Trouble in the Middle East

With tales of suicide bombings and military strikes all over the news, it's painfully obvious that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has flared up yet again.

Meanwhile, a paper in the scientific journal Human Immunology has reported that Jews and Palestinians have no significant genetic differences. Yet, after receiving complaints, the journal's editor denied the validity of the paper and sent letters to libraries asking them to rip out the supposedly erroneous pages.

Whether the paper's findings prove true or not, it's doubtless that the tension between the two nations runs deeper than blood, fueled by grievances that have a long and troubled history. If you're looking to explore that history or to gain insight into the current crisis, perhaps the books below may help.

From Beirut to Jerusalem
by Thomas L. Friedman
This effort from current New York Times columnist Friedman won the National Book Award in 1989 and it still endures as a key work for those seeking to understand the problems that plague the Middle East. While recounting both the history and psychology of Middle Easterners, Friedman also manages to tell the story of his own journey as he travels across the region, befriends some of its inhabitants, and struggles to remain objective, despite his own Jewish-American roots and ties to Israel. A fascinating, quick-paced read that's sure to enthrall.

The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years
by Bernard Lewis
If you're seeking to get a better feel for the Middle East, both in its contemporary and past incarnations, then a dive into The Middle East would be more than worth your while. 400 pages (and 2,000 years) later, you'll have an intimate knowledge of the vast cultural, political, economic, religious, and technological changes that have affected the region, and serve as a backdrop to what's going on currently. Expertly written and fastidiously researched, The Middle East is a perfect addition to the bookshelf of any armchair historian.

Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in the Promised Land
by David K. Shipler
In this work, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, Shipler tells the stories behind the many prejudices between Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. Not only does he provide a proper historical perspective, but he also includes a number of anecdotes, legends, and his own personal conversations. While his subject matter is quite complex, Shipler skillfully navigates through the different perspectives, creating a penetrating, even-handed book that's both astute and understanding.

The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount
by Gershom Gorenberg
Everybody wants a piece of Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a bit of real estate that's sacred to both Islam and Judaism. The characters who are out to seize the hilltop include not only Israelis and Palestinians, but also some American Christian fundamentalists. Here, Gorenberg takes a look at the religious fervor behind the battle. While The End of Days is nonfiction, Gorenberg endows it with the pacing of a good novel, and proves that the crisis in the Middle East is closer to home than we think.

• Read our interview with Gershom Gorenberg!
  

Drinking at the Sea of Gaza: Days and Nights in a Land Under Siege
by Amira Hass
In 1993, Hass, a Jewish, Israeli reporter, went to live among the 1 million people who inhabit the Gaza Strip in order to document their plight. The results are certainly alarming, and proved controversial to Hass's Israeli readership, but her from-the-street portrait of the daily lives of Gazans resonates deeply.