In his examination of the Arab-Israeli conflict as seen, primarily, through the eyes of a Palestinian man and an Israeli woman in The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, Sandy Tolan devotes considerable time to the distinctions that divide not just Arabs and Jews, but those who identify as Jewish. Within Judaism there exists very fundamental distinctions between Jews, including those based upon modern ancestry and those...
In his examination of the Arab-Israeli conflict as seen, primarily, through the eyes of a Palestinian man and an Israeli woman in The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, Sandy Tolan devotes considerable time to the distinctions that divide not just Arabs and Jews, but those who identify as Jewish. Within Judaism there exists very fundamental distinctions between Jews, including those based upon modern ancestry and those based upon level of orthodoxy. While many Jews lived in the areas known as Judea and Samaria uninterrupted by the forced expulsions of the previous millennium, most had fled anti-Semitic violence, establishing communities across Europe. Over centuries, these European Jewish communities evolved into divisions, including those whose heritages were traced to Spain before the Inquisition and forced expulsions as well as those whose heritage was rooted further east, in Central and Eastern Europe. The former are known as Sephardic, the latter as Ashkenazi. These two categories of Jews represent not just distinct origins, but distinct outlooks with respect to Zionism and relations with Muslims. The former are darker-skinned, the latter lighter-skinned and more similar physically to the European ethnicities prevalent throughout those regions. Sephardic Israelis with roots in Spanish culture are also those who came to Israel, centuries after the Inquisition from predominantly Arab countries across the Middle East (including North Africa), many fleeing persecution from Islamic majorities in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and every other modern-era country of that region. Political differences in Israel today reflect these distinctions, in addition to the political inclinations of various sects and levels of orthodoxy that collectively reflect a far more diverse populace than usually assumed.
Distinctions between Israeli Jews manifest themselves politically in terms of relationships with Arab-Muslim countries, with Sephardic Jews often more hostile to negotiations with Arab governments. Their history of persecution at the hands of Arab governments and populations instilled in them a more cynical perspective of Israel’s ability to exist peaceably surrounded by Arab nations. The relevance of this to any discussion of The Lemon Tree is clear. The Israeli family at the center of Tolan’s book is itself representative of these major distinctions among Jews. Dalia Eshkenazi is Sephardic, but the physical appearance of her and her family is closer to the lighter-skinned Ashkenazi with Central and Eastern European origins. That seeming dichotomy provides Dalia, whose family moved into the house of a Palestinian family that fled after the area in which the neighborhood sits became Israeli, a unique perspective. Her physical appearance is that of the Ashkenazi, but her heritage is that of the Sephardim. Thus she is able to forge a close personal relationship with Bashir Khairis, the Palestinian man in whose home Dalia was raised. As a Sephardic Jew, Dalia grew up with the experience of someone who has viewed racial distinctions from a disadvantage. Tolan notes her experiences as a “black girl” culturally separate from the Ashkenazim “white girls.” Her heritage sensitizes her to the travails of those on the receiving end of racist treatment. Subjected to rock-throwing at the hands of Polish “white” girls, Dalia reacts indignantly, asking rhetorically of the Ashkenazim girls, “Of all people who should know better . . .Of all people who should know how not to treat someone badly just because they are different.” The victimization of Jews throughout history has, Dalia suggests, failed to sensitize some of her fellow Jews to the threat of racism that seems to permeate all of humanity, including those who have been in the receiving end of violence solely because they are “different.”
Cultural and other distinctions among Israeli Jews is a theme to which Tolan returns throughout his examination of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The author is correct to note the importance of these distinctions in resolving the considerable divide between Palestinian and Jewish people.
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