Victory For Us Is to See You Suffer: In the West Bank with the Palestinians and the Israelis

By Philip C. Winslow

Book Overview

During the second Palestinian intifada, Philip C. Winslow worked in the West Bank with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), driving up to 600 miles a week in the occupied territory. He... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080706906X
• ISBN13: 9780807069066
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Where Was He Then?

Is this the Phil Winslow who once worked for WBBF-FM in Rochester as a classical announcer?

How can you have peace when you destroy the whole olive tree.

This book was a very good book. Why? Because it gives one a better understanding of how the Palestinians live on a daily basis. Some people call this war but there is more to it. You cannot discount actions on either side simply by saying it is a war. Do the Palestinians do the same thing to the Israelis that the Israelis do to them. No. And this book shows that. Israel subjects Palestinians to harsh and inhumane treatment everyday. From not being able to drive to being assaulted by so called "settlers" to having their lives disrupted by the numerous permits needed to do anything in their own land. The hassles to get to the hospital, the loss of land and livelyhood. The degrading treatment of men, women, children and older people at checkpoints. Whether you are pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian this book offers some insight into the treatment of the Palestinians without saying that their treatment okays terrorist attacks. It merely lays it out there for you to absorb. The book also presents some views form the Israeli side. I especially liked when the author dealt with the soldiers who man the checkpoints and how young they were and they must feel. Nothing is perfect and neither is this book. I know there will be people who will hate it just because it shows the Palestinian side but if you do not understand the Palestinians then you will never understand the conflict.

Good read

"Victory for us is to see you suffer" is a personal account of the writer's experiences in the West Bank. While it forms a good introduction for beginners to the Israeli Palestinian conflict, also veterans in the region will find the writer's account of the second Intifada highly informative. Through several short stories, Winslow brings the occupation to live and describes its devastating effect on Palestinians as well as Israelis. The book is a very readable and engaged work, describing the sad and desperate situation that is lasting for more than 40 years.

Well written and insightful

While reading this book (and afterwards) I felt many emotions regarding the accounts of what Mr. Winslow described. I could only feel his frustration at his sometime helplessness to generate any change or provide more help than he was allowed. Very well written, first hand observations of someone that was there. We are often filtered from such information or we just don't care enough. Great book that I read at one sitting and highly recommend to anyone that wants to know what is really going on in the West Bank and the region in general.

Eye Witness Account

This is a very personal book, a memoir really, full of insight that goes beyond the headlines and the personal axes that are constantly being sharpened on the cultural/political grinding wheel. If this book were about Uganda it would not seem inflamatory at all, because, sadly, not many people care much about Uganda compared to Israel/Palestine. This book does many things, but most importantly it shows the cost of war in human terms on both sides. It offers a unique perspective, which is that of the person trying to attend to the suffering that war causes.