The essays collected in the this
book were written during the years 2001-2002, in the old Palestinian port-town
of Jaffa, on the shore of the Eastern Mediterranean, during the Second Intifada,
or Intifada al-Aqsa, but they are not limited to events in Palestine. The war
in the Holy Land is presented as the centre-stage of the world-wide struggle of
ideas, against a backdrop of such momentous modern developments as the growing
influence of American Jewry ("the Rise of the Jews"), the decline of
the Left, the ascent of Globalisation, the first steps of the anti-Globalisation
movement, and the outbreak of World War Three with America against the Third World.
It is a daring attempt to tie together various political, theological, military
and social threads, and to formulate fresh concepts that provide people with new
tools for analysis and action. While seeking the Liberation of Palestine, the
author pursues another, more broad goal as well: that of the Liberation of Public
Discourse.
REVIEW:
Israel Shamir is in love with the Holy Land. He has a passion for the land and
its people; he believes the two are umbilically linked. For him there is only
one viable solution to the conflict that has ravaged the region for so long and
that is the one state solution. Shamir is a humanist and although he is scathing
about Palestine's enemies - the Jewish elite - he takes pride in and writes lovingly
about the courageous Jews, who resist Israeli crimes.
Flowers of Galilee
is a collection of essays, so full of affection - such an elegy of love - that,
reading it for the first time, I felt impelled to delay the turning of pages,
preferring instead to linger over images - to savour the sentiments. Shamir does
not pull any punches. He challenges conventional thinking, but he does so with
honesty, affection and such thorough understanding and knowledge that his outspokenness
is reasonable and rational. Flowers of Galilee is an eye opener - a learning experience.
It is also enchanting. --Nick
Pretzlick, Literary Critic
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