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Books & Reading
Books Sandwiched In

Sandy Tolan’s The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East
Prepared by Lola Todd, Reader’s Library, Tulsa City-County Library

If you want to read other books about relationships in the Middle East between Arabs and Jews that reflect a hope for peace:

Beyond Bullets & Bombs: Grassroots Peacebuilding between Israelis and Palestinians, edited by Judy Kuriansky. “Israeli Jews and Arabs, and Palestinian Muslims and Christians, young and old, men and women, are cooperating in grassroots people-to-people projects, developing educational programs and creating activities to bridge their differences.” (Book Cover)
Children of Israel, Children of Palestine: Our Own True Stories, edited by Laurel Holliday. “. . .thirty-six men and women, boys and girls, tell of their coming-of-age in a land of turmoil.” (Book Cover)
Prisoners: A Muslim & a Jew Across the Middle East Divide, by Jeffrey Goldberg. “An American Jew who served as a guard in the largest prison in Israel, [and] his prisoner Rafiq, a rising leader in the PLO. . . began a dialogue there in prison that grew into a remarkable friendship.” (Book Cover)
Still Small Voices, by John and Janet Wallach. This book is a collection of “profiles of twelve men and women,” Arab and Jew, who live amongst the violence of the West Bank and Gaza. In spite of the varied backgrounds, “we see the hopes and fears and the inescapable interdependencies of people who risk their lives in the course of their daily routines.”

If you want to read about individuals’ plans for peace, read:

The Case For Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved, by Alan Dershowitz. Dershowitz identifies 12 barriers to peace and how to work around them.
Holy War, Holy Peace: How Religion Can Bring Peace to the Middle East, by Marc Gopin. Mr. Gopin posits that any “peacemaking effort that fails to take into account the deep religious feelings of Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike is destined to fail.” He presents detailed steps for future negotiations “using methods that are specifically designed to undermine the appeal of religious extremists by subtly incorporating religious values and symbols into the procedures of official and unofficial diplomacy.” (Book Cover)
How to Cure a Fanatic, by Amos Oz. So much wisdom in such a small book! These essays explore the nature of fanaticism and ultimately an approach to peacemaking in the Middle East.
One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse, by Ali Abunimah. Most solutions to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians are based on ending the conflict by dividing the territory and separating the two peoples. This author eschews this idea in favor of a radical alternative: “to revive an old and neglected idea of one state shared by two peoples.” A stimulating read!

If you prefer fiction to understand the conflict and peacemaking efforts as a backdrop, you might enjoy these:

Sayed Kashua has written two novels, Dancing Arabs and Let It Be Morning. Dancing Arabs, while not a hopeful novel, sheds light on a “young Arab-Israeli whose life is filled with fear and a broken spirit.” (Kirkus Reviews) Let It Be Morning tells the story of a “young Arab Israeli journalist who moves back to his native village from Tel Aviv to escape increasing marginalization but finds life in the village to be provincial and suffocating.” (Library Journal)
A Walk in the Darkness, by Jon Land Palestinian Police Inspector Bayan “Ben Kamal. . .teams up with Chief Inspector Danielle Barnea of the Israeli National Police” in this mystery distinguished by sidebars on the Arab-Israeli conflicts.
Vicious Circle, by Robert Littell is a brainy thriller in which the “plot centers on yet another U.S. –brokered effort to create a lasting Middle East peace. “When the Arab leader of a terrorist faction kidnaps a rabbi who heads an ultraconservative settlers group, Israeli security services go on red alert. . .Littel’s acute portrayal of their inflamed psychological states illuminates an understanding that goes far beyond the day’s headlines.” (Library Journal)

Do you want to read a history of the Arab-Israeli Conflict? Try one of these: