Army of Roses: Inside the World of Palestinian Women Suicide Bombers - Couverture rigide

Victor, Barbara

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 157954830X ISBN 13 : 9781579548308

Editeur : Rodale Pr, 2003

Synopsis

Book by Victor Barbara

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

When Yasser Arafat in January 2002 called on Palestinian women--his "army of roses"--to join in the struggle against Israeli occupation, even he was surprised by their swift and devastating response. Later that same day, Wafa Idris would become the first female suicide bomber of the Intifada. Tragically, she wasn't the last. In Army of Roses, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Barbara Victor profiles Wafa Idris and the other young women who have followed her violent lead toward a martyr's Paradise paved with personal desperation and deadly political maneuvering.

In this astonishing exposé of the political and cultural forces now pressing Palestinian women into martyrdom, investigative journalist Victor identifies what she calls "a new level of cynicism" that has destroyed normal, everyday existence in the Middle East, along with the possibility for lasting peace. Tracing the roots of the women's resistance movement back to so-called personal initiative attacks and a brief period of empowerment in the 1980s before religious leaders clamped down, Victor shows how the current generation of Palestinian women has been courted and cajoled into committing these self-destructive and murderous acts.

By presenting the intimate personal histories of the first five female bombers who have succeeded in blowing themselves up, as well as the troubling stories of some of those who've tried and failed, the author reveals not only the crushing poverty and religious zealotry that one might suspect as motivating factors in their fall, but also a startling emotional component to their death wishes: their broken dreams and blighted inner lives. Victor shows, without dismissing or diminishing the horror of their actions, how far a person can be pushed when she is convinced she has nothing to lose.

Présentation de l'éditeur

On 27 January 2002, Wafa Idris blew herself up in a shopping mall in Jerusalem, killing one Israeli and injuring dozens of others. She was the first female martyr (shahida) of the Al-Aqsa intifada. Based on interviews with the families of the six women who have killed themselves in suicide attacks on Israel, and with others who have tried and failed to sacrifice themselves for the Palestinian cause, Army of Roses is an extraordinary inquiry into the forces that drove Idris, and others of the Occupied Territories into such desperate acts of self-destruction. The women who seek martyrdom are often marginalised within Palestinian society, and the process by which they commit themselves to suicide is a terrifying combination of implacable personal commitment and a sophisticated regime of encouragement and psychological control. Veteran Middle East investigative journalist Barbara Victor examines the intense pressure of living under occupation, exploring in particular the social and familial dynamics, and the manipulations of Palestine's political leadership as they feed into and energise both the phenomenon of the shahida and the wider politics of suicidal terrorism. Hers is one of the most serious attempts yet to reveal not just the human cost of the Israeli occupation but also the human beings who live and die behind the headlines and the blurred visuals of the 24-hour newsfeeds. In an age grown ever more used to the mind-numbing spectacle of self-destruction, it remains imperative to understand the awful possibilities and consequences of an unrelenting desperation.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Rodale Pr
• Date d'édition: 2003
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 157954830X
• ISBN 13: 9781579548308
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 320
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible