The Bitter Landscapes in Palestine by Margaret Olin and David Shulman is a book of protest against Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians, but at the same time, it is very much a work of art. Like a symphony, a theatrical play, it is beautifully composed, drawing you right into the harsh and beautiful landscapes and life of the people of this disputed land, through poetic yet incisive words and photographs and an inspiring design. It is amazing how this very critical, political look at a harsh reality can coexist with poetry and art. It is precisely the art that pulls you in.
The many interludes between the book’s sections, that the writers named lahzat, (Arabic for ‘moments’) - tea breaks when time stands still, spotlights on one special human being – strikingly printed on a gray background, add to this poetic structure.
The first section sets the stage for the experience of being in the field with the shepherds and farmers by painting the stony landscape in word and image. The magical light of the early morning, and again the late afternoon blues that color the landscape can be overwhelming to the spirit.
In the following section, however, the beauty of the landscape, the dreamy light at dawn and dusk, is juxtaposed with what has become the overriding fact of life for Palestinians in Area C - the increasing attacks by settler thugs, often backed by the army, instilling fear and a sense of total insecurity. Attacks that limit the life-space, meager grazing grounds and farmlands of the shepherds and farmers, destroying their homes, frightening and stealing their sheep, impounding their farming equipment, drying up their water sources, to the point of driving away entire communities from their native lands.
Most of all, The Bitter Landscapes of Palestine invites the reader to experience being in the field with the shepherds and farmers (and the activists), to hear the voices of the Palestinians and the activists, join them in their daily outings, to grasp what their way of life means to them – and perhaps making it possible to understand the Palestinians’ ongoing perseverance, sumud, how they get the strength to go on, even when all their possessions have been destroyed, when all seems lost.
The book certainly throws me back to my own experience in these very landscapes. It was Peg Olin who introduced me to Taayush in 2015, first going out in the South Hebron Hills, and later in the Jordan Valley. Many times, I went out together with David, learning much from his deep understanding of Arabic culture – and one of the most beautiful sections in the book is about the Arabic language.
I include here my photo of Peg in action, in the book you can see the photo that she herself took at that same moment, of Abu Jibril arguing with the soldier, not giving up his dignity.
At that time, we were confronting the soldiers much more frequently than the settlers, disputing their claims of closed military zones, when the soldiers could not always produce an order.
Perhaps then, the settlers were less vicious, though they were mostly the ones to summon the soldiers and knew themselves to be the lords of the land. Now, with the increasing violence of the settler thugs from the burgeoning illegal outposts that are now being legalized by our settler government, my courage to go out with the shepherds was waning.
This book is giving me the strength to return.
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to order:
USA: University of Chicago:
https://press.uchicago.edu/.../distrib.../B/bo216867615.html
GB: Intellect Books:
https://www.intellectbooks.com/the-bitter-landscapes-of...
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5Auke van der Berg, Ellen Schwartz and 3 others