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We Just Want to Live Here: A Palestinian Teenager, an Israli Teenager -- an Unlikely Friendship
 
 
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We Just Want to Live Here: A Palestinian Teenager, an Israli Teenager -- an Unlikely Friendship (Paperback)

~ (Author), Odelia Ainbinder (Author), Sylke Tempel (Author) "I am sitting in my new room in Kfar Saba, a little town located some ten kilometers northeast of Tel Aviv..." (more)
Key Phrases: West Bank, Yassir Arafat, Tel Aviv (more...)
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  • This item: We Just Want to Live Here: A Palestinian Teenager, an Israli Teenager -- an Unlikely Friendship by Amal Rifa'i

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The two authors, now 18, met in Switzerland during an exchange program in 2000, and returned to a Jerusalem soon gripped by the second intifada. After falling out of touch, they exchanged the letters collected in this book from August to November of 2002, cycling through anguish, accusation, artifice, allowance, appreciation-all of the beginnings of real friendship. The book proves to be that rarest of contexts-a place for young women of the Middle East to discuss politics with openness and mutual respect. 6 maps.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Review

"Profoundly moving....The conflict between Jews and Arabs has been described in countless books and argued in unending polemics, but here, in the letters between these two eighteen-year-old women, an Arab and a Jew, is the heartbreaking essence of the quarrel.... In these letters (an idea brilliantly conceived and carried through by Sylke Tempel) Amal and Odelia educate each other..... This is the book for anyone who wants to feel and understand the emotions on both sides. It will become a classic." --Arthur Hertzberg, author of A Jew in America: My Life and a People's Struggle for Identity

-- Review
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (September 1, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312318944
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312318949
  • Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #677,902 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Amal Rifa'i
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
I am sitting in my new room in Kfar Saba, a little town located some ten kilometers northeast of Tel Aviv. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
West Bank, Yassir Arafat, Tel Aviv, Ariel Sharon, Occupied Territories, Old City, Peace Child Israel, East Jerusalem, Kfar Saba, Marwan Bargouthy, Yom Kippur, Camp David, Martin Luther King, Amal Odelia October, Middle East, New York, Palestinian Authority, Red Cross, South America, Wailing Wall, Amal Odelia September, Israeli Jews, Odelia Amal September, Saddam Hussein, Temple Mount
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Arab and Jew by David K. Shipler
 

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Customer Reviews

19 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
2.9 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars It is the tale of a friendship and intellectual exchange., July 26, 2004
By Teenreads.com (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
In the summer of 2000, a group of Israeli and Palestinian teenagers were invited to Switzerland. Despite many misunderstandings between the Jews and Muslims on the trip, tentative friendships were formed. However, just before the students returned home to Israel, the second Intifada broke out reminding each participant of their differences. Two young women on the trip who did become friends were Palestinian Amal Rifa'i and Israeli Odelia Ainbinder. Two years later, in June of 2002, journalist Sylke Tempel began looking for a young Israeli and a young Palestinian to exchange letters and ideas in order to create a book that would tell the story of Palestine, Israel and the Intifada in their own words. She found the ideal pair in Amal and Odelia. The result is WE JUST WANT TO LIVE HERE, a series of letters and conversations between Amal and Odelia.

Just 18 years old when they begin corresponding, the women are wise beyond their years and patient with each other's points of view. There is much potential for name-calling, disrespect and worse in such a dialogue, but Amal and Odelia behave with a restraint and open-mindedness often sorely lacking in regards to this difficult and delicate subject. Covering topics such as Jerusalem (where they both live, geographically close but socio-cultural worlds apart), school and the Israeli army, both women are not only quite honest and articulate about their feelings, but are also well versed in their cultural and religious history and tradition. To further illustrate certain points, each invites family members to share her story and thus we read about Odelia's parents and Amal's grandfather in their own words.

Even with such an open dialogue, Amal and Odelia realize there are some things they may never see eye to eye on --- each has a different interpretation of the formation history of the State of Israel, each interprets the plight of the Palestinians in a very different way. Yet they both agree that continued violence is not the answer and hope for strong leadership for the Israelis and the Palestinians. One major problem they both identify is the lack of knowledge about each other's culture, religion and history. Knowledge, they stress, is key to a sustainable peace.

As the book was being written, both Amal and Odelia faced adult life and responsibility --- Amal was engaged to be married and Odelia was preparing for her mandatory service in the Israeli army. Yet the tone of the book still reflected a youthful hopefulness and youthful frustration.

Poignant, brutally honest and sometimes heartbreaking, WE JUST WANT TO LIVE HERE is written with the idealism of youth and the cynicism of those who grow up amid war and violence. This is a book that puts a human face on the violence and destruction of the Israeli-Palestinian war and invites the reader to question her beliefs and opinions. Amal and Odelia are brave and admirable, willing to open their hearts and minds to each other.

WE JUST WANT TO LIVE HERE is not about solutions or roadmaps to peace. It is the tale of a friendship and intellectual exchange in spite of the most difficult circumstances imaginable. I highly recommend this book for those who want a glimpse of what life is like for teenagers in Israel.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Decent book, but the chronology has several big errors, August 8, 2004
It is interesting to see the views of two young women caught up in this conflict. My main complaint about this book is the chronology in the back of the book.

1. Under 1947 Temple writes "The Jewish population in Palestine rises from 24,000 to 630,000 due to several ways of immigration (aliyah; plural, aliyot) between 1882 and 1948. This more than triples Palestine's Jewish population at that time" It seems to me that the Jewish population increases by 26 times, why use triple? I really have no idea what she is referring to.

2. Under 1948 Temple writes "Declaration of the independent state of Israel on May 14 by Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Guerion. On the following day, troops from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia attack Israel. The Jewish underground movements, Lechi and Ezel, launch a wave of attacks against Arab civilians, which culminates in the massacre at Deir Yassin, where 245 inhabitants lost their lives. According to UN estimates, 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven out of their homes." Deir Yassin occurred on April 9, five weeks before Israel declared independance and Arab armies intervened. Most of the Palestenians who were driven out of their homes were expelled before May 14.

3. 1956 - Not mentioned, England, France and Israel invade Egypt. Retreat under US pressure.

4. 1987 - Temple writes "In opposition to the nationalistic PLO, Israel supports the foundation Islamic factions, which will be the origin of he fundementalist Hamas (Arabic for "enthusiasm/excitement") under its leader Sheikh Achmed Yassin."
Hamas was formed in the late 1970's and had been supported by Israel from the beginning.

5. 1994 - Temple writes "Hamas commits suicide bombings with the goal of sabotaging the peace process." Hamas committed it's first suicide bombing in response to murder of 29 muslims at a mosque in Hebron by Baruch Goldstein an american born far right settler. Temple leaves out the part about Baruch Goldstein.

There are some other things that I don't think she is very evenhanded or possibly even correct about in the chronology but I don't have time to research everything. The most glaring error is getting the date of Deir Yassin wrong, simple historical research.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful book--please read it!, December 17, 2004
By Patricia (Burbank, California) - See all my reviews
Forget the negative reviews---this is a wonderful, sweet, realistic and educational view of what it's like to live in Jerusalem, as seen through the eyes of two teenage girls...one Muslim and the other Jewish. I am impressed with the intelligence of these two young women. They don't chat about rock music or Britney Spears or trendy clothing--instead, they describe the love they feel for their city and how they can each do their part to create lasting peace. The girls get into serious political debates and they disagree quite frequently, but they respect each other as human beings and the friendship is strong. It's fascinating to learn what young Israelis think of America--Odelia, for instance, believes it's far more dangerous to live in New York than in Jerusalem! This is a warm and endearing book. I recommend it to anyone interested in contemporary Jerusalem (or all of Israel) and what life is like there. I learned a lot from reading it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Roundabout
This book was required reading for my high school World History class. It was an appropriate read for high school, however I would not recommend it for anything else. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Muirnin

3.0 out of 5 stars we just want to live here
"Boom," a bomb goes off two blocks away from your school, just as you are leaving class. This isn't that rare of occasion for the two teenage co-authors of the book, We Just Want... Read more
Published on April 23, 2004 by melissa

3.0 out of 5 stars A non- bias view on the conflict
Ashley Southard
English Book Review
April 16, 2004
The Arab/ Israeli conflict has been discussed in many books, and Americans hear of it every day in the news. Read more
Published on April 23, 2004 by Gossamer Silverwand

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book showing two girls resoluteness to acheive peace
We Just Want to Live Here

Now, finally, I am a full-fledged believer, for the youth possess the power to end the conflict in Israel through unity, friendship, and discussion. Read more

Published on April 23, 2004 by Jared

3.0 out of 5 stars A slow read although a short book, enjoy!
Forget hope, forget walls and fences, forget peace...for the Israeli conflict to truly end it will take one word...FRIENDSHIP. Read more
Published on April 23, 2004 by works-of-artz

2.0 out of 5 stars A boring book
Ancestors rivals for centuries, two girls meet and try to heal the wounds hatred has caused, through an unbreakable bond of friendship. Read more
Published on April 23, 2004 by leysiey

3.0 out of 5 stars We Just Want To Live Here
Samantha
April 16, 2004
English, M.E book review

We Just Want to Live Here
Amal Rifa'i, a Palestinian, and Odelia Ainbinder, an Israeli; are two teenage girls living... Read more

Published on April 23, 2004 by Samantha

2.0 out of 5 stars Not an interesting book but a good lesson
How often do you hear about an Israeli and a Palestinian with two different views sharing and teaching each other about the misconceptions of life? Read more
Published on April 23, 2004 by SBM

3.0 out of 5 stars A improbable friendship between two very different girls
An Arab and Israeli friendship that will last forever, is it impossible? We Just
Want to Live Here by Amal Rifa'i and Odelia Ainbiner is a book about an improbable... Read more
Published on April 23, 2004 by Vicki

1.0 out of 5 stars I Just Don't Want To Read Something Boring
Imagine that you are surrounded by conflict and that it is not abnormal for a café near you to get blown up. This is the story of many Palestinians and Israelis. Read more
Published on April 23, 2004 by Ann

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