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

by Sandy Tolan

Decades later, she would remember this moment as the beginning of a life of discernment: of being able to see the whole and not judge someone or something based simply on a single observation or teaching.

He was skeptical that this longing for Zion had much to do with Israel's creation. "Israel first came to the imagination of the Western occupying powers for two reasons," he told Dalia. "And what are they?" she asked in reply, now feeling her own skepticism grow. "First, to get rid of you in Europe. Second, to rule the East through this government and to keep down the whole Arab world.

"personal relationships meant nothing in the face of collective forces. If national interest comes before our common humanity," Dalia said, "then there is no hope for redemption, there is no hope for healing, there is no hope for transformation, there is no hope for anything!"

In the eighteen years following the Israeli occupation in June 1967, an estimated 250,000 Palestinians—or 40 percent of the adult male population—had seen the inside of an Israeli jail.

Nobody will return us from the dead dark pit. Here, neither the joy of victory nor songs of praise will help. So sing only for peace, don't whisper a prayer, it's better to sing a song for peace with a great shout!