Palestine Speaks

For more than six decades, Israel and Palestine have been the center of one of the world's most widely reported yet least understood human rights crises. In Palestine Speaks men and women from the West Bank and Gaza describe in their own words how their lives have been shaped by the conflict. This includes eyewitness accounts of the most recent attacks on Gaza in 2014. The collection includes Ebtihaj, whose son, born during the first intifada, was killed by Israeli soldiers during a night raid almost twenty years later. Nader, a professional marathon runner from the Gaza Strip who is determined to pursue his dream of competing in international races despite countless challenges, including severe travel restrictions and a lack of resources to help him train.

Voice of Witness has done a better job than I've seen anybody do with having people tell their stories in a way that really engages you., In a time when history is told in cheap television re-enactments, if at all, and personal tragedy is gobbled up in rapidly digestible magazine photos and reality shows, this project goes against the grain., Palestine Speaks-a collection of testimonials from Palestinians narrating their own experiences, their own suffering, is a rare and courageous book., Palestine Speaks demonstrates that nothing is more eloquent than the voices of those who endure and try valiantlyto survive. Nothing is more important for us than to listen to them carefully, to grasp their suffering, to learn from their testimonies about them and about ourselves, and to use this understanding to bring their tragedy to an end.

CATE MALEK and MATEO HOKE began working together in 2001, spending eight months researching and writing a story about the daily lives of undocumented Mexican immigrants living in Colorado. Cate holds degrees in journalism and American studies. She currently teaches English at Bethlehem University. Mateo holds a degree in print journalism, focusing primarily on long-form interviews and environmental issues. VOICE OF WITNESS started life in 2004 as a book imprint of McSweeney's, founded by author Dave Eggers and physician/human rights scholar Lola Vollen. In 2008 Mimi Lok came on board as Executive Director and Editor. The Voice of Witness Book Series depicts human rights injustices through the stories of the men and women who experience them.