I have always prided myself on being a person who can see both sides of nearly any conflict, dispute, or disagreement. This being the case, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has always been a touchy issue for me. I remember being a small boy watching the news during the 1987 Intifada with my father and really feeling awful for the Palestinians who threw rocks when confronted with tanks and machine guns. I found it very difficult to reconcile as an American and a Jew how the "good guys" as I had always seen Israel and the United States could be responsible for such actions.
One thing that I have been particularly taken aback by while reading the Lemon Tree is how personal the book is for a peice of non-fiction and how I have really come to emphathize with Bashir's character, the plight of the Palestinian people and in turn Dalia's empathy for Bashir. During the chapter where the two first met I really identified with the muted rage felt by Bashir to be shown around his childhood house by a stranger. This and other similar scenes from the book made the face on the "other side" of this conlfict much more human and understandable.
-Adam
ok it's Iraq but it's interesting
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Here is a link to a blog put up by Morgan on a different Blog. There are a
number of entries that tie more to your topic than theirs. Enjoy.
16 years ago
Your comments brought me back to my own childhood. I remember watching the events of the Civil Rights Movement on the TV news. They were both local and national. Locally, I saw the race riots in the Boston suburbs of Dorchester and Roxbury. (I grew up in a town about 25 miles northeast of Boston. Oddly enough, this town was also the site of the events that led to the Salem Witchcraft Trials.) On the national level, I saw black people in southern cities being kept away from white establishments by being drenched with water from fire truck hoses. I did not understand either how or why one group of people could have so much animosity toward another group.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1960s, I learned that nationality and religion could also be reasons (excuses?) for hatred and violence. Television brought these events our living rooms every day: the assassinations of John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King; the Cold War mistrust between the United States and Soviet Union; Vietnam; and the situation in the Middle East, among others.
I was also taught to be objective and to consider all sides of an issue. It irritates me that the United States tries, on the one hand, to promote the "good guy" image. Yet, on the other hand, it is pure hypocrisy that this country screams foul play about human rights treatments in other parts of the world while it commits the same injustices in its own yard. I was appalled by some of the crap that occurred during the two Bush administrations. At times, I felt ashamed to be an American.
For me, The Lemon Tree is the most objectively-written publication I have read regarding what has really been going on in the Middle East over the last 40 to 50 years. The stories of Bashir and Dalia do add a personal touch to the story. Having lived through most of the Cold War era, when the activities of the "super powers" were conducted under a veil of secrecy, it is nice to see that more of the truth is finally able to be told.
I would like to see the reality of a more-peaceful world in my lifetime.
John
I agree - it really is quite an amazing story. It's too bad there aren't hundreds or, even better, thousands of similar stories of connection and true attempts at understanding across the abyss of distrust and hatred.
ReplyDeleteWe know that there have been youth programs developed to bring together Palestinian and Israeli kids and this is very wise and good. Some day, these kids will maybe find a way to resolve the old bitterness.
Unfortunately, teenagers are unlikely to take any real political power for quite a few more years and, in the meantime, people continue to die, suffer and build hate.
Both Bashir and Dahlia are exceptional people. There probably won't be huge numbers of chance acquaintances between such people. As such, much must be made of these isolated examples.
A wondering: If Sandy Tolan is Jewish as I suspect only because of his last name, will the Lemon Tree be accepted by Palestinians as a story with value or as propaganda?
Good question Dan!! I was thinking the same thing. I wonder how the book is seen by both Israelis and Palestinians...it would be fascinating to know.
ReplyDeleteBut,in the mean time I would like to believe that it is seen as a story with value rather than propoganda. He presents both sides of the story fairly and I believe shows no bias based on his personal life.