A great review of my new book, The Palestine Laboratory, in the London-based The New Arab by Martorell Junyent:
Israeli weapons companies often promote their products for export by emphasising that they are “battle-tested.” Marketing weapons in such a way is misleading, to say the least.
Ever since the end of the 1973 October War, Israel has not participated in any battle if by “battle” we understand, as the Cambridge Dictionary does, “a fight between armed forces.”
This lack of battle has been offset by an abundance of testing. The laboratory has been no other than the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
In his book The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation around the World, Antony Loewenstein argues that the occupation of Palestine has provided Israel with an incomparable testing ground in the development of its weapons and surveillance technology.
At the same time, Palestine has also served as a display room for the effects of these weapons, which are then exported around the world generating both considerable revenue and valuable political influence for Israel.
As Loewenstein, an independent journalist, author, and filmmaker, writes, “The Palestine laboratory is a signature Israeli selling point.”
Read the whole review: Palestine is Israel’s laboratory for industry of occupation