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    Our Harsh Logic: Israeli soldiers' testimonies from the Occupied Territories, 2000–2010
    Unavailable
    Our Harsh Logic: Israeli soldiers' testimonies from the Occupied Territories, 2000–2010
    Unavailable
    Our Harsh Logic: Israeli soldiers' testimonies from the Occupied Territories, 2000–2010
    Ebook489 pages6 hours

    Our Harsh Logic: Israeli soldiers' testimonies from the Occupied Territories, 2000–2010

    By Breaking the Silence

    3/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    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 defence of the country. Indeed, support for the occupation of Palestinian territory rests on the belief that the army’s actions 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 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 significant contribution to understanding one of the world’s most vexed conflicts.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherScribe Publications
    Release dateOct 17, 2012
    ISBN9781921942990
    Unavailable
    Our Harsh Logic: Israeli soldiers' testimonies from the Occupied Territories, 2000–2010
    Author

    Breaking the Silence

    BREAKING THE SILENCE, one of Israel’s most internationally lauded non-government organisations, was established in Jerusalem in 2004 by Israel Defense Forces veterans to document the testimonies of Israeli soldiers who have served in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

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    Reviews for Our Harsh Logic

    3/5

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    • 3/5
      The problem with books like "Our Harsh Logic" is that they're fuel for the fire. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been going on for generations and the presentation of these testimonies without adequate context only enrages those who know little about what's going on in the Middle East or have a stake in playing the 'victimhood' card. There is little doubt that Israel sits in a position few, if any, find enviable. Their policies often make more enemies than friends, but to rashly judge all their positions and put them in the camp of 'imperialists' or 'zionists' is too easy and accommodating for those with ulterior motives. This is a book that is solely based on testimony from soldiers who more often than not participated in the activities they are describing and only after felt remorse. This says more about the culture of the military than it does about Israel. Imagine a book based on the US intervention/occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Soviet invasion/occupation of Afghanistan, or the US war in Vietnam told solely from those who witnessed abuse and atrocities. Would that be a fair depiction of the actions of any of these nations in their respective war zones? Hardly. And while the previously mentioned conflicts lasted for around a decade, Israeli soldiers have lived with terror and violence for generations, as have their Palestinian neighbors. There's no question that abuse takes place on a daily basis when you give teenagers and young adults weapons that can readily be used to kill and maim, especially as they're growing up in an environment where each side demonizes the other. Highlighting that abuse is pointless without adequate context and analysis. Thus there is nothing new or original among the pages of this book for those familiar with the institution of the military (which seems to cover things up on a regular basis, only to be discovered for their lies sooner or later) or the situation in the Middle East as it stands today. It's a tragic situation that few have the patience to attempt to understand, where generational animosities plays themselves out on a regular basis and perpetuate violence and hatred.
    • 1/5
      Our Harsh Logic: Israeli Soldiers' Testimonies From The Occupied Territories, 2000 -- 2010 (New York: Metropolitan Books, $21.12; 2012), nearly 400 pages long, is twisted, conflicted, poisonous, and of little or no worth to anyone. The good news about Harsh Logic is that -- if you're determined to read the thing -- you can ingest it in less than an hour.I say so for a couple of reasons. One is that Harsh Logic contains hundreds of pages of what the authors claim is eyewitness testimony by Israeli soldiers who serve "peacekeeping" duties in Gaza and the West Bank. The peacekeepers supposedly spend long nights driving through Palestinian villages, where they throw hand grenades into the streets at 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. Other nights the peacekeepers go on foot from house to house. They kick down doors, drag residents into the street, torture men, beat up and/or shoot women and children, tear the homes to pieces, blow them up, set them afire. Peacekeepers kidnap residents and hold them hostage for days, weeks, months, years. They steal Palestinian money and household goods, kill livestock and pets, destroy gardens and crops, smash family heirlooms and religious artifacts. They burn schools and blow up mosques. All of those things and more in that vein are tactics in what the Israeli government, Israeli soldiers and Israeli settlers are pleased to call "peacekeeping" and "anti-terrorism" activities.Another reason is that the tales of woe are told by some outfit called "Breaking The Silence." BTS alleges that the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank employs tactics that are illegal, immoral, and inhumane. Said crimes are also counterproductive in that they foment hatred and violence in citizens of the Occupied Territories, a result which directly contradicts official, stated goals of the Israeli occupation. BTS claims they want to change all that.Their argument is laid out in an 8-page Introduction. Points made by the argument are expanded upon in the 5-or-6-page 'Overview' that leads each of the four chapters in the book. Testimony in each chapter supports and illustrates what is charged in each 'Overview.'The layout makes it possible for readers to appreciate the argument by reading just 40-odd pages instead of the whole book. Readers who refuse to take the authors' word for what is charged can read the hundreds of pages of supporting evidence and be convinced (or not) in that way.What makes the book worthless is the fact that all of the testimony is anonymous. No names or dates are mentioned. The photographs have been doctored to make people and places unrecognizable. Thus none of what BTS claims is eyewitness testimony could be used in a court of law. It cannot be verified in any way.What makes Harsh Logic twisted, conflicted, and poisonous is the mindset of the hapless clods who call themselves Breaking The Silence, who put the thing together. One notices, for example, that "Palestinian citizens of Israel" are mentioned once (p. 124) and that the terms "Palestinian" and "Palestinians" are used dozens of times throughout the book. Yet the word "Palestine" is never mentioned nor does "Occupied Palestine" apparently exist. Instead the authors tell us of "the Occupied Territories," "Gaza," "the Gaza Strip," and "the West Bank, and "the Occupied West Bank." The authors do mention "citizens of the Occupied Territories," "citizens of the West Bank," etc.The sane person has to ask "Where do Palestinians come from if there is no Palestine?" Why are they "Palestinians" and not "WestBankians," or "Gazans," or some such? If BTS is well intended, then the answer may be that members of BTS are retarded, or maybe members of BTS are so deeply immersed in the role of "oppressor" that they cannot step out of that role far enough to divorce themselves from the behavior (censorship) and the vocabulary of oppressors.Solomon sez: Breaking The Silence may be well intended, but their Harsh Logic comes way short of convincing me. I'll believe that BTS is serious when they quit speaking the language of oppression and start speaking the language of truth. When Israelis quit speaking of "Occupied Territories" and start speaking of "Occupied Palestine," then the world will know there may be a solution in the offing. When what Israelis now call "harsh logic" is known as murderous insanity, we will know that a solution can be achieved. When the "excesses" of Israeli "peacekeepers" are punished as war crimes and Palestine is no longer occupied, then most problems in the Middle East will have been solved.
    • 3/5
      This collection of first hand accounts in Palestinian territory is frightening and sober. This of course makes for a depressing read throughout, but its all worth knowing the tactics and daily life that happens to these mostly young men. As one reviewer notes, "It testifies to dehumanization and worse, but it testifies also to courage: firstly to the courage of the soldiers who faced what they had done and witnessed, who in many cases faced truthfully their own dehumanization and wrong doing; and secondly to members of Breaking the Silence."I would highly recommend it to those working on Israeli occupation studies as it gives some perspective that is often lost and untruthful.
    • 3/5
      I won this book from the Early Reviewers group. This book is by a group called Breaking the Silence. The group was started by a group of retired IDF ( Israelie Defense Force) men to shed light on the situtation that we are all too familiar with between Israel and The Palistinians, but they share insight from an insiders perspective. The stories are told in an interview form, which after about two hundred pages you wish the format would have been different. The stories range from changing checkponit rules, this makes it harder and more aggravating to get through them, to stories of revenge by the IDF on Palestinian poloicemen for the death of a soldier, by the way the policemen are unarmed, and are chased down, shot then left to die, after a bullet has been placed in the head to make sure they're dead. After one hundred and fifty pages the stories start getting repetitive, and it's hard to finish. Some will look at these stories as IDF bullying, some will see it as IDF anti terrorist moves. I'll leave that up to you. It is a difficult read, due to some of the stories, and the format.
    • 2/5
      Lengthy and detailed recounts from the occupation, prefaced by an apt introduction and contextualization. Only recommended for those truly interested however.