Customer Reviews

Sleeping on a Wire: Conversations with Palestinians in Israel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

David Grossman is an eminent -- if not the best -- current writer in the Hebrew language. In the present book he sets to explore the problems of Palestinians who are citizens of Israel, usually a lesser known aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to people living outside the region. Written in the form of conversations with ordinary Israeli-Arabs intertwined with his perceptive and honest reflections as an Israeli Jew, the book gives a sensitive and fresh view of the issue and an alternative to trite journalistic reporting. Although he paints a picture which may be discouraging, Grossman carefully outlines an optimistic path for a better future.

This is one of the best books on the subject. It is an entirely unique perspective on the conflict in the middle east, the perpective of the individual people who live there and try to make their lives work. I had to read it for a class on Terrorism over a decade ago in college, and I still reread it, and recommend it to others to read. A very important book.

This book offers a different perspective on the Arab/Jewish conflict; that is, the perspective of the Arabs who live in Israel and are, in most cases, Israeli citizens.

Each chapter in the book is a "conversation" between the author and different persons (or groups of people). Through it, you see THEIR views of the "Palestinian problem," and it raises some issues that many people don't often consider. (For instance, if another "Palestinian state" is formed, what will the Israeli Arabs do? Leave Israel? Stay?)

Overall, this is a good book. I'd recommend it for anyone wanting to understand the Middle East conflict. I would have given the book 4 or maybe even 5 stars, were it not for the PG-13 language that should have been toned down here and there.

I read this work when it originally appeared in the Hebrew press. Grossman is a skillful writer and propagandist and the work is very artfully done. Nonetheless the work is a one- sided piece in which he makes the Palestinians far more moderate and humane in relation to the Israelis than their own media or their own terrorist actions have ever evidenced.
One particular moment of the sentimentalization particularly offended me, when Grossman sees in the face of an old Palestinian the face of a grandparent of his from the Shoah. Perhaps he should have seen in the face of the descendants of survivors of the Shoah murdered by the Palestinians( Of which there are not a few in Israel) the face of his own grandparent.That might too have been sentimental but at least it would have reflected a true historical reality.