Reviews for When the Bird Stopped Singing: Life in Ramallah Under Seige

The average rating for When the Bird Stopped Singing: Life in Ramallah Under Seige based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-06-05 00:00:00 Eric W Johnson Some thoughts I have been trying to figure out prior to and after reading this book. 1)You cannot paint everyone with the same brush. Take a look at your hand and notice your fingers. None are of the same length. Likewise, you cannot speak of a linguistic, ethnic, racial, religious, socio-economic etc. group as a single entity. There is difference within and without. Although it is extremely difficult to release yourself from the mentality of "us" and "them", it is a crucial step that needs to be taken for the well being of humanity as a whole. Even while living under occupation, the author is able to realize this. 2) "I must try and lead as orderly a life amidst all this chaos as is possible. Above all I must not begin to lose respect for myself by wasting my time and getting myself in such a state as to be unable to think, write, and do useful work"(21). The human spirit can be bent but it cannot be broken. Even while living under occupation, the People have the strength and the courage to carry on and to live their lives. They refuse to let the forces of occupation limit or cage them in any way. It is this attitude that fortifies a family and a community. 3)"You know, both our leaders are lousy. It is only because of them that we are fighting each other" (44). I have always believed that there is truth in this statement. You may have two groups fighting each other but within each group there are the elites. There are the politicians who benefit from having people at war. It's not about helping the people or speaking for them. It really comes down to serving your own interests and motives. But in the end the heavy hand comes down on the people. It is they who lose their lives and suffer for the decisions of those at the top. This is true in any country. 4) "Everyone felt they knew what was good for me and no one thought of asking" (56). This point is very similar to the last one and to the first one. People just assume that they know what you want and need. They think that the needs and opinions of the people are the same but they do not take into account the idea that you cannot paint everyone with the same brush. The only way to find out what people's concerns, questions, wants and needs are is to ask them. By doing so you will find that an entire group does not share the same needs, concerns or wants! 5) Pages 78-80 really summed up how I feel about conflict and violence. There are no winners and losers. "War is a malignant disease, an idiocy, a prison, and the pain it causes is beyond telling or meaning;". War destroys us all.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-09-13 00:00:00 John Sumner I have never shared as many quotes from a book with friends as I did with this one. I feel like nearly all the news I had heard on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict focused on the suicide bombings and how Israel had to do something to protect itself from terror. I had never heard a first hand account of what the Palestinians were suffering under the occupation. Raja Shehadeh is a human rights activist and a lawyer. His first hand account is even-handed, insightful and eloquent and as this comes from his diaries, the stories are quite short, but incredibly illuminating. Even though he never condones the suicide bombings and points out how they have really made things much worse for Palestinians, his descriptions of how horribly the Israeli soldiers were treating his friends and family and the strangling policies of settlement expansion made me feel something I never thought I would: understanding how someone could come to the point under such conditions that they feel they have no hope left but to strike back in a violent act of utter desperation at their oppressors. I came by this book from a friend of a friend and will be buying and passing along copies to others. Anyone who cares about injustice should read this.