Israeli and Palestinian Voices: A Dialogue With Both Sides - Softcover

Sultan, Cathy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 059529488X ISBN 13: 9780595294886

Publisher: Iuniverse Inc, 2003

Synopsis

In March 2002, Cathy Sultan, an American who lived through eight years of LebanonĀ’s civil war, traveled to Jerusalem and the West Bank in an attempt to understand the human aspects of this tragic conflict. There she encountered the barbed wire and checkpoints that separate Israelis from Palestinians; the daily, deadly reality of Apache gunships strafing West Bank cities, targeting alleged terrorists, and the incessant fear of suicide bombers.

In Ramallah, she met Palestinians in the al-Amari refugee camp. She interviewed teenagers, teachers, a businessman, and Huwaida Arraf, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement. She visited the Old City and toured Israeli settlements. She spoke with Israeli soldiers at the Wailing Wall and spent an evening discussing politics with an Israeli Army Major. She visited with scholars and peace activists. She walked down Emek Refaim Street, the sight of recent suicide bombings, understanding, from her years in Beirut, the terror Israelis deal with on a daily basis.

Her interviews with a wide range of people offer sharply contrasting opinions. Her quest for the experience and reality of daily life in this troubled land gives a new, impartial and clearer understanding to this complicated conflict.

About this title

About the Author

Cathy Sultan, a native of Washington D.C., grew up with a yearning to experience other cultures. Her dreams came true in 1969 when she moved with her Lebanese husband and two small children from the U.S. to Beirut, Lebanon – a city then known for its welcoming residents, lovely Mediterranean climate and exotic blend of Arab and Western culture. For six years she led the life of her dreams. Her home was a rooftop apartment with a terrace full of flowers and a breathtaking view of the city. She was accepted and loved as a Lebanese. Her husband had a successful medical practice and her children were growing up speaking English, French and Arabic. But in April 1975, the Phalange militia attacked the Palestinians in East Beirut and this was the spark which set off fighting all over the country. Sultan’s tranquil treelined street, two blocks from the National Museum, became a deadly territorial divide: the infamous Green Line, separating East from West Beirut – a deadly war zone. But despite the constant danger, her feelings for the city were slow to change. Instead of leaving the place which had become home, she and her family remained amid the fighting with the hope that a solution to the conflict would soon be found. Between getting her children to school after bomb blasts and comforting her husband whose days were spent treating wounded civilians, Sultan used cooking as a way to feel normal in all the madness. She found solace in the kitchen and in her own way fought back against the madness of war by entertaining friends and family with wonderful meals. A Beirut Heart: One Woman’s War – a memoir about her experience as a wife and mother living daytoday for eight years of the bloody Lebanese Civil War – is her second book. Her first book, Israeli and Palestinian Voices: A Dialogue with Both Sides, will be reissued by Scarletta Press in 2006. Sultan and her husband reside in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She currently sits on the Executive Board at the National Peace Foundation where she directs Middle East educational projects. She is also involved with “Women in Black” – a group that stands in silent vigil to protest war, ethnic cleansing and human rights abuses. She is in the process of writing another book about the Middle East.

Review

Winner, Book USA's Best Books of 2006 History/Politics Award

Merit Award, Midwest Independent Publishers Association (MIPA)

"Cathy Sultan had spent years in the Middle East, raising children in the midst of Lebanon’s civil war, and here uses her linguistic and human skills to interview people whose communities may be at odds, but who are finding ways to mediate conflict in their daily lives. Their reflections and feelings take us beyond the sound bites’ in the only human way possible.” David Burrell, Hesburgh Professor of Philosophy and theology, University of Notre Dame

The fast-paced narrative and compelling interviews bring to life a conflict whose complexities Americans must try to understand.”
Sarah Harder, President, National Peace Foundation

About this edition

• Publisher: Iuniverse Inc
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 059529488X
• ISBN 13: 9780595294886
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 206