cover image Victory for Us Is to See You Suffer: In the West Bank with the Palestinians and the Israelis

Victory for Us Is to See You Suffer: In the West Bank with the Palestinians and the Israelis

Philip C. Winslow, . . Beacon, $24.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-8070-6906-6

Foreign correspondent Winslow (Sowing the Dragon's Teeth ) depicts the universal cost of Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands in excruciatingly human terms in a memoir detailing 30 months spent on the West Bank with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Describing the fear, humiliation and violence routinely faced by people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Winslow balances the Palestinian struggle to maneuver through an ever-growing web of walls, checkpoints and Israeli military operations in the West Bank, with close attention to Israel's legitimate defense needs and the fear created by Palestinian terrorism. The multilayered narrative demonstrates unusual compassion for the human side of the conflict, sympathizing with both the Palestinian citizens and the Israeli soldiers in the clear understanding that the latter, too, are dehumanized by the violence that surrounds them. Using resonant descriptions of the occupation's daily routines, the account searches for moments of human kindness that can bridge the chasm created by civil discord, admirably achieving the author's goal to paint “pictures of what armed conflict does to humanity.” (Oct.)