Our Harsh Logic - by Breaking the Silence (Paperback)

About the Book

Israeli soldiers speak out for the first time about the truth of the Palestinian occupation, in "one of the most important books on Israel/Palestine in this generation" ("The New York Review of Books").

Book Synopsis

"One of the most important books on Israel/Palestine in this generation."--The New York Review of Books

Support for Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory--both internationally and within Israel itself--rests on the belief that the Israeli army's presence in the West Bank and Gaza is essentially protective, aimed at safeguarding the country from terror. But Israeli soldiers themselves tell a profoundly different story. In this landmark work, which includes more than a hundred soldiers' testimonies collected over a decade, what emerges is a broad policy that is as much offensive as defensive. In their own words, the soldiers reveal in vivid detail how key planks of the army's program have served to accelerate Israeli acquisition of Palestinian land, cripple all normal political and social life, and ultimately thwart the possibility of Palestinian independence.

Taking aim at a silence of complicity that perpetuates the justification for occupation, the soldiers who speak out here offer a gripping and immediate record of oppression. Powerful and incontrovertible, Our Harsh Logic is a supremely significant contribution to one of the world's most vexed conflicts.

Review Quotes

"The soldiers in Our Harsh Logic have come forward to rouse the conscience of their fellow citizens....Anyone who thinks the IDF limits itself to confiscating weapons and punishing terrorists when patrolling the occupied territories would do well to consider what its own members say." --The Nation

"Random brutality, Kafkaesque bureaucracy, hatred, and dehumanization: that's the face of Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza as described by disaffected soldiers in this troubling oral history....Our Harsh Logic conveys a truth about the inescapable ugliness of Israel's military rule over its neighbors." --Publishers Weekly

"Humanitarian activists and opponents of illegal Israeli settlements will find much ammunition in these pages." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Breaking the Silence, one of Israel's most internationally lauded NGOs, was established in Jerusalem in 2004 by Israel Defense Forces veterans to document the testimonies of Israeli soldiers who have served in the occupied territories.