Searching Jenin. [239 pages]. Ramzy Baroud (Ed). 2003 ... invasion and
massacre in. Jenin in 2002 ..... Mornings in Jenin. [322 pages]. Susan Abulhawa.
2010.
Books and DVDs relating to Palestine Bryan and Jackie Milner are making their extensive collection of books [and more limited collection of DVDs] available for OFoP members/supporters to borrow. Members can simply phone or e-mail Bryan or Jackie to request the items they would like to borrow and to make arrangements for their collection/return. The resources available (see tables below) are divided into the following sections:
1. Non-fiction (a) Description and/or analysis of Palestine issues (i) Pro-justice and/or from a Palestinian point of view (ii) From an Israeli perspective (b) About Arabs and/or Islam and/or Hamas (c) Archaeology in Palestine (d) About terrorism
2. Fiction (a) Palestinian/Arab (by and/or portraying) (b) Jewish/Israeli (by and/or portraying) (c) American Apocalyptic (d) Other [poetry, graphic, cartoons, etc.]
3. DVDs (a) Documentaries (b) Feature films
1. Books (a) Description and/or analysis of Palestine issues (i) Pro-justice and/or from a Palestinian point of view Title
Author
A History of Modern Palestine [268 pages]
Ilan Pappe 2004
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine [261 pages]
Ilan Pappe 2006
The Iron Cage [217 pages]
Rashid Khalidi 2006
Occupied Territories [375 pages]
Gershom Gorenberg 2006
Blood and Religion [179 pages]
Jonathan Cook 2006
City of Oranges [327 pages]
Adam LeBor 2006
Cain’s Field [302 pages]
Matt Rees 2004
A Quiet Revolution [344 pages]
Mary Elizabeth King 2007
Searching Jenin [239 pages]
Ramzy Baroud (Ed) 2003
Overview A reliable account by an Israeli academic that acknowledges actions and policies until recently totally denied by Israel An encouragingly frank and honest account by a leading Israeli historian The story of the Palestinian struggle for statehood written by a Palestinian who occupies the Chair of Arab Studies at Columbia University, USA A detailed objective account of Israeli settlements by a Jewish author An account by a British journalist based in Nazareth of the impossibility of Israel being both a Jewish and a democratic state. An account of the struggle in Palestine told through people and events in Jaffa by a British journalist who has studied Arabic at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem An account of the tensions and divisions within both the Jewish community and the Palestinian community by a British journalist who lives in Jerusalem An account of the largely non-violent first intifada by a professor of peace and conflict studies in the USA A set of eyewitness accounts of the Israeli invasion and massacre in Jenin in 2002
Title
Author
Married to Another Man [267 pages]
Ghada Karmi 2007
Palestine: Peace not Apartheid [216 pages]
Jimmy Carter 2006
The Other Side of Israel [264 pages]
Susan Nathan 2005
The Gun and the Olive Branch [588 pages]
David Hirst 2003 (3rd edition)
Once Upon a Country [534 pages]
Sari Nusseibeh 2007
Palestine: A Personal History [326 pages]
Karl Sabbagh 2006
The Yellow Wind [222 pages]
David Grossman 1988
Overview An account of the struggle in Palestine by an author who was born in Jerusalem but forced to leave in 1948. She grew up in Britain and is currently a lecturer and research fellow in Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter An account, by the former president of the USA of his involvement in the Palestinian problem from his presidential days to the present day. It demonstrates an encouraging, if regrettably atypical, trend towards a more impartial and evenhanded stance. An account by a British Jew of her life within one of the exclusively Palestinian towns inside Israel proper (i.e. not in the Occupied Territories) The book which first demolished the falsity of the standard Israeli account of events in 20th century Palestine and now endorsed by Israeli historians such as Ilan Pappe An account of his life as a Palestinian by a man who is now President of the Palestinian Al-Quds University in Jerusalem and who co-founded the People’s Campaign for Peace and Democracy A history of Palestine, inter-woven with the history of his father’s family, written by a man whose father was Palestinian and whose mother was English A sensitive account of the observations and experiences of a Jewish novelist in the occupied territories of the West Bank
Title
Author
The End of the Peace Process [397 pages]
Edward Said 2002 (2nd edition)
From Oslo to Iraq and the Roadmap [302 pages]
Edward Said 2004
The Israel Lobby [355 pages]
John J Mearsheimer and Stephen M Walt 2007
Allies for Armageddon [289 pages]
Victoria Clark 2007
Palestine and Palestinians [404 pages]
Alternative Tourism Group 2005
Freedom Next Time [130/414 pages]
John Pilger 2006
Help Us To Divorce [86 – very small – pages]
Amos Oz 2004
Israel, Palestine and Peace [129 pages]
Amos Oz 1976-1994
The Palestine Triangle [360 pages]
Nicholas Bethell 1979
Overview A selection of newspaper articles by a Palestinian who is a professor of literature in the USA. The hypocrisy of the Israelis and the corruption plus incompetence of Arafat/Fatah come in for equally trenchant criticism A further selection of articles up to the time of the author’s death in September 2003 A powerful, though not altogether uncontroversial, expose of the power and the tactics of the strongly pro-Israeli Jewish lobby in the USA written by two professors of politics and international affairs A terrifying account by a UK journalist of the proIsraeli support and lobbying given by fundamentalist Christians in the USA who expect thereby to hasten Christ’s second coming This guidebook includes interesting geographical, historical and cultural information about the Occupied Territories The long chapter 2 of this book, by the campaigning Australian/British author, provides a typically polemical, but on the whole accurate, account of the injustices meted out to the Palestinian people. Two talks on the IsraeliPalestine problem by a leading Israeli novelist and member of Peace Now Essays and talks on the Israeli-Palestine problem by a leading Israeli novelist and member of Peace Now A detailed account of the 3-sided struggle between the British, the Jews and the Arabs 1935-1948 written by a British author and MEP
Title
Author
The Arab-Israeli Dilemma [523 pages]
Fred J Khouri 1985 (3rd edition)
Palestine: The Case For Justice [48 pages]
Palestine Solidarity Campaign 2007
Reappraisals [432 pages]
Tony Judt 2008
1948 [420 pages]
Benny Morris 2008
Dark Hope [220 pages]
David Shulman 2007
Palestinian Walks [215 pages]
Raja Shehadeh 2007
The Road Map to Nowhere [217 pages]
Tanya Reinhart 2006
States of Denial [301 pages]
Stanley Cohen 2001
Failing Peace [332 pages]
Sara Roy 2007
Overview A detailed and balanced account written by an American professor of Political Science of Arabic ancestry. An excellent brief resume of the basic facts and issues Reflections on key political issues and developments during the 20th century including several illuminating chapters about Palestine and Israel A comprehensive and balanced account of the first Arab-Israeli War by one of the first “revisionist” Israeli historians. An uplifting account by an Israeli Jew prepared to incur the wrath of fellow Israelis to protest about the injustices inflicted against Palestinian people in the (illegally) Occupied Territories. The impact of the Israeli occupation strikingly told via its effects on the author’s favourite walks in the Palestinian hills and wadis. A brave critique by an Israeli academic of the Israeli policy towards the Palestinian people during the period 2003-2006. Though this book is not specifically about the Israeli/Palestinian situation this is frequently used to illustrate the author’s analysis of the phenomenon of denial. A detailed and impassioned critique of the devastating effects of the so-called Oslo peace process on Palestinian people in Gaza by a Jewish American academic.
Title Wrestling with Zion [370 pages]
Author Tony Kushner and Alisa Solomon (Eds) 2003
A Time to Speak Out [296 pages]
Karpf/Klug/Rose/Rosenbaum (Eds) 2008
Hollow Land [266 pages]
Eyal Weizman 2007
After the last sky [175 pages]
Edward Said (Photos by Jean Mohr) 1986
Embers and Ashes [186 pages]
Hisham Sharibi 1978 ( Trans.2008)
Resurrecting Empire [175 pages]
Rashid Khalidi 2004
Arafat: The Biography [441pages]
Tony Walker + Andrew Gowers 2003
Blaming the Victims [292 pages]
Edward Said and Christopher Hutchings 1988
Overview An impressive set of essays, poems etc. by Jewish Americans who are prepared to be critically honest about the behaviour of Israel towards the Palestinians. Independent British Jewish voices prepared to be honest about Israel, Zionism and Jewish identity. This analysis of “Israel’s architecture of occupation”, by a British Jewish author, explores in detail how Israelis have used the landscape and the built environment as tools of domination and control in their project of colonial occupation. A book which uses both words and images to provide a moving view of dispossessed Palestinian people coming to terms with their predicament Memoirs of a Palestinian intellectual who spent most of his adult life in the USA. Like Edward Said he is very critical of many aspects of traditional Arab society. A critical account of Western involvement in the Middle East by a Palestinian intellectual who lives and works in the USA This biography was revised just before the death of the much-hated (by Israelis/USA) and much-criticised (by Palestinians/other Arab countries) PLO leader. A collection of essays exposing the consistent misrepresentation of the Palestinian people, both by the media and by academics, in Israel and the USA
Title Writing in the Dark [131 pages]
Author David Grossman 2008
Disenchantment (The Guardian and Israel) [251 pages]
Daphna Baram 2004
In the Land of Israel [241 pages]
Amos Oz 1983
Sleeping on a Wire [326 pages]
David Grossman 1993
One Country [193 pages]
Ali Abunimah 2006
My Enemy, My Self [215 pages]
Yoram Binur 1989
Intifada: The Long Day of Rage [279 pages]
David Pratt 2006
A World of Trouble [543 pages]
Patrick Tyler 2009
The other Israel [206 pages]
Roane Carey & Jonathan Shainin (Eds) 2002
Overview Essays on politics, literature and morality by an Israeli novelist, passionate about justice and humanity, whose younger son was killed in the 2006 war in Lebanon. A fascinating and objective account, by an Israeli author, of the evolving position of the liberal UK newspaper on Israeli/Palestinian issues (and also of the evolution of the issues themselves). Interviews with Jewish and Arab Israelis, holding a wide range of different views by a Jewish novelist who supports the Peace Now movement. Conversations with Palestinians in Israel by an Israeli novelist. A clear and accurate statement, by a Palestinian-American of the predicament of the Palestinian people and an impassioned, yet humane and conciliatory, plea for a just one-state solution. An Israeli journalist write about his experiences posing as a Palestinian Arab in a number of situations in Israel and the Occupied Territories Graphic, first-hand descriptions of events from both intifadas (1987 and 2000 ) by a Scottish journalist who has spent much time in the middle east. A very detailed account which looks at American policy in the middle east (including Israel/Palestine) in terms of presidents (from Eisenhower to George W. Bush) and their chief advisers. 37 short articles by Israelis outraged by their own government’s policies.
Title An Israeli in Palestine [274 pages]
Author Jeff Halper 2008
The Iron Wall [609 pages]
Avi Shlaim 2000
Disappearing Palestine [251 pages]
Jonathan Cook 2008
A Peace to End All Peace [567 pages]
David Fromkin 1989
The Shock Doctrine [466 pages]
Naomi Klein 2007
My happiness bears no relation to happiness [405 pages]
Adina Hoffman 2009
Dreams of a Nation [160 pages]
Hamid Dabashi (Ed) 2006
Palestine [285 pages]
Joe Sacco 2001
Footnotes in Gaza [385 pages]
Joe Sacco 2009
Overview A penetrating analysis of the Israeli mindset by an ex-American Israeli professor of anthropology and head of ICAHD who actively campaigns against what he recognises as the wholly unjust policies of his own government. A comprehensive and fair diplomatic history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by an Israeli who is now an Oxford professor. An account of how Israeli colonialism has created massive Palestinian despair by a British journalist based in Nazareth. A reliable and authoritative history of the creation of the modern Middle East. An excellent chapter listing makes it easy to select material relating specifically to Palestine. Rather proZionist in tone. Just 20 pages of this book (chapter 21) specifically about Israel but an interesting account of how immigration from USSR plus the security industry undermined the initial intentions of the Oslo agreement. Excellent biography, providing invaluable insights, by an American Jew living in Jerusalem, of Taha Muhammad Ali, an Arab Israeli man who became a poet late in life. An interesting set of essays about Palestinian cinema The story of the first intifada originally published in a nine-issue comics series. Regarded as a classic of graphic nonfiction. More graphic non-fiction, this time spanning 50 years in Gaza.
Title In Search of Fatima [451 pages]
Author Ghada Karmi 2nd edition 2009
Beware of Small States [427 pages]
David Hirst 2009
A Wall in Palestine [211 pages]
Rene Backmann English edition 2010
The Arabs and the Holocaust [282 pages]
Gilbert Achar 2010
One Palestine, Complete [519 pages]
Tom Segev 2000
The Great War for Civilisation [1286 pages]
Robert Fisk 2005
Chapters 11, 12 and 13 are specifically about Palestine
Europe’s Alliance with Israel [165 pages]
David Cronin 2011
The Peace Process [282 pages]
Afif Safieh 2010
The Punishment of Gaza [146 pages]
Gideon Levy 2010
Overview The story of a Palestinian woman who was a young girl when the state of Israel was formed and her family fled to Syria whence they moved to London. A moving chronicle of dispossession and exile. A very detailed history of the Lebanon over the past 100 years, by a resident of 50 years, in which Israel, Palestine and surrounding Arab countries feature prominently A vivid portrayal, by a French journalist, of the impact of the separation barrier on the lives of Palestinian people and of the Israeli “reasoning” behind it. A detailed study of the range of Arab views of the Holocaust and its relation to the Palestinian Naqba. A readable, even-handed account of the British mandate period in Palestine by a humane Israeli journalist and historian A monumental account by the Independent’s Middle East correspondent about the many conflicts in the area. Fisk is passionate about justice and fiercely critical of the injustices perpetrated by the USA, the UK, Israel and Arab and/or Moslem peoples. A detailed analysis of European policy towards Israel/Palestine and how this has predominantly aided the Israeli occupation. A collection of wellargued papers by an international spokesperson for the PLO Writings by an Israeli journalist, from the newspaper Haaretz, fiercely critical of Israel’s policies especially in Gaza.
Title I Shall Not Hate [234 pages
Author Izzeldin Abuelaish 2011
Overview The moving account of a doctor from Gaza who believes in building bridges between Palestinians and Israelis despite three of his daughters being killed in Operation Cast Lead
(ii) From an Israeli perspective Title Ariel Sharon: Warrior [556 pages]
Author Ariel Sharon (+David Chanoff) 1989
Exodus 1947 [194 pages]
Ruth Gruber 1948
The Israelis: Founders and Sons [335 pages]
Amos Elon 1971
Palestine Betrayed [267 pages]
Efraim Karsh 2010
The Deadliest Lies [240 pages]
Abraham H Foxman 2007
The Revolt [380 pages]
Menachem Begin 1952, revised edition 1979
The Founding Myths of Israel [345 pages]
Zeev Sternell 1996
Overview The autobiography of the ultimate Israeli hard-liner. The narrative ends in the mid-1980s and does not include his time as prime minister The original, classic account of the Holocaust survivors shipped from Europe but prevented by the British navy from landing in Palestine A surprisingly objective account – for an Israeli author at that time - of the evolution of the idea of a Jewish state before, during and after its actual foundation. An Israeli view of how the Arab people of Palestine have been badly let down by their own leaders and by those of surrounding Arab states. Partisan but demanding serious consideration. A vitriolic and intemperate rejoinder to the alleged expose of the USA Jewish lobby by Mearsheimer and Walt. The author is director of the AntiDefamation League and allegedly a key player in the US Jewish lobby. A personal, first-hand account of the activities of the Israeli terrorist group Irgun in its fight for a Jewish state by its commander (and later a Prime Minister of Israel). A very detailed study of the many inter-related and sometimes conflicting ideologies of the various individuals and groups that were involved in the founding of modern Israel.
Title Forged in Fury [267 pages]
Author Michael Elkins 1971
The Avengers [249 pages]
Rich Cohen 2000
From the Wings [224 pages]
Joseph Harmatz 1998
Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier of Peace [241 pages]
David Horovitz (Ed) 1996
Battling for Peace [447 pages]
Shimon Peres 1995
Trials of the Diaspora (A history of anti-semitism in England) [588 pages]
Anthony Julius 2010
A State Beyond the Pale [265 pages]
Robin Shepherd 2009
Overview A powerful account of the resistance of Jews in Europe during the 2nd World War and the subsequent activities of a few survivors determined to avenge the deaths of millions of Jews. Valuable insights into the nature and causes of the mindset of many Israelis. An account of three young Jews involved in the Jewish underground in occupied Europe during the 2nd World War and in revenge operations afterwards. The account, written 50 years later, by a Jewish resistance fighter of his activities during the 2nd World War and of his subsequent involvement with Revenge groups after the war plus his work for the new state of Israel Reasonably objective biography of the tough but most fair-minded of Israeli prime ministers by a group of journalists from the Jerusalem Report (many of whom also contribute to British newspapers). The memoirs of the Israeli statesman, born in an E.European shetl, and awarded, undeservedly in the view of many, the Nobel peace prize. A detailed study, saturated by victimhood, by an eminent British Jewish lawyer. Another key insight into a point of view not shared by OFoP members. A strongly pro-Israeli view of Europe’s “problem with Israel” by a British international affairs professional. Affords valuable insights into a point of view OFoP members do not share.
Title Palestinian Politics after Arafat [188 pages]
Author As’ad Ghanem 2010
Rubber Bullets [295 pages]
Yaron Ezrahi 1997
Israel’s Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood [208 pages]
Idith Zertal 2005
The Tragedy of Zionism [369 pages]
Bernard Avishai 2002
A Tale of Love and Darkness [517 pages]
Amos Oz 2003
The Seventh Million [517 pages]
Tom Segev 1991
Eichmann in Jerusalem (A report on the banality of evil) [298 pages]
Hannah Arendt 1963
Prophets Outcast [403 pages]
Adam Schatz (Ed) 2004
Overview A critical but reasonably fair account by an academic from Haifa Uni. of the how Palestinian politicians have contributed to the failure to achieve a just settlement in Palestine. An impressive analysis of the tension in Israeli society between collectivist nationalism and liberal democracy. An unsettling reflection by a Jewish academic about how the memory of the Holocaust has created a mentality of victimhood . An analysis by an Israeli academic (who has also worked in the US) of how the state of Israel is haunted by the successes of its revolutionary past. An autobiographical account of growing up in Jerusalem in an immigrant Jewish family in the latter years of the British mandate and the earliest years of the state of Israel. Written by a leading Israeli novelist. A detailed study of the impact of the Holocaust on the identity, ideology and politics of Israel by a columnist from Israel’s leading newspaper. Particularly interesting in revealing the deep divisions within Israeli society. An account of the war crimes trial, by a German, then American Jew, bringing out the dehumanising effect of a totalitarian regime. A century of dissident Jewish writing about Zionism and Israel. Especially good from section 4 on.
Title Jacob’s Gift [383 pages]
Author Jonathan Freedland 2005
Journey to Nowhere [184 pages]
Eva Figes 2008
We Look Like The Enemy [241 pages]
Rachel Shabi 2008
Jerusalem: The Biography [541 pages]
Simon Sebag Montefiore 2011
Overview A revealing account by a Guardian journalist of the tensions involved in being both Jewish and British explored through his own life and through the lives of three of his forebears. An elderly Jewish woman who escaped, as a young girl, to the UK from Nazi Germany in 1939 and was joined 10 years later by her housemaid who survived in Berlin during the war and then spent several years in the new Israeli state justifiably rages at all those – the UK, the US, Israel and Palestinians as well as Nazi Germany responsible for much human misery. A comprehensive account by a British woman, born in Israel to Jewish parents from Iraq, about Mizrahi/Sephardi Jews being discriminated against in Israel by Ashkenazi Jews. A very detailed history which is reasonably evenhanded overall though, understandably from a British Jew, occasionally a little uncritical of Israeli policies.
(b)
About Arabs and/or Islam and/or Hamas
Title The Arabs: a history [497 pages]
Author Eugene Rogan 2009
Hamas: A Beginner’s Guide [159 pages]
Khaled Hroub 2006
Hamas [249 pages]
Matthew Levitt 2006
Being Arab [92 pages]
Samir Kassir 2006
No God but God [Origins, evolution and future of Islam) [266 pages] How to Win a Cosmic War Confronting Radical Islam [173 pages]
Reza Aslan 2006
The Arab Mind [402 pages]
Raphael Patei 1983 (2nd edition)
Resa Aslan 2009
Overview A balanced and authoritative history of Arab peoples from the 16th century to the present day. An account, in Q-&-A form, of the origins and aims of Hamas , including its extensive humanitarian work, by a writer who was born in a refugee camp in Bethlehem but now lives and works in England A wholly unsympathetic account of Hamas, including its charitable work (incorporating a foreword by the hawkish USA Middle East Envoy Dennis Ross) The author was a wellknown Lebanese journalist. In this short book he urges Arabs to reject Western double standards and Islamism alike and to take positive responsibility for their own future A critical yet sympathetic account by an American Arab An illuminating study of the ideology behind militants like al-Qa’ida and the Taliban and an exploration of religious violence in Judaism, Christianity and Islam by an Iranian now living in America Though open to the accusation of stereotyping, this book does suggest possible reasons for the failure of Arabs in general, and Palestinians in particular, effectively to pursue or to promote their undoubtedly just case
Title On Identity [133 pages]
Author Amin Maalouf 2000
The Arab Awakening [412 pages]
George Antonius 1939
Hamas vs. Fatah [196 pages]
Jonathan Schanzer 2008
Palestinian Identity [209 pages]
Rashid Khalidi 1997
Last Chance (Middle East in Balance) [205 pages]
David Gardner 2009
Milestones [160 pages]
Sayyid Qutb
Overview A very perceptive yet readable analysis of the role of nationality and religion in people’s sense of identity by an Arab Christian from the Lebanon who lives in France. An early, classic study of the emergence of national consciousness amongst Arab peoples
Despite being written from a partisan, pro-Israeli perspective this book offers useful insights into how the conflict between Hamas and Fatah has done the Palestinian people no favours. An impressive and very throrough study, by a Palestinian professor at the University of Chicago, of the history of a Palestinian national consciousness. A rebuttal of the common Israeli claim (e.g. by Golda Meir) that the very idea of Palestine or of Palestinians is just a recent Fiction. A critical analysis by a Financial Times journalist of the political corruption in Arab countries and of the connivance of Western countries. The classic modern statement of militant Islam by the Egyptian Islamist and poet. A chilling insight into a fundamentalist Moslem mind.
(c) Archaeology in Palestine Title Palestine Twilight [254 pages]
Author Edward Fox 2001
In Search of Ancient Israel [155 pages]
Philip R Davies 1992
The Invention of Ancient Israel [237 pages]
Keith W Whitelam 1996
Overview An intriguing account of the mystery surrounding the death, in Palestine, of US citizen Albert Glock against the background of the intifada and the ideological use of archaeology A scholarly expose of the “standard” history of Israel, as promulgated by biblical scholars and by Zionists, as being altogether without foundation A passionate yet scholarly and well substantiated argument that the “standard” history of Israel has prevented archaeologists from providing a proper history of Palestine (paralleling the current political marginalisation of the Palestinian Arab population).
(d) About terrorism Title Humanity, Terrorism, Terrorist War [187 pages]
Author Ted Honderich 2006
Terrorism for Humanity [204 pages]
Ted Honderich 2003 (2nd edition)
Terrorism and International Justice [251 pages]
James P Sterba (Ed) 2003
Terrorism: Theirs and Ours [56 – very small - pages]
Eqbal Ahmad 2001
Overview This book by an eminence grise of British philosophy examines the concept of terrorism (including state terrorism) and the circumstances under which terrorist activity might be justifiable. The situation in Palestine is frequently alluded to This book goes deeper into philosophical issues than the book referred to above but less deeply into particular cases such as Palestine A collection of philosophical papers whose production was stimulated by 9/11 An interview given in 1998 by a Pakistani activist and humanist
Title Talking to the Enemy [490 pages]
Author Scott Atran 2010
Overview An anthropologist’s detailed study of the phenomenon of religiously motivated terrorism. Provides valuable insights.
2. Fiction (a) Palestinian/Arab (by and/or portraying) Title
Author
Dancing Arabs [227 pages]
Sayed Kashua 2002
Let It Be Morning [271 pages]
Sayed Kashua 2004
My name is Salma [285 pages]
Fadia Faqir 2007
The Attack [257 pages]
Yasmina Khadra 2006
Gate of the Sun [501 pages]
Elias Khoury 1998
The Last Testament [564 pages]
Sam Bourne 2007
The Reluctant Fundamentalist [184 pages]
Mohsin Ahmed 2007
The Bethlehem Murders (aka The Collaborator of Bethlehem) [264 pages]
Matt (Beynon) Rees 2006
Overview This novel by an ArabIsraeli author portrays the problems of growing up and coming of age in tension between two cultures This novel by an ArabIsraeli author is about a journalist who moves from the city back to his hometown, an Arab village within Israel This novel by a Jordanian/British writer is about what happens to a woman from a small village in the Levant who becomes pregnant before marriage and eventually finds herself in Exeter. This novel by an Israeli Arab involves a surgeon in Tel Aviv whose wife is involved in a suicide bombing This novel by a Lebanese author is about an ageing Palestinian freedom fighter in a refugee camp in Lebanon This mystery/thriller novel, written by a BritishJewish journalist, involves archaeologists on both sides of the IsraeliPalestinian divide and is very well contextualised within the on-going conflict. A novel that captures the tensions of a Muslim living in the USA post 9/11 written by an author who was brought up in Lahore then studied and worked in New York This crime novel, written by a British journalist who has covered the Middle East for a decade, is nicely contextualised within a Palestinian village in the occupied territories.
Title Dreamers of the day [249 pages]
Author Mary Doria Russell 2008
Mornings in Jenin [322 pages]
Susan Abulhawa 2010
The Saladin Murders (aka A Grave in Gaza) [340 pages]
Matt (Beynon) Rees 2008
The Samaritan’s Secret [324 pages]
Matt Rees 2009
The Fourth Assassin [281 pages]
Matt Rees 2010
Sabra Zoo [203 pages]
Mischa Hiller 2010
Shake Off [277 pages]
Mischa Hiller 2011
The kites are flying [77 pages]
Michael Morpurgo 2009
Overview A novel set in the context of the real people and events in 1921 whereby the nations of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan were first created. A powerful novel tracing the lives of the members of a Palestinian family from being expelled from Israel in 1948 to the present day. The 2nd Omar Yussef mystery novel, this time illuminatingly set in Gaza and involving warring factions amongst Palestinians. The 3rd Omar Yussef novel set this time in Nablus and involving a remnant community of Samaritans. The 4th Omar Yussef novel, this time set in New York during a UN conference and again involving conflict between different Palestinian factions. An illuminating novel [set after the expulsion of the PLO from Beirut in 1982 and including the Sabra massacre] by a British author with Lebanese connections. A thriller involving an undercover PLO agent, who lost all his family in the Sabra massacre] operating mainly in Europe. Good on background/atmosphere. A TV reporter in the West Bank shows how children’s hopes/dreams can fly higher than any wall dividing communities and religions. Quoted by the UK author in his recent Dimbleby lecture.
(b) Jewish/Israeli
(by and/or portraying)
Title Exodus [599 pages]
Author Leon Uris 1959
The Bankrupts [203 pages]
Brian Glanville 1958
A Woman in Jerusalem [198 pages]
A.B.Yehoshua 2006
Khirbet Khizeh [113 pages + 16 page afterword]
S. Yizhar 1949 [+ David Shulman 2007]
Thieves in the Night [357 pages]
Arthur Koestler 1946
Preliminaries [305 pages]
S. Yizhar 1992
Envy the Frightened [187 pages]
Yael Dayan 1960
The Final Reckoning [545 pages]
Sam Bourne 2008
Overview The novel whose story of the struggle of Jewish people to come “home” to Palestine after the end of the second World War influenced the views of countless people in Europe and the USA A novel exploring the tensions experienced by a young Jewish girl in coping with her immediate family, the local Jewish community, the wider English society and reaching a judgement about the newly formed state of Israel. A Booker-shortlisted novel by a leading Israeli novelist about the consequences of a suicide bombing. A very highly regarded Hebrew novella about the expulsion of Palestinian villagers by the Israeli army An excellent novel portraying the founding of a Jewish settlement in Palestine during the later years of the British mandate. A late, autobiographical novel by an eminent Israeli novelist about growing up between the years 1917 and 1930. The novel portrays the harsh existence in the early years of Jewish settlement and honestly recognises the injustice perpetrated on Palestinian Arabs. A novel by the daughter of Moshe Dayan about growing up in the newly formed state of Israel An excellent and wellinformed novel which incorporates much about the revenge activities of European Jewish survivors of the 2nd World War
Title The Brigade [246 pages]
Author Hanoch Bartov 1965
The Lover [376 pages]
A.B. Yehoshua 1977
Mr. Mani [368 pages]
A.B. Yehoshua 1989
When I Lived in Modern Times [260 pages]
Linda Grant 2000
The Counterlife [328 pages]
Philip Roth 1986
Adjusting Sights [144 pages]
Haim Sabato 2003
By the Rivers of Babylon [460 pages]
Nelson Demille 1978
The Little Drummer Girl [572 pages]
John le Carre 1983
Overview A novel about Jews serving under the British army at the end of the 2nd World War A classic novel portraying life in Israel at the time of the Yom Kippur war from the point of view of both Jews and an Israeli Arabs (though the latter do not appear until one third of the way through the book). A novel tracing the story backwards of six generations of Sephardi Jews and their involvement with Palestine/Israel. A well-informed novel about the experiences of a 20 year-old British-Jewish woman who goes to Palestine in 1946 and encounters people with an astonishing range of backgrounds and opinions. A novel with a complex, multiply-reflexive structure. Chapter 2, Judaea, comprises a vivid portrayal of conflicting attitudes towards Jewish identity and Israeli policies. A novel about the Yom Kippur war by the head of a yeshiva who himself fought in that war. The pervading religious/racial certitude is frightening. A novel about the “heroics” of Israelis, grounded in a remote area of Iraq when their plane is sabotaged, overcoming overwhelming odds when besieged by “fanatical” Palestinian Arabs. One of le Carre’s most well-regarded books concerns Israeli intelligence going to extraordinary lengths to entrap a Palestinian terrorist/freedom fighter. The incidental background is well-researched and hence authentic.
Title The Falafel King is Dead [234 pages]
Author Sara Shilo 2011
Overview A novel, by an Israeli author, about a recently widowed Jewish woman and her family living in a village close to the border with Lebanon.
(c) American Apocalyptic The Ezekiel Option [415 pages]
Joel C Rosenberg 2005
Left Behind [339 pages]
Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins 1995
An example of how the views of fundamentalist Christian apocalyptists are promulgated via massselling fiction in the USA An example of how the views of fundamentalist Christian apocalyptists are promulgated via massselling fiction in the USA
(d) Other [poetry, cartoons, etc.] Title
Author
A Child in Palestine [118 pages]
Naji al-Ali 2009 [Introduction by Joe Sacco]
So What [193 pages]
Tina Muhammad Ali 2007
Overview Powerful political cartoons, featuring the witness-child Hanthala, by a Palestinian man who in 1948 became a refugee in Lebanon, moved to Kuwait and then to London where he was assassinated in 1987 Poems of striking immediacy written late in life by an uneducated Palestinian man whose family had been driven from their village into Lebanon in 1948 but managed to re-enter and settle in Nazareth. [Biography available.]
DVDs (a) Documentaries The Iron Wall
Title
Length 52 mins
Death in Gaza
90 mins
Avenge But One of My Two Eyes
90 mins
Route 181
4 discs each about 90 mins
Wall
90 mins
Line of Fire
45 mins
Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains
120 minutes
Review A Palestinian film showing how the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the building of the wall, etc. makes life intolerable for Palestinians A documentary about the British documentary maker James Miller who was shot by Israeli troops in Gaza when making a film there about the predicament of the Palestinian children who live there. An Israeli film which demonstrates the hypocrisy of the Israeli veneration of Samson (the original suicide bomber) and of the Jewish resistance in 72-73 CE at Masada against the Imperial Roman occupation at whilst at the same time demonising Palestiniain resistance to occupation and violation of their rights. A journey from south to north along the original UN separation line interviewing many Israeli citizens, both Jewish (originally from many different places – E.Europe, Morocco, etc.) and Palestinian An excellent French documentary which nicely complements, rather than simply duplicating, the well-known documentary The Iron Wall. A documentary, from a somewhat proIsraeli point of view, about the 6-day war. A long, but nonetheless interesting, documentary about the ex-president’s work for justice in Palestine and the vitriol it generated from pro-Zionists in the USA.
(b) Feature films Note: Feature films about the Holocaust, e.g. Schindler’s List, The Pianist, Fateless etc., though obviously relevant to the Jewish desire for a Jewish homeland (and the post-WW2 willingness of Western nations to provide one) have not been included.
Private
Title
Length 90 mins
Paradise Now
84 mins
Under the Bombs
90 mins
Close to Home
90 mins
Atash
105 mins
Munich
157 mins
Lemon Tree
Waltz with Bashir Exodus
The band’s visit
Beaufort
Review A feature film about the tensions within a Palestinian family and between Israeli soldiers when the soldiers occupy much of the Palestinians’ house as a base during an extended “security” operation. A feature film showing how two young Palestinian men are recruited as suicide bombers and how one of them is unable to go through with his mission. A feature film about a woman returning to Lebanon from abroad during Israeli occupation and trying to find her sister who has gone missing during the war. An Israeli feature film about young women doing their compulsory stint policing Palestinians entering Jerusalem via checkpoints and within the city itself. An award-winning feature film by a young Palestinian director portraying the tensions and conflicts within a Palestinian eking out a living illegally in an area appropriated by the Israelis. A feature film by the Jewish director Spielberg about covert Israeli operations in retaliation for murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinians during the Munich Olympics. A widowed Palestinian woman’s struggle to save her lemon grove under threat because it is immediately across the separation fence from an Israeli government minister’s new home and hence deemed a security risk. An animated film about Israeli soldiers during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. The 1960 film of the Leon Uris novel which strongly conveys the “standard” Israeli line about the heroic behaviour of European Jews in response to unsympathetic treatment by the victorious allies after World War 2. An Israeli film, sympathetically and amusingly portraying a visit to a small Israeli town by a military band from Egypt. An Israeli film about Israeli soldiers about to withdraw from Lebanon after the invasion of 2000.
