Book 8: The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan

I'm finally done with this book!!!! It took me a really really long time to finish reading this book, and I'll tell you why. It is 100% non-fiction. There are a lot of dates and names and geographical locations. Whew! But I won and finished it!

This is a book tracing the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I became interested in this topic after reading "The Faith Club" and reading about the conflict between two American women, one a Jew and one a former Palestinian. From there, I read "Mornings in Jenin," a FANTASTIC book about the life of a Palestinian woman born in a refugee camp during the beginning stages of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That book was super easy to read, but it was a fictional account.

This book is based on an incredible amount of research and interviews by Mr. Tolan. He put no dialogue in quotation marks unless he had proof that it had been said. You can imagine that the book is dry at times. But it gave me a great amount of information about the history of this conflict. It gave me a new insight into how much our government has overstepped its bounds in supporting the nation of Israel at all costs. There have been mistakes made on both sides, to be sure...but one side is supported by the most powerful nation in the world.

At its core, this book is about the unlikely relationship between Dalia, a Bulgarian Jew transported to Israel after WWII and Bashir, a Palestinian Arab forced from his home and living his life as a refugee. At the heart of their relationship is the home built by the hands of Bashir's father and the settling place for Dalia's family. Both families feel a deep connection to the house and the land around them. Both families have different views on what an acceptable compromise would be for the conflict. But they are drawn together somehow, and create a relationship of respect and even love for one another (not romantic love...this isn't a Hollywood movie!).

I would recommend this book if you have any interest in the history of this area, but know that it is a slow read. I would recommend more the book Mornings in Jenin, as long as you understand that it is but one side of the story. But since we've all heard the other side daily in the form of the color-coded National Terror Alert, I think we can balance the two.

Speaking of terror, one thing that was fascinating to me as I read this book was that Hamas and Hezbollah were actually created from this conflict. It makes me wonder if the United States is really a target for terrorist organizations because of our lifestyle or if it's because we are so supportive of Israel and other anti-Arab governments in the Middle East....just wondering....