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When the Birds Stopped Singing: Life in Ramallah Under Siege
The Israeli army invaded Ramallah in March 2002. A tank stood at the end of Raja Shehadeh's road; Israeli soldiers patrolled from the roof toops. Four soldiers took over his brother's apartment and then used him as a human shield as they went through the building, while his wife tried to keep her composure for the sake of their frightened childred, ages four and six.
This is an account of what it is like to be under the terror, the frustrations, the humiliations, and the rage. How do you pass your time when you are imprisoned in your own home? What do you do when you cannot cross the neighborhood to help your sick mother?
Shehadeh's recent memoir, Strangers in the Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine , was the first book by a Palestinian writer to chronicle a life of displacement on the West Bank from 1967 to the present. It received international acclaim and was a finalist for the 2002 Lionel Gelber Prize. When the Birds Stopped Singing is a book of the moment, a chronicle of life today as lived by ordinary Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza in the grip of the most stringent Israeli security measures in years. And yet it is also an enduring document, at once literary and of great political import, that should serve as a cautionary tale for today's and future generations.
This is an account of what it is like to be under the terror, the frustrations, the humiliations, and the rage. How do you pass your time when you are imprisoned in your own home? What do you do when you cannot cross the neighborhood to help your sick mother?
Shehadeh's recent memoir, Strangers in the Coming of Age in Occupied Palestine , was the first book by a Palestinian writer to chronicle a life of displacement on the West Bank from 1967 to the present. It received international acclaim and was a finalist for the 2002 Lionel Gelber Prize. When the Birds Stopped Singing is a book of the moment, a chronicle of life today as lived by ordinary Palestinians throughout the West Bank and Gaza in the grip of the most stringent Israeli security measures in years. And yet it is also an enduring document, at once literary and of great political import, that should serve as a cautionary tale for today's and future generations.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
About the author
Raja Shehadeh
48 books377 followersRaja Shehadeh (Arabic: رجا شحادة) is a Palestinian lawyer, human rights activist and writer. He is the author of Strangers in the House (2002), described by The Economist as “distinctive and truly impressive”, When the Bulbul Stopped Singing (2003), Palestinian Walks (2007), for which he won the 2008 Orwell Prize, and A Rift in Time (2010). Shehadeh trained as a barrister in London and is a founder of the human rights organization Al-Haq. He blogs regularly for the International Herald Tribune/The New York Times and lives in Ramallah, on the West Bank.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 14, 2013
I have never shared as many quotes from a book with friends as I did with this one. I feel like nearly all the news I had heard on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict focused on the suicide bombings and how Israel had to do something to protect itself from terror. I had never heard a first hand account of what the Palestinians were suffering under the occupation. Raja Shehadeh is a human rights activist and a lawyer. His first hand account is even-handed, insightful and eloquent and as this comes from his diaries, the stories are quite short, but incredibly illuminating. Even though he never condones the suicide bombings and points out how they have really made things much worse for Palestinians, his descriptions of how horribly the Israeli soldiers were treating his friends and family and the strangling policies of settlement expansion made me feel something I never thought I would: understanding how someone could come to the point under such conditions that they feel they have no hope left but to strike back in a violent act of utter desperation at their oppressors. I came by this book from a friend of a friend and will be buying and passing along copies to others. Anyone who cares about injustice should read this.
June 5, 2012
Some thoughts I have been trying to figure out prior to and after reading this book.
1)You cannot paint everyone with the same brush.
Take a look at your hand and notice your fingers. None are of the same length. Likewise, you cannot speak of a linguistic, ethnic, racial, religious, socio-economic etc. group as a single entity. There is difference within and without. Although it is extremely difficult to release yourself from the mentality of "us" and "them", it is a crucial step that needs to be taken for the well being of humanity as a whole. Even while living under occupation, the author is able to realize this.
2) "I must try and lead as orderly a life amidst all this chaos as is possible. Above all I must not begin to lose respect for myself by wasting my time and getting myself in such a state as to be unable to think, write, and do useful work"(21).
The human spirit can be bent but it cannot be broken. Even while living under occupation, the People have the strength and the courage to carry on and to live their lives. They refuse to let the forces of occupation limit or cage them in any way. It is this attitude that fortifies a family and a community.
3)"You know, both our leaders are lousy. It is only because of them that we are fighting each other" (44).
I have always believed that there is truth in this statement. You may have two groups fighting each other but within each group there are the elites. There are the politicians who benefit from having people at war. It's not about helping the people or speaking for them. It really comes down to serving your own interests and motives. But in the end the heavy hand comes down on the people. It is they who lose their lives and suffer for the decisions of those at the top. This is true in any country.
4) "Everyone felt they knew what was good for me and no one thought of asking" (56).
This point is very similar to the last one and to the first one. People just assume that they know what you want and need. They think that the needs and opinions of the people are the same but they do not take into account the idea that you cannot paint everyone with the same brush. The only way to find out what people's concerns, questions, wants and needs are is to ask them. By doing so you will find that an entire group does not share the same needs, concerns or wants!
5) Pages 78-80 really summed up how I feel about conflict and violence. There are no winners and losers.
"War is a malignant disease, an idiocy, a prison, and the pain it causes is beyond telling or meaning;". War destroys us all.
1)You cannot paint everyone with the same brush.
Take a look at your hand and notice your fingers. None are of the same length. Likewise, you cannot speak of a linguistic, ethnic, racial, religious, socio-economic etc. group as a single entity. There is difference within and without. Although it is extremely difficult to release yourself from the mentality of "us" and "them", it is a crucial step that needs to be taken for the well being of humanity as a whole. Even while living under occupation, the author is able to realize this.
2) "I must try and lead as orderly a life amidst all this chaos as is possible. Above all I must not begin to lose respect for myself by wasting my time and getting myself in such a state as to be unable to think, write, and do useful work"(21).
The human spirit can be bent but it cannot be broken. Even while living under occupation, the People have the strength and the courage to carry on and to live their lives. They refuse to let the forces of occupation limit or cage them in any way. It is this attitude that fortifies a family and a community.
3)"You know, both our leaders are lousy. It is only because of them that we are fighting each other" (44).
I have always believed that there is truth in this statement. You may have two groups fighting each other but within each group there are the elites. There are the politicians who benefit from having people at war. It's not about helping the people or speaking for them. It really comes down to serving your own interests and motives. But in the end the heavy hand comes down on the people. It is they who lose their lives and suffer for the decisions of those at the top. This is true in any country.
4) "Everyone felt they knew what was good for me and no one thought of asking" (56).
This point is very similar to the last one and to the first one. People just assume that they know what you want and need. They think that the needs and opinions of the people are the same but they do not take into account the idea that you cannot paint everyone with the same brush. The only way to find out what people's concerns, questions, wants and needs are is to ask them. By doing so you will find that an entire group does not share the same needs, concerns or wants!
5) Pages 78-80 really summed up how I feel about conflict and violence. There are no winners and losers.
"War is a malignant disease, an idiocy, a prison, and the pain it causes is beyond telling or meaning;". War destroys us all.
October 1, 2011
A great look into the horrible destruction and situation during the 2002 Israeli invasion. It is the struggle to stay hopeful in a hopeless situation and reminds me of the struggle of those in prison to keep their minds and bodies active in a confined space--and these are innocent civilians! Amazing.
One thing that sticks in my mind is the letters Jewish children are required to write to soldiers. Here is what they write: kill as many Arabs as possible, for me kill at least 10, ignore the laws and spray them. This stuck in my mind because we are often bombarded with images and examples of how Palestinians are teaching hate by trying to maintain their history and culture and such and on the other extreme and pictures of kids with guns (context of course missing), etc and left with the assumption that Israelis are blameless. Also an incident that stuck with me after reading was the way Israeli soldiers ransacked offices and stole and occupied houses while shoving the family (or residents of entire building) into one room.
I come away with a definite feeling that resistance to the occupation is definitely just living in a way.
One thing that sticks in my mind is the letters Jewish children are required to write to soldiers. Here is what they write: kill as many Arabs as possible, for me kill at least 10, ignore the laws and spray them. This stuck in my mind because we are often bombarded with images and examples of how Palestinians are teaching hate by trying to maintain their history and culture and such and on the other extreme and pictures of kids with guns (context of course missing), etc and left with the assumption that Israelis are blameless. Also an incident that stuck with me after reading was the way Israeli soldiers ransacked offices and stole and occupied houses while shoving the family (or residents of entire building) into one room.
I come away with a definite feeling that resistance to the occupation is definitely just living in a way.
January 10, 2009
This book is a must read if you care about peace in the middle east. It mirrors the current situation in Gaza only the Gaza crisis and atrocities were many times worse. It is the authors diary from his time living under the siege in Ramallah. He is fair and inciteful in his indictments of both the Israelis (army and government) and the Palestinean authority and his writing is good and very accessible..The resulting picture isn't pretty and unfortunately it shows that Israel has become exactly what it claims to be fighting against.
January 19, 2025
This is the publication of Palestinian lawyer Raja Shehadeh’s diaries during the siege of Ramallah and massacre of Jenin refugee camp, in the time of the Second Intifada. The dehumanisation of Palestinians and collective punishment committed against them by an occupying army has only increased in scale and severity since this time. The siege of Ramallah was a strangulatjon of the Palestinian economy and control of people’s lives; IDF soldiers smashed offices, medical supplies, ransacked homes and destroyed personal belongings of civilians, in large numbers, as well as killing civilians at whim and demolishing and then bulldozing them in their homes in Jenin. Some waited in vain for the international community to come to their aid and stop what were clearly war crimes.
Shehadeh remembers the years of non-violent protest during the First Intifada and is now disillusioned. The efforts of protest movements can only translate in the end with corresponding political action - and yet at Oslo, the PLO did not insist on a freeze to illegal settlement construction, something the Palestinian negotiating team at Washington, including the author, would have made a pre-condition for any negotiations. During the Oslo years illegal settlements in fact only increased, strangulating and fragmenting Palestinians, who live under a system of apartheid, a crime against humanity. The ICJ last year issued its ruling that the occupation is illegal and states are obliged to not support it with aid or assistance. If Palestinians were not so dehumanised, and if other states were actually interested in bringing this injustice to an end and were not moving further and further away from the supposed post WWII world order, Israel would face sanctions.
“I’m getting angry and I don’t want to be angry. I also don’t want to be the subject of pity. I don’t want to be determined by the Israeli army or Palestinian politicians. I know this process from before, of turning every Palestinian into a terrorist and therefore fair game. I can imagine that when they came to the headmistress’s house they did not see it as the house of a decent family but as the abandoned house of a terrorist that deserves to be destroyed. It is the propaganda and programming that blunts their ability to have empathy with other humans and turns them into racists.”
“Eva, an old Israeli friend, kept saying how ashamed she was. What use to me is her feeling of shame? I remember early on in the Intifada I was crossing the Kalandia checkpoint. It was hot and the soldiers were behaving in a beastly manner. As I trudged along on the dirt road we were supposed to take, I saw a group of elderly Israeli women carrying placards walking back and forth among the miserable crowds expressing their solidarity with our suffering. I remember feeling unmoved by their gesture. We don’t need spectators to witness our suffering and tell us they feel with us. We need help to put a stop to it.”
Shehadeh remembers the years of non-violent protest during the First Intifada and is now disillusioned. The efforts of protest movements can only translate in the end with corresponding political action - and yet at Oslo, the PLO did not insist on a freeze to illegal settlement construction, something the Palestinian negotiating team at Washington, including the author, would have made a pre-condition for any negotiations. During the Oslo years illegal settlements in fact only increased, strangulating and fragmenting Palestinians, who live under a system of apartheid, a crime against humanity. The ICJ last year issued its ruling that the occupation is illegal and states are obliged to not support it with aid or assistance. If Palestinians were not so dehumanised, and if other states were actually interested in bringing this injustice to an end and were not moving further and further away from the supposed post WWII world order, Israel would face sanctions.
“I’m getting angry and I don’t want to be angry. I also don’t want to be the subject of pity. I don’t want to be determined by the Israeli army or Palestinian politicians. I know this process from before, of turning every Palestinian into a terrorist and therefore fair game. I can imagine that when they came to the headmistress’s house they did not see it as the house of a decent family but as the abandoned house of a terrorist that deserves to be destroyed. It is the propaganda and programming that blunts their ability to have empathy with other humans and turns them into racists.”
“Eva, an old Israeli friend, kept saying how ashamed she was. What use to me is her feeling of shame? I remember early on in the Intifada I was crossing the Kalandia checkpoint. It was hot and the soldiers were behaving in a beastly manner. As I trudged along on the dirt road we were supposed to take, I saw a group of elderly Israeli women carrying placards walking back and forth among the miserable crowds expressing their solidarity with our suffering. I remember feeling unmoved by their gesture. We don’t need spectators to witness our suffering and tell us they feel with us. We need help to put a stop to it.”
August 31, 2019
This is the kind of writing about a complex topic that I enjoy best. He gets right down on the ground, with only occasional lifts up into the clouds. Always he uses straightforward language. There is less ideology than I thought I might encounter, and just a lot of pain, anguish and outrage over the devastation of war and violence and settler colonialism. I'm grateful for Raja Shehadeh's thoughts, his weariness and cynicism and also love for other humans.
At one point he comments on the TV news coverage of the Intifada while he is living inside it. It's like he took the camera away from the cameraman acting on behalf of the voyeur/consumer (here I think about Sontag's Regarding the Pain of Others) and started filming from inside his own house.
"The outside is doing its best to portray my life, to interpret my experience and existence. The Palestinian is to be both pitied and admired, to be helped and to help other Arabs by providing the inspiration and rhetoric to those who feel so impotent in their restricted world. He both accentuates their feeling of helplessness and relieves it. His life is a drama, a soap opera and yet reality, a television reality program to be watched and followed in real time. Not on his own terms but on the terms of the viewer, who brings to the film, to the experience, what suits, comforts, and satisfies him. The enemy, the bad guy, is Israel and the devil is Sharon, who is hated without reservation. The way he speaks is despised, the way he looks, his smile that reveals the split between his front teeth, his being alive and victorious. ... The Palestinian is to under his mercy and yet is also a match for him and stands up to him and therefore wins the admiration of the viewer.
I have always insisted on interpreting myself and now find all eyes of commiseration and pity turned on me and words of condolences directed at me, determining what it must be like for me without waiting to hear from me and allowing me to say my bit."
At one point he comments on the TV news coverage of the Intifada while he is living inside it. It's like he took the camera away from the cameraman acting on behalf of the voyeur/consumer (here I think about Sontag's Regarding the Pain of Others) and started filming from inside his own house.
"The outside is doing its best to portray my life, to interpret my experience and existence. The Palestinian is to be both pitied and admired, to be helped and to help other Arabs by providing the inspiration and rhetoric to those who feel so impotent in their restricted world. He both accentuates their feeling of helplessness and relieves it. His life is a drama, a soap opera and yet reality, a television reality program to be watched and followed in real time. Not on his own terms but on the terms of the viewer, who brings to the film, to the experience, what suits, comforts, and satisfies him. The enemy, the bad guy, is Israel and the devil is Sharon, who is hated without reservation. The way he speaks is despised, the way he looks, his smile that reveals the split between his front teeth, his being alive and victorious. ... The Palestinian is to under his mercy and yet is also a match for him and stands up to him and therefore wins the admiration of the viewer.
I have always insisted on interpreting myself and now find all eyes of commiseration and pity turned on me and words of condolences directed at me, determining what it must be like for me without waiting to hear from me and allowing me to say my bit."
August 21, 2026
Raja Shehadeh is a wonderfully talented writer, a gifted intellectual and, I am confident, a special human being. His diary of the siege of Ramallah is riveting, not because the stories he tells are exciting but because of the ease with which he brings you into his daily life in the midst of a brutal attack by a relentless aggressor. His own experiences are, to a large degree, mundane. But he experiences just enough of the misery of the siege to convey first-hand how terrible it must have been, and the stories he relates second-hand from his family, friends, colleagues and neighbours are outrageous and inhuman. And yet, through it all, he can somehow feel genuine empathy for the physical and psychological victims of suicide bombers and seems genuinely convinced that there is a path to peace and coexistence, that Israelis are not really his enemies but rather prisoners of the same dynamic that has upended his life.
While Shehadeh explicitly states that he didn't write this book to shock the conscience, it does so all the same. Among the Israeli atrocities he describes are the following:
- houses blown up with their inhabitants inside
- mass graves
- civilians used as human shields to knock on doors as the soldiers cower behind them
- people shot simply for being outside
- people unable to seek medical care or even to bury the dead, who therefore decompose at home while their families endure the sight and the smell of their loved ones rotting before their eyes
- hospitals and medical clinics trashed so as to be nonfunctional
- a bulldozer operator ignoring a man screaming and begging at him to stop so they can get their elderly father out of the house before it’s destroyed (not quite ignoring; he reacts by backing the bulldozer up and going over the house again)
How Shehadeh maintains any humanity or compassion in the face of such horrors is a wonder beyond imagination.
This is a wonderful, powerful book that everyone should read.
While Shehadeh explicitly states that he didn't write this book to shock the conscience, it does so all the same. Among the Israeli atrocities he describes are the following:
- houses blown up with their inhabitants inside
- mass graves
- civilians used as human shields to knock on doors as the soldiers cower behind them
- people shot simply for being outside
- people unable to seek medical care or even to bury the dead, who therefore decompose at home while their families endure the sight and the smell of their loved ones rotting before their eyes
- hospitals and medical clinics trashed so as to be nonfunctional
- a bulldozer operator ignoring a man screaming and begging at him to stop so they can get their elderly father out of the house before it’s destroyed (not quite ignoring; he reacts by backing the bulldozer up and going over the house again)
How Shehadeh maintains any humanity or compassion in the face of such horrors is a wonder beyond imagination.
This is a wonderful, powerful book that everyone should read.
June 26, 2021
One certainly doesn't have much sympathy for Israel after reading this book. During the Israeli army invasion of the city of Ramallah in March 2002, it's soldiers were brutal, sniping and killing a woman who was simply hanging out her laundry. Israelis seemed (still seem, I gather from current news) to determinedly badger Palestinians live under Israeli rules. This diary tells of tanks and snipers everywhere; city services sporadic, soldiers “camping” in residential houses (even author's own) and apartments and vandalizing them. Author endeavors to cope and maintain objective assessment of his own situation. His wife is stuck in Jerusalem and with border closed she can't join him in Ramallah. Army tanks crush citizen cars on the streets, bodies stack up in morgues because route to burial ground is blocked; garbage collection is nil, grocery stalls are closed, food rotting. Everywhere inhumanity, senseless, vindictive, brutal destruction. “What began in Israel as an admirable will to live despite all adversity had led to policies that are messianic, exclusivist, inhuman, and cruel.” [p74]
June 19, 2017
Shehadeh demonstrates the wisdom of age, the folly of youth and the injustice of the Palestinian communities encirclement and repression. One can feel his exhaustion and despair and the very real sense of fear combined with the vicissitudes of living under siege (and the ever present threats of life in Ramallah). This book could be justifiably a rant against the conduct of the IDF and it would be so much the worse were it to be so. Shehadeh demonstrates the pathos and the philosophical approach that made Primo Levi and Hugo Gryn such great chroniclers of the Holocaust. My parents saw the full horrors of the Holocaust which was finally ended by global conflict at the cost of however many millions of lives (most of them innocent). I have seen the seemingly insoluble Troubles in Northern Ireland reach a fragile peace. I hope to live long enough to see a workable peace based on tolerance, compromise and trust between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
October 28, 2019
Raja Shehadeh is a Palestinian lawyer and writer who lives in Ramallah, and this book, based on his diaries, constitutes an almost daily record of his life between 28 March and 28 April 2002, during which time life was almost totally paralyzed by the Israeli military occupation and its imposed around the clock curfew. This very personal book is a deeply moving narrative of how is life under occupation, of how the despair, the feeling of impotence, the almost complete hopelessness, but at the same time the sumoud (perseverance) dominates the minds and hearts of ordinary Palestinians faced with the everyday aggression of an arrogant, brutal and overwhelmingly more powerful enemy. Written by a very articulate, dispassionate and independent minded intellectual, this book should contribute to change the stereotype of the Palestinian currently held (at least implicitly) in the writings of a large number of journalists and commentators.
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September 6, 2024This book follows a month of Israeli siege on Ramallah in 2002. I think an overall theme here is a general fatigue and contempt for violence. Shehadeh had his fair share of various occupations, wars, and the Oslo Accords are what overshadows this period for him. It's a very blunt month of Israeli soldiers doing what they want with the lives of Palestinians and the lack of accountability ever taken for these actions, or any punishment.
I unknowingly have now read this author twice. He is not my favorite. He tries to go the "these people are just a product of their government, blame the right-wing party's propaganda, we should all just talk it out and get along" route way too often. And he often equates Israeli violence to that of Palestinian resistance, in terms of thinking they are both equally bad. Respectfully, give me a break.
I unknowingly have now read this author twice. He is not my favorite. He tries to go the "these people are just a product of their government, blame the right-wing party's propaganda, we should all just talk it out and get along" route way too often. And he often equates Israeli violence to that of Palestinian resistance, in terms of thinking they are both equally bad. Respectfully, give me a break.
August 28, 2024
In April 2002 Israel invaded Palestine and held Ramallah and other towns under seige.As tanks blocked the road and snipers on the rooftops Raja Shehandeh was confine to his house and hence decided to write a diary. He highlights not only the bombing but the devastating destruction and occupation of peoples' homes for no apparent reason ripping up clothes, documents as well as stealing valuables.
Raja Shehandeh writes with simplicity and without bias which makes his work all the more upsetting and poignant.Despite everything he shows no bitterness just sporrow and disappointment. A must read.
Raja Shehandeh writes with simplicity and without bias which makes his work all the more upsetting and poignant.Despite everything he shows no bitterness just sporrow and disappointment. A must read.
April 23, 2019
Another required reading for my Arab-Israeli Conflict history class. This book offered a unique perspective from the side of the Palestinians under siege in Ramallah, West Bank, during 2002. The daily diary entries by Raja Shehadeh, a lawyer and human rights activist, were intriguing and insightful and offered me a completely different perspective than I am used to considering in this age-old conflict. This source was very helpful for my final thesis!
February 25, 2024
A visceral telling of civilian life during the Second Intifada. This memoir/diary was a heavy read and expectedly so - I think it's a very important book to read as it is not only a significant event historically, but it provides insight into the lives of the Palestinian people and what they endured during that time. These stories (I say stories because Shehadeh recounts not only his experiences but those of others as well) are not often brought to light.
July 5, 2025
There is so much to say, but for now, what broke me was that this was based on 2002 and the writer said that IDF knows they can't do an ethnical cleansing so are forcing curfews on people to drive them out. This writer is alive! This writer is witnessing his words coming alive. This writer is witnessing the genocide and the ethical cleansing of Gaza going on right now since 2023!
February 25, 2024
Rolig og sterk dagbok om vanlige folks liv under okkupasjon. Språket er hverdagslig og personlig, og gjennom dette hverdagslige språket kommer grusomhetene frem uten de store følelsesordene.
Lærerik og direkte om okkupasjonens følger.
Lærerik og direkte om okkupasjonens følger.
May 9, 2024
When Israeli soldiers break into a civilian home, use it as a base of operations, and prevent the home's original inhabitants--including elementary school aged children--from leaving, do those children count as human shields?
December 3, 2025
very interesting first person civilian perspective on the al-aqsa intifada. represents the struggles common palestinians went through and embodied the fear of the period.
May 24, 2021
I purchased this after seeing it on a recommended reading list for learning about Palestine and Israel history. Very happy that I did. Most of the journalist's i've been following are younger and have a different take than Shehadeh has. I appreciate all of the accounts but this one stood out to me due to his unique take.
Shehadeh is towards retirement age in my culture. He has witnessed the fight for Palestine to maintain sovereignty all of his life. He was active in younger years politically, even working in Washington to executive effective agreements. Now, he has drawn himself away from political activism. I believe years of enduring and witnessing loss forced him to lose hope. His demeanor seems numb to pain but never fear or loss. Seeing the Second Intifada in those eyes is heartbreaking. I feel as the fight continues, more and more Palestinians lose hope for a peaceful world.
While reading his world become destroyed I thought of my 10 year old self reading Number the Stars, a fictious, research based account of the Holocaust. I just remember thinking at 10 years old, how could anyone be filled with so much hate? Why would anyone be filled with so much hate by choice? I also remember thinking there is hate in this world but something like that could never happen again. Events like that seemed historical. Little did I know, it was happening again in the Middle East while I was reading that book.
I have anger, sadness, and much more towards what is happening in Palestine. However, as Shehadeh described the denied access to healthcare, food or even leaving the house. I feel these emotions are meaningless because they can't really help anyone in Palestine. When taking action to help Palestine, I want to remember this "My situation, I thought, was representative of Palestinian politics. Everything felt they knew what was good for me and no one thought of asking." (Pg. 51)
Shehadeh is towards retirement age in my culture. He has witnessed the fight for Palestine to maintain sovereignty all of his life. He was active in younger years politically, even working in Washington to executive effective agreements. Now, he has drawn himself away from political activism. I believe years of enduring and witnessing loss forced him to lose hope. His demeanor seems numb to pain but never fear or loss. Seeing the Second Intifada in those eyes is heartbreaking. I feel as the fight continues, more and more Palestinians lose hope for a peaceful world.
While reading his world become destroyed I thought of my 10 year old self reading Number the Stars, a fictious, research based account of the Holocaust. I just remember thinking at 10 years old, how could anyone be filled with so much hate? Why would anyone be filled with so much hate by choice? I also remember thinking there is hate in this world but something like that could never happen again. Events like that seemed historical. Little did I know, it was happening again in the Middle East while I was reading that book.
I have anger, sadness, and much more towards what is happening in Palestine. However, as Shehadeh described the denied access to healthcare, food or even leaving the house. I feel these emotions are meaningless because they can't really help anyone in Palestine. When taking action to help Palestine, I want to remember this "My situation, I thought, was representative of Palestinian politics. Everything felt they knew what was good for me and no one thought of asking." (Pg. 51)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 8, 2022
“Many Israeli officials are fond of repeating that 6 million Jews died and Europe didn’t lift a finger. Their message is that they are victims who can depend on no one to protect them. The lesson that was learned by them is that power, not law, if what posts in the end.
They feel so powerful and immune that they can violate the law with impunity. What began in Israel as an admirable will to live despite all adversity has lead to policies that are messianic, exclusivist, inhuman and cruel.”
They feel so powerful and immune that they can violate the law with impunity. What began in Israel as an admirable will to live despite all adversity has lead to policies that are messianic, exclusivist, inhuman and cruel.”
October 2, 2011
Raja Shehadeh shares his diary written during the 2002 Israeli reoccupation of Ramallah. Through his eyes we see and feel the horror, humiliation, anger, despair of what it is like to live under siege. The author sees the contributions of both Israelis and Palestinians to this ongoing tragedy.
February 14, 2012
2005
The preface was great, but the book was somewhat dull. It had a repetitive tone (Palestinians vs. Israelis - soldiers - Ramallah incursions of 2002, etc) oh "and we have Israeli friends, too..." I unfortunately got bored; it was neither funny nor informative, and nothing new.
The preface was great, but the book was somewhat dull. It had a repetitive tone (Palestinians vs. Israelis - soldiers - Ramallah incursions of 2002, etc) oh "and we have Israeli friends, too..." I unfortunately got bored; it was neither funny nor informative, and nothing new.
July 25, 2011
First hand narration of life in the Occupied West Bank by a Christian Arab. An important voice of the reality that right-wing Israeli propaganda is trying to erase.
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