In this deeply personal study, Hammad illuminates an agenda of place, meaning and resistance in territorial struggles through the telling of a less-heard story of how residents of Bil'in understand their world and their lives in the occupied Palestinian West Bank landscape. Taking a case study of a contested and divided Palestinian village situated in the heart of the Occupied Palestinian Territories and known for its sustained, nonviolent protest against the separation wall that cuts through its lived spaces, Hammad examines how villagers live, experience, interpret, and attempt to resist infringements on their property and person.
The study considers the spectrum of ways that people resist in this context, examining not only the overt weekly protests but also the everyday acts and subjectivities of resistance of its residents, young and old. The backdrop of the protracted Palestinian-Israel conflict and Palestinians' struggle over space, place, and history- which continues to play out in the present- makes this book politically relevant and empowering as it brings voices from a secluded contested village the world.
