Katz, Sheila H., Connecting with the Enemy – A Century of Palestinian-Israeli Joint Nonviolence, University of Texas Press, 2016 (283 pages)

Connecting with the Enemy presents the first comprehensive history of unprecedented grassroots efforts to forge non-violent alternatives to the lethal collision of the two national movements. Bringing to light the work of over five hundred groups, Sheila H. Katz describes how people who seem to be completely opposed mourned together, stood in resistance and solidarity and advocated for justice and security. She also critiques and assesses the significance of their work and explores why these well-intentioned efforts have not yet managed to end the conflict or the occupation.

Journal of Resistance Studies, Irene Publishing, Volume 3, Number 1-2017 (246 pages)

Journal of Resistance Studies is an international, interdisciplinary and peer-reviewed scientific journal that explores unarmed resistance. The focus is on critical understandings of resistance strategies, discourses, tactics, effects, causes, contexts and experiences. The objective is to advance an understanding of how resistance might undermine repression, injustices and domination of any kind, as well as how resistance might nurture autonomous subjectivity, e.g., constructive work, alternative communities and oppositional ways of thinking.

Field, Gary, Enclosure – Palestinian Landscapes in a Historical Mirror, University of California Press, 2017 (404 pages)

Enclosure marshals bold new arguments about the nature of the conflict in Israel/Palestine. Gary Fields examines the dispossession of Palestinians from their land – and Israel’s rationale for seizing control Palestinian land — in the context of a historical analysis of power and space and an enduring discourse about land improvement. Focusing on the English enclosures (which eradicated access to common land across the English country-ide), Amerindian dispossession in colonial America, and Palestinian land loss. Evidence that the same moral, legal, and cartographic arguments were used by enclosers of land in very different historical environments challenges Israel’s current claim that it is uniquely beleaguered. This comparative framework also helps readers in the United State and the United Kingdom understand the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in the context of their own histories.

Kronish, Ronald, The Other Peace Process – Interreligious Dialogue, a View from Jerusalem, Hamilton Books, 2017 (179 pages)

This book describes the theory and practice of interreligious dialogue, education and action in Israel and Palestine in the context of the political peace process as well as the peace-building processes and programs, by drawing on personal experiences and encounters of more than 25 years. Through memorable incidents and inspirational stories, the book offers insights into the obstacles and challenges, as well as the achievements and successes of interreligious dialogue and action programs. In addition, it provides a practical model of interreligious dialogue for people around the world and leaves the reader with a message of hope for the future.

Thrall, Nathan, The Only Language They Understand – Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine, Metropolitan Books, 2017 (303 pages)

The conventional view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that repeated attempts at peacemaking in the region have been constantly thwarted by violence. But in a rich interweaving of reportage, historical narrative and powerful analysis, Nathan Thrall presents a startling counter-history. Paradoxically, he shows that diplomatic negotiation and collaboration have in fact entrenched the conflict. Instead, it is those who have embraced confrontation — through boycotts, lawsuits, protest, civil disobedience, and even violence — who have made the most progress toward a solution. Published as Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza reaches its 50th anniversary, The Only Language They Understand shatters ingrained positions of both left and right and provides a new and eye-opening perspective on this most vexed of lands.

Kreimer, Sarah, Vision and Division in Israel – Forty Years of Activism Along the Seam, Blue Thread Books, 2016 (262 pages)

Vision and Division in Israel is a flowing, eloquent memoir of political activism haunted by uncertainty in a dangerous zone of our world — and a sage account of what Israelis and Palestinians might do to transform their lives and their destinies. Sarah Kreimer came to Israel in 1980 to contribute to the still-young country. Her adventure turned into a lifelong commitment to building an inclusive Israel that would embrace Arab citizens in its economic development, political fabric and sense of place. Her journey led to a rich life in a land of dreams and harsh realities — a life of marriage, motherhood, community networks, breakthrough achievements and profound losses. A pioneer of social justice and equal rights for Arabs and Jews in Israel for 36 years, in 1988 she founded the Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development, which she co-directed with an Israeli Arab colleague, to catalyze economic cooperation between Jews and Arabs within Israel and in the Middle East. From 2004 to 2012, she was part of the team that established and ran Ir Amim, which works for a more equitable, stable and sustainable Jerusalem for Israelis and Palestinians who share that contested city.

Chabon, Michael and Waldman, Ayelet, Eds., Kingdom of Olives and Ash – Writers Confront the Occupation, Harper Perennial, 2017 (448 pages)

In Kingdom of Olives and Ash, renowned novelists and essayists Michael Chabon and Ayelet Wladman have teamed up with the Israeli NGO Breaking the Silence — an organization comprised of former Israeli soldiers who served in the occupied territories and saw firsthand the injustice there — and a host of illustrious Israeli and Palestinian writers to tell the stories of the people on the ground. Through these incisive, perceptive and poignant essays, readers will gain unique insight into the narratives behind the litany of grim destruction broadcasted nightly on the news, along with deeper understanding of the conflict as experienced by the people who live in the occupied territories. Together, these stories stand witness to the true human toll of the occupation.

Perlman, Lee, “But Abu Ibrahim, We’re Family!”, The Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research, 2017 (189 pages)

“But Abu Ibrahim, We’re Family!” is a series of case studies describing collaborations between Jewish and Palestinian professional theater artists in Israel and the theater they create to reflect their realities. It depicts the ways in which the artists navigate shifting power dynamics and relations between them, while working together to overcome external social and political forces which run counter to their work. It analyzes the socio-political and socio-cultural significance of four collaborative professional theater productions by Jewish and Palestinian citizens of the State of Israel produced in the decade between 2000 and 2010.

Derfner, Larry, No Country for Jewish Liberals, Just World Books, 2017 (240 pages)

No Country for Jewish Liberals is Larry Derfner’s personal and political story of life in contemporary Israel, describing how an American Jewish immigrant and his adopted country grew apart. Taking readers through his boyhood in Los Angeles as the son of Holocaust survivors, his coming of age amidst the upheavals of 1960s America, his move to Israel and controversial career in journalism, Derfner explores Israel’s moral decline through the lens of his own experiences. This provocative book blends memoir, reportage and commentary in a riveting narrative of a society whose mentality of fear and aggression has made it increasingly alien to Jewish liberals.

Compiled by Joseph S.