It happens rarely enough, but occasionally I do stumble across a book that makes me want to write a recommendation for the benefit of my blog readers, few as they may be. The book of the day is "Prisoners", an autobiographic first-hand account on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, written by the Jewish American journalist and author Jeffrey Goldberg who lived there himself for many years.
The entire book reads like a collection of youth memories of the kind that most people would prefer to disappear into oblivion, rather than publishing them -- which makes this such an authentic read. It tells the story of the author's own search for identity, of the search for friendship between a former Israeli prison ward and a Palestinian prisoner, and of the search for peace between two peoples.
Besides that, it's also a surprisingly comprehensive overview of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that within only 324 pages takes even a politically uninformed moron like me from total ignorance to at least a mediocre working knowledge of what the hell is going on down there, other than the occasional production of minor news headlines about the latest death statistics.
What I really appreciate about Goldberg's report though is that in spite of his unambiguous affiliation with one side, he seeks to find understanding for both sides, and doesn't fail to see the shortcomings of either.
Two warnings before you start reading, though:
* In order to fully enjoy this book, you need to be able to appreciate some fine sarcasm and delicate English phrasing.
* Start reading the book with a lot of optimism and a deep believe in the possibility and power of peace. That way you might still have some hope left at the end of the book. It takes some positive thinking from your side to avoid getting dragged into the writer's own disillusionment.
To give you a feeling of the style of the book, let me give you a very short excerpt (which is by the way part of a longer free excerpt you will find on Amazon), describing the interrogation after the author having been arrested by Palestinian secret police forces for suspicious behaviour:
"Mr. Jeffrey," he said, "what are you doing here?"A very pertinent question. What I was doing here was trying to get out of here.But there were many other answers to this question. I could have said: I'm here because I believe with perfect faith in the catechisms of solutionism, the American national religion, which holds that for every intractable problem there is a logical and available answer. I could have said: I am here in search of the secret afflictions of the Palestinian heart. I am here exploring the contradictions of Jewish power. I am here seeking the elimination of ambiguity. I'm looking for the bridge that will carry me across the black hole of cognition that separates Arab and Jew. I'm here to quiet the conflict in my heart. I'm here because I'm alive to hope. I'm here in search of the key to all mythologies. I'm here because I'm a fucking idiot."I'm working on a story," I said.(page 17, salvo errore et omissione)
In my opinion it's important to remember that the book, comprehensive and forthright as it might be, is still only the point of view of one single person, and thus far from a scientific or neutral discussion of the topic. With that in mind, I can only recommend reading it -- and so have done many others:
http://www.jeffreygoldberg.net/books/prisoners/critics/
http://www.amazon.com/Prisoners-Story-Friendship-Terror-Vintage/product-reviews/(...)
-- Birgit
P.S.: Jeffrey Goldberg also writes a rather interesting blog, where I actually found out about the book's existence by coincidence.
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