What Does Israel Fear from Palestine?
FROM THE ORWELL PRIZE-WINNER AND NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST 'Palestine's greatest prose writer' Observer 'A valuable read. As well as talking through the history, Shehadeh is reaching out to Israelis and searching for some kind of dialogue' Armando Iannucci When the state of Israel was formed in 1948, it precipitated the Nakba or 'disaster': the displacement of the Palestine nation, creating fracture-lines which continue to erupt in violent and tragic ways today. In the years that followed, while the Berlin Wall crumbled and South Africa abolished apartheid, the Israeli government rejected every opportunity for reconciliation with Palestine. But Raja Shehadeh, a human rights lawyer and Palestine's greatest living writer, suggests that this does not mean the two nations cannot work together as partners on the road to peace, not genocide. In graceful, devastatingly observed prose, this is a fresh perspective in a time of great need. 'Powerful' New Statesman 'A buoy in the sea of bleakness' Rachel Kushner, author of Creation Lake 'Shehadeh is a great inquiring spirit with a tone that is vivid, ironic, melancholy and wise' Colm Toibin, author of The Magician
Review: An attempt to understand Israeli actions in Gaza, and a lament that the Palestinian story is still not properly heard ... [Shehadeh's] searching analysis offers insights for readers coming new to the situation and others who wish to face it afresh -- 'Book of the Day' * Guardian *
A slim, powerful work ... details the devastating consequences of the siege [of Gaza] * New Statesman *
Measured, lawyerly but always very readable... As the book comes to a close, as if summoning a last reserve of strength, [Shehadeh] manages a message of hope. Perhaps, he writes, the utter nightmarishness of the past few months may achieve what decades of war and negotiation have failed to resolve: a lasting peace * Observer *
Elegantly written ... suffused with anger without descending into bitterness * Irish Times *
An exceptionally lucid account of the underlying causes of the war in Gaza ... [Shehadeh] writes with so much humanity, recounting the story with neither rancour nor despair. This book will be particularly valuable for political education. Highly recommended all round. * Morning Star *
Praise for Raja Shehadeh: In his moral clarity and baring of the heart, his self-questioning and insistence on focusing on the experience of the individual within the storms of nationalist myth and hubris, Shehadeh recalls writers such as Ghassan Kanafani and Primo Levi * New York Times *
A buoy in a sea of bleakness -- Rachel Kushner
Shehadeh is a great inquiring spirit with a tone that is vivid, ironic, melancholy and wise -- Colm Toibin
Palestine's greatest prose writer * Observer *
Luminously clear-sighted ... By turns lyrical, witty and shrewd, Shehadeh is an excellent companion * Prospect *