NYTmes Book Review 7-15-7 Peace for Land. DAVID MARGOLICK's review of Israel, the War, and the Year That Transformed the Middle East By Tom Segev
"Hopes that Palestinians would flee en masse, as they had in 1948 (the Israelis even had buses conveniently available to them in East Jerusalem), never materialized. Menachem Begin proposed dumping the Gazan refugees in Egypt. Other schemes had them going to Iraq (just what the Iraqis needed: another faction) or Latin America. More realistic was a plan to move 250,000 refugees from Gaza to the West Bank. But it never happened; the settlements soon popping up throughout the West Bank housed Jews instead."
RE: Peace for Land. DAVID MARGOLICK's review of Israel, the War, and the Year That Transformed the Middle East By Tom Segev http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/books/review/Margolick-t.html?ref=world
Dear Editor,
As time goes on I suspect all reviews of Israel itself will become more and more bleak, and perhaps even more and more brief as we become less fascinated by the many hyped up Zionist 'heroes' who have been dominating every scene: There is only shame and sin in perpetrating Israeli perspectives as millions of Palestinians suffer and starve.
A more telling approach to the subject of Israeli invasion and occupation is a beautifully written book by a Palestinian American, Ibtisam Barakat tittled "Tasting the Sky, A Palestinian Childhood". She remembers Israeli soldiers setting up cardboard people not far from her home, and firing at them for hours.
And she speaks of Alef, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet...Throughout the book gently, poetically she brings alive memories of Palestinian life on a personal level, which includes her fascination for letters and words- Arabic letters and words. She opens up a whole world which we need to know and understand:
"Rasa'el Shawq (Letters of Longing) was the program Mother listened to most faithfully. It aired the voices of Palestinian refugees who could not return home after the war of 1948 or the Six-Day War. They revealed the shreds of their lives and hoped that relatives, or anyone who knew them, would hear the news and pass it on..." (page 116 Tasting the Sky)
FYI: Signed and ratified by Israel The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination [Article 5 (d)(ii)], states: "State parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination on all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of ... the right to leave any country, including one's own, and to return to one's country."
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
Tasting the Sky
A Palestinian Childhood
Ibtisam Barakat
RE: Peace for Land. DAVID MARGOLICK's review of Israel, the War, and the Year That Transformed the Middle East By Tom Segev http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/books/review/Margolick-t.html?ref=world
Dear Editor,
As time goes on I suspect all reviews of Israel itself will become more and more bleak, and perhaps even more and more brief as we become less fascinated by the many hyped up Zionist 'heroes' who have been dominating every scene: There is only shame and sin in perpetrating Israeli perspectives as millions of Palestinians suffer and starve.
A more telling approach to the subject of Israeli invasion and occupation is a beautifully written book by a Palestinian American, Ibtisam Barakat tittled "Tasting the Sky, A Palestinian Childhood". She remembers Israeli soldiers setting up cardboard people not far from her home, and firing at them for hours.
And she speaks of Alef, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet...Throughout the book gently, poetically she brings alive memories of Palestinian life on a personal level, which includes her fascination for letters and words- Arabic letters and words. She opens up a whole world which we need to know and understand:
"Rasa'el Shawq (Letters of Longing) was the program Mother listened to most faithfully. It aired the voices of Palestinian refugees who could not return home after the war of 1948 or the Six-Day War. They revealed the shreds of their lives and hoped that relatives, or anyone who knew them, would hear the news and pass it on..." (page 116 Tasting the Sky)
FYI: Signed and ratified by Israel The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination [Article 5 (d)(ii)], states: "State parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination on all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law, notably in the enjoyment of ... the right to leave any country, including one's own, and to return to one's country."
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
NOTES
http://www.holtzbrinckpublishers.com/FSGBYR/search/SearchBookDisplay.asp?BookKey=3880474Tasting the Sky
A Palestinian Childhood
Ibtisam Barakat
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 Booklist, American Library Association, Starred Review Booklist Top 10 Biographies for Youth Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review Publishers Weekly School Library Journal, Starred Review VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates) |
| “When a war ends it does not go away,” my mother says.“It hides inside us . . . Just forget!” But I do not want to do what Mother says . . . I want to remember. In this groundbreaking memoir set in Ramallah during the aftermath of the 1967 Six-Day War, Ibtisam Barakat captures what it is like to be a child whose world is shattered by war. With candor and courage, she stitches together memories of her childhood: fear and confusion as bombs explode near her home and she is separated from her family; the harshness of life as a Palestinian refugee; her unexpected joy when she discovers Alef, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. This is the beginning of her passionate connection to words, and as language becomes her refuge, allowing her to piece together the fragments of her world, it becomes her true home. Transcending the particulars of politics, this illuminating and timely book provides a telling glimpse into a little-known culture that has become an increasingly important part of the puzzle of world peace. |
 "A spare elegant memoir . . . What makes [it] so compelling is the immediacy of the child's viewpoint, which depicts both conflict and daily life without exploitation or sentimentality. There's much to talk about here." --Starred, Booklist "Beautifully crafted. Readers will be charmed by the writer-to-be as she falls in love with chalk, the Arabic alphabet, and the first-grade teacher who recognizes her abilities."--Starred, School Library Journal "A compassionate, insightful family and cultural portrait." --Starred, Kirkus Reviews “Brims with tension and emotion.” --Publishers Weekly "Barakat strives to depict vivid details of everyday life . . . Well worth purchasing to provide a viewpoint not often available to young adults in the United States."--VOYA “This is an astonishingly beautiful and heartbreaking book. The resurrected memories of a gifted girl growing up under the crush of war and occupation gave me hope: that if we read carefully, with open hearts, the world just might begin to change.” —Suzanne Fisher Staples, author of Under the Persimmon Tree “Ibtisam Barakat is not only a luminous writer and thinker, she is a wondrous healer, too. In this exquisite, tender account of her Palestinian childhood, nothing is missing—love, attachment, struggle, fear, humor, resilience. The child in this story carries more wisdom and a keener sense of justice and injustice than do most people in seats of power. Tasting the Sky should be read by everyone with a humane interest in the story of Palestine.” —Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Habibi “This is a poignant, eloquent testament of a war-torn childhood, a story we in the United States have only glimpsed before now. This generous author has truly opened her heart for all to see.” —Jennifer Armstrong, author of The American Story: 100 True Tales from American History “In vivid, beautiful prose, Ibtisam Barakat transports readers into a place few Westerners have ever seen—the interior life of a young girl and her family in the occupied West Bank. This book, appropriate for readers young and old, holds literature’s great power: the power to humanize the ‘other,’ and to therefore change the way we understand our world.” —Sandy Tolan, author of The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East "An extremely compelling memoir about a young Palestinian girl who lived through the Six Day War in the Middle East . . . interesting [and] heartwarming." —A YALSA YA Galley Teen Reader "This book is very eye opening -- it tells the side of the story that you never learn about in history class and in the news, and it is really well written." —A YALSA YA Galley Teen Reader |
 IBTISAM BARAKAT is a poet and educator who has worked with organizations such as the United Nations to facilitate a dialogue between Palestinians and Israelis. This is her first book. She currently lives in Columbia, Missouri. |
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