestinians. It has been a constant struggle and appears to me very little cause for a reasonable conclusion. It is well worth reading and a lot to be learned is presented in these pages.
1432006
This is the first book I have come across which has tried to be fair to the Palestinians as well as the people of the Israel. It is poignant and accurate at the same time.

I see some angry feedback on this book because the author has attempted to portray the misery of the Palestinians. I plead with them to understand that denying the plight of the displaced Palestinian people as a result of the creation of Israel is akin to denying the holocaust by the Nazis. Denial of truth does not make it go away.

I wish there more Dalia's and Bashir's who know the civilized manner of handling disagreement. The past is past and now it is time for reconciliation and peaceful co-existence of the two nations.

I guess that would be too simple and peaceful to the taste of the politicians of the two sides. Most of them have made successful career out of keeping the conflict going.
566800
What a powerful book. One of the early Zionist sayings was: "a people without land for a land without people". Well .... EXCUSE ME!!!!! The Israeli lobby effectively blocked the obvious question from US eyes: if there are one million Palestinian refugees, where did they use to live? Plus ... I found the saying "yesterday's oppressed become today's oppressors". Was that ever true of the Germans post WW1! To a very much smaller level that is also true of the 1945-1950 period. Even Golda Meir was horrified when she saw the cruelty that the Zionists directed at Palestinians who could be Christians, Muslims, Druzes, or animists. BUT please ... I also feel the same about the USA. "My" country has never been at peace since 1789, whether actively or by proxy. Check our "liberating" role of the Philippines. DK Goodwin's book "The Progressive Era" only mentioned it as a small dust-up. The future President Taft was the first Commissioner of the Philippines while anywhere from 100,000 to one million died (the latter if you count all the islands in the Philippine archipelago. White man's burden ....
611106
A very sad reality that is finally being written about. This book is beautifully written and engaging. My heart breaks for the Palestinian people, what they endure and how the world turns a blind eye. Do yourself a favor and read this gem.
1587607
The struggle of Louie Zamperini and other POW's is a demonstration of the capacity to overcome the worst sufferings that can be experienced by a human being.  There are many lessons to learn from some of the contrasting characters who appear in this story.  I always wondered about the experiences of my uncles, a friend of my father and the veterans that I have met.  There is an unspoken part of their lives, which I can only wonder about.  This book helped me to peek behind the veil that hid some of their experiences in warfare.
3563325
This darkly honest documentary consists of interviews of former Israeli military judges who adjudicated "legal" matters in the occupied territories to the complete disadvantage of the Palestinians, interspersed with documentary footage of victims of Israeli law, and violence against them.  Essentially enforcing unjust military law against Palestinians within the occupied territories while providing the pretense of access to the courts, the judges ranged from those in furious self-deception to the most honest who understood his job to be supporting the Israeli torturers against the enemy who was such because his land was being stolen from him and whose crime was resistance to injustice.  The false piety, personal and institutionalized hypocrisy, and general cruelty and indecency of the Israeli legal system as used against the Palestinians that this film uncovers and puts on display with the precision of an entomologist piercing his specimen with a display pin will haunt your memories for a very long time.
1549914
This book gives a clear insite of the real issues in Palestine and the life long issues that plague the region with the Muslim extremist.
1848588
"Throughout history" writes American Israeli activist Emily Schaeffer, "women's stories have played a key role in drawing attention to social injustices and human rights violations".  This book, edited by Osie Gabriel Adelfang is just that:  A collection of essays of 14 Jewish women who collectively say, 'Not in my name'.  It is prefaced by Amira Hass, an Israeli journalist who routinely writes about the horrors of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank as well as the inherent inequalities in Israel amongst Jews and Palestinians.  The forward is written by Cindy Sheehan, no stranger to pain herself.

Then there is Osie's essay in the book, reading it will provide the entire motivation behind this beautiful book.  It was her cousin Haim who refused to serve in the Israel Defense Force, inspiring her to edit this book and to open her eyes to the true and harsh realities that exist in Israel and the occupation. Hedy Epstein is also a contributor.  A Holocaust survivor who writes, "The Israeli government's arrogance, its chutzpah, and its violent practices stand in the way of accomplishing the peace Israelis say they want.  It stands in the way of Palestinians having the same rights all human being s deserve.  The Palestinians will not go away.  They are a resilient, ever-hopeful people.  They are my brothers and sisters".

Buy the book.  Read it. Recommend it.  It is a powerful combination of pain, loss, empathy, compassion and razor sharp reasoning on why Israel must, for the sake of Jews and Palestinians, cease its violent and racist policies, and enter into a meaningful and just peace based on equality and fairness for everyone.
2677449
As an initially neutral observer who is horrified by Israel's Zionist expansion at whoever else's expense, even when that spells their demise or slavery, by their conspiratorial control over the minds of US politicians who consistently do their bidding, and most of all, by their abject cruelty and willful negation of the rights and aspirations of Palestinians, whom they look upon only as intractable opposers, I found this anthology of accounts by some of the many academicians in the US who have suffered repression of their First Amendment rights and academic freedom at the hands of Israel-supported NGO's informative and hopeful. The pro-Israel organizations' unwillingness to ever debate or discuss issues raised by their opposition on the merits, and twisting, misstatement, and at times downright fabrication of their target's words and records, the targets generally being any academician with a Middle Eastern name or ties, regardless of teaching field, and Jewish so-called "self-hating Jews" because they oppose Israel's ruthless tactics and outrgeously disproportionate violence used to oppress Palestinians in their own land, are appalling. Lives careers of honestly-testifying individuals are ruined and altered for the sake of protecting internationally condemned and illegal behavior by a nation that cannot live by the ethics and empathy it demands of others. The gamut of accounts in this book make it a valuable resource, a brave testimony to our blindness as Americans to the capacity of our "allies" for criminal acts and a corrective to the barrage of disinformation our media spews forth daily to protect Israel with a cloak of impunity. My hope is that these eloquent testimonies will be read and taken to heart by millions.
2238538
Everybody who sympathizes with the "poor Jews" needs to understand that Israel is an apartheid country and how it has practiced genocide from its beginning in the 1940's!  In health care, for example, Kanaaneh documents how he struggled with health care in Galilee's majority Palestinian communities where Israel had no money to provide sanitary sewers or clean water, but only money for birth control, how the Israeli government expropriates land from Palestinians to create housing and parks for the Jewish settlers invading traditional Palestinian areas.  How long will the world sleep?!
4223013
This book tries to explain how the situation in Israel has developed into  such a quandary ! Having lived there since he was born, Avi has deep insight into the love/hate relations that are present everyday!  We should be so grateful to live in peace!
3570985
This is an intimate memoir of a boyhood in Jerusalem in the 1930s and '40s, a time that is scarcely imaginable now. Prof. Boullata writes of his family, not of politics and what comes across is a place of tolerance and interaction, where Christians (such as Prof. Boullata), Jews, and Muslims lived side by side. The little observations of daily life resonate, and when the inevitable shadow of political strife intrude, the reader feels the regret that Boullata feels as his life and those of his family and friends are changed forever. One comes away from this book with a sense that a different future is possible for Palestine, one that returns to the humanity of the past. Nostalgic, perhaps, but relevant, definitely. A necessary read for anyone who cares about the future of Palestine and Israel.
1958473
This conflict needs more intelligent, self-critical people such as Sari Nusseibeh.  His story is a fascinating look into this conflict, the nature of occupation and the pain of seeing such a tragedy unfold.  What comes through so powerfully is the pyrrhic nature of this conflict.  Each and every blow struck by either side inevitably does equal, if not greater, damage to the aggressor.  It is a tragic and absurd tale at the same time.

What I like most about this book is the author's ability to be introspective and self-critical.  While he recognizes the injustices that have been inflicted on his people, he does not absolve them of their many and varied failings as well.  He refuses to blame the Palestinians problems on outside factors, but instead shines a very bright light on the problems that eminate from within the Palestinian community as well as in the greater Arab world in general.

The most important aspect of this book is the author's discussion of nonviolent resistance.  I fully agree with his analysis that the Palestinian's greatest weapon in their arsenal is nonviolence.  This technique has proven itself to be very affective, and when it has been used by the Palestinians it has garnered them a lot positive attention.  All too often, though, too many Palestinians seem to want to take Algeria as their example rather than India or the U.S.  As long as the extremists are allowed to dictate the terms of the conflict the Palestinians will follow the path of Algeria and this is very unfortunate.

It is important for these moderate voices to be heard, and this is why this work needs to be read.  The majorities of both peoples want peace and an end to violence, and both sides know what it is going to take to achieve this in the end.  As long as the extremes on both sides get to dictate this conflict there will be no peace, only more tragedy.  What makes this conflict so absurd is the fact that both people need each other.  Israel will never be a moral, representative state until a viable Palestinian state is formed, and Israel is able to grant the Palestinians within Israel a truly equal status within the state.  This cannot be achieved without Israel's recognition of the past injustices they have committed, and an understanding that their fate is inextricably linked with that of the Palestinians.  The Palestinians must recognize the futility of violence and recognize their past mistakes and crimes committed against the Israeli's.  Their's is a moral claim to justice, and their only path to state hood is through making this case.  Violence against the Israeli's destroys their own moral claims which hurts them much more than the Israelis.  Sari Nusseibeh makes this case eloquently and diligently.  This is why his voice needs to be heard.
3987922
This is a wonderful story of a family and their struggles.  I enjoyed learning about their culture and what they had to endure under occupation.  It has given me a better understanding of the people of Palestine and shown me the human side to this tragedy.  We tend to forget that during conflict and war, people still exist and try to live their lives.  This book does a great job of showing us a family living under these conditions and not just the pain and sorrow they experience, but also the joys and laughter.
2319648
Shavit presents his own and others' family histories of the Jews fleeing the Holocaust and the Russian and Eastern European pogroms  as  they built the modern state of Israel in the existing Palestinian country. The emotional and economic connections of the disparate groups with the land are wonderfully presented , The interactions of the many cultural populations are described with empathy and sympathy.