A riveting and unapologetic account of Palestinian resistance, the
story of one family's care for their land, and a reflection on love
and heartache while living under military occupation.
In
1967, Sireen Sawalha's mother, with her young children, walked back
to Palestine against the traffic of exile. My
Brother, My Land is the
story of Sireen's family in the decades that followed and their lives
in the Palestinian village of Kufr Ra'i. From Sireen's early life
growing up in the shadow of the '67 War and her family's work as
farmers caring for their land, to the involvement of her brother Iyad
in armed resistance in the First and Second Intifada, Sami Hermez,
with Sireen Sawalha, crafts a rich story of intertwining voices,
mixing genres of oral history, memoir, and creative nonfiction.
Through
the lives of the Sawalha family, and the story of Iyad's involvement
in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hermez confronts readers with the
politics and complexities of armed resistance and the ethical
tensions and contradictions that arise, as well as with the
dispossession and suffocation of people living under occupation and
their ordinary lives in such times. Whether this story leaves readers
discomforted, angry, or empowered, they will certainly emerge with a
deeper understanding of the Palestinian predicament.