Product Description

A personal journey into the world of the Arab citizens living in Israel depicts the painful dilemma of a people being torn between conflicting identities as they are shunned by both Jews and Palestinians. 50,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1849533 in Books
• Published on: 1993-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 326 pages

From Publishers Weekly
What sets this book apart from others about the Palestinians are the harsh questions Israeli journalist-novelist Grossman asks and the blunt answers he elicits. Reproducing his conversations with Israeli Arabs from all walks of life, he offers readers a rare opportunity to hear the voices of Palestinians criticizing their own society. Some of the issues addressed: Why is it that the Arabs in Israel have produced little of lasting cultural significance? Why has the Jewish state's attitude of rejection virtually paralyzed the Arab minority? To what extent are the Arabs themselves responsible for the state of affairs in the Arab-Jew interface? Grossman is sympathetic to the Arabs of Israel, to their exclusion from the mainstream and their daily hardships, particularly at the hands of the Israeli Defense Force. At the end of his thought-provoking work, Grossman ( The Yellow Wind ) warns that Israel, by its callous treatment of one-sixth of its population, is "creating for itself the enemy it will run up against after its other enemies have made their peace with it."
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Grossman, a noted Israeli Jewish writer, explores the complex pattern of life that the Arabs who did not flee Israel in 1948 have created for themselves over several generations. With interviews and vignettes, he gives human faces to a group that has been labeled "the quietest minority in the world." Not only must these people navigate through a hostile Jewish society, but they must also contend with under the suspicions of their relatives, the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and those in diaspora. Grossman, as his title suggests, shows how these people have learned the difficult tasks of not only walking the tightrope but also of "sleeping on the wire in midstep." This vivid, insightful account of the Israeli Arab community complements Grossman's earlier exploration of Palestinian life on the West Bank, The Yellow Wind ( LJ 5/15/88). But it also offers insight into the Israeli psyche, showing how easily an oppressed people can become the oppressor. Highly recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 8/92.
- James Rhodes, Luther Coll., De corah, Ia.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
“No other Israeli writer so far has approached this touchy subject with such compassion, or looked at it with, so to speak, bifocal eyes, Israeli and Palestinian.” —The New York Review of Books

“Eloquent...gives voice to a community that rarely makes itself heard outside Israel and is largely ignored within that country...An old Yiddish saying maintains that it’s hard to be a Jew. Recent history has also taught us that it’s hard to be a Palestinian. But to be a Palestinian in a Jewish state seems the very definition of being caught between the rock and the hard place.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer

“David Grossman is a brilliant and passionately honest young Israeli novelist whose clarity of vision and sensitivity to language inform his work as a political commentator.” —San Francisco Chronicle
-- Review

Customer Reviews

Fresh and Sensitive View of An Old Feud
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.

Compelling
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.

A rarely-heard perspective
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.