But lately, strangely, I've been thinking of Israel in terms of the lemon tree.
Sandy Tolan has written a book which has nuanced the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for me in quite a profound way.
It's provided a different filter through which I will experience my third trip to the Holy Land.
My first trip was pilgrimage in the fullest sense: infatuation, wonder, emotion.
My second trip was all of the above at a slightly reduced intensity, experienced through the eyes of 17 friends from church. It was a time to connect some rather blurry dots drawn frantically in the whirlwind which was trip #1.
Just five of us are going this time. Sure, we're connecting with some others, including a southern gospel singer, which should be a cultural experience of its own. But our cozy group of five will be, well, just plain fun.
Back to lemons, though.
Rather than possibly misrepresenting him, I'll provide the author's own synopsis, from SandyTolan.com. If you're interested in things middle eastern, or holy landish (and you should be), I recommend this as a fine read.
The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East
By Sandy Tolan
By Sandy Tolan
The tale of a simple act of faith between two young people – one Israeli, one Palestinian – that symbolizes the hope for peace in the Middle East.
Description: In 1967, not long after the Six-Day War, three young Arab men ventured into the town of Ramle, in what is now Jewish Israel. They were cousins, on a pilgrimage to see their childhood homes; their families had been driven out of Palestine nearly twenty years earlier. One cousin had a door slammed in his face, and another found his old house had been converted into a school. But the third, Bashir Al-Khairi, was met at the door by a young woman called Dalia, who invited them in.
Description: In 1967, not long after the Six-Day War, three young Arab men ventured into the town of Ramle, in what is now Jewish Israel. They were cousins, on a pilgrimage to see their childhood homes; their families had been driven out of Palestine nearly twenty years earlier. One cousin had a door slammed in his face, and another found his old house had been converted into a school. But the third, Bashir Al-Khairi, was met at the door by a young woman called Dalia, who invited them in.
This poignant encounter is the starting point for a true story of a remarkable relationship between two families, one Arab, one Jewish, amid the fraught modern history of the region. In his childhood home, in the lemon tree his father planted in the backyard, Bashir sees dispossession and occupation; Dalia, who arrived as an infant in 1948 with her family from Bulgaria, sees hope for a people devastated by the Holocaust. Both are swept up in the fates of their people, and their lives form a personal microcosm of more than half a century of Israeli-Palestinian history.
