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Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories [Updated & Revised]
Updated & revised in 2014 with new photos, appendices, testimonials, and afterword. Full color, original photographs, maps, and stories -- popular for classrooms, book groups, etc. From back Anna Baltzer, a young Jewish American, visited the West Bank to discover for herself the realities of everyday life for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. What she found would change her outlook on the issue forever. For eight months over the following four years, Baltzer lived and worked with farmers, Palestinian and Israeli activists, and the families of political prisoners, traveling with them across checkpoints and roadblocks to reach hospitals, universities, and olive groves. Baltzer witnessed firsthand the devastation wrought by expanding settlements and the Wall. She also encountered countless Palestinian grievances beyond the occupation, of non-Jews living in a Jewish state and refugees yearning to return to their homes and land. Baltzer’s probing and honest examination of the occupation, Zionism, and the pervasive spirit of Palestinian resilience offer a fresh look at Palestine today.
436 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
22 people are currently reading
439 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 18, 2015
I used to be an ideological Zionist,but since I gave up entirely on Islamophobia,I am able to see the other side of the conflict!
I have always blvd in reading both sides but tbh I was very indifferent to the Palestinian side coz of my ideological blindness and prejudice..
However,this book is one of a kind,an eye opener,written by an amazing Jewish American woman Anna Baltzer,I saw her lecture on her time in West Bank and got this book...
Women have a much better way to empathize and tell a story,of a narrative,its one stereotype about women I don't want to dispute..And in fact,am proud of..
So I am starting to read this book..It seems amazing,unfortunately available only in paperback format and not in kindle..It's very beautifully written,with a lot and lot of pictures,probably the single best picture journal you'll ever read on Israel vs Palestine conflict!Her language is highly impersonal and passionate,no matter how your views might be vis a vis the conflict,this book is one book that should be read everybody who isn't a blind Islamophobe(I speak from my own experience as one former Islamophobe my self!)
The format of the book is very unique and interesting!Naturally you can tell that this book is written by someone with very visual and artistic kind of brain!It tells countless tragic stories one after another,and without demonizing Israelis and even Zionism..Although she is clearly involved in the BDS campaign against Israel,she doesn't get carried away the way many pro Palestine activists do (Max Blumenthal and Rania Khalek and their little Hamas gang for example,who veer off to the deep end and indulge in blatant antisemitism,those would be the red lines for me personally!) but this is a book by someone who won't demonize one side to make the case for the other..I also highly recommend you Anna's lectures on the conflict,which are available on Youtube,
It's titled "Anna Baltzer:Life in Occupied Palestine "
The Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu_1l...
This is the lecture that made me buy this book,I of course do not support BDS one bit,which is being supported by Antisemites of all hues and the likes of David Dukes and Hamasniks,but if you want to understand he conflict better,this book along with other book written by Pamela Olson called 'Fast time in Palestine' remain must read books!
(Will update a much detailed review once I am done reading the book)
I have always blvd in reading both sides but tbh I was very indifferent to the Palestinian side coz of my ideological blindness and prejudice..
However,this book is one of a kind,an eye opener,written by an amazing Jewish American woman Anna Baltzer,I saw her lecture on her time in West Bank and got this book...
Women have a much better way to empathize and tell a story,of a narrative,its one stereotype about women I don't want to dispute..And in fact,am proud of..
So I am starting to read this book..It seems amazing,unfortunately available only in paperback format and not in kindle..It's very beautifully written,with a lot and lot of pictures,probably the single best picture journal you'll ever read on Israel vs Palestine conflict!Her language is highly impersonal and passionate,no matter how your views might be vis a vis the conflict,this book is one book that should be read everybody who isn't a blind Islamophobe(I speak from my own experience as one former Islamophobe my self!)
The format of the book is very unique and interesting!Naturally you can tell that this book is written by someone with very visual and artistic kind of brain!It tells countless tragic stories one after another,and without demonizing Israelis and even Zionism..Although she is clearly involved in the BDS campaign against Israel,she doesn't get carried away the way many pro Palestine activists do (Max Blumenthal and Rania Khalek and their little Hamas gang for example,who veer off to the deep end and indulge in blatant antisemitism,those would be the red lines for me personally!) but this is a book by someone who won't demonize one side to make the case for the other..I also highly recommend you Anna's lectures on the conflict,which are available on Youtube,
It's titled "Anna Baltzer:Life in Occupied Palestine "
The Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu_1l...
This is the lecture that made me buy this book,I of course do not support BDS one bit,which is being supported by Antisemites of all hues and the likes of David Dukes and Hamasniks,but if you want to understand he conflict better,this book along with other book written by Pamela Olson called 'Fast time in Palestine' remain must read books!
(Will update a much detailed review once I am done reading the book)
September 2, 2012
Author and scholar Anna Baltzer, a Jewish American woman, lived under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and writes of checkpoints, the Wall, land confiscation, and home demolition. Additionally, she shares her Passover seder in Palestine, where Palestinian neighbors, Israeli activists and internationals celebrate in solidarity. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in becoming more knowledgeable about the middle east.
July 28, 2009
I was only going to give it 3 or 4-stars, then I realized I was rating my own feelings, rather than the book.
Before reading it, I thought there was a solution to the problem, hard to negotiate, sure, and probably not in the near future, but some sort of peaceful and mutually respectful resolution. (Didn't South-Africa?)
I don't see it anymore, neither one state nor two.
How she can conclude that " peace is just waiting to break through the mutually destructive occupation" is to me un-understandable: it took 28 years for the Berlin wall to come tumbling down, and it was not built to augment East Berlin's land and water resources; furthermore, there was no distrust between West- and East-Germans, only between their allies, the US and Russia.
It breaks my heart to see the Palestinian people constantly shooting themselves in the foot, making all the wrong choices, and condemning themselves to fourth-world poverty; it breaks my heart to see the Jewish people whose courage and determination I admire so much, behave like a 19th century colonial power.
Baltzer wrote this book with her heart, and that's how you should read it: try to forget you have an opinion, and empathize. I only wish you won't find it as depressing as I did.
Before reading it, I thought there was a solution to the problem, hard to negotiate, sure, and probably not in the near future, but some sort of peaceful and mutually respectful resolution. (Didn't South-Africa?)
I don't see it anymore, neither one state nor two.
How she can conclude that " peace is just waiting to break through the mutually destructive occupation" is to me un-understandable: it took 28 years for the Berlin wall to come tumbling down, and it was not built to augment East Berlin's land and water resources; furthermore, there was no distrust between West- and East-Germans, only between their allies, the US and Russia.
It breaks my heart to see the Palestinian people constantly shooting themselves in the foot, making all the wrong choices, and condemning themselves to fourth-world poverty; it breaks my heart to see the Jewish people whose courage and determination I admire so much, behave like a 19th century colonial power.
Baltzer wrote this book with her heart, and that's how you should read it: try to forget you have an opinion, and empathize. I only wish you won't find it as depressing as I did.
December 8, 2008
This is a really good book with lots of pictures. Its hard to read more than a few pages a day because its such a serious topic and very personally written but still recommend it highly. Plus the author is our age!
January 12, 2008
Anna Baltzer is fantastic. Sign up for her email update list! Interesting, educational perspective.
July 17, 2015
Hybrid textbook/journal. Enthralling read. It's the best (paper) resource I've come across on Israel/Palestine, combining statistics, personal stories, maps, and photographs.
September 19, 2010
This book tells a powerful story. Told as a journal, it is heartbreaking and empowering. It makes one want to do whatever possible to change things in the middle east. This reissue is in two parts, the first from Baltzer's original book, and the second part is her return to Palestine and how, rather than get better, things only got worse.
About halfway through, I was reading yet another check-point entry and found myself skimming through the encounter because it was so similar to all of the previous check-points. I had to stop myself and was shocked at how quickly I had become numbed by the injustice. Yet this is what Palestinians feel. They go through these exact same things every day.
We as Americans never hear the stories of the peaceful resistance, the marches; all we hear about are the suicide bombers. But there are those people who fight every day, the simple act of staying in Palestine and going to work every day, going through multiple checkpoints, this is their fighting.
However, it hardly demonizes the Israelis. We are also introduced to Israeli activists, as well as soldiers who are just doing their time until they too can join these activists. Most other soldiers are presented as simply being unaware of what they're doing. They are simply doing as their told and never question their supervisors. Every American should read this book, and know the truth about what the majority of Palestinians are doing as resistance.
About halfway through, I was reading yet another check-point entry and found myself skimming through the encounter because it was so similar to all of the previous check-points. I had to stop myself and was shocked at how quickly I had become numbed by the injustice. Yet this is what Palestinians feel. They go through these exact same things every day.
We as Americans never hear the stories of the peaceful resistance, the marches; all we hear about are the suicide bombers. But there are those people who fight every day, the simple act of staying in Palestine and going to work every day, going through multiple checkpoints, this is their fighting.
However, it hardly demonizes the Israelis. We are also introduced to Israeli activists, as well as soldiers who are just doing their time until they too can join these activists. Most other soldiers are presented as simply being unaware of what they're doing. They are simply doing as their told and never question their supervisors. Every American should read this book, and know the truth about what the majority of Palestinians are doing as resistance.
November 22, 2007
fantastic view of the suffering of Palestinan people through the eyes of a Jewish American who went to see for herself what was really happening over there. A must read!
Truly it hits one when we realize we must go see things for ourselves to find the truth weather it be this cause or anyother ,Always go learn and see for oneself before casting judgment!
Truly it hits one when we realize we must go see things for ourselves to find the truth weather it be this cause or anyother ,Always go learn and see for oneself before casting judgment!
Currently reading
March 17, 2009And now for some light reading. Just kidding.
August 16, 2009
A personal memoir of a Jewish Woman spending time in Palestine and her personal transformation as well as a realistic account of live under occupation.
Read
August 2, 2011Everyone should read this book.
August 15, 2022
I wanted not to like the book. But the notes are sincere. Are they biased? Sure, like any human. And the actions are full of danger, as I doubt the Israeli state takes kindly on this sort of heresy. The only shortcoming would be that the reader might be tempted to think that there are bad governments and good governments, and if only ”we” can establish a good State there, things would be different. Only the next State would do the same. It's the State, and not the people who maintain the abuse, while curtailing the actions of decent people like Baltzer. A sad book, about people being stuck in a place where they should not be: both Israelis and Arabs.
December 9, 2023
reads exactly how it's marketed- a diary of a twenty-something Jewish American living in Occupied Palestine from 2003-05. The sheer violence of everyday life she reports is harrowing. Baltzer's hopefulness for a solution and reconciliation on the Israeli part is lightening.
March 12, 2024
“The Israeli Army has wreaked continuous havoc on Palestinian land and life, but it has never succeeded in destroying the Palestinian spirit. Nothing will stop humans from seeking freedom, least of all guns.”
unsettling but necessary to read and witness
unsettling but necessary to read and witness
March 21, 2017
This book is like 10 years old now!.. I have had it for 3 years I think and finally got around to reading it. The saddest part is knowing that today 10 years later nothing has changed. It's talking mostly about the division between israel and palestine. The concrete wall being built separating the two countries. Cutting into Palestinian towns, farms and lands. The stories are touching and makes you hate this unjust world.
March 23, 2018
Beautiful and painful documented witness to the struggles of people in the holy lands.
August 19, 2015
A book I wish all my Jewish friends would read
March 17, 2016
Necessary reading. The "other side of the story".
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews