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

by Sandy Tolan

It is a warm peace," Arafat added, "but we will only sit down as equals, not as supplicants; as partners, not as subjects; as seekers of a just and peaceful solution, not as a defeated nation grateful for whatever scraps are thrown our way."

He had lost count of the number of times he'd been imprisoned, but it was safe to say that Bashir, now sixty-two years old, had spent at least a quarter of his life in a cell. This time, Bashir said, he was not convicted of anything, or charged, or even questioned.

"With horrific statistics like this, the question of who is a terrorist should have long since become very burdensome for every Israeli," an Israeli columnist wrote. "Who would have believed that Israeli soldiers would kill hundreds of children and that the majority of Israelis would remain silent?"

There was a pause. “I am aware of your history in Europe,” Bashir said. “So you recognize the Holocaust?” Solli asked. “Yes. But,” Bashir added, “you have gone from the victims to the victimizers.”

Hundreds of checkpoints and other barriers continue to dot occupied Palestinian land, and Israeli military forces retain control of sixty percent of the West Bank, and of Gaza by air and sea.

Many Palestinians are cut off from their families, their freedom of movement severely curtailed. Palestinians spend hours waiting at military checkpoints to get to work or to visit family and friends. They are unable to travel to Jerusalem to pray at ancient holy sites, since it is now part of a “unified” Israeli capital and off-limits to most Palestinians.

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.

This book is entirely a work of nonfiction. While many of the events described happened decades ago, their retelling is based on interviews, archival documents, published and unpublished memoirs, newspaper clippings, and primary and secondary historical accounts.