The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East | 
 enlarge | Author: Sandy Tolan
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  62 reviews
Sales Rank: 23172
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 1596913436
Dewey Decimal Number: 956
EAN: 9781596913431
ASIN: 1596913436
Publication Date: April 17, 2007
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Product Description
In 1967, Bashir Al-Khayri, a Palestinian twenty-five-year-old, journeyed to Israel, with the goal of seeing the beloved old stone house, with the lemon tree behind it, that he and his family had fled nineteen years earlier. To his surprise, when he found the house he was greeted by Dalia Ashkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student, whose family fled Europe for Israel following the Holocaust. On the stoop of their shared home, Dalia and Bashir began a rare friendship, forged in the aftermath of war and tested over the next thirty-five years in ways that neither could imagine on that summer day in 1967. Based on extensive research, and springing from his enormously resonant documentary that aired on NPR’s Fresh Air in 1998, Sandy Tolan brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its most human level, suggesting that even amid the bleakest political realities there exist stories of hope and reconciliation.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 57 more reviews...
 The Lemon Tree, An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East October 6, 2008
Though the telling of the true personal story of the intersecting lives an Arab man and a Jewish woman, the complexities of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict come alive in a way that political/statistical books can never achieve. This is a story of real people - good people who are trying to make their way in a world that makes no sense to either of them. The author has managed to remain true to the story in an unbiased way leaving the reader to grapple with the controversial and convoluted issues. This book is a wonderful way to learn about the complexities of this small geographic area that affects the hearts and minds of millions of people on our planet. A must read for all those who care about peace and justice in our world.
Compassionate, moving and thought-provoking August 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Much of Sandy Tolan's book reads like a novel, and yet it is a true story. (The rest of the book reads like a well documented -- which it is -- history book.) I absolutely loved it! Tolan goes out of his way to be even-handed in terms of not favoring the Jewish or Palestinian 'side' of the issue. He just tells the story from both perspectives as it was told to him and according to his extensive research. It's a beautiful, informative, and very well written book. I highly recommend it.
floored by this book July 19, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
yes, after 1948 there were many conflicts between jews and arabs, but what some reviewers here fail to highlight is the very critical timeline of the conflict: no arab ever had a problem with jews prior to 1948, prior to when israel took what was without any interpretation arab land and declared itself a country. did the reviewers even read what they wrote? the grouping of the arabs against the jews was nothing other than solidarity with their kinsmen for losing their land to a newly-, arbitrarily-created country. imagine if a group of muslims joined the significant muslim population in an american city, suddenly declared themselves a country, then cried about the injustice of "all the american states unifying against them"...ludicrous to expect otherwise. Of course this book doesn't portray EVERYTHING, but if it portrays the conflict somewhat favorably towards palestinians, it is because that's the way the facts played out. Some israelis think that an unbiased report means a neutral report, most are willing to accept some fault for starting the whole mess.
Excellent book July 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book should be required reading for whoever becomes President, or anyone else who needs to understand what happened between Israel and Palestine. This is the fairest accounting that I have ever read.
Moving, Tragic, Real May 13, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
This is a sublime work of art, made all the more so by its complete factual accuracy. Sure, Sandy picks and chooses the facts he'll present, as any historian does, but every thought, every moment, comes only from historical records and interviews. And perhaps it's this plain "just the facts, ma'am" approach that makes the story so much more filled with pathos and tragedy.
I know of no other book on this subject that so clearly shows the suffering on both sides of the aisle. Most books are either clearly Zionist or focus on al Nakba and the suffering of the Palestinian people. Sandy doesn't take the easy road. He presents the longing and angst- and hopes- of both peoples. He shows us the struggles and poverty of Dalia's family, and their rejoicing on finally finding a home. He shows us Bashir's family's delight in the land, and the horror of seeing it stripped from them. And he shows us the greater suffering of the Palestinians in the last 50 years, as more and more land, life, and dignity are stripped away.
Through this history we see the Principle of Violent Mimicry, where we become that which we hate, as first the Israelis model Nazi practices, and then the Palestinians learn from the Israelis that only violence and terrorism can solve their problems. We see a clash of cultures, with Dalia locked in European Cartesian paradigms of "I think therefore I am,", and Bashir birthed into a narrative of "I reside therefore I am." And through it all we wonder- can there be any hope for change, for peace, for justice? Sandy gives us some glimmer of hope of reconciliation, but it is clear that it is not an easy hope- for this is real life, and not a Saturday morning special. This is gritty historical narrative, and more than ever, after reading this book, I think our only path out of this morass is the one blazed by South Africa.
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