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The Bethlehem Murders
My immediate response to this book was based on my own liberal western views - I was really uncomfortable with Omar Yussef's criticism of Palestinians. I soon discovered that Matt Rees has created a character who finds it harder to come to terms with the dishonest politics and the climate of hate and hopelessness of fellow Palestinians than he does with the arrogance of Israeli power which crushes ordinary people in an attempt to destroy the fanatic. Don't we all find more to criticise in those closest to us? The book doesn't pull its punches - horrible things happen. I had a sense of place and of lives being lived in incredibly difficult circumstances. It's a very good book set in a place we see all the time on the news. This book gave me some insight into what it might be like to live there. I've just started the Saladin Murders. Hope it's as good.
Richard North Patterson's book also focuses on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict but from a very different viewpoint. Here the main protagonists are a non-political American Jewish man and a politically active Palestinian woman. The book made me question EVERYONE's involvement in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. And I think that's high praise. If we don't question what is happening in our world, then there is no hope. I thought Exile was very honest and fair. But what do I really know? I am grateful to the author for his portrayal of a situation that appears to be beyond a solution. I used to feel the same way about Northern Ireland but thankfully those who appeared to believe that dogma and rhetoric was worth more than life have apparently come to accept something much better. Don't you think politics and organised religion are the scourges of the world? Or is it simply that power corrupts? I don't know. It's good to read books about people who survive with some integrity in such challenging situations.
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