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The tale of a simple act of faith between two young people--one Israeli, one Palestinian--that symbolizes the hope for peace in the Middle East. In 1967, not long after the Six-Day War, three young Arab men ventured into Israel, on a pilgrimage to see their childhood homes; their families had been driven out nearly twenty years earlier. Two were turned away, but the third was met at the door by a young woman who invited them in. This act, in the face of years of animosity, is the starting point for a true story of a remarkable relationship between two families, one Arab, one Jewish. In the lemon tree his father planted in the backyard, Bashir sees dispossession and occupation; Dalia, who arrived as an infant in 1948, sees hope for a people devastated by the Holocaust.--From publisher description.… (more)
User reviews
The story is about a Palestinian Arab who travels back to his childhood home, from which he was forced to flee in 1948. There he meets a young Israeli woman who graciously takes him through the house. They begin a decades-long relationship — difficult to call it a friendship but maybe that is what it is — in which they have many discussions to try and find a way they can live with each other and each have a place they call home in the land of Palestine. I got into this beautifully written story looking for something to give me a direction, a road towards peace in the Middle East.
I am sorry to say this book did not give me much hope that a solution to the conflict between Arab and Israeli Palestinians can be found. Bashar and Dalia talk for decades without resolution. Her view is compromise in which the Palestinians establish a state at the pre-1967 border. His is the departure of Jews that arrived before the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and the establishment of a secular state. I have my own opinions, which have changed over the years, on how to do that but I don't see anything constructive happening any time soon. The book is beautifully written and brings out the anguish and loss felt by both Arabs and Jews during times of persecution and displacement. I recommend it highly, with the reservation that I don't know how accurate the details are. I have found one website saying it is not, but others say differently. I am too emotional about the subject to know the truth. For that reason, I think I will leave it unstarred for now.
Worth reading unless you cannot put aside your own prejudices about this topic.
This was an interesting book that gives a face to those on either side of the conflict. Tolan's research seems impeccable. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to understand that area of the world.
Overall, I think Tolan did a good job being pretty even-handed, or as balanced as can be expected given the inherently vitriolic divisiveness of the Isreali-Palestinian conflict. I think he could have done a better job explaining the U.S.' interests in the region when relevant, but then again I also understand that wasn't the purpose of this book.
Regardless, this is a good introductory read about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or at least it was. Of course, so much has happened since 2006, when the book was published, I would also recommend brushing up on current events from them before forming any political opinions based on this book alone.
In the end, however, Tolan offers an accessible, well-researched and well-written glimpse into the humanity that drives both the conflict and the potential for peace in the region.
The idea of telling the story of the creation of the State of Israel via the 2 families who lived in the same house is commendable. In practical terms though, there is so much history and politics to explore that the story sags under its weight. It's obvious the author has done
Having said that, I learned a lot about the creation of the State of Israel and the tragic decades that followed. Although I'm fully aware of the enmity between Palestinians and Israelis, I never realized the extent and duration of their hostility.
Initial hope turns into despair and rage on both sides and the prospect of Peace is pretty much non-existent.
Blame can be laid in many directions: the perfidious British, the revolving door of alliances of the world powers with Egypt and Israel, Jordanian ambitions, and the weak actions of UN.
Finally, both Jews and Arabs must look to themselves in this Gordian Knot which is impossible to unravel. I despair of any meaningful solution in the near future if feelings and actions remain as they are.
The author conducted extensive research for this book and has managed to portray the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to a human level. Here, even amid the harshest of political realities there exist stories of hope and reconciliation.
This is an excellent work of nonfiction. I like non fiction, but prefer historical fiction. Therefore for this reader I found some of the historical aspects to be a bit tedious.
Which is why I think this is a fairly good introduction to the conflict's major dilemmas. Yes, it forgoes some of the historical sweep of the events that it describes to focus on the lives of two people, Dalia and Bashir, who have a house and a lemon tree in common. But their relationship also serves as a potent allegory for some of the conflict's most complex and intractable questions. They are, after all, two individuals who have an interest in a very specific peace of land, and, to varying extents, their lives were shaped by the conflict about who really owns it. In the book's introduction, Tolan relates how his book was, astonishingly enough, received warmly by people on both sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but this was clearly his intention. Whether he's describing what local politics was like in Ramla before the British left or talking about how Dalia's parents' memories of Bulgaria influenced her, the past weighs heavily on everyone here. Unfortunately, one of the other things they seem to have in common is a conviction that they belong in Palestine. Tolan should be credited for explaining how individuals from two communities might have reason to believe this, but it's a a mutual assertion that seemed to be running out of common ground for potential negotiation even when the book was published. The potential for deal-making has not, to say the least, has not improved since.
There are a couple of other interesting themes running through "The Lemon Tree." Tolan writes well about the Bulgarian experience in World War II and how a nominal fascist ally was able to save -- if sometimes at a terrible price -- a very significant percentage of its Jewish community from the Nazis. He also writes well about how the region's politics have become less flexible on both sides as time has gone by. A growing feeling on the Palestinian side that return was not inevitable has made violence insurrection seem more appealing, while Israel's politics have, in some ways, grown less democratic and amenable to any sort of compromise. In this context, it's heartbreaking to read about the slow decline of the Oslo Accords and how much attitudes and facts on the ground have shifted since various two-state solutions were proposed. While Bashir and Dalia's connection still seems like a courageous and valuable thing, "The Lemon Tree" is not necessarily an optimistic book, as both communities' claims are still deeply felt and victory by one side might require the obliteration of the others' entire self-concept. The house describes in this book still stands, and is being used both as a school for local Arab children and as a point of encounter for both communities. It's a small enough hope in a confoundingly difficult situation.