Havurah Shalom

The renowned Palestinian writer Susan Abulhawa describes the creation of Israel and what it meant for those who lived there before. Written as a fictional memoir, it follows a family forcibly removed from their olive-farming village by the new Israeli state, then displaced to canvas tents in the Jenin refugee camp. Cinderblock huts replace their tents. But amidst their loss and fear, hatred and pain, there is always the waiting to return to a lost home. The novel's story is told through the voice of the village patriarch’s granddaughter, a bright, sensitive girl. She makes it out of the camps, yet returns years later, to marry and bear a child. One of her brothers is kidnapped to be raised Jewish, and one will end with bombs strapped to his middle. Discussion led by David Newman.