The Yellow Wind
Baum, Gregory
NO SHELTER FROM SCORN THE YELLOW WIND David Grossman Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17.95, 216 pp. Gregory Baum Here is what it says on the dust cover: "A brilliant and passionate firsthand report...
...I talk to her from time to time...
...What they fear is that if the present Israeli policy turns out to be unsuccessful, the government will look for a final solution of the Palestinian problem, that is mass expulsion of the entire people...
...Grossman's conclusion is dark...
...Yet today many Jews recognizing the present danger plead with North Americans, be they Jewish or Christian, to defend the human rights of Palestinians and speak out against the occupation in solidarity with Israel's best interests...
...Against this policy the Palestinians have adopted the policy of "sumud," which means hanging on and hanging in, steady and patient resistance...
...He fears that the status quo will continue...
...And she is a little bit of a person, because she knows how to talk.'" David Grossman believes in Israel...
...More than that, the Jewish establishment has often denounced critics of Israeli policies as anti-Semites...
...A three-year-old boy, the son of one of the neighbors, used to seeing her bend over a pail of water, heard us talking and was surprised-I saw it on his face...
...An eloquent and impressive case for this was made in Michael Lerner's editorial' 'The Occupation: Immoral and Stupid," in the March/April issue of Tikkun...
...At certain times, according to an Arab legend, a yellow wind comes from the gates of Hell, a hot and terrible east wind that sets the world afire: and even when people seek shelter from the heat in underground caves, the yellow wind will find its way to them, seek those who have performed cruel and unjust deeds, and suffocate them one by one...
...The occupation transforms the Israelis into conquerors, sometimes unwilling and reluctant conquerors, who impose military rule according to military justice...
...Afterward, he asked what we had talked about in Arabic, and I explained...
...David Grossman reveals what life is like in the occupied territories, for Palestinians and for Jews, by recording in a simple, reflective style his own encounters and conversations with ordinary people...
...David Grossman allows us to meet Israelis who already dream of this final solution...
...Grossman shows how Israelis are changed almost against their will...
...An Arab woman cleans the stairwell at the housing project in which I live...
...But he fears the ongoing occupation of the territories has created a dynamic that leads to the self-destruction of two peoples...
...The memory of repeated military violence and the daily humiliations created by the occupation-a humiliation that affects all, from the simple peasants to the successful merchants-has produced in the Palestinians an abiding hatred for Israel and all it stands for...
...This beautiful book is deeply disturbing...
...That is why he has written this book...
...He thought a minute and said, 'Amuna is a little bit a person and a little bit a dog, right?' I asked him why he said that...
...They argue that it is time for North American Jews, in solidarity with Israel, to denounce the occupation and support those groups in Israel who stand against the present government's policy...
...Conscious of the history of Christian anti-Semitism and the church's silence during the Holocaust, many Christians have tended to refrain from criticizing Israel...
...This and more is true...
...This message has certainly been heard by a number of prominent American and Canadian Jews...
...His brilliant prose makes readers feel that they have been there, that they know these people and have heard their voices...
...It is perhaps too painful for Israelis to look reality in the face and recognize the self-destructive dynamism produced by the occupation...
...The Palestinians believe that the unjust treatment inflicted on them by the Israeli government is intended to make them want to leave and seek refuge elsewhere...
...This dynamic is "the yellow wind...
...What Grossman discovers is that the occupation of the territories is producing a destructive, self-damaging transformation of Palestinians and Israelis...
...This, as I see it, is the historical context of David Grossman's moving book...
...The Israelis are seen as the foreign invaders who govern with the instruments and weaponry of the West...
...Gregory Baum Here is what it says on the dust cover: "A brilliant and passionate firsthand report on the Palestinian dilemma by Israel's leading young writer-a major bestseller in Israel-one of the most controversial and important works of political reportage in recent memory...
...The occupied have power over the occupier...
...He asked her name and I told him...
...They, the powerless, not only make the army brutal but also gradually turn its beloved Israel into a racist society...
...He explained: 'She is a little bit a dog, because she always walks on all fours...
...Will their number grow...
...n's moving book...
...Her name is Amuna, and she lives in Ramal-lah...
Vol. 115 • May 1988 • No. 10
