Two Peoples, One Land

Upper Left and Right: Father Chacour's Church of the Beatitudes, Ibillin, Galilee

Centre: Dalia Eshkenazi Landau

Bottom Left: Sandy Tolan

Many people in North America have formulated their opinions on the situation in the Holy Land by reading such novels as Leon Uris’s Exodus (or seeing the movie version). If you would like a more accurate history about the Holy Land written in styles that are fascinating and easy to read, I recommend your buying or borrowing the following two books.

Blood Brothers by Elias Chacour tells the unforgettable story of a Palestinian Christian working for peace in Israel. ISBN 0-8007-9321-8

“As a child, Elias Chacour lived in a small Palestinian village in Galilee. The townspeople were proud of their ancient Christian heritage and lived at peace with their Jewish neighbours. But in 1948 and ’49 their idyllic lifestyle was swept away as tens of thousands of Palestinians were killed and nearly one million were forced into refugee camps.

“An exile in his native land, Elias began a years-long struggle with his love for the Jewish people and the world’s misunderstanding of his own people, the Palestinians. How was he to respond? He found his answer in the simple, haunting words of the Man of Galilee: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’.

“In Blood Brothers Chacour blends his riveting life story with historical research to reveal a little-known side of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the birth of modern Israel. He touches on controversial questions such as: What behind-the-scenes politics touched off the turmoil in the Middle East? What does Bible prophecy really have to say? Can bitter enemies ever be reconciled? In a world of tension and terror, this book offers hope and insight that can help each of us learn to live at peace.”

Paris-educated, holding a doctorate, speaking eleven languages, and holding a degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Father Elias still lives in Ibillin, near Nazareth, where as president of Mar Elias Educational Institutions, he continues to lead his diverse faculty, staff, and students in living, learning and working together toward peaceful coexistence. In April, we visited Ibillin and learned first hand of the amazing work that is being done. This book is a “must read”.

The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan is a well researched historically accurate handbook to understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a narrative that captures its essence through tracing the connected lives of two extraordinary individuals.
ISBN - 10: 1 - 59691-343-6
ISBN - 13: 978 - 1- 59691 - 343 – 1

“In 1967, Bashir Khairi, a twenty-five-year-old Palestinian, journeyed to Israel with the goal of seeing the beloved old stone house with the lemon tree behind it that he and his family had fled nineteen years earlier. To his surprise, when he found the house he was greeted by Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student, whose family fled Europe for Israel following the Holocaust. On the stoop of their shared home, Dalia and Bashir began a rare friendship, forged in the aftermath of war and tested over the next thirty-five years in ways that neither could imagine on that summer day in 1967. Sandy Tolan brings the Israeli-Palestinian conflict down to its most human level, suggesting that even amid the bleakest political realities there exist stories of hope and reconciliation.”

This second book that I am recommending came to our attention just last week when we were invited to the Daila Centre, home to the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions in West Jerusalem, to attend an open reading in English by the author. We learned how Sandy Tolan, a journalist, came across the story of Dalia and Bashir, and through interviews and historical research documented every aspect of the story. We were privileged to meet Dalia as well and hear her authentication of the book. Another “must read”.