This book combines objective analysis and personal reflection to examine the significance of the battle of Jenin camp, and the meaning of victory and defeat. Accordingly, it seeks to pause and reflect closely on the battle in historical, spatial, and spiritual terms, so as to answer the following questions: What did the victors do with their victory? What did the losers do with their defeat? And how were the Palestinians able to combine their experience of Jenin as an "epic of sumoud [steadfastness] and defiance" in the sense of being victorious, with understanding it as a "massacre" in terms of the scale of casualties? Why did those who did not take part in the battle write about it in exaggerated terms from afar? Why did those who fought in it refrain from writing about it?
This book derives its main importance from three fundamental elements. First, it can be considered an insider history of the event, given the fact that one of the resistance fighters is the writer in this case. Second, it demonstrates the limitations of the lessons that can be drawn from such experiences at the official and the popular levels. Third, a detailed history supported by political, military, and cultural analysis of the battle of Jenin camp serves to strengthen the culture of resistance in light of the continuing Zionist occupation and the conviction held by some that armed resistance is no longer a viable option.