Victory Is for Us to See You Suffer: In the West Bank with the Palestinians and the Israelis

by Philip C. Winslow

Overview

During the second Palestinian intifada, Philip C. Winslow worked in the West Bank with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), driving up to 600 miles a week in the occupied territory. He returned to the region in 2006. In this book, Winslow captures the daily struggles, desperation, and anger of Palestinians; the hostility of settlers; the complex responses of Israeli soldiers, officials, and peace activists; and even the breathtaking beauty of nature in this embattled place.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807069073
Publisher:	Beacon
Publication date:	09/01/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Philip C. Winslow has been a journalist and foreign correspondent for more than twenty years; he has worked for the Christian Science Monitor, The Toronto Star, Maclean's magazine, ABC radio news, CTV News, and CBC radio. He also served in two United Nations peacekeeping missions and spent nearly three years living in the West Bank. He is the author of Sowing the Dragon's Teeth: Land Mines and the Global Legacy of War.

Table of Contents

Introduction     IX
"God Gave It to Us"     1
Checkpoint     11
Long Way Around     28
ClampDown     42
Terror     52
Operation Defensive Shield     58
Reflections: Israelis and Palestinians     75
"Clouds Raining Stones"     86
Collapse     100
Almonds     114
Summer Wars     125
"The Bullets Were Zipping Past My Legs"     139
"They Must Fear Us"     147
"Educating the Indians"     156
"Not Allowed to Sleep in Jerusalem"     165
Soldiers' Tales     170
"I'm Going to Buy A Popsicle, Then I'm Going to Kill Some Arabs"     182
The Essence of Victory     189
World Cup Quarter Final     203
Acknowledgments     218
Notes     219

Editorial Reviews

Winslow, a veteran foreign correspondent who has lived and worked in the West Bank, opens a window onto the personal experiences of Palestinians and Israelis during the second Intifada.—Middle East Journal

"Wise, modest, fair, and alert to the nuances of human interaction, Winslow is a gentle guide to an ungentle landscape. But the picture he etches of the effects of Israeli control over the West Bank is devastating. Americans who care about forging a lasting peace in the Middle East should read this book, because this is the disastrous occupation that our tax dollars are paying for."—Adam Hochschild, author of Bury the Chains

"[Winslow] writes in a gentle tone about the constant brutalizing and inhumane quality of the Israeli occupation, the administration of checkpoints, and attempts to crush the Palestinian community and economy. He doesn't consider the political positions of either side but blames both for ignoring the repercussions of their actions, on their enemy and on themselves. Winslow's sensitivity and strong writing make this an important volume."—Library Journal

"Foreign correspondent Winslow depicts the universal cost of Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands in excruciatingly human terms . . . The multilayered narrative demonstrates unusual compassion for the human side of the conflict, sympathizing with both the Palestinian citizens and the Israeli soldiers in the clear understanding that the latter, too, are dehumanized by the violence that surrounds them."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

From the Publisher

Foreign correspondent Winslow (Sowing the Dragon's Teeth) depicts the universal cost of Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands in excruciatingly human terms in a memoir detailing 30 months spent on the West Bank with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Describing the fear, humiliation and violence routinely faced by people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Winslow balances the Palestinian struggle to maneuver through an ever-growing web of walls, checkpoints and Israeli military operations in the West Bank, with close attention to Israel's legitimate defense needs and the fear created by Palestinian terrorism. The multilayered narrative demonstrates unusual compassion for the human side of the conflict, sympathizing with both the Palestinian citizens and the Israeli soldiers in the clear understanding that the latter, too, are dehumanized by the violence that surrounds them. Using resonant descriptions of the occupation's daily routines, the account searches for moments of human kindness that can bridge the chasm created by civil discord, admirably achieving the author's goal to paint "pictures of what armed conflict does to humanity." (Oct.)

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Publishers Weekly

Journalist Philip Winslow served in two UN peacekeeping missions transporting emergency supplies on the West Bank during the intifada after 2000. He writes in a gentle tone about the constant brutalizing and inhumane quality of the Israeli occupation, the administration of checkpoints, and attempts to crush the Palestinian community and economy. He doesn't consider the political positions of either side but blames both for ignoring the repercussions of their actions, on their enemy and on themselves. Winslow's sensitivity and strong writing make this an important volume for libraries.

—Elizabeth R. Hayford

Library Journal