Voices from a 'Promised Land': Palestinian & Israeli Peace Activists Speak Their Hearts

Palestinian and Israeli peace activists speak about their work for a better future for both people and offer suggestions and approaches for an end to the conflict

Heavily skewed toward the extreme radical wing, these conversations with Israeli and Palestinian activists are only at times enlightening. The best material here--interviews with citizens of East and West Jerusalem during the Gulf war--conveys the immediacy of life during the bombing and a vivid sense of everyday existence for Palestinians and Israelis in a strife-torn society. The least memorable sections are jargon-filled diatribes. Rosenwasser, a radio producer and activist, does not challenge her subjects, primarily providing a platform for their views. Regarding Palestinian support of Saddam Hussein, one woman says that as a result of the bombing of Israel during the war "Israeli society is tasting the medicine that we have been subjected to by them." Israeli activist Chaya Shalom expresses her frustration with Prime Minister Shamir by urging him to "Move your ass and do something!" Stan Cohen, a professor at Hebrew University, suggests that the most effective groups within the Israeli peace movement are the women's and human rights movements and the campaign against army service in the occupied territories.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Rosenwasser, political activist, Zionist, and a Jew committed to Palestinian rights, went to Israel to find out more about the Palestinian resistance and how the two sides maintained their idealistic aspirations. She met mainly with Palestinian women engaged in the struggle and trying to protect their homes and communities and Israeli women active in the peace movement, trying to direct the resources of their state towards building instead of repression. Her conversations demonstrate the destructive nature of the military occupation of Palestinian territory and the difficulties faced by Israelis opposed to their government's hardline position. Her unique contribution is her report on the heavy economic punishment of the occupied territories during the Gulf War. Her interviews offer a moving summary of the continuing pain and economic burden in the ongoing conflict. Unfortunately, the static quality of the format limits their appeal, and interested readers might prefer Helen Winternitz's more readable A Season of Stones ( LJ 11/15/91).
- Elizabeth R. Hayford, Associated Colls. of the Midwest, Chicago
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.