Summer School
The following is a list of resources about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that are suggested by J Street U for use in the off-season. While they do not necessarily represent the views of J Street U or J Street, these are great ways to explore, debate, and discuss the issues.
Jump below to a different section:
BOOKS
Blossoms on the Olive Tree, by Janet M. Powers: A survey of women in the peace movement.
The Case for Peace, Alan Dershowitz “While holding out hope for a settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute, this lively polemic carries on the fierce war of words over the conflict.”
Enemy in the Promised Land, by Sana Hassan. In 1974, as a 23-year-old graduate student at Harvard, Hasan, daughter of a former Egyptian ambassador to the U.S., made an extended visit to Israel, an act considered traitorous less than a year after the Yom Kippur War. This is an absorbing account of her headstrong encounters with leading politicians, radical Socialist kibbutzniks, zealous converts to Judaism, Sephardic prostitutes and Israeli Arabs.
From Beirut to Jerusalem, by Thomas Friedman. A condensed, incisive history of the Middle East, as well as personal reflections on his 10-year sojourn. A top-flight observer and interpreter, the author elucidates the complex religious factions obstructing Lebanese and Israeli politics; the agendas of various posturing, media-loving Arab and Israeli leaders; the perversity of daily life in “Wild West Beirut”; the wanton murder in Lebanon of U.S. marines and Palestinian refugees; America’s fascination with Israel; the waning romance between Israeli and American Jews; and the Palestinian intifada.
Gender and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, by Simona Sharoni. This text stresses the relationship between gender and politics by illuminating the daily experiences of women in Israel and in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. Issues covered include: the violence against women; the link between militarism and sexism; and the role of nationalism.
How to Make Peace in the Middle East in Six Months or Less: Without Leaving Your Apartment, Gregory Levey. An easy read that hits on a lot of the issues particularly the discussion in the American community.
In the Land of Israel, by Amos Oz. Oz traveled throughout Israel and the West Bank in the 1980s and spoke with many people about the past, present, and future of his country. What he found is memorably set down here.
Inheriting the Holy Land, by Jennifer Miller. Writing with fierce honesty, Jennifer Miller has created an extraordinary synthesis of history, reporting, and coming-of-age memoir in Inheriting the Holy Land. Her groundbreaking perspective on the conflict is presented with interviews with young Israelis and Palestinians and conversations with some of the most influential officials involved in the Middle East, including Shimon Peres, Yasser Arafat, James Baker, Benjamin Netanyahu, Colin Powell, Ehud Barak, and Mahmoud Abbas. This book will open eyes, open hearts, and open minds.
Israel is Real, Rich Cohen. A primer on both the conflict but more importantly the psychology of Israeli and American Jews.
Israel, Palestine and Peace, Amos Oz : a collection of essays from different time periods
Lords of the Land: The War Over Israel’s Settlements From ’67-’07, by Idith Zertal and Akiva Eldar. Based on years of research, and written by one of Israel’s leading historians and journalists, this involving narrative focuses on the settlers themselves — often fueled by messianic zeal but also inspired by the original Zionist settlers — and shows the role the state of Israel has played in nurturing them through massive economic aid and legal sanctions. The occupation, the authors argue, has transformed the very foundations of Israel’s society, economy, army, history, language, moral profile, and international standing.
The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, by Sandy Tolan. To see in human scale the tragic collision of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, Tolan focuses on one small stone house in Ramla–once an Arab community but now Jewish. Built in 1936 by an Arab family but acquired by a Jewish family after the Israelis captured the city in 1948, this simple stone house has anchored for decades the hopes of both its displaced former owners and its new Jewish occupants. With remarkable sensitivity to both families’ grievances, Tolan chronicles the unlikely chain of events that in 1967 brought a long-dispossessed Palestinian son to the threshold of his former home, where he unexpectedly finds himself being welcomed by the daughter of Bulgarian Jewish immigrants. (Book List Review).
The Modern Middle East: A History, James L. Gelvin. Provides historical background on the region that is brief, brilliantly researched, and accessible to non-historians. It also includes primary documents at the end for the more historically-inclined.
Much Too Promised Land, Aaron David Miller. A thorough and detailed insight into the peace process specifically.
O Jerusalem, Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins: An account of the bitter 1948 dispute between the Arabs and Jews over Jerusalem, highlights the role of the British as well as prominent individuals in the struggle.
Righteous Indignation: a Jewish Call for Justice, by Or Rose, Jo Ellen Green Kaiser, and Margie Klein, eds. Seeking to provide a set of intellectual and spiritual resources to encourage a sophisticated conversation about Judaism, social justice and environmental responsibility, this book more than meets its mark. The contributors, who are activists, intellectuals and spiritual leaders, broadly interpret their mission, touching on topics such as social justice, toxic waste, renewable energy, stem cell research, domestic violence and Middle East peace.
Scars of War, Wounds of Peace, Shlomo Ben Ami: The author served as both Israel’s minister of foreign affairs and minister of public security. He quotes sources from both sides of the conflict representing many points of view.
Separate and Unequal:The Inside Story of Israeli Rule in East Jerusalem, Amir S. Cheshin, Bill Hutman, Avi Melamed: Thorough backgrounder on Jerusalem particularly the East and West Jerusalem division. Very focused on rights and violations of rights.
Shut Up, I’m Talking: and Other Diplomacy Lessons I Learned in the Israeli Government, by Gregory Levey. “This brilliant and blindingly funny book is like a nonfictional season of The West Wing set in the Knesset. If you ever wanted an insider tale about why the Middle East is such a complicated, heartrending, and yet unbelievably compelling saga then look no further. Gregory Levey has captured the soul of this conflict with charm, grace, and diplomatic wit.” — Matthew Polly, author of American Shaolin.
Six Days of War, Michael Oren: A history of the Six Day War of 1967, in which Israel entered and began its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Sleeping on a Wire: Conversations with Palestinians in Israel, by David Grossman. Grossman, a noted Israeli Jewish writer, explores the complex pattern of life that the Arabs who did not flee Israel in 1948 have created for themselves over several generations. With interviews and vignettes, he gives human faces to a group that has been labeled “the quietest minority in the world.”
A Tale of Love and Darkness, Amos Oz: a memoir/family history of a native Israeli and prolific author.
Transforming America’s Israel Lobby, by Dan Fleshler. A former media strategist for the Israel Policy Forum, Fleshler offers a clear-eyed and dispassionate assessment of what he terms the conventional Israel lobby and its real and imagined influence on Congress and the president. Fleshler outlines how liberal supporters of Israel can simultaneously promote the country’s security and push American officials to make greater demands on its government, particularly concerning settlement expansion. The book accurately explains Jewish-American fears about criticism of Israel, acknowledging legitimate historical anxieties even as Fleshler calls on young and unaffiliated members of the community to lead new lobbying efforts on behalf of a less divisive approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Wrestling with Zion, by Tony Kushner and Alisa Solomon, eds. With violence between Israeli Jews and Palestinians continuing and the death toll rising, playwright Kushner and journalist Solomon have compiled a book of thoughts by a progressive and diverse group of notable Jewish writers on the current situation in the Middle East and the prospects for peace. Rather than distancing themselves from controversy, the editors have encouraged contributors to examine the covenant that links the Jewish people and Israel and to let it be “loosened and strengthened, de-mythified, de-fetishized, considered as a dynamic problematic, as is only appropriate to the consideration of a living bond.”
The Yellow Wind, David Grossman: records the devastation that two decades of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has wreaked on Palestinians and Israelis.
The 188th Crybaby Brigade, Joel Chasnoff. A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah–A Memoir
MOVIES
These movies are for personal viewing only – for public screening events see http://www.jstreetu.org/beta/our-programs/campus-programming#Films
Budrus – Budrus is an award-winning feature documentary film about a Palestinian community organizer, Ayed Morrar, who unites local leaders along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save his village of Budrus from near destruction by Israel’s separation barrier.
Encounter Point – Encounter Point is a documentary film that follows a former Israeli settler, a Palestinian ex-prisoner, a bereaved Israeli mother and a wounded Palestinian bereaved brother who risk their lives and public standing to promote a nonviolent end to the conflict. Their journeys lead them to the unlikeliest places to confront hatred within their communities.
Land of the Settlers – Chaim Yavin, Israel’s foremost television personality, travels through the occupied territories taking a stance against the settlers.
Promises – Seven Palestinian and Israeli children living in completely different worlds – though only twenty minutes apart – dare to cross the boundaries that separate them.
Waltz with Bashir – Director Ari Folman employs vivid black-and-white animation in this Golden Globe-winning film, exploring the memory gaps in his life during his service for the Israeli army in the Lebanese war of the early 1980s. Recounting stories based on recorded interviews with colleagues and friends, Folman relives the horrors of war and dissects the curious coping mechanisms humans use to survive under brutal circumstances. (Netflix)
West Bank Story – Jewish and Arab riffs mix with Broadway and jazz in this goofy take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Romeo and Juliet are replaced by David and Fatima, star-crossed lovers from opposite sides of the wall – one that divides not just Israel and Palestine, but Hummus Hut and Kosher King, rival Israeli and Palestinian fast-food stands.
WEBSITES
Alternative Learning & Visiting In Israel – ALVI features a comprehensive directory of internship and volunteering opportunities for students and graduates interested in working for social justice and civil rights in Israel and direct social service opportunities with Israelis and Palestinians.
Bitter Lemons – Presents Israeli and Palestinian viewpoints on prominent issues of concern.
Common Ground News – The Common Ground News Service (CGNews) seeks to promote mutual understanding and offer hope, opportunities for dialogue and constructive suggestions that facilitate peaceful resolution of conflict.
Council on Foreign Relations Crisis Guide on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – An in-depth, multimedia look at the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its geopolitical repercussions.
Haaretz – Prominent Israeli progressive newspaper.
J Street’s Blog – Official blog of J Street.
JTA’s Capital J – Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s page featuring commentary by Ron Kampeas and Eric Fingerhut on inside the beltway issues.
Middle East Channel – Unique analysis and insight on the region from Foreign Policy magazine.
Ynet – Online site for Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s most widely read newspaper.
GAMES
PeaceMaker – A computer game similar to Civilization and Sim City, PeaceMaker challenges you to succeed as a leader where others have failed. Experience the joy of bringing peace to the Middle East or the agony of plunging the region into disaster. PeaceMaker will test your skills, assumptions and prior knowledge. Play it and you will never read the news the same way again.
Safe Passage An online interactive game, Safe Passage was created by Gisha (Israeli Legal Center for Freedom of Movement) to inform the public about the legal and military measures that Israel uses to implement its policy of separation between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
This list is a work in progress. If you have any further recommendations for any of the categories, then please email us at info [at] jstreetu [dot] org.
