Customer Reviews

Next Year In Jerusalem: Everyday Life In A Divided Land

5 star:		(6)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a personal account of a tragic reality of the people in the Middle East. One can argue with the political axioms underlying the author's approach, but the first hand account of the events on the public as well as the private spheres is a must to anyone who wants to educate themselves on the issue.

Reviewers who dismiss with one star every book and article remotely critical of Israeli policies are too blinded by their own prejudices to understand this complex and beautiful book by a proud and patriotic Israeli who is nevertheless troubled by her own country's actions. Daphna Golan-Agnon, the daughter of a Lehi fighter and the wife of Israeli Nobelist S.Y. Agnon's grandson, stands squarely in a great tradition of critical Zionists, whose love for Israel is matched by high expectations for its conduct. As a founder of B'Tselem, the highly acclaimed Israeli human rights organization, Golan-Agnon has devoted her life to ensuring that Israel uphold standards of international law.

Criticism of Israeli actions in the occupied territories, which is a commonplace in Israel's own lively public discourse, has been sharply stigmatized in the United States--Golan-Agnon's touching and personal account is a necessary corrective to the broken American discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Those Americans who preach about Israeli politics would be well-served to listen carefully to the heartfelt concerns of Israelis themselves.

A terrific book full of insights and humor. I LOVED IT. Couldn't put the book down.

This is an amazing book, once you start it you cannot put it down until you finish it. The book tells the story of leaving in a conflicted society from the eye of a peace activist who tries to change the reality and struggle against human rights violations. Daphna Golan Agnon writes about her activities and others and about her view of the conflict and the violent reality of dprtations, house demolitions, curfews etc from a very personal point of view, she exposes her fears, her desperation and hope for peace. This is a "must" reading for everyone who cares for peace.

Too often diasporas play a critical role in the nature of conflict. Standing on the sidelines, they lend morale and financial support to extremist positions that can only perpetuate the cycle of violence. Yet, they do not bare the slings and arrows of daily existence in the line of fire they so readily perpetuate.

This call for peace is a harrowing account of life in a divided society. It is a call for humanity to rise above violence, for sanity to prevail over madness. It is a must read for all in the diaspora who have a vested interest in the Middle East. This mother, activist and intellectual captivates her reader with a vivid narrative that speaks to the essence of her existence in Israel, an existence infused with a love of the land in which she lives but marred by the torment of violence. This is a tale of love for all humanity and a concern for all those in the Middle East. Simply put, it has to be read!!!

Daphna's book entitled "Next year in Jerusalem" is one of the best books ever to catch my eye. It is a wonderfull story of one of the sadest places in our time: the middle east.
This book gave me a new prospective, a new way to understand life in the middle east, it gave me hope, and fear at once. Next year in Jerusalem is a work of art.
J Robins.

Daphna Golan-Agnon wants Israel to be a "country with clear and friendly borders." It sounds easy to her. But to me that is like asking for cake when one is unable to get bread. Israel exists precisely because its neighbors have been in no mood to allow the Levantine Jews to have rights. Israel has not been the party to wish for anything other than clear and friendly borders. Its neighbors are the ones who have demanded that.

The author says she wants to support human rights. But if Israel's neighbors were willing to abide human rights, the issues she comes up with would be easily resolved. Few people would care about the details of border locations if people had rights of life, liberty, and property on both sides of those borders. Issues of immigration, justice, and security would also be resolved easily.

The tough part is trying to figure out how to get Israel's neighbors to accept the idea of human rights, or, failing that, how to make the best of not being able to achieve such a goal. Golan-Agnon doesn't have any answers here. Instead, she concentrates on how Israel can appease its most reactionary neighbors. That is not a new idea, but it certainly is inconsistent with any support for human rights.

I do not recommend this idiotic book.

The woman who writes this book advertises herself as the wife of the grandchild of Shmuel Yosef Agnon. Agnon was not simply a great writer but one steeped in Jewish literature and tradition. And with a deep and abiding love of the Jewish people and the land of Israel.
The book which Dafna Agnon- Golan has produced is a one- sided anti- Israeli document. It makes no effort whatsoever to examine the Palestinians and other Arabs role in initiating and perpetuating the conflict as a violent one. The author does not seem to recognize 'Israeli self- defense' as a legitimate purpose. In face in the concluding passages of the book she celebrates the fact that her child will not be going to the Israeli Army. So when there is need to respond somehow to Arab terror and violence the Agnon- Golans will not be a part of this. They will be at peace with themselves.
Sympathy with the 'other'is the heart of human morality. There is nothing wrong with Dafna- Golan's caring for the Palestinians, being concerned about their suffering, trying to help them. But when this is done by distorting the truth completely, disguising the true actions and motivations of Palestinian society as a whole, - when it is done by showing no sympathy for the victims of the atrocities the Palestinians have committed against the Jews - when it is done with no real balance , and fairness- it stands truth and morality on its head.
Agnon is better off that he did not live to see such dishonorable use put to his great name.