btzab's review against another edition
5.0
A beautiful account and method to learn and see Palestine through Raja's walks and nature descriptions (beautiful relationship with nature!)
The narrative also shows how colonisation works at all levels, not just oppressing lives directly through, e.g. physical violence, constant fear, taking land, but other ways of violence. For example, constructing motorways dividing and separating spaces, not respecting nature and making life, daily moves, and what is available to see and enjoy, restricted and unwelcomed for Palestinians.
I wish Raja and all Palestinians can continue their walks in a free Palestine sooner than later.
The narrative also shows how colonisation works at all levels, not just oppressing lives directly through, e.g. physical violence, constant fear, taking land, but other ways of violence. For example, constructing motorways dividing and separating spaces, not respecting nature and making life, daily moves, and what is available to see and enjoy, restricted and unwelcomed for Palestinians.
I wish Raja and all Palestinians can continue their walks in a free Palestine sooner than later.
beelzebubbie's review against another edition
4.0
This was a detailed walking tour of the destruction of a countryside, of hope for "two nations" side by side. For me, the author--as frustrated and condemning of the Israelis, and critical of the Oslo Accords as he was--was still more patient and forgiving of individual Israelis than I would have expected. His recurrent talk of it almost being too late for peace between the two peoples was almost too much for me. But the landscapes were beautiful, as were the stories, and even if Shehadeh's perspective wasn't exactly what I was looking for, I still appreciated his journey and writing very much. I would read more by him.
cais's review against another edition
5.0
"Religious practice in the Land of the Bible tends to encourage exclusivity and discrimination rather than love and magnanimity. There is no place like the Holy Land to make one cynical about religion."
"Thus began a process that continues to this day of travelers and colonizers who see the land through the prism of the biblical past, overlooking present realities. Eager to occupy the land of their imagination they impose their vision and manipulate it to tally with that mythical image they hold in their head, paying scant notice to its Palestinian inhabitants."
This book is so beautifully written, infused with both anger & deep love for land Shehadeh sees as much more than real estate to be divvied up & developed. His has me considering some things I hadn't before such as the environmental impact of Israeli settlements. The final walk in which he encounters a young Israeli man is especially poignant and quite eye-opening.
stephanieridiculous's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.5
An interesting look at Palestine over the last several decades. Instead of focusing on political arguments, or wading through complicated history, Shehadeh walks us through personal experience & the tangible changes that are reflected in a changing landscape. I really like this kind of personal history. Things meandered a bit, but so do walks, so I wasn't too bothered by it. Sticking with 3.5 instead of higher because it is a very limited scope, and while it was interesting it wasn't gripping. I don't think it needs to be, per se, but it wasn't a book that commandeered my attention.
burnt_amber89's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
3.5
heres_the_thing's review against another edition
3.0
Tender and tragic, these essays convey the frustration, heartache, and indignity of living in Palestine. Shehadeh, a lawyer and human rights activist, uses these walks and his family history as a framework for discussing the changes Israeli settlement have wrought on the landscape and on the country.
leerazer's review against another edition
4.0
This book by a secular Palestinian lawyer and activist focuses on the changes that have taken place to the land in the West Bank, both legally and physically, since the start of the Israeli settlement project. It is loosely organized into a series of six walks, or sarhat, an Arabic term for a long, meditative walk in the wilderness. It is also a bitter elegy for what is now gone - a time when the hills of the West Bank were undeveloped and a Palestinian could walk freely without fear and constraint from Israeli settlements, roads, and "nature preserves" that Palestinians are not allowed to set foot on, guarded by armed soldiers and settlers, that continually expand and encircle Palestinian towns and villages, shrinking the space within which Palestinians can live.
The six sarhat in the book mix description of the walk itself and the surrounding land features, and the politics of land ownership and seizure.
Sarha 1: takes place in 1978, a walk to the qasr of Shehadeh's grandfather's cousin. A qasr was a small stone structure built for farmers to live in when they needed to be away from their home in a populated area to tend to their land. Shehadeh describes the hills as already being abandoned in some respects by Palestinians, as the land had declined in its ability to support farming. Such land no longer being used by Palestinian farmers formed a basis for the Israeli settlement project, as Israeli law said any land no longer being lived on by its Palestinian owner ceased to belong to him and reverted back to its original owners, the Jewish people, as represented by the State of Israel.
Sarha 2: A hike to an isolated, small village and its nearby hilltop. The hilltop has since been taken by Israel for a settlement. Shehadeh in this chapter discusses one of his first land cases, where he represented a Palestinian Christian whose land had been taken over for a settlement. Shehadeh says it was well documented in legal terms that his client owned the land, and he still thought he could legally fight the settlement project in Israeli courts through such cases. However the attitude of the court was essentially that the land was gone, and his client should take what monetary payout he could get. His legal efforts to resist were going to prove unfruitful.
Sarha 3: Set in the mid-1990s after the Oslo Agreement. Shehadeh describes a walk to the Dead Sea with a Fatah official allowed in to the West Bank under the deal, and describes his opposition to the Oslo Agreement as a surrender and a defeat. It did not challenge Israeli town planning, which drew circles around existing Palestinian population centers and did not allow them to expand. Meanwhile it claimed vast areas of land for future settlement expansion. The PLO displayed little understanding of the legal aspects of Israeli land policies and did not seem to care. He was frustrated by the blind optimism of his Fatah companion as they walked along the rugged, salty landscape towards the Dead Sea.
Sarha 4: A walk towards the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, Jericho, from near Jerusalem. The walk went along a lush green valley that contains lots of water, making it the favored pathway for centuries of pilgrims and conquerors making their way to Jerusalem. One of Shehadeh's companions on this walk is an archeologist, who notes the absence of the Bedouin tribes that until recently roamed these areas, but who had now been chased away by the Israelis. Shehadeh stops at the Monastery of St. George, built into the rocks in the 5th century and still an active monastery.
Sarha 5: A walk on a constrained path in the hills near Ramallah with his friend Mustafa Barghouti, a well known Palestinian doctor and politician. They share an analysis of Oslo that it is a failure, and Barghouti describes the immense pressure he is under to join the Palestinian government and drop his criticism. As they walk they see and hear almost everywhere around them new Israeli construction of buildings and roads. Shehadeh says he has accepted that the Palestinians have been defeated, and that the land has been and will continue to be overwhelmingly transformed, and his efforts have been in vain.
Sarha 6: A solitary walk near an Israeli settlement results in an encounter with a young Israeli along a creek. The Israeli is unexpectedly friendly, but Shehadeh cannot hold back his bitterness over the settlements as they talk, and complains that the Israeli has internalized and parrots back the official dogma he has learned about the rights of the Jews to the land of the West Bank, and the lack of rights the Palestinians should have. Shehadeh recognizes their mutual love of the land, about the only time in the book the Israeli point of view has any sort of sympathetic hearing.
The six sarhat in the book mix description of the walk itself and the surrounding land features, and the politics of land ownership and seizure.
Sarha 1: takes place in 1978, a walk to the qasr of Shehadeh's grandfather's cousin. A qasr was a small stone structure built for farmers to live in when they needed to be away from their home in a populated area to tend to their land. Shehadeh describes the hills as already being abandoned in some respects by Palestinians, as the land had declined in its ability to support farming. Such land no longer being used by Palestinian farmers formed a basis for the Israeli settlement project, as Israeli law said any land no longer being lived on by its Palestinian owner ceased to belong to him and reverted back to its original owners, the Jewish people, as represented by the State of Israel.
Sarha 2: A hike to an isolated, small village and its nearby hilltop. The hilltop has since been taken by Israel for a settlement. Shehadeh in this chapter discusses one of his first land cases, where he represented a Palestinian Christian whose land had been taken over for a settlement. Shehadeh says it was well documented in legal terms that his client owned the land, and he still thought he could legally fight the settlement project in Israeli courts through such cases. However the attitude of the court was essentially that the land was gone, and his client should take what monetary payout he could get. His legal efforts to resist were going to prove unfruitful.
Sarha 3: Set in the mid-1990s after the Oslo Agreement. Shehadeh describes a walk to the Dead Sea with a Fatah official allowed in to the West Bank under the deal, and describes his opposition to the Oslo Agreement as a surrender and a defeat. It did not challenge Israeli town planning, which drew circles around existing Palestinian population centers and did not allow them to expand. Meanwhile it claimed vast areas of land for future settlement expansion. The PLO displayed little understanding of the legal aspects of Israeli land policies and did not seem to care. He was frustrated by the blind optimism of his Fatah companion as they walked along the rugged, salty landscape towards the Dead Sea.
Sarha 4: A walk towards the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, Jericho, from near Jerusalem. The walk went along a lush green valley that contains lots of water, making it the favored pathway for centuries of pilgrims and conquerors making their way to Jerusalem. One of Shehadeh's companions on this walk is an archeologist, who notes the absence of the Bedouin tribes that until recently roamed these areas, but who had now been chased away by the Israelis. Shehadeh stops at the Monastery of St. George, built into the rocks in the 5th century and still an active monastery.
Sarha 5: A walk on a constrained path in the hills near Ramallah with his friend Mustafa Barghouti, a well known Palestinian doctor and politician. They share an analysis of Oslo that it is a failure, and Barghouti describes the immense pressure he is under to join the Palestinian government and drop his criticism. As they walk they see and hear almost everywhere around them new Israeli construction of buildings and roads. Shehadeh says he has accepted that the Palestinians have been defeated, and that the land has been and will continue to be overwhelmingly transformed, and his efforts have been in vain.
Sarha 6: A solitary walk near an Israeli settlement results in an encounter with a young Israeli along a creek. The Israeli is unexpectedly friendly, but Shehadeh cannot hold back his bitterness over the settlements as they talk, and complains that the Israeli has internalized and parrots back the official dogma he has learned about the rights of the Jews to the land of the West Bank, and the lack of rights the Palestinians should have. Shehadeh recognizes their mutual love of the land, about the only time in the book the Israeli point of view has any sort of sympathetic hearing.
booksnroses_7's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
cephellapod's review against another edition
5.0
I haven’t been to Israel since I was a child and before I knew of the conflict and hardship my Arab family faced there. My family is not from Ramallah and I learned a lot about the experiences of Arabs there versus where my family lives near the Lebanese border. I am so sad for the Palestinian people. Everyone should read this book. It perfectly and personally recounts the tragic history of a beautiful place