Scan barcode
A review by caitfoges
Palestinian Walks: Forays Into a Vanishing Landscape by Raja Shehadeh
5.0
~ 5.0 ~
I have had the privilege of experiencing many walks in the West Bank - in the desert overlooking Jericho and the Dead Sea, around Mar Saba monastery near Bethlehem, and in the hills surrounding Ramallah. These trips are some of my favorite memories of my time in the Holy Land - the scenes of natural beauty and ancient history are truly mesmerizing. I am grateful to Palestinians who shared with me their connection to this land - their love of the olive, fig, and loquat trees; the simple joy of a campfire under desert stars; and the impressive aqueducts and stone homes built by generations past.
Yet even as a foreigner, I could feel the choking sensation of these people indigenous to the land being cut off from it by the Israeli occupation and illegal settlement enterprise. The evidence is everywhere, if you know to look... Encroaching first on the hill tops, then over huge expanses of the West Bank, are Jewish-only settlements that have annexed Palestinian land in clear violation of international law. To service these settlements, Jewish-only roads now crisscross the territory, which is dotted with Israeli military checkpoints, further restricting Palestinian's freedom of movement in their own land. The separation wall, also called the apartheid wall, snakes along the settlements and annexes even more Palestinian land, cutting off farmers from their harvests and families from one another. What is left for Palestinians are enclaved cities - essentially reservations - surrounded by hostile settlers, with ever-decreasing access to the surrounding landscape.
In this book, Shehadeh chronicles through his walks how this situation came to be, what has been lost already, and what he fears the future may hold. He filled in my gaps of understanding, particularly around the Oslo Accords of the early 90s, which he deems a failure and short-sighted surrender. As an esteemed lawyer and founder of a leading Palestinian Human Rights organization, Shehadeh offers critical legal understanding of Israel's tactics. He also reflects on his loss of hope in a legal approach to resisting the occupation, and how he has turned his focus to writing, documenting the stories of his people and land.
I have had the privilege of experiencing many walks in the West Bank - in the desert overlooking Jericho and the Dead Sea, around Mar Saba monastery near Bethlehem, and in the hills surrounding Ramallah. These trips are some of my favorite memories of my time in the Holy Land - the scenes of natural beauty and ancient history are truly mesmerizing. I am grateful to Palestinians who shared with me their connection to this land - their love of the olive, fig, and loquat trees; the simple joy of a campfire under desert stars; and the impressive aqueducts and stone homes built by generations past.
Yet even as a foreigner, I could feel the choking sensation of these people indigenous to the land being cut off from it by the Israeli occupation and illegal settlement enterprise. The evidence is everywhere, if you know to look... Encroaching first on the hill tops, then over huge expanses of the West Bank, are Jewish-only settlements that have annexed Palestinian land in clear violation of international law. To service these settlements, Jewish-only roads now crisscross the territory, which is dotted with Israeli military checkpoints, further restricting Palestinian's freedom of movement in their own land. The separation wall, also called the apartheid wall, snakes along the settlements and annexes even more Palestinian land, cutting off farmers from their harvests and families from one another. What is left for Palestinians are enclaved cities - essentially reservations - surrounded by hostile settlers, with ever-decreasing access to the surrounding landscape.
In this book, Shehadeh chronicles through his walks how this situation came to be, what has been lost already, and what he fears the future may hold. He filled in my gaps of understanding, particularly around the Oslo Accords of the early 90s, which he deems a failure and short-sighted surrender. As an esteemed lawyer and founder of a leading Palestinian Human Rights organization, Shehadeh offers critical legal understanding of Israel's tactics. He also reflects on his loss of hope in a legal approach to resisting the occupation, and how he has turned his focus to writing, documenting the stories of his people and land.