Children of Israel Children of Palestine [Hardcover]

Laurel Holliday (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1998

Isreali Jews and Palestinians appear side by side for the first time in this remarkable book, to share powerful feelings and reflections on growing up in one of the world's longest and most dangerous conflicts. Thirty-six men and women, boys and girls, tell of their coming-of-age in a land of turmoil. Musil Jamil Jaffer writes of his devastating childhood in a refugee camp, Shammai Golan describes his own horrifying and painful encounter with death in the Israeli army and Basim Abdoraad tells what he feels like to be a man without a country as he searches for his Palestinian roots and finds he has no home to which he can return. From kibbutzim in Israel and the occupied territories to Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and the Gaza strip, from the Old City of Jerusalem to Ramallah in modern Tel Aviv, Israeli Jews and Palestinians tell of tragedy and transcendence as they face their deepest fears and dream of a peaceful future.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

What is it like to grow up in the war zone of the Middle East? That is the subject of this disturbing collection, which begins with memories about childhood before the 1948 war and ends with accounts of young Palestinians and Israelis growing up now. Some remember the rage for revenge ("I dreamed of killing each and every one of them"); many are overwhelmingly sad ("How painful to be a visitor in one's own country"). What connects them is a longing for peace; the question is, At what price? Holliday says in her eloquent introduction that there is no sweet upbeat solution of easy neutrality, no call "to kiss and make up," but there is hope in their agreeing to tell their stories in a book together. They are listening to each other, and they make us hear all sides. Connect this with Naomi Shihab Nye's beautiful YA anthology The Space between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings from the Middle East (see review on p.1131): there, also, displacement is a dominant theme. Hazel Rochman

From Kirkus Reviews

While limited in scope, this anthology of childhood memories of adults shaped by the Arab-Israeli wars is often quite moving. Like her previous books Children of the Troubles: Our Lives in the Crossfire of Northern Ireland (1997) and Children of the Holocaust and World War II: Their Secret Diaries (not reviewed), this volume anthologizes the eloquent testimonies of adults remembering traumatic wartime incidents they witnessed as children. Holliday, a Seattle-based psychotherapist, has an eye for choosing telling details, including both the communal and dramatic (nightmarish scenes of Palestinians forced to flee their homes at night, watching as their houses are burned and leveled) and the highly personal (the recollections of a young Arab boy imprisoned by Jordanians, ``beaten up and forced to sing loudly `Long Live King Hussain' ''). The memoirs had to be written in English, somewhat limiting the range of contributors. Almost all of them express moderate views, thus offering a rather misleading portrait of Arab and Israeli societies, given the presence of violent extremists on both sides. While Holliday provides a sketchy history from the 19th century to the present, were not told the political reasons for the region's most pressing human problems, such as why houses in the Rafah refugee camp, like Ahmed Younis's, ``wereand still aremade of one level of cinder block.'' Holliday's Israelis are often condescending in their treatment of Arabs, viewing them as ``noble savages,'' illiterate, uncomplicated, easily led. Indeed, Ehud Ben-Ezer's colonialist father comes complete with a British ``pith helmet.'' A powerful if somewhat incomplete sampling of voices, important especially for giving expression to those Palestinians whose stories are rarely heard. (8 pages photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Atria (May 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671008021
• ISBN-13: 978-0671008024
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,245,544 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brings the conflict to life, November 20, 2005

By 

Rita (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Children Of Israel/Palestine (The children of conflict series) (Paperback)

The childrens' stories really gave me a great understanding of what it must be like to have lived or continue to live in Israel/Palestine. Stories of love, heartbreak, hate, understanding, confusion provided an understanding of the impact of the conflict in the lives of real people instead of just the political views. If everyone tried to understand and care for both sides of the conflict as presented by the stories in this book maybe we would find the motivation to create peace.