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Faithful Witnesses: Palestinian Children Recreate Their World (English, French and Arabic Edition)

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When writing or talking about complex current affairs, such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, oftentimes the voices of society's most important members are forgotten and ignored. While children make up half the population, nary a book on the Intifada talks about war's adverse effects on them. This book is therefore a welcome interlude in this world where the adults appear to have all gone insane. In this wonderful portfolio, we see drawings and paintings made by children, ages 6 or 11 or 8. When we think of children's drawings, we expect to see a painting of a flower, or a drawing of a nice house. "Faithful Witness" however will come as a total shock to many. The flowers and houses are there, to be sure, but every single drawing is compelling evidence that something has gone awfully wrong. Thus in a way this book tells us more about the Israeli occupation of these children's' homeland than a hundred history, military, or political books. When we see a painting by a 7-year old child of those flowers getting trampled by soldiers as they shoot at children, we ask ourselves: what has gone wrong? Perhaps we see a group of children confronting armed soldiers with stones in the drawing of an 8-year old girl. Perhaps we see a man lying shot on the ground, or we see that nice house being demolished by a bulldozer? It is then that we realize the depth of the horror that war brings upon ordinary people, and especially upon the children. "Faithful Witness", if I recall correctly, was written over a decade ago during the first Palestinian uprising (Intifada). Today those same children who made this book are now grown young adults, still enmeshed in another even bloodier confrontation with their occupier. We 'read' "Faithful Witness", and we suddenly realize the enormity of the human cost like no other Middle East book can explain to us.

When writing or talking about complex current affairs, such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, oftentimes the voices of society's most important members are forgotten and ignored. While children make up half the population, nary a book on the Intifada talks about war's adverse effects on them. This book is therefore a welcome interlude in this world where the adults appear to have all gone insane. In this wonderful portfolio, we see drawings and paintings made by children, ages 6 or 11 or 8. When we think of children's drawings, we expect to see a painting of a flower, or a drawing of a nice house. "Faithful Witness" however will come as a total shock to many. The flowers and houses are there, to be sure, but every single drawing is compelling evidence that something has gone awfully wrong. Thus in a way this book tells us more about the Israeli occupation of these children's' homeland than a hundred history, military, or political books. When we see a painting by a 7-year old child of those flowers getting trampled by soldiers as they shoot at children, we ask ourselves: what has gone wrong? Perhaps we see a group of children confronting armed soldiers with stones in the drawing of an 8-year old girl. Perhaps we see a man lying shot on the ground, or we see that nice house being demolished by a bulldozer? It is then that we realize the depth of the horror that war brings upon ordinary people, and especially upon the children. "Faithful Witness", if I recall correctly, was written over a decade ago during the first Palestinian uprising (Intifada). Today those same children who made this book are now grown young adults, still enmeshed in another even bloodier confrontation with their occupier. We 'read' "Faithful Witness", and we suddenly realize the enormity of the human cost like no other Middle East book can explain to us.