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Gaza: Beneath the Bombs
The Israeli offensive in Gaza was described by Amnesty international as '22 days of death and destruction'. Sharyn Lock's eyewitness account brings home the horror of life in Gaza beneath the bombs. Sharyn went to the Gaza strip with the Free Gaza Movement, thinking the greatest danger she faced was making it past the Israeli sea blockade in a fishing boat, but soon after her arrival Israel attacked Gaza's 1.5 million inhabitants by land, air and sea. With others from the International Solidarity Movement, Sharyn volunteered with Palestinian ambulances, assisting them as they faced overwhelming civilian casualties. Her candid and dramatic blogs from Gaza gave the world an insight into the conflict that the mainstream media - unable to enter Gaza - couldn't provide. Beneath the Bombs provides a view of Gaza difficult to glimpse from outside - of a people who face their oppression not only with courage but with humour.
- GenresNonfiction
240 pages, Paperback
First published May 11, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 17, 2014
In a rare occurrence I bought this book from the author herself at the book launch in the Trades Club at Hebden Bridge. It is a collection of journal and blog entries during the Israeli attack on Gaza across 2008/2009. Sharyn Lock was present in Gaza at the time as part of the International Solidarity Movement. What is contained within these pages is a collection of her experiences on the front line as it were, with the Palestinian people.
My first thought was the same as Richard Falk’s in the Afterword, that book humanises the seemingly inhuman events. This is primarily about people, and how they cope with the endless onslaught from a much greater power. People such as Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Ilan Pappe have written stunning theoretical arguments regarding the Palestinian people but this is one of the first books I have read that takes the real over the political, the human over the theory and presents us with a touching, violent and saddening account of life under occupation and war.
That isn’t to say there aren’t moments of humour, however dark they may be as well as simple heart warming snatches at friendship and solidarity between many of the people involved. The cruel realism or perhaps unrealism of life in the Gaza Strip always hits home however. Each page to me was the reinforcement of my views of the Israeli government, and to the uneducated reader would be the slow realisation that what happens there, constantly, is simply wrong, wrong and wrong again on so many levels. Civilian areas are bombed, illegal weaponry is used, soldiers shoot at civilians including women and children, they shoot at the people going to collect the bodies, they target ambulances, schools, hospitals in brazen contraventions of the Geneva Convention and the rules of engagement, and block the paths of emergency medical workers to the sick and injured. The saintly presence of the ISM movement and other foreign activists is not a barrier to atrocities but it does slow them down at times. This is what makes people like Sharyn Lock so important. They save lives. Whether when collecting injured people and treating them or simply by the good fortune of their presence. Israel is less likely, only less mind you, to murder people in cold blood when citizens of western governments are present.
Overall the book is difficult to read, and so it should be. Anyone who could breeze through such a publication would have something wrong with them, but it is a necessary read and more people should take time out to read such books. Especially this one.
My first thought was the same as Richard Falk’s in the Afterword, that book humanises the seemingly inhuman events. This is primarily about people, and how they cope with the endless onslaught from a much greater power. People such as Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Ilan Pappe have written stunning theoretical arguments regarding the Palestinian people but this is one of the first books I have read that takes the real over the political, the human over the theory and presents us with a touching, violent and saddening account of life under occupation and war.
That isn’t to say there aren’t moments of humour, however dark they may be as well as simple heart warming snatches at friendship and solidarity between many of the people involved. The cruel realism or perhaps unrealism of life in the Gaza Strip always hits home however. Each page to me was the reinforcement of my views of the Israeli government, and to the uneducated reader would be the slow realisation that what happens there, constantly, is simply wrong, wrong and wrong again on so many levels. Civilian areas are bombed, illegal weaponry is used, soldiers shoot at civilians including women and children, they shoot at the people going to collect the bodies, they target ambulances, schools, hospitals in brazen contraventions of the Geneva Convention and the rules of engagement, and block the paths of emergency medical workers to the sick and injured. The saintly presence of the ISM movement and other foreign activists is not a barrier to atrocities but it does slow them down at times. This is what makes people like Sharyn Lock so important. They save lives. Whether when collecting injured people and treating them or simply by the good fortune of their presence. Israel is less likely, only less mind you, to murder people in cold blood when citizens of western governments are present.
Overall the book is difficult to read, and so it should be. Anyone who could breeze through such a publication would have something wrong with them, but it is a necessary read and more people should take time out to read such books. Especially this one.
May 8, 2016
The personal diary of an ISM-activist during the 2009 Gazan war. Gives insight into how the blockade affects ordinary Gazans, what war crimes Israel commits (use of white phosphorous, killing unarmed civilians, bombing hospitals, shooting farmers and fishermen etc.) Shows the actual events behind the news headlines and the UN's Goldstone report and gives faces and personal stories to the casualty numbers and IDF-admitted airstrikes. The book doesn't contain any real context or background history but is very useful for those who want a more personal insight into the tragedy of Gaza.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews