Charged with brilliance and daring, hypnotic in its intensity, Beaufort is at once a searing coming-of-age story and a novel for our times--one of the most powerful, visceral portraits of the horror, camaraderie, and absurdity of war in modern fiction. Beaufort. To the handful of Israeli soldiers occupying the ancient crusader fortress, it is a little slice of hell--a forbidding, fear-soaked enclave perched atop two acres of land in southern Lebanon, surrounded by an enemy they cannot see. And to the thirteen young men in his command, Twenty-one-year-old Lieutenant Liraz Erez Liberti is a taskmaster, confessor, and the only hope in the face of attacks that come out of nowhere and missions seemingly designed to get them all killed. All around them, tension crackles in the air. Long stretches of boredom and black humor are punctuated by flashes of terror. And the threat of death is constant. But in their stony haven, Erez and his soldiers have created their own little world, their own rules, their own language. And here Erez listens to his men build castles out of words, telling stories, telling lies, talking incessantly of women, sex, and dead comrades. Until, in the final days of the occupation, Erez and his squad of fed-up, pissed-off, frightened young soldiers are given one last order: a mission that will shatter all remaining illusions--and stand as a testament to the universal, gut-wrenching futility of war.

    

    

    Nathan had arrived in Israel four years earlier and had taught English and worked with various progressive social organizations. Her desire to help build a just and humane society in Israel took an unexpected turn, however, when she became aware of Israel’s neglected and often oppressed indigenous Arab population. Despite warnings from friends about the dangers she would encounter, Nathan settled in an apartment in Tamra, the only Jew among 25,000 Muslims. There she discovered a division between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs as tangible as the concrete wall and razor-wire fences that surround the Palestinian towns of the West Bank and Gaza. From her unique vantage point, Nathan examines the history and the present-day political and cultural currents that have created a situation little recognized in the ongoing debates about the future of Israel and the Middle East. With warmth, humor, and compassion, she portrays the daily life of her neighbors, the challenges they encounter, and the hopes they harbor. She introduces Arab leaders fighting against entrenched segregation and discrimination; uncovers the hidden biases that undermine even the most well-intentioned Arab-Jewish peace organizations; and describes the efforts of dedicated individuals who insist that Israeli Arabs must be granted the same rights and privileges as Jewish citizens. Through her own courageous example, Nathan proves that it is possible for Jews and Arabs to live and work peacefully together. The Other Side of Israel is more than the story of one woman’s journey; it is a road map for crossing a divide created by prejudices and misunderstandings.

    Today, the Hebrew city of Tel Aviv glitters white, its Bauhaus-influenced modernist architecture betraying few traces of the city which once stood where it now stands: the Arab city of Jaffa. In this book, Sharon Rotbard blows apart this palimpsest in a clear, fluent and challenging style, which promises to force the reality of what so many have praised as 'progress' into the mainstream discourse. A book that works on many levels, White City, Black City is, all at once, an angry uncovering of a vanished history, a book mourning the loss of an architectural heritage, a careful study in urban design and a beautifully written narrative history. It is in all senses a political book, but one that expands beyond the typical. This book promises to become the central text on Tel Aviv - its publication in Hebrew was hailed as 'path-breaking' and a 'masterpiece'.

    New edition of this widely adopted introduction to the Isreali-Palestinian conflictFully revised and updated, the second edition also includes a new chapter on the so-called fourth stage of the conflict.Written by one of the worlds leading authorities on the conflict, who is recognized for the even-handedness of his approach to this complex and sensitive topicAssumes no prior knowledge on the part of the readerIncludes an extensive chronology of events at the back of the book

    But how are we to know the will of God concerning Israel today? How do we pray effectively in the midst of so much controversy?James W. Goll calls readers to join the global prayer movement and intercede for God's ancient covenant people according to a targeted biblical plan. A practical yet inspiring book, Praying for Israel's Destiny includes biblical reasons to pray and stand for Israel, eight character models from the Scriptures to help readers carry the burden, and a strong admonition to pray for all the descendants of Abraham-the offspring of Hagar, Sarah, and Keturah, Jews and Arabs alike.Praying for Israel's Destiny is a journey into the heart of God for his purposes in the Middle East.

    Kenneth Levin, MD identifies a psychological syndrome, naming it the Oslo Syndrome, that has existed within the Jewish people since the Diaspora began and continues to threaten their existence and the existence of the state of Israel.

    This new translation brings her voice to contemporary readers.

    According to legend, the Jerusalem sky held off the rains for seven years while King Solomon built his temple. In the Jerusalem sky, the Bible tells us, a rising star announced the birth of Jesus. Through that same wondrous sky, Islamic belief holds, Muhammad climbed to heaven. In our own times, the Jerusalem sky fills with the sounds of worshippers praying for peace in the synagogues, churches, and mosques below. And each year new voices rise up to the Jerusalem sky, where so many miracles have been witnessed.

    Peres is also a fascinating, complex man–a brilliant intellectual who is entirely at home in the corridors of power; an individual revered by the world and yet highly controversial in his own country; at once a hero and a figure of tragedy. Now, in this definitive biography, Michael Bar-Zohar takes the full measure of a towering, enigmatic leader.Drawing on his decades-long association with Peres, as well as the full cooperation of the leader’s family, friends, supporters, and political rivals, Bar-Zohar has crafted a vibrant, daring, richly textured portrait of a man whose life and career span the entire history of Israel. Born in Poland in 1923, Peres emigrated to the Holy Land at the age of twelve, already a fiercely idealistic Zionist. Peres joined a kibbutz and, while still in his teens, became the leader of a major youth movement. When the struggle for Israeli independence broke out, future prime minister David Ben-Gurion tapped him to join his inner circle. As director general of the Defense Ministry under Ben-Gurion, Peres spearheaded a far-reaching campaign to turn Israel into a major military power. He jump-started Israel’s aircraft industry, forged a secret alliance with France, and successfully pursued his dream of making Israel a nuclear power. And yet Peres’s real triumph came not as a man of war but as a peacemaker. Elected prime minister in 1984, Peres brought new hope by pulling Israeli troops out of the quagmire in Lebanon, defusing tensions with Jordan, and, at the risk of his own political future, making serious overtures to the Palestinians. Peres and his longtime rival Yitzhak Rabin together secured the top-secret Oslo Accords of 1993, which won them and Yasser Arafat the Nobel Peace Prize–only to see the hope of peace shattered in a resurgence of regional violence.In a half-century of leadership, Peres has worked beside–or fought against–such giants as Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, Ariel Sharon, and, tragically, Rabin, who was slain at the rally that marked his reconciliation with Peres. Still powerful in his eighties, Peres stands as a true hero, a visionary who embodies the history of his nation. In this stunning, courageously frank, and scrupulously factual biography, Michael Bar-Zohar gives an eminent man his due.From the Hardcover edition.

    Joining the Confessing Church to protest Adolf Hitler and Nazism, the fury of the Reich was unleashed. Ending up in the Dachau concentration camp where 10 percent of the prisoners were men of the cloth, Reger struggled to survive. Crammed into the Pastor’s Barracks with other ministers, the clergyman came face to face with man’s inhumanity to man. His struggled to endure asked tough questions about God, suffering, and life itself.

    Landscape of Hope and Despair examines this refugee experience in Lebanon through the medium of spatial practices and identity, set against the backdrop of prolonged violence. Julie Peteet explores how Palestinians have dealt with their experience as refugees by focusing attention on how a distinctive Palestinian identity has emerged from and been informed by fifty years of refugee history. Concentrating ethnographic scrutiny on a site-specific experience allows the author to shed light on the mutually constitutive character of place and cultural identification.Palestinian refugee camps are contradictory places: sites of grim despair but also of hope and creativity. Within these cramped spaces, refugees have crafted new worlds of meaning and visions of the possible in politics. In the process, their historical predicament was a point of departure for social action and thus became radically transformed. Beginning with the calamity of 1948, Landscape of Hope and Despair traces the dialectic of place and cultural identification through the initial despair of the 1950s and early 1960s to the tumultuous days of the resistance and the violence of the Lebanese civil war and its aftermath. Most significantly, this study invokes space, place, and identity to construct an alternative to the received national narratives of Palestinian society and history.The moving stories told here form a larger picture of these refugees as a people struggling to recreate their sense of place and identity and add meaning to their surroundings through the use of culture and memory.

    Yet the way it is reported in the media is often confusing, leading many to assume the hostilities stretch back to an ancient period. This is the first book to provide a clear, accessible, and annotated introduction that covers the full history of the region, from Biblical times until today. Perfect for the general reader, as well as students, it offers a comprehensive yet lucid rendering of the conflict, setting it in its proper historical context. Harms and Ferry show how today's violence is very much a product of recent history, with its roots in the twentieth century. This balanced account is now fully up to date and makes a valuable resource for anyone who wants a clear guide to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories, and its place in the history of Middle Eastern affairs.

    -School Library JournalRumors and gossip can be permanent and damaging. The victim's reputation is harmed, and the trust in the community erodes. In this traditional folktale from Eastern Europe, a gossip is brought before a wise rabbit, who must teach her with a suitable lesson. His clever solution demonstrates vividly the consequence and permanence of words spoken in haste. It is easy to spread gossip, but impossible to take it back. Heather Forest's rhythmic retelling reflects the pathos of the story and the wisdom of the rabbi. Marcia Cutchin's bright watercolor palette captures the activity of a traditional Jewish shtetl, where one person's business is everyone's business. This folktale from Eastern Europe teaches readers the importance of citizenship, trustworthiness and caring.

    Jerusalem belongs to Jesus. Every believer is commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem all who love her will be successful. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces (Psalm 122:6-7). In a time when God is shaking everything that can be shaken, naturally and spiritually, you will be secure and prosperous when you pray and stand for Jerusalem. You will be blessed now by your eternal Bridegroom and in the New Jerusalem forever when you prepare the way for the King of Glory. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem gives you spiritual food and understanding about how to pray in an informed and profound way and brings you even closer to the King of Kings."

    Ranen Omer-Sherman shows how the desert serves as a template for the creative questioning of official narratives of the nation that appear in the works of contemporary Israeli authors including David Grossman, Shulamith Hareven, and Amos Oz, as well as diasporic writers such as Bruce Feiler, Edmund Jabes, and Simone Zelitch.