In 1993, amira hass, a young Israeli reporter, drove to Gaza to cover a story-and stayed, the first journalist to live in the grim Palestinian enclave so feared and despised by most Israelis that, in the local idiom, "Go to Gaza" is another way to say "Go to hell." Now, in a work of calm power and painful clarity, Hass reflects on what she has seen in Gaza's gutted streets and destitute refugee camps. Drinking the Sea at Gaza maps the zones of ordinary Palestinian life. From her friends, Hass learns the secrets of slipping across sealed borders and stealing through night streets emptied by curfews. She shares Gaza's early euphoria over the peace process and its subsequent despair as hope gives way to unrelenting hardship. But even as Hass charts the griefs and humiliations of the Palestinians, she offers a remarkable portrait of a people not brutalized but eloquent, spiritually resilient, bleakly funny, and morally courageous. Full of testimonies and stories, facts and impressions, Drinking the Sea at Gaza makes an urgent claim on our humanity. Beautiful, haunting, and profound, it will stand with the great works of wartime reportage, from Michael Herr's Dispatches to Rian Malan's My Traitor's Heart. Amira Hass was born in Jerusalem in 1957, the daughter of Yugoslavian-Jewish refugees. A journalist for the Hebrew daily "Ha'aretz, " she now covers Gaza and the West Bank. Hass has received the UPI's International Award and the Sokolow Prize, Israel's highest honor for journalists. For her work in Gaza, she was nominated for the Robert F. Kennedy Award. In 1993, Hass became the first Israeli journalist to live in the Gaza Strip. In this book she reflects on what she witnessed in the Strip's gutted streets and destitute refugee camps. Equal parts wartime reportage and cultural inquiry, it details ordinary Palestinian life by giving voice to Gaza's doctors, housewives, taxi drivers, farmers, union activists, and Islamic leaders. What does it mean to live amid incessant security sweeps, a daunting blockade, and the authoritarian regime of Arafat? In searching for the answers, Hass documents family and social life in Gaza with clarity and passion. "Shatters stereotypes . . . Hass reveals the surprising contradictions of Palestinian society."--Susie Linfield, "The Los Angeles Times" "Hass observes with something like despair, and writes with skill and passion."--Graham Usher, "The Economist" "A wonderful book, persuasively argued."--Peter McKenna, "The Washington Post Book World" "Not only has Amira Hass done the reporting that makes this book a moving and eloquent advocate of Palestinian humanity, but she is also a blunt and beautiful writer"--Amy Wilentz, "Newsday" "A fascinating book . . . Frank, unsentimental."--"Chicago Tribune" (Editor's Choice) "Unique and important. Hass, the 'enemy' and a woman to boot, dropped into a war zone armed with nothing but her compassion. She brought back this book--a powerful, compelling portrait of a tragedy."--Tom Segev, author of "The Seventh Million" "Beautiful, passionate, and profoundly disturbing, Hass's book summons up the very essence of Gaza."--Amos Elon, author of" Founder" "She clearly depicts the problems--from potholes to arbitrary Palestinian policing--endured by the enclave's one million people. The reportage covers the period before and after the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. Hass profiles PLO returnees, Hamas rejectionists, shopkeepers, and workers and their travails in entering Israel. Through a deep understanding of Gazans' moods of militancy and passivity, Hass ably dissects and explicates the individuated elements of a generally difficult and evolving political problem."--Gilbert Taylor, "Booklist" "Hass stresses political, not social, freedoms, vividly documenting the daily degradation of ID checking, security sweeps, crushing border closures that cut off the Palestinians' economic lifeline of menial jobs in Israel, and rubber bullets, tear gas, or mass arrests by an overreacting occupation army."--"Kirkus Reviews"
Dimensions:139 x 210
Author: Amira Hass
ISBN: 9780805057409
Format: Paperback
Pages 400