Occupied Voices Stories of Everyday Life from the Second Intifada Wendy Pearlman August 16 , 2003 On Book TV Tape #127 0:02:40 - 0:16:30

Human rights activist Wendy Pearlman discussed her book "Occupied Voices." The narrative details the dangers ordinary Palestinians face living in the occupied territories. While studying Middle East politics, Ms. Pearlman lived in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. During that time, she interviewed doctors, artists, and families with children who shared how their lives have changed because of the renewed battle between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Ms. Pearlman concluded that the people mainly desired the chance to be citizens in a country of their own. In addition, she found that many suicide bombings occurred because of a loss of faith.

In the fall 2000 Ms. Pearlman lived with a Palestinian family and studied in Palestine and in Egypt. She returned in 2002 to get first person accounts of the human stories of living under the Second Intifada and take those accounts back to America. She reported what it is like to live under a curfew, to have your house bombed, to worry about the impact of violence on children, and the sadness of living in a society that cannot control its own land in the West Bank. She quoted several of the interviewees during the presentation including one who said "How could you listen to a love song when people are getting killed. She quoted a grandmother who remembered Jews and Arabs living side-by-side in Palestine in the 1940s as friends. Both sides believe that if they inflict enough violence on the other side, the other side will give up. The United States has not had a balanced role in the conflict. She sees the American media as biased against the Palestinians. She returned in January 2003. Those observations are reported as the postscript.

Author Bio: Wendy Pearlman is currently pursuing a doctorate in Government at Harvard University. Her commentaries on the Middle East have appeared in the Washington Post, the Boston Globe and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press. (40 minutes).