This is a book that I believe everyone should read. I knew that I didn’t know much about the middle east, but wow... this book enlightened me in ways far beyond my imagining. The author manages to inform us about the history of both sides - the Palestinian history and the Jewish history. That is so important. The awful part is you begin to realize how deep the conflict is and how there really doesn’t seem to be a ‘good solution’. Heartbreaking in so many ways.
Note - there is also a Young Readers version of this book. That seems very important to me.
The book begins in 1967 with a young Palestinian man, Bashir Al-Khayri, returning to Israel to his childhood family home and ringing the doorbell. Years earlier his family had fled (or been pushed out) and a Jewish family escaping WW2 Europe later moved into the ‘abandoned’ house. A young member of that Jewish family, nineteen year old Dalia Landau, opens the door when he rings and thus begins a decades long friendship that is complex and ultimately hope-filled. We learn details about both families and their extreme hardships. This book showcased so well the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - shown here in the stories of just two young people, Bashir and Dalia.
A friend, and member of this book club, created the following list of phrases and points as an easy reference resource. I really appreciate this list and it is especially helpful for those who are listening to the audiobook as well.
43 - fragility of goodness
82 - “country without a people, and people w/o a country” Really?
84 - single vs 2 separate states
104 - custodian of “abandoned property”
107 - told Palestinians had “run away”
108 - first paragraph
114 - 2nd para - plea to God
115
116-117 discrimination, dark and light Jews
118 Sabra
119 never again
122
124 force expelled us and only force will get it back
125 water
147 house tour
160-161 indigenous people ignore
161 last sentence
177-178 Ahmad visits his house
179-180 Dalia feels betrayed
186 sadati
193 “stone” revolution
194 Hamas
199 Netanyahu
200-203 Dalia’s letter
204 UN sanctioned right of return
212-213 Can they compromise?
216-220 Bashir’s letter
During our discussion one member mentioned a podcast with the two primary people from this book, Bashir and Dalia. I defintely intend to listen to this.
From NPR's Fresh Air "Homelands" series (~1998), with Bahsir and Dalia talking (about an hour) : https://freshairarchive.org/segments/sandy-tolans-lemon-tree
And this is a short clip (~8min), cut from the Fresh Air series, if you just want to hear the voices and a few quick pieces:
https://www.npr.org/2006/06/04/5449840/lemon-tree-finds-friendship-amid-mideast-conflict
Another link - author Sandy Tolan speaking about his book The Lemon Tree - Video of Sandy Tolan (~2006) discussing The Lemon Tree at a book talk: https://www.c-span.org/video/?193422-1/the-lemon-tree-arab-jew-heart-middle-east
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