Howell, Mark. What Did We Do to Deserve This? Palestinian Life Under Occupation in the West Bank.

• Position: Book review

Howell, Mark. What Did We Do to Deserve This? Palestinian Life Under Occupation in the West Bank. Reading, UK: Garnet Publishers, 2008. 240 pages. Hardcover $19.95.

Based on photographs, interviews and personal testimonies of ordinary Palestinians in the West Bank, and those whose voices are rarely heard, Mark Howell poses a question that ordinary Palestinians constantly ask: What did we do to deserve this? This question was part of a testimony mentioned at the end of the book in the context of Israel doing what has been done to them in Nazi Germany. Howell, the freelance photographer made the book particularly effective and exceptional due to the added visual materials. The book exposes everyday realities of life ranging from restrictions on movement and imprisonment to the effects of the occupation on business, the practicing of religion and the development of democracy.

The purpose of this book is to address the discrepancies between mainstream media coverage of the conflict and the reality on the ground. The author is particularly concerned with the media role in the shift in terminology during the course of occupation from terms like "occupied" to terms...