The Sulha

"Does one honor one's country or one's heart?" Malka Marom explores this classic dilemma in her stunningly powerful first novel, an extraordinary tale of people caught up in a violent and seemingly endless historical conflict, compelled by love and grief to transcend it. "Sulha" tells the story of Leora, who, twenty years after her husband was killed in the Sinai War, is empowered by law to decide whether or not to allow her only son to serve high-risk duty as his father did. As Abraham was so severely tested, so is Leora with her son's fate in her hands. Charged with this burden, Leora leaves her uneasy exile in Toronto and ventures to Sinai. In the remote and treacherous mountain region of Sinai, Leora encounters a Bedouin clan, which offers her a glimpse of the other: the mysterious Arab world that so fascinated her as a child, the enemy that her son might face. And, indeed, mounting danger and mystery pervade the air of the Bedouin compound. "But are these people really the enemy?" "Is sulhaOCoforgiveness, reconciliation, peaceOConot possible here?" The modern Israel to which Leora then travels offers no clear answers and a deep enmity towards her. To her former compatriots, she is the otherOCooutsider, exile, even a deserter from the land to which her husband gave his life to defend. "Sulha "is the story of one woman's search for the answer to her son's future, and through it the reconciliation of her own fragmented past. In the process, it explores the interlocking and sometimes irreconcilable boundaries of love and loyaltyOCoto a person, a people, a land. This updated eBook edition of Sulha has been enhanced with an extensively annotated appendix of photographs taken by the author while she lived and roamed the desert with the Bedouins, as well as a series of questions designed as conversation starters for book clubs."

"... an analysis that is as intricate and flawless as it is devastating... Robinson's] presentation is powerful and compelling and his scholarship impeccable." --MESA Bulletin "... an] excellent book. In just 200 pages, Glenn Robinson manages to give the clearest and most concise analysis of the changing political and social structure of the West Bank and Gaza and of current political realities that I have read." --Digest of Middle Eastern Studies "... a fair and sensitive account and contains the best available assessment of the Intifada's political aftermath among Palestinians. An added bonus is that the book is written in an accessible style with enough historical background and contextual explanation to make it ideal as a text for courses in Middle East politics or the politics of revolutions." --American Political Science Review "Well-researched, original, scholarly; deserves the attention of those interested in revolutionary theory or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." --Choice "Throughout, the book is impressively researched and very well-written.... Building a Palestinian State is a book that deserves to be widely read." --Journal of Palestine Studies "... a well-informed and tightly argued analysis of the evolution of politcal leadership in the West Bank and Gaza from the 1980s to the spring of 1996. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the historical backdrop to current political developments in the areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority." --Middle East Policy "... carefully researched and balanced study..." --Times Literary Supplement "... provides a unique analysis of the various facets of grassroots organizations and their interaction with the emerging state institutions... a major and very timely contribution." --Anne Lesch In this well informed and accessibly written book, Glenn E. Robinson traces the emergence of a new political elite in the West Bank and Gaza in the 1980s and the grassroots political and social revolution it launched during the Intifada.

Inter- and intra-clan conflicts in Northern Israel pit hundreds against each other in revenge cycles that take years to resolve and impact the entire community. The Sulha is a Shari’a-based traditional conflict resolution process that works independently of formal legal systems and is widely practiced to manage such conflicts in the north of Israel, as well as throughout the Muslim and Arab worlds. The Sulha process works by effecting a gradual attitudinal transformation, from a desire for revenge to a willingness to forgive, through restoration of the victim’s clan sense of honour. Muslim/Arab Mediation and Conflict Resolution examines the process of Sulha, as practiced by the Arab population of northern Israel, where it plays a central role in the maintenance of peace among Muslims, Christians, and Druze alike. It presents detailed analysis of every stage of this at times protracted process. It uses interviews with victims, perpetrators, Sulha practitioners, community leaders and lawyers, along with statistical analysis to examine how Sulha affects people’s lives, how various sectors of society impact the practice, and how it coexists with Israel’s formal legal system. Furthermore, it examines how Sulha compares to Western dispute resolution processes. This book offers the first comprehensive exploration of the entire Sulha process, and is a valuable resource for students and scholars of Middle East studies, Islamic studies and conflict resolution.

This book examines the Arabic conflict resolution method known as "sulha." In this process, notable male elders mediate conflicts between and within Arab communities. A lengthy process of political jockeying culminates in a ceremony that peaks when "enemies" shake hands and publicly forgive the crimes of the other. The reality of actual sulha deviates considerably from the ideal, but both the official framework and the actual events point to a deep seated valorization of peace and reconciliation in Israeli-Palestinian society.

Listen to the podcast about this book. In Intercultural Friendship: The Case of a Palestinian Bedouin and a Dutch Israeli Jew Daniel J.N. Weishut focuses on the interface between interculturality and friendship in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After a literature study, the author describes the socio-cultural context of his boundary-crossing friendship in the realm of the Israeli occupation and then investigates it through the perspective of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. The tremendous cultural differences as they appear are in line with Hofstede's theory for three of the value orientations but in the field of “uncertainty avoidance” they conflict with the theory. Challenges and opportunities in the friendship, and their implications for personal growth, among others, are illustrated by a series of intriguing stories of friendship.

Christians are called to be peacemakers in a world rife with conflict, but how should Christians respond when the source of strife is not outside the church but within it? Built on an in-depth analysis of three Palestinian church splits, this text examines the cultural and theological implications of intra-church conflict in Arab evangelical communities in Israel. Translating Miroslav Volf’s formative theology of reconciliation into her contemporary Palestinian context, Dr Rula Khoury Mansour provides a critical evaluation of both Volf’s theory and Palestinian peacemaking models. Through her research and analysis, Dr Mansour develops a Middle Eastern theology of reconciliation and encourages congregations around the world to develop greater cultural and theological awareness in their quest to experience lasting peace within their churches and wider communities.

Introduction Stephen J. Chester The Church and the Hermeneutical Challenge of Zionism Philip Alexander Response to Alexander William Andrews Another Look at ""Early"" Ideologies of the Land in the Hebrew Bible in Light of Recent Study Lawson Younger Response to Younger J. Nathan Clayton Reading the Gospel of John in the Palestinian Context Yohanna Katanacho Response to Katanacho Madison N. Pierce The Jewish People and Eretz Israel: A Jewish Evaluation of Selected Christian Theological Perspectives Yehiel E. Poupko Response to Poupko Robert Cathey Communities of Forgiveness: A Palestinian Christian Perspective Rula Mansour Response to Mansour Jeff Anderson The Unknown Path: Martin Buber's Zionism and the Making of a Vexed, Atypical Christian Zionist Joel Willitts Response to Willitts Michael Walker Returning to the Heart of the Gospel: A Practical Evangelical Theology of Libera-tion and Call to Action for Christians Engaged in Peacebuilding in Israel and Palestine Mae Elise Cannon Response to Cannon Robert Hostetter Teach Us Your Ways, Lord (Micah 4:1-3) Jack Y. Sara Annotated Bibliography on The Holy Land: Biblical Perspectives and Contemporary Conflicts Presenters and Respondents