WHAT DOES ISRAEL FEAR from PALESTINE? (audiobook) by Raja Shehadeh

Published by Tantor Audio in June of 2024.
Read by Khalid Abdalla.
Duration: 2 hours, 26 minutes.
Unabridged.

Raja Shehadeh is a Palestinian lawyer, human right advocate, and author. Shehadeh grew up as a Christian and Palestine has been occupied his entire life. This short book is an extended essay of sorts on the state of Palestinian/Israeli relations. 

The book is often critical of Israeli policy and actions, especially under Benjamin Netanyahu, but it is hardly a justification of the October 7 attacks.

Shehadeh does question the sincerity of Israel's attempts to work out something with Palestine - be it a two state solution, a common government with Israeli and Palestinian representatives, or some other system. Ignoring the situation does not make it go away. There are more than 5 million Palestinian refugees and they are not going anywhere - mostly because they are not really allowed to.

It was an interesting listen, providing a lot to think about. It was read very well by Khalid Abdalla.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: What Does Israel Fear from Palestine?

THE OTHER SIDE of the WALL: A PALESTINIAN CHRISTIAN NARRATIVE of LAMENT and HOPE (audiobook) by Munther Isaac.

Published in 2020 by ChristianAudio.
Read by Neil Shah.
Duration: 8 hours, 5 minutes.
Unabridged.

I heard about The Other Side of the Wall on The Holy Post podcast. I knew that there were Palestinian Christians in Gaza, but I hadn't given it much thought. Generally, I find the Palestinian/Israeli conflict too intractable to think about. It's not that I don't care, it's that simple solutions (or even insanely complicated solutions) don't even seem to be on the horizon at all and in a world with so many problems close at hand, it's easy not to think about problems half a world away. My bandwidth is just not that big.

But, the interview was good - it came from an unexpected source in this conflict. The podcast host interviewed Munther Isaac, a Lutheran pastor and teacher. He is also a Palestinian from Gaza. There has been a continual Christian presence in Gaza as long as anyone can tell, although it is dwindling as Palestinian Christians opt out of the conflict zone by moving away. 

Isaac brings a long list of observations and complaints. He has reasonable complaints, like his family's farm and home being grabbed by the Israeli government to make space for Israeli settlements. But, he is also bothered by fellow Christians who refuse to let him speak at conferences because he offers a different point of view than the standard American Christian (pro-Israeli government) point of view.

The author

The author is not anti-Jewish, but he is against so much that the conservative Netanyahu government has done over his long time as Prime Minister.

The book was obviously written before the brutal Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Many of the places he mentions in his book were headlines in the Hamas-Israel War as I was listening to the audiobook. Some might say that the book is outdated since those terrorist attacks were a profound pivot point, but I think the book still has tremendous value, especially with his discussions about the applications of Jesus' teachings in a world in a continuing cycle of violence and retribution.

A tough listen, but a very good one.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: The Other Side of the Wall: A Palestinian Christian Narrative of Lament and Hope by Munther Isaac.

Palestine: The Special Edition (graphic novel) by Joe Sacco

An important piece of "comic book journalism"

Published in 2007 by Fantagraphics books.
320 pages.

Joe Sacco headed off to to the Palestinian refugee camps with a few bucks in his pocket, a sketchpad, a little training in how to draw comic books, a rarely used camera (film was too expensive) and a curious mind. Sacco interviewed Palestinians and asked them about all sorts of aspects of their lives: jobs, the intifada, women's rights, Land for Peace, and much more. Sacco turned those interviews into this graphic novel (although Sacco does not like that term much - instead he prefers "comic book journalist").

Joe Sacco (self-portrait)

There is no traditional narrative to Palestine: The Special Edition. Sacco does not turn these interviews into a large overarching history of the Palestinian people. Instead, it is like reading a series of illustrated interviews. This gives the reader the feeling that he or she is there sitting right there with Sacco talking and drinking green tea in the camps. There is an argument to be made that the story would be better if he had tried to make an illustrated history, but, in the end, I think this is a more powerful presentation. Imagine "based on real events" movie vs. a documentary and you get the idea.

Sacco occasional touches on the topic of who is right and who is wrong in this book. It does carry a pro-Palestinian slant (it was designed to be that way - I have no idea where Sacco's real sympathies lie), but it does not hammer on those issues.

Not a fun book, but an important one. Strongly recommended for anyone interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, no matter which side you come down on.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Palestine: The Special Edition

Reviewed on February 2, 2008.

Footnotes in Gaza by Joe Sacco

I found Sacco's other work Palestine to be much more revealing, balanced and just better

Originally published by Metropolitan Books in 2009.

I was thrilled to find Joe Sacco had written another graphic novel because I found Sacco's work Palestine: The Special Edition to be a revealing and balanced work that took me into one of those places that everyone has heard of but really knows nothing about.

Footnotes in Gaza focuses on a "footnote" in the 1956 Suez War in which Israel, England and France attacked Egypt and Gaza was overwhelmed by the Israeli Defense Forces. There were two civilian massacres of a combined total of 300-400 males of military age, mostly Palestinian, but there may have been a few Egyptian soldiers in civilian clothes in the mix as well.

Sacco's artwork remains stark and powerful and unique. No one portrays emotions such as anguish and fear as well as well as Sacco.

This work is rambling, nearly 100 more pages than the book "Palestine." It includes dozens of direct quotes, which are laudable, but often repetitious.

A self portrait of Joe Sacco

Sacco has thoroughly researched this topic. He endured life-threatening situations, annoying waits and the trials and tribulations of everyday life in the Gaza strip as he conducted dozens, if not hundreds, of first person interviews with eyewitnesses to the atrocities as well as to their aftermaths. I do not doubt his methods or the veracity of his reporting.

But, I do doubt the balanced nature of this work. "Footnotes" is almost entirely focused on a pro-Palestinian view of the current events (Intifada II) and of the 1956 War. Well, to be fair there are 4 text appendices at the end and one contains an eight page interview with IDF spokespeople about why Palestinian homes are destroyed in Gaza. Surely eight pages balances 389 pages?

I think it would have been better to have included perspectives from all sides - not just the Palestinians but also the Egyptians and the IDF soldiers. I suppose their points of view will just remain "footnotes."

As an interesting aside, during the time I was reading this book I was also listening to the audiobook version P.J. O'Rourke's Peace Kills: America's Fun New Imperialism, a book that includes a section that is as entirely biased to the Israeli side as this one is to the Palestinian. Experiencing them at the same time made for an interesting dichotomy, to say the least, and made them flaws of both much more pronounced.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

This graphic novel can be found on Amazon.com here: Footnotes in Gaza: A Graphic Novel.

Reviewed on October 23, 2009.