"One of the most important books on Israel/Palestine in this generation" (The New York Review of Books).
Happy to let you know that our book "Our Harsh Logic - Israeli
Soldiers' Testimonies from the Occupied Territories, 2000-2010" is
available for sale on Amazon>>
Israeli soldiers speak out for the first time
about the truth of the Palestinian occupation, in "one of the most
important books on Israel/Palestine in this generation" (The New York Review of Books)
The
very name of the Israel Defense Forces—which many Israelis speak of as
"the most moral army in the world"—suggests that its primary mission is
the defense of the country's territory. Indeed, both internationally and
within Israel, support for the occupation of Palestinian territory
rests on the belief that the army's actions and presence in the West
Bank and Gaza are essentially defensive and responsive, aimed at
protecting the country from terror.
But Israeli soldiers
themselves tell a profoundly different story. In this landmark work,
which includes hundreds of soldiers' testimonies collected over a
decade, what emerges is a broad policy that is anything but defensive.
In their own words, the soldiers reveal in human and vivid detail how
the key planks of the army's ostensibly protective program—"prevention
of terror," "separation of populations," "preservation of the fabric of
life," and "law enforcement"—have in fact served to accelerate
acquisition of Palestinian land, cripple all normal political and social
life, and ultimately thwart the possibility of independence.
The
many soldiers who have spoken out have taken aim at a silence of
complicity, both within Israel and in the wider world, that perpetuates
the justification for occupation. In the process, they have created a
gripping and immediate record of oppression. Powerful and
incontrovertible, Our Harsh Logic is a supremely significant contribution to one of the world's most vexed conflicts.
