Experience Israel - With Famed Archaeologist Eli Shukron

23 | DAY TOUR

The book ‘A Trumpet in the Wadi’ was written by Sami Michael. It is a love story between a Jewish-Russian immigrant and an Arab woman set in Wadi Nisnas, a neighborhood in Haifa. Eli Amir ’s book ‘Yasmine’ is another love story, this time involving an Israeli soldier and an Arab woman from Jerusalem and set in the wake of the Six-Day War (1967). Both Eli Amir and Sami Michael grew up in Iraq and their books combine a deep understanding of both Arab and Israeli societies. In his short story collection ‘Missing Kissinger,’ Etgar Keret doesn’t write about Jerusalem. He doesn’t write about the Bible either. The principal themes of his books don’t include Orthodox Jews or other tensions in Israeli society. Keret won’t win the Nobel Prize for Literature (although he writes very well). He doesn’t even write about the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Of all the many great Israeli writers and books about Israel, here are my top ive: The Blue Mountain – Meir Shalev The Innocents Abroad – Mark Twain A Tale of Love and Darkness – Amos Oz Beginnings: Reflections on the Bible’s Intriguing Firsts – Meir Shalev Jerusalem: The Biography – Simon Sebag Montefiore