The Prisoners’ Diaries: Palestinian Voices from the Israeli Gulag, edited by Norma Hashim, in close collaboration with the Centre for Politicl & Development Studies, Gaza, 2013.
£5 at IHRC Boookshop & Gallery
http://shop.ihrc.org/the-prisoners-diaries-palestinian-voices-from-the-israeli-gulag-norma-hashim
Proceeds from the sale of this book go to help develop citizen journalism amongst youth in Gaza, and other charitable causes.
This book is a compilation of first hand experiences of 22 Palestinian prisoners released from prison by Israel as part of the prisoner exchange for the release of Gilad Shalit. The prisoners were interviewed by journalists and their accounts, their diaries, were compiled into a book by Norma Hashim. These autobiographical texts offer a rare opportunity to comprehend the inhumane indignities endured by tens of thousands of Palestinians prisoners throughout the decades of this long painful conflict.
Reviews of The Prisoners’ Diaries:
“What I found most valuable about this publication was its success in turning the abstraction of Palestinian prisoners into a series of human stories most of which exhibit agonized feelings of regret resulting from prolonged estrangement from those they most love in the world. Particularly moving were the sorrows expressed by men missing their mothers and daughters. These are the written words of prisoners who have been convicted of various major crimes by Israeli military courts, some of whom face cruel confinement for the remainder of their life on earth, and who have been further punished by being deprived of ever seeing those they love not at all, or on rare occasions, for brief tantalizing visits under dehumanizing conditions, through fogged up separation walls.”
Richard Falk, Honorary Fellow at The International State Crime Initiative, professor emeritus of international law and practice at Princeton University, and United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories.
“I defy you to read these stories and not weep for Jews and Palestinians. Now dry your eyes and work for justice, peace and reconciliation.”
Stephen Robert Sizer, Anglican vicar of Christ Church, Virginia Water, Surrey, England, writer, peace activist and freelance photographer
“A humane, beautiful, valuable yet painful book. I ask all people of conscience to read it to learn more about the suffering of the Palestinian detainees in Israeli Occupation prisons.”
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