After the harrowing October 7th attacks, journalist Patinkin was moved to travel to Israel to get a sense of what life was like on the ground, “bearing witness through those touched by war” by reporting on the stories of Israelis and Palestinians alike. Patinkin’s open mind and empathy serve him well in capturing the essential humanity of his subjects, as he profiles people directly affected by the attacks and the conflict that has followed. Unfathomable losses are a common theme. “My niece and her husband were murdered,” an old friend texted him, and through that connection Patinkin interviews teenaged Rotem, whose account of losing his parents in an attack on a kibbutz a mile from Gaza stirs tears. “People have lost family, land and houses—but not the pride in who they are,” says Aboud Ahmed, in Ramallah, a college student who reminds Patinkin of the diversity of belief and thought among Palestinians, pointing out “We’re not a Muslim monolith.” Visiting Palestinians in Ramallah, including people he had met in the early 90s when he was covering the first Intifada, Patinkin reports encountering anger but also incredible hospitality and painful stories of occupation and seeing rights were stripped by the Israeli government. The interview subjects don’t offer much hope of peace anytime soon, with even a one-time Israeli “peacenik” saying, of civilian casualties, “I hate it. But I don’t think we should stop.”
Patinkin’s approach of allowing people to tell their stories reveals patterns: speakers on both sides believe their claim to the land is irrefutable, beliefs that the escalation of violence confirms for them. Patinkin leaves readers with the hopeful story of a Muslim/Jewish husband and wife who have created a mixed-faith school for young children as a way of trying to transcend these differences. Without explicitly saying so, Patinkin suggests it will take new modes of thinking to stop the conflict, and it's this gentle, humane approach that makes this such a moving work of narrative journalism.
Takeaway: Deeply humane accounts of life on both sides in Israel and Gaza after October 7th
Comparable Titles: Cathy Sultan’s Israeli and Palestinian Voices;Ben Ehrenreich’s The Way to the Spring
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
