Review (PDF) Prisoners: A Story Of Friendship And Terror
During the first Palestinian uprising in 1990, Jeffrey Goldberg – an American Jew – served as a guard at the largest prison camp in Israel. One of his prisoners was Rafiq, a rising leader in the PLO. Overcoming their fears and prejudices, the two men began a dialogue that, over more than a decade, grew into a remarkable friendship. Now an award-winning journalist, Goldberg describes their relationship and their confrontations over religious, cultural, and political differences; through these discussions, he attempts to make sense of the conflicts in this embattled region, revealing the truths that lie buried within the animosities of the Middle East.
Series: Vintage
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (January 15, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375726705
ISBN-13: 978-0375726705
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #295,299 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #7 in Books > History > Middle East > United Arab Emirates #265 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > Middle East #284 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > Jewish
Self-categorized on the book jacket as "Current Affairs," this book had me expecting an analysis of Israeli-Palestinian relations, the word "prisoners" in the title no more than a metaphor. In fact, a large part of the book takes place in an actual prison, and while it has much to say about Israeli-Palestinian relations, it is more correctly a memoir of an American Jewish journalist attempting to understand the nature of the conflict that has prevailed in that part of the Middle East since 1948. Finding the political in the personal, he tells of his own beginnings as a youthful Zionist living on Long Island and his years in Israel as his ideals are put to the test working on a kibbutz and then serving in the military police at a desert prison, where he first meets and attempts to befriend a Palestinian prisoner, Rafiq.Later, working as a journalist based first in Jerusalem and then in Washington DC, the author travels often to Gaza and the West Bank to talk with Palestinians, many of them released prisoners, including his friend Rafiq. His conversations with Rafiq become a commentary on an accompanying account of the interlude of hope for resolution in the Oslo talks, the eventual collapse of the peace process, and the rise of suicide bombings. On both levels, it is a search for common ground that is as elusive as peace itself. The author clings to the hope that where friendship is possible between two men who cannot agree on anything else, coexistence is possible between Arabs and Jews.This is a well written book that immerses the reader in the deeply bitter and violent conflict that has raged in this corner of the world for decades.
Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror Little Prisoners: A tragic story of siblings trapped in a world of abuse and suffering The Soccer Fence: A story of friendship, hope, and apartheid in South Africa Our Story: 77 Hours That Tested Our Friendship and Our Faith A Train in Winter: An Extraordinary Story of Women, Friendship, and Resistance in Occupied France (The Resistance Trilogy) Benjamin and Brecht: The Story of a Friendship My Husband's Wives: A heart-warming story of love, loss, family and friendship Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival In the Shadow of a Rainbow: The True Story of a Friendship Between Man and Wolf Anything Worth Doing: A True Story of Adventure, Friendship and Tragedy on the Last of the West's Great Rivers Other Losses: An Investigation into the Mass Deaths of German Prisoners at the Hands of the French and Americans after World War II Smith's Guide to Executive Clemency for State and Federal Prisoners Prisoners' Guerrilla Handbook to Correspondence Programs in the United States and Canada Smith's Guide to Habeas Corpus Relief for State Prisoners Under 28 U. S. C. §2254 Prisoners' Self-Help Litigation Manual Prisoners of war (World War II) Prisoners in Paradise: American Women in the Wartime South Pacific Prisoners of the Japanese: Pows of World War II in the Pacific SEAL's Deliverance (Take No Prisoners Book 9) SEAL's Deception (Take No Prisoners Book 8)
