Martyrs' Crossing: A Novel

by Amy Wilentz

An Israeli lieutenant, Ari Doron falls in love with the wife of jailed Palestinian militant in the midst of a wave of terrorism that he may have set into motion because of following orders to refuse to allow passage to a young mother and her ailing child. 35,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction, Middle East, Book Club, Contemporary, Israel, Novels, Historical Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Amy Wilentz is the award-winning author of The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier; Martyrs’ Crossing, a novel about Jerusalem, and I Feel Earthquakes More Often Than They Happen: Coming to California in the Age of Schwarzenegger.

From 1995 through 1999, she was The New Yorker’s Jerusalem correspondent. She’s a contributing editor at The Nation magazine and teaches in the Literary Journalism program at the University of California at Irvine. She has worked as a monitor for Americas Watch, and was a board member of the National Coalition for Haitian Refugees.

Wilentz is a frequent contributor to Conde Nast Traveler, More magazine, and the Los Angeles Times. She is currently working on a novel about money, love, and family.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Palestinian violence escalates in Jerusalem, Israeli authorities are forced to close checkpoints at their borders. Marina is desperate to get her asthmatic son into Israel for medical treatment. The commanding officer of the checkpoint she is trying to cross can only reach out to headquarters for permission, which is flatly denied. Thus the injustice of her son’s death at the checkpoint becomes a flashpoint for both sides of the conflict.

What I appreciated most was that a variety of perspectives were offered. Of course, you have Marina, the stoic face of tragedy, a victim of Israeli indifference. I thought the most profound character was her father, a Palestinian intellectual, a cardiologist who exiled himself in America where he raised Marina. When he returns to Palestine to bury his grandson, he finds he has become more moderate in his senior years. Then there’s Arei the “perpetrator,” the solider who was following orders and who the Palestinians blame outright for the boy’s death. Above him is an army “fixer” who wants Ari to amend his story so that the Army’s reputation isn’t tarnished by the incident. “This was about the truth, not the facts.” And finally there’s the righteous lawyer who advocated for Marina at the checkpoint and who considers himself an important witness. They all play important roles in how the aftermath of the tragedy unfolds.

But what it really came down to was the fact that Marina’s husband, the dead child’s father, was imprisoned for being a Hamas bomb builder. Even Marina’s father admits, “Oh, Hamas… A bad and difficult organization, full of cold and rigid men…” Which is why this book is so relevant today, 20+ years after it was published. I really appreciated its message and objectivity.

[Cecelia Hightower]

(2001/311 pages) It took the author three years to write this book, her first novel. It is a book about the crisis in the Middle East, really between Palestinians and Israelis. It is a political book in one sense but really a very human tale of regrets, revenge, and the elusive nature of absolution. The characters are all well developed and her writing is very sophisticated. She was the editor of "The Nation" and truly has an understanding of the situation, and presents these characters in her book as "real people" and "real situations".

I must admit that I had my dictionary close at hand, and often had to even go to my computer for a description of certain Palestinian words and Israeli words.

The book begin at a closed Israeli checkpoint, where a Palestinian mother, clutches her ailing boy, desperate for access to Jerusalem and its doctors. When a young Israeli soldier waits too long before deciding to disobey orders, a martyr is born.

And so the story develops from there.

It was a very different book for me to read, but even though it was quite sad, I learned a great deal about this ongoing conflict.

I read this book on the recommendation of a friend. In fact, it is her book so I must return it.

[James Millikan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Martyr's Crossing was just not my book. The relative popularity of the novel strikes me as victory of marketing rather that a reflection of its merits. True, a summary of the central events of the book sound captivating: set against the perennial headline-grabbing backdrop of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Martyr's Crossing expounds upon the broad-reaching consequences of the death of a Palestinian child at an Israeli checkpoint. All the ingredients of a bestselling novel are here--the ripple effects of a high stakes decision by the checkpoint official, the tremendous momentum that fuels the "find the soldier" campaign that ensues, a kidnapping, the slow moving train-wreck of anger coupled with irreconcilable philosophical differences--but these high-emotion (and well-worn) elements of the storyline struck me as mundane and uninspired. Wilentz's storyline made me feel cultured and sophisticated when the question of what I was reading arose among peers, but upon turning the final page I felt no better informed about the political situation in the Middle East, and no better versed in the human condition--which in my eyes is the measure of a truly distinguished novelist.

[David Grosskopf · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read this book for many years. It is an attempt, by Amy Wilentz, to grapple with the multiple sides and cascading morality of Israeli and Palestinian land claims and claims on one another, to both contextualize and challenge the violence and rationalizing stories of both.

Do I think she succeeds? In a way. And I do like the characters Wilentz invents to these tasks.

There are several two dimensional characters, like the icky Palestinian lawyer Sheukhi who is dissatisfied with the actions of those who believes should be more aggrieved as victims, or more loyal to the cause; and more interestingly, there is Amr Ahmed, the successful, cynical politician high up in the Palestinian Authority, who nevertheless loves and helps his old friend, the intellectual George Raad, when Raad opposes him quite aggressively; there is scheming, manipulative head of security but more obviously head of PR or propaganda for Israel, Yizhar, who puts "truth" to the service of Israel and security, and the dim-witted loyalist Zvili.

George Raad's views of Palestine, from his post at Harvard and globally, are principled, as he stands against certain compromises with Israel and against binary thinking: there is much complexity in his humanity and his politics.

His daughter, Marina, has grown up in Cambridge but has moved to the West Bank and married a smart whose beliefs have been narrowed by his work with Hamas and time in prison.

And there is Ari Doron, the soldier who held up Marina at the check point when she really needed to get her young son to a hospital, wanting to help her but ultimately witnessing the asthmatic death of the toddler. Doron spends the rest of the book wracked with guilt, and maybe a little bit of lust for Marina, until he gets himself into trouble.

Everyone wants to use the death of the toddler, and the checkpoint soldier, for political ends, both sides.

The book ends with mutliple martyrs, lots of mess, and lots of good questions. George Raad thinks, "The problem with Palestine was that everyone wanted things simple. It was the problem of humanity. Good and evil, as if there were only those two" (160).

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from Goodreads for my honest review. This was a difficult story to process. It involves an incident at a checkpoint crossing where a Palestinian boy dies due to delay in allowing him and his Palestinian-American mother to get medical help in Israel. The story is told through multiple viewpoints and there are no victors here. The tragic consequences are felt by all - the mother who is torn between her life with her imprisoned husband there and her father who lives stateside, the young Israeli soldier who has to live with the guilt of his actions, the gravely ill grandfather, the Palestinian leaders who want to use this incident for political gain. Well written and introspective, but very bleak.

[Kathy Kattenburg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desperately sad. Even more so because it's real. Yes, it's a novel and the characters are imagined, but what happens to them happens to Israelis and Palestinians every day. And Amy Wilentz knows what she's writing about -- she was the Jerusalem correspondent for The New Yorker for two years. It is extraordinarily well-written, and is that true rarity: a book about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that sees the humanity, and the tragedy, on both sides.

[Diane HA · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's one of those books that has stayed with me many years after reading it. Wilentz, in this beautifully written novel, has expertly displayed the complications and intricacies of this long, bitter conflict. While there are many more layers, this increased my understanding of the Middle East conflict exponentially. And, it's a good story.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good story, just a bit depressing. A sick Palestinian baby dies waiting for the border crossing into Israel. In the aftermath we see the perspectives of family, soldiers, those involved in the incident, those trying to use the incident for political points, etc. It was interesting how so many people could hold opinions in common but never see a path to resolution.

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous story. Couldn’t put it down. Things still haven’t changed since this book was written in 2002.

[Laura Ann she-her · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a tough story, but fascinating look at the people embrittled within Israel and Palestine. The story deviated in a way I was at first disappointed, but decided to continue on and found I was glad I stuck with it. Really this is a story of people and what we will do to help or condemn those with religious and cultural differences, however, this is so much more, as the divisiveness between those of Israel and Palestine.

[Betsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

FANTASTiC
From Publishers Weekly
A former Jerusalem correspondent for the New Yorker and 1990 National Book Critics Circle nonfiction nominee, Wilentz supplements a natural storyteller's eye for character with a reporter's grasp of swirling political detail in this complex, haunting debut novel. At a checkpoint in Jerusalem, a beautiful young Palestinian woman begs an Israeli soldier for permission to "cross over" in order to get her two-year-old son to the hospital. The soldier, Lt. Ari Doron, frantically telephones headquarters, but is rebuffed by an anonymous commander: the woman is Marina Raad Hajimi, wife of jailed Hamas terrorist Hassan Hajimi, and therefore presumptively barred from Israel during a border "closure." Within minutes, the child dies, devastating family members on both sides of the checkpoint. It turns out the little boy was the grandson of American cardiologist George Raad, a secular Palestinian patriot whose iconoclastic views are courted, but largely ignored, by the Palestinian leadership. Despite his failing health, George returns to Ramallah to be with his bereaved daughter and to shelter her from the gathering political storm, as Palestinian discontents gear up to play "Find the Soldier." The soldier, meanwhile, plagued with guilt over "his dead baby," is unable to stay out of Ramallah, where he seeks absolution from Marina and George before the newly liberated Hajimi finds him. Characters on both sides of the border are nuanced, sympathetic and deeply ambivalent, which heightens the well-crafted suspense: you don't know what will happen next because neither do they. Wilentz's insight into the region is so sharp that even the maelstrom she depicts is vivid and comprehensible, a full-fledged human tragedy from every perspective. Agent, Deborah Karl. (Mar.)Forecasts: The timeliness of this story, plus Wilentz's writing credentials, make this a sure shot for review attention and healthy sales.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-In this well-crafted novel, Wilentz looks through the eyes of her sharply drawn characters to explore both the objective issues and the subjective realities that form the fabric of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. An ill Palestinian child dies at an Israeli-border checkpoint while the young post commander is pressing headquarters for permission to allow the boy and his mother to cross into Israel for medical care. The Palestinian political leaders proclaim the boy a martyr, rallying crowds with a cry for vengeance: "Find the soldier." The Israeli military's doctor fashions a version of the event to shield the army from blame. From this realistic beginning, Martyrs' Crossing dramatizes how easily tragic events escalate into violence. The mother of the dead boy is American-born Marina Hajimi, who married Hassan, a Palestinian. A Hamas activist, he is imprisoned in Israel. Marina's father is an eminent American cardiologist, an intellectual who fled Palestine with his family in 1948 and who is critical of a Palestinian authority he believes is corrupt. Lieutenant Ari Doron, empathetic and "unassailably honest," finds himself affected by the pain and the beauty of this woman whose son is dead because he refused to disobey orders. The major characters are principled people, torn by grief and guilt but unwilling to be manipulated for political purposes. Some of the other characters are less nobly motivated. Teens who are interested in the Middle East will come away from the novel with a better understanding of why the conflict so defies resolution.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martyr's Crossing is a well-crafted political novel about our common humanity and what political violence does to individuals. The book's characters are not predictable stereotypes, but rather flesh and blood.

Wilentz's political insights are right on. Here's the Palestinian-American grandfather of the toddler who dies at the beginning of the novel, musing on how events can be manipulated: "You find something, something good, something that really sparks the people because it comes from deep down, and you pump it. Something like the torture of a prisoner, the assassination of a poet - the murder of a child. He remembered Ahmed's lecture on manipulating the fortuitous in history: History can change a man's standing overnight. A speech, a coup, an unforseen incident. Pump it till it's dry."

Here's another, again from the grandfather: "The problem of Palestine was that everyone wanted things simple: everyone was an extremist because everyone wanted things simple. It was the problem of humanity. Good and evil, as if there were only those two."

The story takes in many moving scenes, such as when the young Israeli soldier puts on his uniform and visits the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem, and feels the scorn of the guests and staff; when the Palestinian-American grandfather finally visits the house his family fled in 1948, his parents coming alive to him as he touches the furniture they left behind, and talks with the Jewish family living there now; the young mother ironing her dead toddler's clothes, getting the wrinkles out, making them flat, thinking of a lifetime of sheets ahead of her; and a comforting, beautiful description of what of the characters experiences while dying.

I have a small quibble with one too pat plot point, and wonder too if the characters are too self-examining, too nuanced - nearly all of them understanding so many nuances of the conflict, giving perhaps not enough differentiation between them. Neither of these questions got in the way of my enjoying these characters, the plot, Wilentz's keen insights or her graceful writing style.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a while ago, so here's a a plot overview from the Amazon site. Definitely worth it.
A former Jerusalem correspondent for the New Yorker and 1990 National Book Critics Circle nonfiction nominee, Wilentz supplements a natural storyteller's eye for character with a reporter's grasp of swirling political detail in this complex, haunting debut novel. At a checkpoint in Jerusalem, a beautiful young Palestinian woman begs an Israeli soldier for permission to "cross over" in order to get her two-year-old son to the hospital. The soldier, Lt. Ari Doron, frantically telephones headquarters, but is rebuffed by an anonymous commander: the woman is Marina Raad Hajimi, wife of jailed Hamas terrorist Hassan Hajimi, and therefore presumptively barred from Israel during a border "closure." Within minutes, the child dies, devastating family members on both sides of the checkpoint. It turns out the little boy was the grandson of American cardiologist George Raad, a secular Palestinian patriot whose iconoclastic views are courted, but largely ignored, by the Palestinian leadership. Despite his failing health, George returns to Ramallah to be with his bereaved daughter and to shelter her from the gathering political storm, as Palestinian discontents gear up to play "Find the Soldier." The soldier, meanwhile, plagued with guilt over "his dead baby," is unable to stay out of Ramallah, where he seeks absolution from Marina and George before the newly liberated Hajimi finds him. Characters on both sides of the border are nuanced, sympathetic and deeply ambivalent, which heightens the well-crafted suspense: you don't know what will happen next because neither do they. Wilentz's insight into the region is so sharp that even the maelstrom she depicts is vivid and comprehensible, a full-fledged human tragedy from every perspective.

[Marguerite Hargreaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martyrs' Crossing begins at an Israeli checkpoint in Jerusalem. A Palestinian mother seeking medical care for her toddler son is refused entry because her husband has been jailed by the Israelis. The baby dies, and all parties try to use the death for their own purposes. Amy Wilentz's novel pits Palestinians against Israelis, but also each other. The Israelis are of more than one mind as well. New views clash with old as another generation of leaders takes their place. The events unfold with tragic consequences. As good as The Attack in its ability to help a reader understand multiple and opposing views. The novel is well-paced and the characters true to themselves. Wilentz writes about Jerusalem and the politics of the place with authority. The ambiguities at the end of the story are consistent with the setting, too.

"The problem of Palestine was that everyone wanted things simple: everyone was an extremist because everyone wanted things simple. It was the problem of humanity. Good and evil, as if there were only those two. The interesting thing was to seek truth and then face it."

[Marvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story rich in human emotion set in contemporary Ramallah & Jerusalem. A Palestinian American who returned to Palestine to marry a Hamas activist watches her son die at a checkpoint as she waits to get clearance to get through to take him to a hospital in Jerusalem. The story of the political & emotional fallout of that tragic event is told from the viewpoint of the mother, her father (a cardiac specialist at Harvard who's also an activist on behalf of Palestinian rights), & the soldier who tried to get clearance for the mother & child & who is held responsible by the Palestinians for the child's death, and, to a lesser extent, the child's father and a PLO leader (& childhood friend of the child's grandfather, though they've become political enemies in recent years). This rich book is highly sensitive to the political & emotional complexities of the situation--a book I won't soon forget.

[Jendimmick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a political story with a human touch. A young Palestinian-American woman raised in Cambridge returns to her homeland to marry a Hamas activist, while her academic father watches from the safety of Harvard University with a mixture of pride, guilt and horror as her life spins out of control. Marina's husband is incarcerated in Israel for involvement in a terrorist plot and their toddler dies a needless death while awaiting checkpoint authorization to cross the border to access urgent medical care for his asthma. The political drama that ensues as a result of his preventable martyrdom reveals both the absurdity and humanity that exists on both sides of this age old conflict. The writing is poignant and the story is gripping at times, though the overall tone is depressing and somewhat fatalistic. I wouldn't say I enjoyed the book, but I was moved by it and came away with a deeper understanding of the complexities of the volatile situation in the Middle East. ~ Ms Dimmick

[Steve Cran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story starts off at a checkpoint where the mother is trying to get her asthmatic son to Haddassa hospital in Jerusalem. Of course the checkpoint is closed and thee child does not get through in time. The Israelis immediately launch a cover up and the Palestinians launch a find the soldier campaign. Marina the mather has a husband who is in Jail. Her father George is critical of the Palestinian AUthority in it's effort to use thee incident for propaganda. The soldier himself feels guilty and so the story propel forward. Informative of a human drama where people of both populations are used as pawns in game of power brokers

[Jenifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is hard to describe how such a grim book could be so intriguing or in many ways so beautiful. Painful tragedy besets a Palestinian woman and what follows is both painful and stunning as the we follow each corollary in the aftermath - those who mourn, those who exploit, those who cower and those who seek forgiveness. I gained a great appreciation for the ongoing Palestinian/Israeli conflict in a highly relatable way, and a new sympathy for both sides. A sober and haunting tale which is mostly character driven and rich with philosophy on the human condition and that which we often inflict upon each other. The central themes and conflicts yank at my senses of kindness and justice.

[Gerry Durisin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Boston-born woman of Palestinian descent has returned to Palestine with her husband, a committed freedom-fighter now jailed by the Israelis. When their two-year-old son dies for lack of medical attention due to an Israeli-enforced border closing that separates him from the hospital, the Palestinians regard him as a martyr, and his death becomes a rallying point for political extremists. But Marina understands that a dead child is only that, not a symbol, not a martyr, only a dead child sadly mourned by those who loved him, and her new understanding of the cost of political and territorial conflict will tear her away from her husband and her adopted homeland. Very well done!

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend of mine (thanks Grace R) told me this was an unbiased book about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. She was correct. Wilentz was the Jerusalem correspondent for The New Yorker from 1995 to 1997 and I can only assume that she drew the story from that experience. To be able to relate the experience in such an unbiased manner is phenomenal. To understand the impossible snarl of politics and social life and tell it with intense skill and nuance is powerful. Beyond that, I loved the cadence of her writing and her insertions of comedic phraseology at just the right moment.

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had its ups and downs. It started off being very captivating, then transformed itself into something rather boring after approximately 50 pages. It became interesting again for the last 100 pages. Overall, the characters were intriguing, and they were usually (but not always) believable as well.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the description of how everyone in this story is basically screwed by history. I never felt that I got inside the emotional lives of any of the characters however. Her style reminded me of Dickens where the plot is more primary than the characters themselves. Since its a history I don't know well enough it was good to see inside it.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does not provide any easy answers to the Israeli/Palestinian issue, but it certainly makes it more personal. I loved the tension, the characters are so real... I highly recommend it. Yes, it is not a spoiler to say a child dies, but that is not what the focus is. I hesitated to pick it up at first for that very reason, but I am SO glad I did.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This quote, from the book itself, encompasses its' meaning: "Endings do not happen here. Things did not come to a close, even on the rare occasions when they seem to. In the Holy Land, you could haggle for a century or two over and INCH of unusable land, and really MEAN it."
A very good read.

[Foxglow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my usual genre. The first third of the book I was afraid that it was going to be about the political maneuvering that follows tragedy in the Middle East. then it became a story about those affected by the tragedy.

[Su · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book reminded me of a documentary. It is a window into another culture and part of the world through American eyes.

[Catherine Theriault · Rating 4 out of 5]

MC is a great book to teach the Isreali/Arab conflict. My students are doing a literary analysis with a socio-historical critical lens.

[Richard Houchin · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting example of investing theological and philosophical debate in the skin of characters and human dilemma. It was okay.

[Kateri · Rating 2 out of 5]

its ok but it doesnt keep my attention for very long! and it only gives one side of the story which is stupid.

[Joette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Israelis vs. Paletinians. This seemed realistic