Source: http://bristlingbadger.blogspot.com
Date: 22nd February 2010

Gaza: writing from beneath the bombs

A year ago, as Israeli forces rained military death upon Gaza, we blogged, we wrote emails, some of us even took to the streets. And all of it felt futile.

Others, however, were out there. The Free Gaza boat activists had sailed laden with supplies for the besieged Gazans, and many were still there when Operation Cast Lead began.

Sharyn Lock was one of them and, as I nudged folk towards at the time, was blogging from the thick of it. Her writing was clear, intelligent, compassionate and fearless. She wrote calmly, straightforwardly and thoughtfully, yet didn't flinch from her freaked out Western reactions, nor from the duty to stay where she was most needed and report what she saw.

The subject mater was so vivid, the number of voices coming out so few, and her talent so great, that she was commissioned to make a book of her writings which has just been published as Gaza: Beneath the Bombs.

In order to assemble it into a coherent narrative she worked with Sarah Irving. Irving's not only an incisive non-mainstream journalist but is also an experienced volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement.

She first went to Palestine in March 2002 as part of a group of international citizens whose presence in Israeli-occupied territories would, they hoped, curb the excesses of the Israeli military. Soon after they arrived, the Israelis launched fierce attacks, massacring Palestinians and shooting unarmed peace demonstrators.

This being before blogging had taken off, Sarah maintained frequent email contact with the outside world. Her reports from Bethlehem - contrasting sharply with the biases of the corporate media - were startling, harrowing and compelling. So much so that I couldn't let them disappear and archived them over at U-Know.

Her writing, like Lock's, it trustworthy precisely because it doesn't have any pretence of objectivity. They lay their feelings wide open; we see any bias plainly, we see why it exists, as they refuse to shy away from emotional responses. How could anyone really be there and really be part of it and remain aloof?

If a writer on a political subject manages to preserve a detached attitude, it is nearly always because he doesn't know what he is talking about. To understand a political movement, one has to get involved in it. And as soon as one is involved in it one becomes a propagandist.

- George Orwell (New English Weekly, 22 Sept 1938)


Yet this is not blindly partisan. The book has an unswerving compassion for all the people recorded in it, Palestinian, Israeli or international. As Richard Falk, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestine, says in the book's afterword, it manages to humanise the inhuman.

It is powerful, moving and strikingly modern writing; accessible, warm and humane. It is as much about psychology as physical fact, as much a story of resilience as brutality. Anyone wanting to understand the reality of life in Gaza should get a copy.

The authors are doing readings at bookshops and event around Britain, check here for details. You can also buy it online. If you're going to do that, go to the publisher Pluto Press and enter the code FREEGAZA or ISM GAZA during the payment process, and the relevant organisation gets a cut.

Original: http://bristlingbadger.blogspot.com/2010/02/gaza-writing-from-beneath-bombs.html

Source: Frank Barat, http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.over-blog.org/
Date: 23rd January 2010

“Very well written… interesting, powerful, uplifting and very funny. Mabrouk for producing such an excellent and useful work.”

Source: http://manchestermule.com/article/book-review-gaza-beneath-the-bombs
Date: 25th January 2010

One year on from the carnage of the so-called Gaza war the 1.5 million people of the strip are still prisoners in their own land, trapped by the active efforts of Israel and the silent complicity of her allies in the international community. The lack of any principled attempt to rein in Israel has resulted in the emergence of a widespread network of international grassroots activists informed by principles of non-violent direct action. They are doing what they can with whatever resources they can muster to implement the international laws the international community seem intent on ignoring. Gaza: Beneath the Bombs offers a firsthand glimpse of this movement in action.

The book covers the day by day, eye-witness account of an international activist Sharyn Lock, who reported on last year’s Israeli war on Gaza as it happened, originally on her blog Tales to Tell. Documenting the highs of challenging the Israeli siege by sea as well as the lows of the daily dangers faced by Palestinian ambulances in a sometimes lethal endeavour to save lives, Gaza Beneath the Bombs provides a uniquely illuminating view of the continuing oppression endured by Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. Lock also manages to express the seemingly impossible optimism of Palestinian humour and courage in the face of so much hardship.

Lock writes humbly and conscientiously, allowing the subjects of this human reality not only to speak directly to the reader. Hearing and seeing them, through the startling images accompanying the text, their pain over the sight of destroyed homes and their grief for the lost sons, daughters, fathers and mothers leaves the reader attached to their story. We become aware of the essential humanity of a people who must struggle to be even seen as human in the mostly averted eyes of the world.

No amount of academic material can match this account of the Israeli offensive: Lock witnessed the impact of bombs, explosions, bullets, and tanks with her own eyes and evokes within the reader a real sense of lived experience. She writes about her feelings, of sharing, of solidarity, of living the moment and staring – shocked and disorientated – at the horrors amidst the tear gas, fumes and tears of emotion. The experiences are all profoundly felt. It offers us an image of modern warfare that gets lost in the computerised Star Wars-like images projected from our TVs.

It is amazing that individuals exist who are willing to risk life and limb to expose, evoke and speak about horrors most would rather not even hear about. But this book is not the story of the white westerner saving the poor Palestinian. It is rather a retelling of their tales, stories which have happened, that are happening and will continue to happen unless something drastic is done to change things. It is a must read.

Source: http://carrieblackbirdsinging.blogspot.com/2010/02/fine-book.html
Date: 3rd February 2010

Just over a year ago, I wrote about Sharyn, a friend who was in Gaza during the month of Israeli air strikes. She was doing aid work, accompanying ambulances, helping patch up people, protect others by her 'foreign' status. A truly amazing woman. She kept a blog throughout ( http://talestotell.wordpress.com/ ) which has been made into a book! It's called 'Gaza: Beneath the bombs' and is definitely worth getting hold of.
You can see it here.
I was so afraid she might not come out alive from that terrible time and every blog posting, when she could get to any electricity that is, was a huge relief to all who know her. We didn't need to wait for an enquiry to know that white phosphorus was being uesd in one of the most densely populated places in the world. Sharyn witnessed its effects first hand and gave a voice to its silent victims.

Source: Amazon.co.uk
Date: 24th January 2010

This book, written by Sharyn Lock, one of a handful of "internationals" that remained in Gaza during "Operation Cast Lead" (name given by Israeli army to operation that in fact was a massacre, shooting practice and outright agression) is a must buy for anyone wanting to understand what really happened in the Gaza Strip during December 2008-January 2009 and in the so called following "cease fire" months.

Taking the form of a diary, this book goes through 22 days of air, sea and land bombings, killings, destructions and collective punishment inflicted by the Israeli Army on the people of Gaza but also goes deep into Gazans psyche and is full of humanity and incredibly enough, humour. "Black humour as an antidote to self pity".

An enlightening work by a very brave woman.

Source: Jason Elliott, http://jason-elliott.blogspot.com
Date: 24th January 2010

I am currently reading the amazing book, Gaza: Beneath the Bombs, by Sharyn Lock whose "Tales to Tell" blog I highlighted on these pages over year ago.

Sharyn was in Gaza last winter throughout "Operation Cast Lead" and the occupation by the IDF.

This is the resulting book, based on her experiences as an ISM volunteer, riding on ambulances and hoping her presence as an "international" would discourage the Israeli soldiers from firing on them.

It was a very dangerous thing to do (she has previously been shot and other ISM volunteers have been killed by the Israelis), and she saw more suffering, death and fear than anyone should, but this was a story that had to be shared with the wider world.

What I personally find amazing here is the incredible resilience and positivity of the Palestinian people shining through the pages. Sharyn's humour and compassion, combined with her literary skill as a "page-turner", clearly illustrate the Gazan people as the one of the most "glass full" on the planet!

A short interview with Sharyn can be read here and a BBC interview recorded at the time of the attack is below, together with one for PRESS TV.

The book is available on Amazon but if you really want to help, go to the publishers www.plutobooks.com, where if you use the code FREE GAZA or ISM GAZA, a bit of your payment will be donated to those projects. Alternatively, you can go directly to Sharyn's "Tales to Tell" blog and leave a message asking for a copy and she'll post you one..