manasvini's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
As the title hints, this book is best understood as a slow, meandering walk with a wise old man, as he shares his life and his land. A stroll filled with stories and comfortable silences, shared pain and solace.
Shehadeh astutely illustrates the reality of settler colonialism and other grave forms of violence, that choke people and land, destroying any and all sense of community and peace. Intergenerational trauma, and access to power can make anyone, even those who experience marginalisation, behave like their oppressors, mistaking the cyclical violence they now inflict on someone else, for their own justice.
Although I will never know what it is like to exist in the wadis of Palestine, Shehadeh's writing made me feel like I was walking with him. I wish, idealistically, that one day, people find it as easy to co-exist and share the earth, as I did walking through and with Shehadeh's words.
Shehadeh astutely illustrates the reality of settler colonialism and other grave forms of violence, that choke people and land, destroying any and all sense of community and peace. Intergenerational trauma, and access to power can make anyone, even those who experience marginalisation, behave like their oppressors, mistaking the cyclical violence they now inflict on someone else, for their own justice.
Although I will never know what it is like to exist in the wadis of Palestine, Shehadeh's writing made me feel like I was walking with him. I wish, idealistically, that one day, people find it as easy to co-exist and share the earth, as I did walking through and with Shehadeh's words.
late_stranger's review
5.0
This was a hard but amazing read; Shehadeh really succeeds at both the natural and political aims of his writing. Here is a potted history of his favourite walks and his activism and relationship to the land of the West Bank, plotting a clear map of the progression Isreal's strategies for claiming the land. The chapters get shorter as you go - as the walks do, because of the blockage and destruction of the landscape. However, Shehadeh refuses to succumb to the temptations of polemic or dehumanization (though there is a certain amount of despair and bitterness at various points) - he treats both the Israeli soldiers, settlers, and courts and the Palestinian militia forces and courts with the same careful brush. There was no point - even during a reported conversation with a settler including quotation marks - where I doubted that he was fairly representing what happened. He also uses his expertise as a lawyer to explain and back up his opinions of the legal and illegal methods of the Occupation and of international treaties like the Oslo Accords, which I found fascinating.
This was not only a wonderful walking/nature memoir, but also a great introduction to the recent history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I highly, highly recommend it.
This was not only a wonderful walking/nature memoir, but also a great introduction to the recent history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I highly, highly recommend it.
misspalah's review
4.0
I've read books from doctor's perspective on Palestine's occupation. I am certain that I could say that mostly wanted peaceful coexistence with people in Israel given that they've encountered so many deaths during their duty. They are so tired of this war, massacres and struggles faced by Palestinians. Reading about Palestinians struggle from the point of view of lawyer is a bit different. He argued about the legality of Israel states and how the agreement signed between Palestine and Israel are just an instrument to expand and taking more land from them. He was cynical about Oslo and turned out, he was right all along. He lived in Palestine before the occupation takes over. He saw, before him, how a beautiful landscapes of his own country turned upside down by the Zionists. He was walking and keep telling us a story with us realizing how he was just a helpless old man but never fell out of love for his country. He fought whenever he can to preserve the beauty of his land but the settlements kept increasing deterred his action. This book is written with frustration, disappointment and angst of a true struggle faced by a Palestinian.
kateybellew's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
A tender love letter to the hills of Palestine, that also expresses the bitter heartbreak that flows from the settler-colonial violence enacted upon the land and its people. Devastating and beautiful.