By Sami Adwan, Dan Bar-On, Eyal Naveh, and Peace Research Institute in the Middle East (PRIME)
Rating: 5/5, excellent
This high school history textbook is a collaborative effort between twenty-four Israeli and Palestinian high school teachers organized by Dan Bar-On and Sami Adwan. It contains the histories and narratives of both the Israeli and Palestinian sides together in one book. Each chapter covers one decade from 1900-2000.
Instead of alternating chapters between the Israeli and Palestinian perspectives, it has the Israeli part on the left and the Palestinian part on the right, alternating page by page. One could go through reading one full chapter first and then going back and reading the other chapter, but I decided to go page by page, often having to reread the last paragraph on the previous page. It was a little bothersome, but I felt like that was the intention.
I think Side by Side would be a really good place to start for people unfamiliar with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Each side is presenting their version of events not totally free of bias, but having the other side’s perspective right there balances things out.
A clear example of that is in the glossary. Hajj Al-Amin Husseini (the Mufti of Jerusalem) has two entries: the Israeli one tells how he “incited the riots of 1920-1921” and “left for Nazi Germany and supported the war effort and propaganda of the fascist countries” (370) and the Palestinian side only says positive things about him, describing his “political wisdom and diplomatic skills” (365).
I appreciated how both sides included a lot of excerpts from poetry and journals that illustrate each side’s national feeling and narrative. I think if they made a companion book of the most commonly used excerpts from Israeli and Palestinian high school curriculums that would be interesting to read.
There are a lot of relevant pictures sprinkled throughout that help keep readers’ attention.
The fact that Side by Side is intended for high school students makes it very accessible, which I appreciate after struggling through A History of Israel. Because it’s both accessible and pretty balanced, it’s going to be my new go-to recommendation for books on the history of Israel/Palestine.
Flipping back through, I feel like a lot of the facts kind of washed themselves out of my brain, but what will stick with me is the general attitude each side displays here towards themselves and towards the other.
Both sides have a lot of pride in their nation.
Israel seems to see itself as an innovator. Tough but persecuted. It sees Palestine as perpetually angry and unable to be placated.
Palestine seems to see itself as a long-suffering victim that never quite gives up hope of regaining its land. It holds a lot of resentment towards Israel for taking its land and screwing it over in a myriad of different ways. It also seems to feel a lot of resentment towards the other Arab countries because it feels they have abandoned it. And it resents the West for colonizing it.
I’m sorry if that doesn’t jibe with your view of the situation, but that’s the impression I came away with of where each side is coming from emotionally and in terms of national/other narrative.
Anyway, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about the Israel/Palestine conflict, especially those looking for a place to start that isn’t too difficult!
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