Description: What Israelis and Palestinians - and everyone else - can learn from South Africans and Rwandans about ending conflict and healing and rebuilding in the aftermath.
Review Quotes:
Maya Savir speaks the language of humanity, empathy, and equality. Her voice rises above divisions, carrying the stories of hope and healing in the most dire of situations. In a world often torn by conflict, she reminds us that another way is possible. She is not just a witness. She is a partner in our shared journey toward justice, healing and peace. ―Aziz Abu Sarah, Palestinian peace activist, journalist, social entrepreneur, and coauthor of The Future Is Peace
This is an extremely important book in the literature of peace, not just in the Middle East, but in our own broken hearts. Maya Savir has written a compelling argument for peaceful engagement. --Colum McCann, author, Let the Great World Spin and Apeirogon: A Novel
Maya Savir shatters the myth that the violence in our homeland is unsolvable. She does not avoid the atrocities of the last years; rather, she digs deep in the foundations of both collective national narratives and victimhood and elaborates the need for mutual recognition and reconciliation as a necessary approach for a better future. --May Pundak and Dr. Rula Hardal, co-directors of A Land For All
Maya Savir's book is a powerful and engaging work about the prospects for reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians in light of her extensive personal experience living in Rwanda, a country recovering from years of horrific ethnic violence and the legacy of discrimination and violence in South Africa. Her skill as a writer is evident throughout the book. Even in the English translation, the eloquence and beauty of the original Hebrew shine through. Most importantly, her book is chock-full of insights that will be of great interest to readers interested in resolving ethnic conflicts, even those readers familiar with the extensive literature already available on the subject. --Robert Eisen, Professor of World Religions, Director of Judaic Studies, George Washington University
On Reconciliation opens a window of light and hope in a reality that is hard, almost unbearable. It reminds us that reconciliation is not a weakness but a brave and necessary action. Savir invites us to observe the importance of reconciliation not only between nations but also within each nation, and demonstrates that it is possible to turn despair to hope. For Savir, writing is not only a tool, it is a vehicle for change. She writes from her soul, and this soul guides us to the most painful places, where she insists on seeking reconciliation between her Jewish nation and my Palestinian nation. ―Ayman Odeh, Palestinian Israeli lawyer, Knesset member and leader of the Hadash alliance
Maya Savir has written a sober and necessary book, marked by unusual candor about her own society. She does not turn away from grief or from what justice and responsibility would actually require, and treats reconciliation as unsentimental, morally serious work: the hard, holy labor of learning to live together before all wounds have healed. --Yahia Lababidi, author of If You Cannot Say Genocide
In this thoughtful and deeply reflective book, Maya Savir confronts one of the most difficult challenges facing Israelis and Palestinians: how a future beyond war, occupation, and genocide might one day become imaginable. While reconciliation cannot be divorced from the hard political work of securing freedom, equality, and rights for all who live between the river and the sea, Savir reminds us that political change alone cannot heal the wounds of generations of violence and dispossession. Drawing on lessons from South Africa and Rwanda, she offers a compelling reflection on what it takes to acknowledge harm, confront trauma, and create the possibility of a shared future. --Sarah Leah Whitson, co-author of From Apartheid to Democracy: A Blueprint for Peace in Israel-Palestine
I have a dream. I dream that this book will be taught in high schools, in seminars, in government. Maya Savir's work is a lesson in the history of conflicts, in a citizenry that strives to improve the lives of both the individual and the majority, in a humane approach, in intelligent politics, in a commitment to a common future. ... Savir's prose is straightforward, elegant, and objective. ―Maariv
The encounters, the conversations, the characters, the descriptions and the insights Savir presents here are fascinating and thought-provoking. Savir somehow brings forth the stories gently but without sugar-coating them, in a clear and confident tone, and with humility. ―Globe