Occupied Voices: Stories of Everyday Life from the Second Intifada

by Wendy Pearlman, Laura Junka (Photographer)

Overview

As the Middle East peace process disintegrates and the second Palestinian Intifada begins, Wendy Pearlman, a young Jewish woman from the American Midwest travels to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in a quest to talk to ordinary Palestinians. A remarkable narrative emerges from her conversations with doctors, artists, school kids, and families who have lost loved ones or watched their homes destroyed. Their stories, ranging from the humorous to the tragic, paint a profile of the Palestinians that is as honest as it is uncommon in the Western media: that of ordinary people who simply want to live ordinary lives. As Pearlman writes, "the personal stories and heartfelt reflections that I encountered did not expose a hatred of Jews or a yearning to push Israelis into the sea. Rather, they painted a portrait of a people who longed for precisely that which had inspired the first Israelis: the chance to be citizens in a country of their own."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781560255307
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	07/01/2003
Series:	Nation Books
Pages:	250
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

WENDY PEARLMAN is studying for her Ph.D. in Government at Harvard University. Her commentaries on Middle East affairs have appeared in numerous publications, including the Washington Post, Boston Globe, and Philadelphia Inquirer.

LAURA JUNKA is from Helsinki, Finland. She studied at the University of Art and Design of Helsinki and the Bezalel Academy of Fine Arts in Jerusalem. Her photographs from throughout the Middle East have appeared in private exhibitions and Finish publications.

What People are Saying About This

Tanya Reinhart

This book lets the voices of the Palestinian people speak for themselves and tell their story of suffering, resistance, little joys amidst the horrors, and the unbreakable hope for a just peace Reading this book may break your heart, but it also reminds you how marvelous the human spirit is.
—Tel Aviv University, author of Israel/Palestine: How to End the War of 1948

Hisham Sharabi

Pearlman expertly interweaves elements of her personal journey to Palestine with the experiences of a broad range of average Palestinians ... She has given these voices a platform, now it is up to us to listen.
—author of Neopatriarchy: Theory of Distorted Change in Arab Society

Paul Findley

Wendy Pearlman's remarkable interviews with Palestinians under occupation inspire hope for durable peace if leaders on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict can bring genuine goodwill to the table. This book lifts my spirits.
—Member of Congress 1961-83

Sara Roy

In this stunning collection of interviews, each of which is introduced by a beautifully written and illuminating essay, Wendy Pearlman gives us something we are rarely allowed: an intimacy with Palestinians that is both human and humane What emerges is a discourse of compassion and understanding that argues, more than anything, that peace is still possible in this deeply wounded land.
—Harvard University, author of The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of De-Development

Howard Zinn

Wendy Pearlman has done all of us an enormous favor by letting us hear the voices of twenty-seven Palestinians who have endured the bitterness of living in an occupied land. I know of no better way for Americans to understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict then to listen to these poignant, intensely human stories.
—author of A People's History of the United States

Editorial Reviews

In 2000, Pearlman, a Jewish doctoral student in Middle East politics and longtime human rights activist, spent six months living and studying in the West Bank. Her book grows out of her sojourn and "provide[s] a window into the human dimension of their struggle" by letting the Palestinians speak for themselves. Think of it as Studs Terkel goes to the Middle East-except that only one side in the conflict gets to speak. The first thing that emerges from these interviews is that the Palestinians have suffered a great deal-if someone hasn't been hurt, jailed or degraded by the Israeli occupation, they know someone who has. "The army just opens fire whenever it wants to," says Mahmoud, whose house was razed by the Israeli army. But while Pearlman says her aim is to gain a deeper understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, some readers will come away only with despair, a sense that the conflict will never be settled. One Palestinian after another here shows an inability to see any legitimacy in the Israeli side, or to support an end to the current intifada or any attempts at peace-the moribund Oslo peace process is seen as a sellout. And when Pearlman fails to question such statements as that Israel has failed to comply with any U.N. resolution since 1948, many readers may despair regarding Pearlman as well. (July) Forecast: This could be shelved with Amira Hess's Reporting from Ramallah (MIT) and Mourid Bargouti's I Saw Ramallah (Anchor) for readers seeking insight into the Palestinian viewpoint as a new Palestinian prime minister makes possible some movement toward peace. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

When Gen. Ariel Sharon, now Israel's prime minister, entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem with an entourage of 1000 soldiers on September 28, 2000, he precipitated the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada, which has continued unabated to the present time. This mass uprising, which has been built on the first intifada (1987-93), has resulted in the complete unraveling of the Oslo peace process and the destruction of nascent Palestinian institutions. This book, written by a young American Jewish woman from the Midwest, brings to life the agonies of everyday life experienced by average Palestinians under Israeli occupation. The author, the Karl Deutsch Fellow of Government at Harvard, received her education at Brown, Georgetown, Harvard, the American University in Cairo, and Birzeit University in the West Bank. She has traveled and stayed in the Occupied Territories. Her subjects include a wide range of Palestinians, including a professor, a surgeon, school children, the owner of a demolished home, a shop owner, and scores of other Palestinians. This oral history is a revealing firsthand documentary account of Palestinians' current existence. Highly recommended for all public libraries.-Nader Entessar, Spring Hill Coll., Mobile, AL Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal