New book details Israeli occupation of West Bank

■ Kingdom of Olives and Ash highlights the daily struggles of Palestinians living under Israeli control and the collective trauma inflicted upon both peoples

Agroup of renowned authors has published a collection of essays about Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, hoping their grim firsthand perspectives will draw attention to what they say is an unsustainable situation that is harmful to Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Through the eyes of novelists and nonfiction writers, “Kingdom of Olives and Ash” highlights the day-to-day struggles of Palestinians living under Israeli control and the collective trauma inflicted upon both peoples.

The 26 authors involved in the project include Pulitzer Prize-winners Michael Chabon and Geraldine Brooks, celebrated Irish writer Colm Toibin and Peruvian Nobel Prize laureate Mario Vargas Llosa. Mr Chabon and his wife, American-Israeli author Ayelet Waldman, also edited the volume.

The writers visited the West Bank and the Gaza Strip last year to bear witness “in vivid and clear language” to the reality for Palestinians after 50 years of Israeli occupation. Gaza, from where Israel withdrew its settlers and troops in 2005, is now controlled by Hamas militants.

The essays describe the segregated city of Hebron, the vibrant nightlife in Gaza City, the hardships of businessmen in Ramallah, and the frustration of young

Palestinians who carried out a stabbing attack that wounded two Israelis in 2015. “They came with relatively few preconceptions,” Mr Chabon said. “They saw for themselves and they got to talk to people on the ground.”

The project was organised by “Breaking the Silence”, an Israeli organisation of former soldiers who speak out against the military’s policy in the Palestinian territories. The group has come under heavy fire from Israeli leaders, who say it should air its criticisms locally instead of taking its message to foreign audiences.

Mr Chabon said the book is aimed both at international and Israeli readers, though its affiliation with Breaking the Silence and reliance on foreign critics may limit its impact with the local audience. Education minister Naftali Bennett, one of the most outspoken critics of the organisation, declined to comment, as did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

The book was launched on Sunday to commemorate this month’s anniversary of the 1967 Mideast War, in which Israel took control of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. Hebrew and Arabic versions are to hit bookshelves in Israel and the Palestinian territories later this week. Speaking to reporters at Jerusalem’s American Colony hotel, Mr Chabon said the project seeks “to draw attention to the occupation, and especially to draw the attention of people who aren’t paying attention.”

Mr Chabon, in his essay “Giant in a Cage,” describes traveling from Ramallah to the northern West Bank city of Nablus with a PalestinianAmerican businessman. He talks of witnessing firsthand the seemingly arbitrary nature of Israel’s military control over Palestinian lives, from checkpoints and permits to resource allocation and construction.

“I was embarrassed and ashamed, both by my ignorance before seeing it and also that such things are being done with my money as an American taxpayer and in my name as a Jew,” he said. Mr Waldman, who was born in Israel and grew up in the United States and Canada, worked as a public defender in California before turning to a career in writing. An outspoken liberal, she campaigned for Barack Obama, a former classmate at Harvard Law School, during his 2008 presidential campaign.

Her essay, “Justice, justice you shall pursue,” reads like a legal argument against Israel’s military court system through the case of two Palestinian teens. One was arrested and roughly handled, then held without bail for allegedly possessing a knife. The other was arrested in the middle of the night, imprisoned and confessed to setting a field on fire in exchange for a fine and lighter sentence.

“Whether those accused in fact committed the offenses is less important than the creation of a general climate of fear, anger, and distrust that quashes rebellion,” she wrote. settlement

Authors Michael Chabon (left) and Ayelet Waldman at the launch of a new book of essays, titled Kingdom of Olive and Ash, that describes the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, now in its 50th year, in Jerusalem.