Product Description

Frustrated by the failure of the peace process to end the occupation, and outraged by Ariel Sharon's invasion of the Haram Al-Sharif in East Jerusalem, the Palestinian population of Israel and the Occupied Territories rose up in September 2000. The second Intifada has raged ever since. In these pages, a group of writers and analysts, many of the directly involved in the conflict, trace the origins of the uprising, its consequences for the Palestinian people and the Israeli state, and its likely impact on the future of peace in the Middle East. They discuss the role of the United States in the conflict, pick apart the fraudulence of the Oslo accords, examine the brutal response of the Barak and Sharon governments, and critically appraise the strategy of the Palestinian leadership. In addition, several contributors provide eloquent first-hand reports from the front line of the Intifada - from the streets of Jerusalem and Gaza, to the refugee camps in Lebanon and schools on the West Bank. Photographs provide searing testimony to the heroism and costs of the resistance. Maps illustrate the stranglehold Israel continues to exert over the Palestinian territories. The case for an international grass roots movement in support of Palestinian rights is made with urgency and persuasive clarity. Contributors: Ali Abunimah, Ghassan Andoni, Omar Barghouti, Nidal Barham, Azmi Bishara, Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk, Muna Hamzeh, Hussein Ibish, Jan de Jong, Jennifer Loewenstein, Nancy Murray, Allegra Pacheco, Mouin Rabbani, Glenn Robinson, Sara Roy, Edward Said, Salman Abu Sitta, Ahdaf Soueif, Mayssoun Sukarieh. Gila Svirsky, and Alison Weir.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #132484 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
"The first time Beitr Jala was shelled, people were surprised and wondered what had happened... now Israel is threatening to blockade the Palestinian areas and prevent us from getting water, electricity, or fuel... Children are the first victims of all this. No wonder they don't laugh from their hearts anymore. They've lost their childhoods, and their crime is that they are Palestinian. " - Patricia Al-Teet, school student, Beit Jala, the West Bank

From the Back Cover
In these pages, a group of writers and analysts, many of them directly involved in the conflict, trace the origins of the uprising, its consequences for the Palestinian people and the Israeli state, and its likely impact on the future of peace in the Middle East. They discuss the role of the United States in the conflict, pick apart the fraudulence of the Oslo accords, examine the brutal response of Barak and Sharon governments, and critically appraise the strategy of the Palestinian leadership. In addition, several contributors provide eloquent first-hand reports from the front-line of the Intifada - from the streets of Jerusalem and Gaza, to refugee camps in Lebanon and schools on the West Bank. Photographs provide searing testimony to the heroism and costs of the resistance. Maps illustrate the stranglehold Israel continues to exert over the Palestinian territories. The case for an international grassroots movement in support of Palestinian rights is made with urgency and persuasive clarity.

About the Author
Roane Carey is Copy Chief at The Nation magazine, New York.

Customer Reviews

Informative
The new intifada is an informative book. Different spectrums of people affected by it, living in the region or have knowledge of it tell their story. Because the subject matter is an imotive issue, not everyone will agree with what is written. Other readers will have different views. Having read it my conclusion is that it is a well written book, that documents human beings suffering and thier persecution. Some of it is heavy going but rewarding. My knowledge of the situation before reading the book was basically all that I had read and seen in the media. The new intifada left me with a thirst to find out more on the subject from Israeli points of view as well as Palestinian.

Academic
The first thing to note about this book is that it is in the form of a series of essays, each from a different author.

The nature and pace of each chapter is very different and some, by the nature of the topics they cover, make easier reading than others. By the same token some are more interesting than others.

Some of the areas covered are the daily lives of Palestinians under occupation, differences between this and the last intifada, Oslo as it realy was and how it appeared on the ground, the media presentation of the conflict (in the US in particular), the roots of the conflict.

All in all a very informative and intersting book for those with more than a passing interest in the topic.

Very selective in it's content.
There is an obvious agenda behind the views expressed here and it is de-legitimisation of the Jewish state.

When one listens to such comments as these from supporters of/in the Palestinian/Arab world, one can see how effective the official Palestinian indoctrination of racial hatred towards the Jews has been together with it's parallel in the rest of the Arab world within it's state controlled press and media.

The allegations of Israeli 'apartheid' so widespread here can be seen in their true context, when one enters Israel as a British tourist, only then to be refused entry to any nation in the Moslem/Arab world because one has an Israeli entrance stamp in one's passport. Now we are delving into the realms of true apartheid.

The authors appear to have little if any knowledge of the Dhimmi principle so prevalent throughout the Arab world which they align themselves with. The Dhimmi principle, where all Jews and Christians are deemed second class citizens and treated and separated accordingly. Please read "The Dhimmi" by Bat Ye'or. When a Moslem converting to Christianity in Saudi Arabia faces the death penalty by beheading and religious freedom of expression is forbidden, then we again face the reality of apartheid.

Fifteen years of experience in the Middle East has shown no such apartheid in Israel. The authors do the ordinary Palestinian people a dis-service. The Palestinian leadership has itself brought enormous hardship upon it's own people, preferring to spend foreign aid on terrorism rather than on it's own people. Foreign financial aid meant to foster Palestinian education has instead been used to further the official policy of racial hatred of everything Jewish and the eradication of the Jewish state. The author's dismiss and sidestep this apartheid of their own.

Apartheid also ignored in the treatment of ordinary Palestinians throughout the Arab world, who use and see such innocents as political pawns in the battle to rid the Islamic world of the Jewish state in it's midst...