Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation

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Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation

4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 · rating details · 80 ratings · 17 reviews

This book is not about suicide bombers. Tending one's fields, visiting a relative, going to the hospital: for ordinary Palestinians, such everyday activities require negotiating permits and passes, curfews and closures, "sterile roads" and "seam zones"—bureaucratic hurdles ultimately as deadly as outright military incursion.

Not since the late Edward Said has there been suc...more

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published May 17th 2008 by W. W. Norton & Company (first published May 1st 2008)

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Mar 09, 2012 Tom rated it 5 of 5 stars

In July of last year I went to Palestine as a solidarity volunteer. In my time there, I saw early morning raids by Occupation soldiers, got pushed around and gassed by those same soldiers are demonstrations, saw friends attacked and arrested, and saw the blight of settlements and the Wall firsthand. That said, this book was still a difficult read. Not because it was poorly written, but because it presents such a sweeping summary of the long-running oppression of the Palestinians.

Makdisi presents...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Robert rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought I knew a lot about the Israeli/Palestine conflict, but this book proved I was wrong. Makdisi takes us through the day to day existence of a Palestinian living under Israeli occupation, and it is heartbreaking. From families having to get permission from the Israeli governement in order to visit, or for married people to live together, or for their children to remain living with them. The people who need to get to a hospital and have to travel miles to a checkpoint only to find it has b...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Siria rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: by-poc, current-affairs, politics

This is a pretty damning indictment of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Palestine Inside Out is a slow read not because the prose is dense (though it is occasionally a little awkward and the eye does tend to skim over the statistics lists at times), but because there's only so much one can read about the deliberate slaughter of children before having to put the book down. There's one particular case which Makdisi documented, of a group of Jewish Israeli schoolchildren spitting on and stoning...more

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Feb 24, 2009 Don rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: politics

The Palestinian people , according to US-Palestinian academic Saree Makdisi, have been obliged in a society which has been turned inside out half-century old occupation. In a series of vignettes showing the lives of people forced to endure this situation we learn of the permits and the paper work which restrain all normal aspects of live of the Palestinian people, determining the routes they must take to work or to school each morning, the security gates through which they might be permitted to...more The Palestinian people , according to US-Palestinian academic Saree Makdisi, have been obliged in a society which has been turned inside out half-century old occupation. In a series of vignettes showing the lives of people forced to endure this situation we learn of the permits and the paper work which restrain all normal aspects of live of the Palestinian people, determining the routes they must take to work or to school each morning, the security gates through which they might be permitted to pass, the hospitals and clinics that may be open to them, and even the roads they might drive along, transport their good, or herd their animals.

The arbitrariness of this life lived under permanent scrutiny has an effect on human social life which is akin to torture. The emergency journey of a man injured in a farm accident is halted by Israeli soldiers who complain that his permit to pass through the infamous Wall requires him to travel in one car, rather than the vehicle he has been packed into by panicked friends. School children their usual route to school has been closed off, sometimes for days on end, by an obscure Israeli Defence Force decision to lock down a neighbourhood. A woman leaving her family in East Jerusalem for a day’s visit to her brother’s home across the Jordan border returns in the evening to find her residence permit has been cancelled and the years of exile from her spouse and children have begun.

The misery of Palestinian life is explained by Israel’s supporters as arising from the failure of their communities to produce a political leadership which is reconciled to their subordinate status in territories where Israeli interests take precedence over all else. The Intifadas justify the most draconian security measures which add to the already intolerable grievances the people have to ensure. The Inftadas, the firends of the Palestinians surely rightly argue, are themselves the product of a brutal, decades long, occupation

These is surreal and tragic stuff, but were the Palestinian always fated to suffer such torment once the Zionist settlement of the region began in earnest after 1919? In parts of his argument Makdisi implies that this is the case, and that a pre-condition for Zionist success was the utter and abject defeat of the already present people. His history of the years after the founding the Israeli state only considers the position of revisionist Zionism, with its unabashed right wing nationalism, with the once powerful socialist versions of the ideology going undiscussed. Something interesting could surely have been said about the way in which the fate of labour Zionism was itself eventually sealed by its failure to rally to a defence of the Palestinian people which were losing rights and suffering displacement at a savage rate.

And yet it is to the possibility of a revival of a leftist, democratic version of Zionism amongst the Jewish inhabitants of the land that he turns in the final pages of this powerful book when he sets out an argument, not for a Palestinian eking out an existence alongside Israel, but for a unitary, secular national drawing its legitimacy from a citizenship common to both Jews and Muslims and the other faiths of the region. Makadisi makes a plausible case for a line of political development which perhaps along holds out the long term prospect for peace and democracy in the region: a vision which willsend shivers up the spine of spine of extreme nationalists of both the Israeli and Palestinian persuasion.
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Apr 28, 2013 Aliya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who wants insight on the Palestine-Israel struggle

Shelves: own, non-fiction, history, politics

This is a very thought-provoking book that goes in-depth on the issues at hand. It is easy to follow and read, though (despite it taking me so long – only because of school and I wanted to read it when I was actually able to focus on it and give it my full attention!)

Makdisi goes over the history, over why/how the Jews ended up in Palestine, the struggles and abuses they went through in Europe and how they want a land to call their own, a land where they belong and will no longer be discriminate...more This is a very thought-provoking book that goes in-depth on the issues at hand. It is easy to follow and read, though (despite it taking me so long – only because of school and I wanted to read it when I was actually able to focus on it and give it my full attention!)

Makdisi goes over the history, over why/how the Jews ended up in Palestine, the struggles and abuses they went through in Europe and how they want a land to call their own, a land where they belong and will no longer be discriminated against, hated or treated wrongly. There’s nothing wrong with this desire – all people want and need to belong, truly belong, somewhere. However, in struggling for so long and desiring this so much, they became willing to do anything necessary to get what they want. And they did, at the expense of wronging others as they had been wronged. The result is the Israeli state we have today in Palestine.

Makdisi goes over the Palestine-Israeli conflict from not only the Palestinians point of view and what government and defenders say, but also by interviews and news reports from Israeli soldiers and colonists, international human rights organizations, Israeli human rights organizations, heads of the Israeli governments.

Fun facts in the book:

In 1967, Israel formulated a plan to deny Palestinians citizenship – Israel wanted to control all occupied territories and maintain its claim to “Jewsishness” by restricting political/human rights of Palestinians because if they allowed Palestinians to become citizens, their population would not consist of even a majority of Jews (In pre-1967 borders, 1 in 5 citizens would have been Palestinian Muslims/Christians).

Makdisi goes over a lot of stories of Palestinian men, women and children’s struggles and difficulties with the occupation, with the Israeli soldiers guarding the walls of separation between the two communities. Even other Arab countries – Palestinians desiring to leave or enter Gaza are made to wait, are denied, or beat simply for wanted to cross to get back home or reach a place of relative safety. As one Egyptian soldier is quoted to have said, “…no one gives a damn what happens to you… You are simply not human enough for them to care.” Their lands and homes are destroyed or taken away, ambulances are denied, the wounded, ill and pregnant are delayed, if they are even allowed to reach hospitals at all, medical treatment is prevented from going to them. Thousands have died from these circumstances. As one Palestinian says, “I am a native of this land, and this is actually my country – the stranger is the one who came from outside and refuses to recognize me. I live in my own country. My people and my ancestors are buried here. I belong to this land. I do feel like a stranger among the Jews, and they feel like I am not of their world. But I am not a stranger to this soil.”

America’s support of Israel: Although Israel, similar to America, has “free speech”, an innovative economy, and “culture of freedom”, the US does not deny citizenship due to race/color/nationality, after all, it is the land of immigrants. The Constitution forbids inequality/discrimination based on race, color, gender, or religion. It has a separation of religion and government. Israel differentiates between nationality and citizenship. It is a state of Jewish people, whether they live there or not. It is not a state of the those who live there, and therefore, Jews who don’t live there have more rights than the Palestinians who do. There is no such thing as an Israeli nationality, rather just a “Jewish nationality” because, as the Israeli High Court ruled in 1972, “there is no such thing as an Israeli nation separate from the Jewish people.”

In 2006, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated that they would not be able to maintain the State of Israel with continual control of the Palestinian population; the essential realization of Zionism is to ensure the existence of a Jewish and democratic state in Israel, and in order to do so they must create a clear boundary (with Israel maintaining security control) between Israel and an independent Palestine. This, in and of itself is impossible as the Palestinian state would be a patchwork of lands. Makdisi goes over the impossibility of a two-state solution. He argues using history to support his claim, paralleling Israel with the South African apartheid. “Short of an actual genocide, it is utterly futile for one people to try to achieve security at the expense of another.” The Israeli Jews maintain their presence in Palestine at the expense of the Palestinians and have never felt secure – there is always a threat just over the wall. The solution he presents is that although a “two-state solution is gone forever. Only full equal rights for both people in their historic homeland will bring an end to this conflict… [and although this is] a naïve dream and will never become a reality, we would do well to remember that the success of any struggle depends on the determination of its leaders and the clarity of its purpose, not the doubts of naysayers.” An Israeli-American journalist, Nir Rosen, also stated that “what needs to happen… is a one-state solution, where Palestinian refugees are allowed to go back to their homes, where Israel is a state for Jews and non-Jews alike, a state for its citizens… One way or the other, Israel can’t exist as a Jewish state that doesn’t give equal rights to its non-Jewish Arab citizens.” The 2007 UN-OCHA report made clear that it is physically impossible for an independent Palestinian state to exist. Makdisi ends with “[The Jews and Palestinians] must decide between remaining locked in a deadly struggle that neither side is in a position to win – or taking a path of peace and reconciliation. For Jewish Israelis, it would mean giving up on the dream of a state that was meant to be Jewish but never really was; for Palestinians, it would mean giving up on the dream of a sovereign Palestinian state, for which they have yearned for so long. But there is no longer any way out.”(less)

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Apr 02, 2011 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is a detailed account of the harassment and suffering that the Israeli occupation visits upon the Palestinian People day in and day out. It is indispensable not only for understanding the Israeli-Palestine conflict but for understanding the Palestinian Rage as well. If I were forbidden access to my ancestral farm lands or made to wait at a checkpoint for hours on end just so I could visit my relatives or see a physician or simply shop for, say, enough food to sustain my life, if I had...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Nahla rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Do you think that you know everything about the suffering of Palestinians in the occupied territories? Before you answer, allow me to answer on your behalf. Unless you are a Palestinian living in the West Bank then your answer must be NO. Only a handful of books can help you start to understand the extent of the humiliation, suffering and dire conditions under which our brothers and sisters in humanity, the Palestinians, and suffering at the hands of our other brothers and sisters in humanity, t...more

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May 15, 2011 Lynn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: middle-east-past-and-present

I read this book twice now... It takes only moments to be swept up in it's horror of accounts. Page after page - it becomes more and more difficult to get through. I keep asking myself why do I continue to read these books- is there no hope, my husband said I continue because I am looking for different ending....

This book has that--- the ending is in the future. The future holds the promise. "If neither people's former ideal will be realized- if the Palestinians will never recuperate Palestine...more

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May 19, 2008 Myka rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've stayed up until 3 am for the last two nights reading this book and i imagine i will again tonight to finish it. it takes up where amira hass' "drinknig from the sea of gaza" left off, but looks at all of occupied-palestine instead of just Gaza. It is about how bureaucracy kills individuals and communities and the banaltity of laws and their ferocious power, and about the innability of the UN and human rights groups to do anything but record and amerliorate the actual evils of zionist-settle...more

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Jul 08, 2010 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Don't know much about history.....don't much.... anyway, I'm totally doomed to repeat mistakes of the past because at best my knowledge of all things historical is elementary!!! Which is why I chose this book to learn more! :s

It tooook me forever and a day to read this book but I'm glad I stuck with it. Made me feel like I accomplished something. It was soooo like reading a Toni Morrison novel, Read-Digest-Rest-Read....repeat. Lots of information and images to digest.

It is well written and if yo...more

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Jan 10, 2009 Andrew rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a great approach to the conflict in Palestine..gives a really in-depth account of the plight of Palestinians on a day-to-say basis and makes a strong arguement for the creation of one, secular state for both Jews and Arabs. I fresh work and approach to an entrenched conflict.

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Feb 05, 2013 Eigil Møller rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you want to know all the details about what's REALLY happening. Trustworthy. Compassionate.

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Aug 13, 2008 Christina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: islam, middle-east, palestine

This was probably the most intense book I've ever read on the Occupation, as well as the most meticulous and methodical (although I'm about to read Chomsky's work on the subject, so that may change). I couldn't read more than a page or two at a time. It was just too intense. I would read a page and then get up and pace around the room and digest the information before sitting down and reading a few more pages. It should be required reading for any course dealing with the topic of Israel and Pale...more

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Nov 29, 2008 Pam Rasmussen rated it 5 of 5 stars

For anyone wanting a coomprehensive, human overview of the state of Palestine and Palestinians today, how it got that way and the impact of the Israeli occupation, this is the book for you. I keep very few books in my personal library, but this one I will. Makdisi comes to the conclusion that one country, with equal rights for everyone, is the only realistic, logical solution to this long-running conflict, and I couldn't agree more.

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Jun 11, 2010 !Tæmbuŝu marked it as to-read

Shelves: current-affairs, palestine, middle-east, ebook-available

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We are having an event at our store with this author on May 29th at 7 pm.

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Jul 25, 2011 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mena-west-asia

A must read if you really want to know the realities of Palestinian life under Israeli Occupation

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Shelves: non-fiction, history, general, politics, military, social, science, middle, east, islamic, studies, cultural, anthropology, political, law, israel, palestine, al-aqsa, intifada, 2000

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About Saree Makdisi

Saree Makdisi is an American literary critic of Palestinian and Lebanese descent, specializing in eighteenth and nineteenth century British literature. He also writes on contemporary Arab politics and culture. Makdisi currently holds the title of Professor of English and Comparative Literature at UCLA .

More about Saree Makdisi...

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“We would do well to remember that the success of any struggle depends on the determination of its leaders and the clarity of its purpose, not the doubts of naysayers.” — 1 person liked it

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