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You Can't Hide The Sun: A Journey Through Israel And Palestine
Transported as a young boy by his father's tales of Palestine, John McCarthy has always been drawn to the mystique of the Middle East. Remarkably, his first-hand experience of its brutal conflicts - he was kidnapped and held hostage in the Lebanon for five years - only strengthened his determination to return and explore its myriad complexities.
In the years since his ordeal, McCarthy traveled through Israel and East Jerusalem, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Bedouin encampments of the Negev desert. His intensely moving encounters with the inhabitants of this beautiful but tormented region reveal the continuing tragedy of the Palestinians who remained in Israel after its formation in 1948 - and who still dare to think of it as home.
You Can't Hide the Sun weaves their vivid testimonies with McCarthy's own experience of living under constant threat. And in doing so it asks: how can humanity endure in the face of unimaginable oppression, and how can any of us thrive without a place of safety?
In the years since his ordeal, McCarthy traveled through Israel and East Jerusalem, from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Bedouin encampments of the Negev desert. His intensely moving encounters with the inhabitants of this beautiful but tormented region reveal the continuing tragedy of the Palestinians who remained in Israel after its formation in 1948 - and who still dare to think of it as home.
You Can't Hide the Sun weaves their vivid testimonies with McCarthy's own experience of living under constant threat. And in doing so it asks: how can humanity endure in the face of unimaginable oppression, and how can any of us thrive without a place of safety?
307 pages, Hardcover
First published February 28, 2012
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John McCarthy
274 books16 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 16, 2018
‘The history of the Jewish struggle has been written about at great length, as has the formation of modern Israel. A great deal has also been written about the Palestinians outside Israel, fighting for their homeland and a place to live. But not much has been written about the experience of Arabs who stayed in the territory that had formerly been Palestine, after the formation of Israel in 1948’.
At the age of 29 in 1986 John McCarthy is offered the chance of being WTN’s acting bureau chief in Beirut for a month to five weeks. What a culture shock this was for him with burned out buildings, bombs and tracer fire all around. From that came the book ‘Some Other Rainbow’ as McCarthy was kidnapped by the Lebanese Islamic Jihad from the Shia Muslim community and held hostage for five years. Kidnapping of Westerners was not an uncommon act with Irishman Brian Keenan who had been teaching English at the American University of Beirut was himself kidnapped. I read his book ‘An Evil Cradling’ many years ago. McCarthy utilizes a couple of chapters to go over the kidnapping, how he was kept hostage with some really interesting historical facts. Due to his kidnapping he says, ‘I developed an empathy with people who don’t have a voice, who are dispossessed, who are denied freedom’.
With his trusty fixer called Suha, who is actually a film screenwriter and had written the screenplay for ‘Lemon Tree’ which I highly recommend, they drive around northern Israel first to speak with Palestinians that were old enough to remember 1948 and what went on in their part of the world at that time. These are just ordinary people that would have been forced out of their homes even though they had every right to live there according to the UN mandate, ‘Although the 1947 UN Partition Plan pledged more than half of the land for a Jewish state, the land was meant to come with the Palestinians who owned it, farmed it and lived on it. Yet by the time the war ended Israel had taken just under 80 per cent of old Palestine and was denying a similar percentage of Palestinians the right to return to their land’.
He moves on to other parts of Israel and the people he meets and the stories he hears are tragic, sad and also uplifting. I would never have wanted to be in their position. Main incidents include, of course, the 1948 war to the massacre in 1956, the Land Day Protest 1976 and the intifadas of 1987 and 2000. Just over halfway through the book he looks at the present situation regarding Palestinian ownership of land, villages and towns.
I read this book to educate myself and not to re-enforce any pre-conceived ideas, opinions or notions that I had. From that point-of-view I learnt a lot. I am not religious at all, so I am really looking at this from the outside-in. It does seem though that the author did indeed have an agenda and re-enforced it with the particular people he spoke to but he certainly does get the facts across in a very interesting way. That is the main thing, facts. In this type of book everything stated needs to be backed up by a fact and it does appear, to me anyway, that he does. I would have liked to hear voices from the other side as well but there is not one to be heard in this book.
At the age of 29 in 1986 John McCarthy is offered the chance of being WTN’s acting bureau chief in Beirut for a month to five weeks. What a culture shock this was for him with burned out buildings, bombs and tracer fire all around. From that came the book ‘Some Other Rainbow’ as McCarthy was kidnapped by the Lebanese Islamic Jihad from the Shia Muslim community and held hostage for five years. Kidnapping of Westerners was not an uncommon act with Irishman Brian Keenan who had been teaching English at the American University of Beirut was himself kidnapped. I read his book ‘An Evil Cradling’ many years ago. McCarthy utilizes a couple of chapters to go over the kidnapping, how he was kept hostage with some really interesting historical facts. Due to his kidnapping he says, ‘I developed an empathy with people who don’t have a voice, who are dispossessed, who are denied freedom’.
With his trusty fixer called Suha, who is actually a film screenwriter and had written the screenplay for ‘Lemon Tree’ which I highly recommend, they drive around northern Israel first to speak with Palestinians that were old enough to remember 1948 and what went on in their part of the world at that time. These are just ordinary people that would have been forced out of their homes even though they had every right to live there according to the UN mandate, ‘Although the 1947 UN Partition Plan pledged more than half of the land for a Jewish state, the land was meant to come with the Palestinians who owned it, farmed it and lived on it. Yet by the time the war ended Israel had taken just under 80 per cent of old Palestine and was denying a similar percentage of Palestinians the right to return to their land’.
He moves on to other parts of Israel and the people he meets and the stories he hears are tragic, sad and also uplifting. I would never have wanted to be in their position. Main incidents include, of course, the 1948 war to the massacre in 1956, the Land Day Protest 1976 and the intifadas of 1987 and 2000. Just over halfway through the book he looks at the present situation regarding Palestinian ownership of land, villages and towns.
I read this book to educate myself and not to re-enforce any pre-conceived ideas, opinions or notions that I had. From that point-of-view I learnt a lot. I am not religious at all, so I am really looking at this from the outside-in. It does seem though that the author did indeed have an agenda and re-enforced it with the particular people he spoke to but he certainly does get the facts across in a very interesting way. That is the main thing, facts. In this type of book everything stated needs to be backed up by a fact and it does appear, to me anyway, that he does. I would have liked to hear voices from the other side as well but there is not one to be heard in this book.
May 10, 2013
It is interesting that as yet there are no other reviews on this book, but I can understanding because I am struggling with words. This book's title is 'a journey through Israel and Palestine' which is misleading because it is really a history lesson about the struggle of the Palestinian people since the formation of the Jewish State of Israel in 1948. McCarthy travels all over Israel collecting personal stories of injustice and highlights what seems to be an ongoing apartheid system within the country. Despite the misery he describes the landscape shines though as one of great beauty. My only criticism harks back to the term 'less is more'. I am sure he had many, many stories to choose from but I feel that by including so many in one book it robbed it of some of the impact.
Everyone should read this book just to understand the history of the Palestinian struggle.
Everyone should read this book just to understand the history of the Palestinian struggle.
September 8, 2013
An extraordinary book. In terms of reading it is well written and easy to read. In terms of content, it is very difficult to read. A powerful testament to the lives of arabs - Druze, Bedouin and Palestinian - as they try to live as citizens of Israel, on land they and their families have lived on for centuries. The complex narrative of laws that exist, seemingly, to make the lives of arabs impossible in Israel is told through the simple stories of those who live as the victims of these laws. The warmth and humanity of those who suffer at the hands of these laws is surprising. Equally, the Israeli Jews who also fight alongside those who suffer. However, it is hard to read too much at once and it has taken me some time to get through the book. Even so, I don't feel any of the personal histories can be cut, nor would it be right to turn away. An important work in understanding the problems of the Middle East.
July 7, 2013
Having spent many months as a hostage tin Lebanon as an indirect consequence of the situation in this region, the author has no immediate empathy to the Palestinians but he felt he wanted to find out where they were coming from. The result is a frank, moving and no hold barred account of history and events since 1948. Whatever ones sympathies towards Israel, and many will be sympathetic, this book catalogue a series of policies, discriminations and vendettas against Palestinian Arabs that will leave the reader very uncomfortable and possibly angry and betrayed by a people we all want to affirm
What does shine through is the resistance, humour and warmth of Palestinian culture and society and a growing recognition amongst growing numbers of Israeli's that things must change.
A moving and inspiring read
What does shine through is the resistance, humour and warmth of Palestinian culture and society and a growing recognition amongst growing numbers of Israeli's that things must change.
A moving and inspiring read
April 19, 2024
An elderly Quaker friend lent me this book. It’s a worthy addition to the reading list of any one who wants to increase their knowledge and understanding of the history of the Palestinian people over the last 75 years. John McCarthy, whose often brutal incarceration as a hostage could plausibly have made him into a very bitter man, has only compassion for others who have suffered, and who have been kept away from their homes; in this case the Palestinian people.
He is amazed and incensed, increasingly, to learn of the inhuman treatment meted out by Zionists in Israel, both the state and individuals. As I read of his encounters I felt hugely sad that some of the positive expectations and hopes of peace and reconciliation activists have been comprehensively blown away by the appalling onslaught, since 7 October 2023, on Gaza and the West Bank.
He is amazed and incensed, increasingly, to learn of the inhuman treatment meted out by Zionists in Israel, both the state and individuals. As I read of his encounters I felt hugely sad that some of the positive expectations and hopes of peace and reconciliation activists have been comprehensively blown away by the appalling onslaught, since 7 October 2023, on Gaza and the West Bank.
September 29, 2015
Wow! What a read!
It's a pity that this book has so few reviews. It should be read by all those Christian westerners who think Biblically, while claiming to be secular/modern.
McCarthy has shown a profound degree of impartiality and fairness in his account. He is even critical of his home country's policies, when most other westerners either skirt around such an issue or downplay it. I applaud him for his humanity, because he frequently draws upon the experiences of his own family/home/captivity, when hearing the plight of individual Palestinians-truly demonstrating moral equivalence.
His writing draws us in, as if it's an old friend sharing his experiences over a cup of tea.
As he travels to almost all enclaves/ghettos of Palestinians, we get a complete picture of life in Israel for the non-Jews or Muslims and Christians.
Life for non-Jews in Israel is the same as life was for the Jews in Christian Europe.
Two days ago, I finished the book, "The Jews: The Story of a People" by Howard Fast. Historically, The Jews had only two benefactors; the Persians and the Muslims. However, Muslim favors far exceeded those given by Persia, and even Fast admits-albeit he tries very hard not to-that the Jews and their Arab counterparts were equals in every way, in the Arab/Muslim empires of Baghdad, Egypt and Spain.
This Muslim benefaction (is that even a word?) spanned a period of 1,200 years. Today, the Jews repay the favor with genocide and ongoing oppression, all in the name of a Biblical prophecy fulfilled.
The Chosen/special/civilized/peace loving/educated people have behaved in exactly that way; superior with corresponding rights and privileges. It is this fact, which lies at the heart of the Qur'an. No one is special/chosen/superior/holy/blessed simply because they were born that way. If and when people start believing that they are special/chosen, then they mete out injustices/cruelties and horrors upon all others.
Israel, as a land for the Jews has no basis in history or religion. Let's examine this claim.
The Christians support the Jewish claim to Israel because they believe that God gave the promised land to Abraham. The Jews claim Israel not because of Abraham, but due to Moses, a centuries removed descendant of Abraham. The followers of Moses were part of the exodus, but they never reached the promised land, as it was denied to them by God Himself. They wandered for 40 years and Moses passed away during this time. This fact is clearly stated in both the Bible and the Qur'an.
Howard Fast states that the followers of Moses were not yet monotheists, and they followed various pagan Gods such as the bull worshipped by the Egyptians, amongst others. Howard Fast gets all intellectual and reasons that Moses' God Yahweh, was possibly a Volcano, because Mount Sinai exploded.
THIS was the iniquity because of which Palestine was denied to the followers of Moses. Allah/God would NEVER bless a people, who persist in worshipping pagan deities, even as their Divinely guided prophet (Moses) was calling them to faith and God Himself parted the red sea to drown the pharaoh and succor them.
The Biblical promise is ridiculous if seen in light of Jewish beliefs. Let me explain this in analogy form.
Suppose the first of five children of an American millionaire is promised a certain villa in the south of France--which his dad owns--conditional upon him graduating cum laude from college.
Now suppose the son continuously denies the possibility that his father could own a villa in the south of France, and shows total disrespect towards his father. He also drops out of college in his freshman year, stating that he prefers to pursue fame through stardom instead. His father then disowns him and cuts him off financially. The father also gives the villa in the south of France to his second son, who graduates from college cum laude.
The eldest son, a homeless college dropout, struggles as an aspiring artist and suffers privation and misery. Fifteen years pass and the destitute older son one day lands at the villa in the south of France, where his younger brother now lives with his family. At first the older brother is moved by the plight of his younger brother, and he welcomes him in his home.
A month later when he has rejuvenated due to his brother's hospitality, the older brother announces that the younger one better move out of the house or else, because the house was promised to him by his father.
He conveniently ignores the fact that his father's promise was conditional upon a certain achievement and it was forfeited as a result of bad conduct. He simply remembers the part that suits him. Being toughened as a result of years of living on the streets, he forces his younger brother out, and tells the world that he is finally reclaiming what was rightfully his.
That's the story of modern Israel.
The current plan of the Israeli establishment is to reclaim the kingdom of David (another prophet). Although this is not touted as a promise of God, it establishes historical claim upon the land. McCarthy tells us in this book that Israeli archeologists state that there was no Israelite presence in Jerusalem during the estimate reign of King David.
Israel is on the map, and doing what it is doing, because might makes right!
It's a pity that this book has so few reviews. It should be read by all those Christian westerners who think Biblically, while claiming to be secular/modern.
McCarthy has shown a profound degree of impartiality and fairness in his account. He is even critical of his home country's policies, when most other westerners either skirt around such an issue or downplay it. I applaud him for his humanity, because he frequently draws upon the experiences of his own family/home/captivity, when hearing the plight of individual Palestinians-truly demonstrating moral equivalence.
His writing draws us in, as if it's an old friend sharing his experiences over a cup of tea.
As he travels to almost all enclaves/ghettos of Palestinians, we get a complete picture of life in Israel for the non-Jews or Muslims and Christians.
Life for non-Jews in Israel is the same as life was for the Jews in Christian Europe.
Two days ago, I finished the book, "The Jews: The Story of a People" by Howard Fast. Historically, The Jews had only two benefactors; the Persians and the Muslims. However, Muslim favors far exceeded those given by Persia, and even Fast admits-albeit he tries very hard not to-that the Jews and their Arab counterparts were equals in every way, in the Arab/Muslim empires of Baghdad, Egypt and Spain.
This Muslim benefaction (is that even a word?) spanned a period of 1,200 years. Today, the Jews repay the favor with genocide and ongoing oppression, all in the name of a Biblical prophecy fulfilled.
The Chosen/special/civilized/peace loving/educated people have behaved in exactly that way; superior with corresponding rights and privileges. It is this fact, which lies at the heart of the Qur'an. No one is special/chosen/superior/holy/blessed simply because they were born that way. If and when people start believing that they are special/chosen, then they mete out injustices/cruelties and horrors upon all others.
Israel, as a land for the Jews has no basis in history or religion. Let's examine this claim.
The Christians support the Jewish claim to Israel because they believe that God gave the promised land to Abraham. The Jews claim Israel not because of Abraham, but due to Moses, a centuries removed descendant of Abraham. The followers of Moses were part of the exodus, but they never reached the promised land, as it was denied to them by God Himself. They wandered for 40 years and Moses passed away during this time. This fact is clearly stated in both the Bible and the Qur'an.
Howard Fast states that the followers of Moses were not yet monotheists, and they followed various pagan Gods such as the bull worshipped by the Egyptians, amongst others. Howard Fast gets all intellectual and reasons that Moses' God Yahweh, was possibly a Volcano, because Mount Sinai exploded.
THIS was the iniquity because of which Palestine was denied to the followers of Moses. Allah/God would NEVER bless a people, who persist in worshipping pagan deities, even as their Divinely guided prophet (Moses) was calling them to faith and God Himself parted the red sea to drown the pharaoh and succor them.
The Biblical promise is ridiculous if seen in light of Jewish beliefs. Let me explain this in analogy form.
Suppose the first of five children of an American millionaire is promised a certain villa in the south of France--which his dad owns--conditional upon him graduating cum laude from college.
Now suppose the son continuously denies the possibility that his father could own a villa in the south of France, and shows total disrespect towards his father. He also drops out of college in his freshman year, stating that he prefers to pursue fame through stardom instead. His father then disowns him and cuts him off financially. The father also gives the villa in the south of France to his second son, who graduates from college cum laude.
The eldest son, a homeless college dropout, struggles as an aspiring artist and suffers privation and misery. Fifteen years pass and the destitute older son one day lands at the villa in the south of France, where his younger brother now lives with his family. At first the older brother is moved by the plight of his younger brother, and he welcomes him in his home.
A month later when he has rejuvenated due to his brother's hospitality, the older brother announces that the younger one better move out of the house or else, because the house was promised to him by his father.
He conveniently ignores the fact that his father's promise was conditional upon a certain achievement and it was forfeited as a result of bad conduct. He simply remembers the part that suits him. Being toughened as a result of years of living on the streets, he forces his younger brother out, and tells the world that he is finally reclaiming what was rightfully his.
That's the story of modern Israel.
The current plan of the Israeli establishment is to reclaim the kingdom of David (another prophet). Although this is not touted as a promise of God, it establishes historical claim upon the land. McCarthy tells us in this book that Israeli archeologists state that there was no Israelite presence in Jerusalem during the estimate reign of King David.
Israel is on the map, and doing what it is doing, because might makes right!
May 7, 2017
This is a good book if you want to understand what is happening in Palestine today. Clearly written by a journalist with an eye for a good story, it is accessible and the narratives he tells brings the conflict between Israelis and Palestine alive. It has even more credibility as the author was held captive in the Middle East for five years and has a deep personal commitment to understanding what is going on and sharing this with the world.
March 21, 2017
Not the greatest writer in the world but it's v. sensitively and empathetically written
March 8, 2017
I'm always interested to read or hear what John McCarthy has to say. In this book he lets Palestinians in Israel speak and uses the words of one: "This is not a way" repeatedly and effectively.
McCarthy is a terribly English journalist, as all his references to his family life remind the reader. Perhaps the prose remains always that of a journalist rather than a "writer", but he has chosen his subject well here, beautifully positioned as a victim of terrorism, Arab terrorism, to shine a spotlight on what cannot be otherwise described than the unacceptable and grotesque treatment of non-Jewish citizens of Israel itself, including the actions and inactions of the British which facilitated it. His account is relentless but not ranting. You can see that he, who as a hostage endured so much, is constantly asking himself "How do they endure this?" He's not prescribing solutions, seeing that neither violence nor reasoning with religion is going to be successful, but his important book is a very eloquent "This is not a way"
McCarthy is a terribly English journalist, as all his references to his family life remind the reader. Perhaps the prose remains always that of a journalist rather than a "writer", but he has chosen his subject well here, beautifully positioned as a victim of terrorism, Arab terrorism, to shine a spotlight on what cannot be otherwise described than the unacceptable and grotesque treatment of non-Jewish citizens of Israel itself, including the actions and inactions of the British which facilitated it. His account is relentless but not ranting. You can see that he, who as a hostage endured so much, is constantly asking himself "How do they endure this?" He's not prescribing solutions, seeing that neither violence nor reasoning with religion is going to be successful, but his important book is a very eloquent "This is not a way"
April 8, 2021
This is an important story, that needs telling and I wasn't really aware of - the deliberate historic and ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs by the Jewish Israeli people. John uses his fame as an ex-hostage to draw attention to this by repeating stories told to him on several journeys around Israel. There's some description of the landscape, of the people he meets and a lot of driving. But it's mostly a recounting of heartbreaking stories, pinned to his central theme of a need for a homeland that is being taken away.
I found it a deliberately one-dimensional account of the situation, though. In trying so hard to paint the Jews as the vicious bad guys (justifiably, it seems), John mostly fails to bring in the wider context. There's passing mention of the colonial start of the whole situation, of Israeli wars with other countries, of Sunni and Shia. Very little about Gaza, the West Bank, nothing about the 'two-states solution'. Glancing reference to the fact that the Zionist desire was always for a Jewish state, so Israel was never going to work as set up by the international community. A Bedouin man describes himself as "Arab first, then we are Palestinians, and finally we are Bedouin" - so how do Palestinians fit in with the wider Arab world, then? How do the Jews feel about Arabs from different countries? Where did their feeling of threat come from at the Palestinian presence in 'their new country'? (Which was the Arabs' existing one, the whole point of this book.)
By explaining some of these other positions, this could be a useful book to understand the Middle East situation. But it sticks rigidly to telling stories of Jewish oppression of Arabs in Israel, which is a shame. The same interview style with a broader base could help us understand the standpoint of many people involved, how it all came about and how/if it can be resolved, instead of repetitively raking over the trauma of the dispossessed.
The timeline at the end mentions the PLO agreeing to stop terrorist activity, but I don't remember any mention that there was any terrorism going on, apart from the early Jewish bombings in the British era. That kind of thing undermines this book for me. It starts to feel like propaganda if one side is presented and then everything else is glazed over. Presenting other opinions wouldn't weaken his central argument, it would strengthen it because I'd have more understanding, and could choose to agree with him instead of being told what to think.
I'm glad I read this book, but I wish it had been better.
I found it a deliberately one-dimensional account of the situation, though. In trying so hard to paint the Jews as the vicious bad guys (justifiably, it seems), John mostly fails to bring in the wider context. There's passing mention of the colonial start of the whole situation, of Israeli wars with other countries, of Sunni and Shia. Very little about Gaza, the West Bank, nothing about the 'two-states solution'. Glancing reference to the fact that the Zionist desire was always for a Jewish state, so Israel was never going to work as set up by the international community. A Bedouin man describes himself as "Arab first, then we are Palestinians, and finally we are Bedouin" - so how do Palestinians fit in with the wider Arab world, then? How do the Jews feel about Arabs from different countries? Where did their feeling of threat come from at the Palestinian presence in 'their new country'? (Which was the Arabs' existing one, the whole point of this book.)
By explaining some of these other positions, this could be a useful book to understand the Middle East situation. But it sticks rigidly to telling stories of Jewish oppression of Arabs in Israel, which is a shame. The same interview style with a broader base could help us understand the standpoint of many people involved, how it all came about and how/if it can be resolved, instead of repetitively raking over the trauma of the dispossessed.
The timeline at the end mentions the PLO agreeing to stop terrorist activity, but I don't remember any mention that there was any terrorism going on, apart from the early Jewish bombings in the British era. That kind of thing undermines this book for me. It starts to feel like propaganda if one side is presented and then everything else is glazed over. Presenting other opinions wouldn't weaken his central argument, it would strengthen it because I'd have more understanding, and could choose to agree with him instead of being told what to think.
I'm glad I read this book, but I wish it had been better.
April 28, 2014
A fascinating journey through Israel and Palestine that sheds light on a community that is being destroyed on a daily basis, right there in the heart of what is named “Modern Israel”.
The Palestinian citizens of Israel, who stayed in the territory after 1948, actually compose 20% of the population, and through this journey we hear their stories…all stories of ordinary men living extraordinary times.
These people are forced to live in a physical and moral vacuum, humiliated, tortured and abandoned by the whole world, and through telling their stories, they come out of the shadows and make themselves heard.
Although presenting unusual dilemmas, the author tries to keep sight of everyone’s humanity, stressing on the fact that the only hope for a solution left for people in this country is merely to learn how to “co-exist”.
I quote:
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not primarily a religious or cultural confrontation, but a more elemental battle for a place to belong.”
And as one Palestinian puts it:
“We know that we must keep struggling, even if it takes another twenty-five years. Eventually we will win our rights…as long as we are struggling we are winning. It is all so obvious…YOU CAN’T HIDE THE SUN!”
The Palestinian citizens of Israel, who stayed in the territory after 1948, actually compose 20% of the population, and through this journey we hear their stories…all stories of ordinary men living extraordinary times.
These people are forced to live in a physical and moral vacuum, humiliated, tortured and abandoned by the whole world, and through telling their stories, they come out of the shadows and make themselves heard.
Although presenting unusual dilemmas, the author tries to keep sight of everyone’s humanity, stressing on the fact that the only hope for a solution left for people in this country is merely to learn how to “co-exist”.
I quote:
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not primarily a religious or cultural confrontation, but a more elemental battle for a place to belong.”
And as one Palestinian puts it:
“We know that we must keep struggling, even if it takes another twenty-five years. Eventually we will win our rights…as long as we are struggling we are winning. It is all so obvious…YOU CAN’T HIDE THE SUN!”
December 7, 2014
I was interested in reading John McCarthy book on Palestine. I wondered if his views would be bias against the Arabs, considering his history as a hostage in Lebanon. The book takes you on a fascinating journey through Israel and Palestine.Well researched it gives you a history of the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 to the present day. It sheds light on the Palestinian communities that is being destroyed on a daily basis in the name of progress under the Israeli State. The book is a real eye opener with it's moving account. A must read.
June 29, 2014
You Can't Hide The Sun by John McCarthy
I have to hold up my hands and say that I was quite ignorant about the situation in Israel/Palestine; only going by what was on the news or in papers but I found this book quite disturbing in the way it threw up little known - and disturbing - facts. I can still remember the anecdotes from the Baker and the incident on the cross roads. Opened my eyes and made me judge "reports" in the news in a more balanced way.
I have to hold up my hands and say that I was quite ignorant about the situation in Israel/Palestine; only going by what was on the news or in papers but I found this book quite disturbing in the way it threw up little known - and disturbing - facts. I can still remember the anecdotes from the Baker and the incident on the cross roads. Opened my eyes and made me judge "reports" in the news in a more balanced way.
December 31, 2015
An engaging and insightful read for anyone who wants to know more about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.
I think the book suffers a little for lack of Israeli voices throughout. It is perhaps the author's view that we hear enough of the Israeli side of the story. But for those who don't know the story of Israel intimitely, an Israeli perspective might have added to the strength of this book.
I think the book suffers a little for lack of Israeli voices throughout. It is perhaps the author's view that we hear enough of the Israeli side of the story. But for those who don't know the story of Israel intimitely, an Israeli perspective might have added to the strength of this book.
December 4, 2013
Was keen to find out what the situation in Palestine is really like and this was very informative. It contains some excellent cameos of what life is like for a numbner of different people and is very enlightening.
May 9, 2015
As a hostage in the Lebanon, John McCarthy sustained himself with thoughts of home. In this book he examines the experiences of Palestinians in Israel - what they have gone through and how they see the future.
January 24, 2014
One of the best books I have read on this subject.
April 8, 2014
Asks and endeavours to answer questions relating to homeland, oppression, threat, places of safety and belonging in the context of Israel and Palestine. A brilliant very readable book.
August 8, 2014
Didn't really enjoy it as writing style wasn't very gripping. Some of the stories were very upsetting and it would have been good to get more of them.
March 9, 2015
An extremely interesting, if deeply upsetting, book written by a man who seems very likeable.
September 30, 2024
Shocking
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews