The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East

by Sandy Tolan

Since Dalia and Bashir last saw each other, in 2005, multiple wars have devastated Gaza, killing more than 3,200 Palestinian civilians, including more than one thousand children, mostly killed by Israeli air strikes. During that same time, twenty-nine Israeli civilians died from Hamas or other militant rocket attacks launched from Gaza. None of those were children. Yet, despite the dramatic disparity in casualties, throughout Israel, and in the media, Palestinians are often portrayed as the aggressors, and Israelis, the victims. And so, as Israelis become more fearful, and their leaders seize ever more land to expand settlements, the prospects of a just peace agreement grow smaller and smaller. As Palestinians watched their land base shrink, teams of Israeli and American peace negotiators demanded that they accept the “solution” of a shrunken, fragmented homeland, broken into smaller pieces by Israeli settlements and surrounded by military forces. Palestinians are told they must give up their dream of a national capital in East Jerusalem and accept that Gaza will be permanently severed from the West Bank, isolating the two populations from each other, and from East Jerusalem. Under these proposals, Israel would retain military control around Palestinian borders, and even control the precious underground water lying beneath Palestinian cities and towns. Despite internal divisions among Palestinians, they united in rejecting these proposals, considering them no less than sur...