Suggested Reading List on the Holy Land

This is only a small sample of the many excellent background books.

Armstrong, Karen. Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths. Stories and analysis of 3000 years’ worth of history, politics and religion (1996)

Ashrawi, Hanan. This Side of Peace: A Personal Account. An insider view of Middle East diplomacy and Ashrawi’s life story. (1995)

Carter, Jimmy. Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Despite controversy over the title and criticism of Israeli and U.S. actions, a passionate case for understanding of the Palestinian cause and for a two-state solution from the former President. (2006)

Chacour, Elias and David Hazard. Blood Brothers. A memoir of a childhood expulsion from Palestine. (1984)

Chacour, Elias and Mary E. Jensen. We Belong to the Land. The story of a Palestinian Israeli parish priest in the Galilee who works for peace and reconciliation. (1990)

Cragg, Kenneth. Arab Christian: A History in the Middle East. Christianity in the Middle East and it relationship to Islam. (1991)

Erakat, Saeb and Mitri Raheb (Eds). The Double Lockdown: Palestine under Occupation and COVID-19. (2020) http://brightstarsbethlehem.org/wp- content/uploads/2020/06/the_double_lockdown.pdf

Gopin, Marc. Holy War, Holy Peace: How Religion Can Bring Peace to the Middle East. A realistic and optimistic consideration of the shared heritage and tensions among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, as well as concrete ideas for peace-making, by an American rabbi, scholar, and conflict negotiator. (2002)

Gorenberg, Gershom. End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount. Analysis of beliefs and conflicts about Jerusalem’s most contested real estate among Jewish, Christian, and Muslim fundamentalists, from a senior editor of the Jerusalem Past. (2000)

Harms, Gregory, and Todd Ferry. The Palestine-Israel Conflict: A Basic Introduction. A readable, concise, and balanced account of Holy Land history from ancient Canaan to the 2005 peace negotiations. (2005)

Hass, Amira. Drinking the Sea at Gaza. An Israeli journalist for Ha'aretz newspaper living in a land under siege. (2000)

Hourani, Albert. A History of the Arab Peoples. The standard, comprehensive history and reference book. (1991)

Kimball, Charles. When Religion Becomes Evil. An even-handed analysis of the potential for religion’s misuse for extremist ends, especially within Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. (2002)

McCann, Colum. Apeirogon: A Novel. Weaves true events into a fictional telling of the friendship of two men: A Palestinian who lost his 10-year-old daughter to a rubber bullet and an Israeli who lost his 13-year-old daughter to suicide bombers. Grief as a weapon for peace. (2020)

Raheb, Mitri. I am a Palestinian Christian. A personal, biblical, and theological reflections from a pastor-scholar with provocative views on the concept of “promised land.” (1995)

Raheb, Mitri. Bethlehem Besieged: Stories of Hope in Times of Trouble. A personal account of the violent 2003 events in Bethlehem from the pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church. (2004)

Raheb, Mitri. Faith in the Face of Empire. A Palestinian Lutheran Christian theologian shows how the reality of empire shapes the context of the biblical story, and the ongoing experience of Middle East conflict. (2014)

Rossing, Barbara. The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation. A Lutheran New Testament professor provides a counterview to that of the popular “Left Behind” series. (2005)

Shahak, Israel. Jewish History, Jewish Religion. The impact of Jewish law and Zionism in shaping the State of Israel. (1994)

Speight, Marston. God is One: the Way of Islam. One of the best short introductions to Islam that is in print. (2nd edition, 2001)

Strickert, Fred. Rachel Weeping: Jews, Christians, and Muslims at the Fortress Tomb. A scholarly and accessible account of Rachel’s significance for Jews, Christians, and Muslims and of the politicization of her traditional burial site. (2007)

Tolan, Sandy. The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East. The Israeli- Palestinian conflict as seen through the lens of a home in Ramla, Israel, and the Arab and Jewish families who have lived there and maintain friendship. (2006)

Tolan, Sandy. Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land. Follows Ramzi Aburedwan, a Palestinian man as he discovers music as a youth and becomes passionate about the difference music can make in the lives of Palestinians living under occupation. Also explores the friendship of Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim and their joint project, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. (2015)

Wagner, Donald E. Anxious for Armageddon: A Call to Partnership for Middle Eastern and Western Christians. An Evangelical Christian’s involvement in the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict. (1995)

Younan, Munib. Witnessing for Peace: In Jerusalem and the World. An autobiographical and spiritual testimony from the Lutheran Bishop in Jerusalem. (2003)

Online Resources

Al Jazeera Middle East: http://www.aljazeera.com/topics/regions/middleeast.html Americans for Peace Now: https://peacenow.org/ BBC Middle East: http://www.bbc.com/news/world/middle_east Bright Stars of Bethlehem: http://brightstarsbethlehem.org/ Churches for Middle East Peace: https://cmep.org/ Friends of Sabeel in North America: https://www.fosna.org/ Haaretz newspaper (News of the Land): https://www.haaretz.com/ If Americans Knew: https://ifamericansknew.org/ and printed resources at https://ifamericansknew.org/about_us/materials.html Jewish Voice For Peace: https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/ J-Street: https://jstreet.org/ Kairos Palestine: https://www.kairospalestine.ps/ Kairos USA: https://kairosusa.org/ Middle East Peace Now: https://mepn.org/ Peace Not Walls/Evangelical Lutheran Church of America: https://www.elca.org/Our- Work/Publicly-Engaged-Church/Peace-Not-Walls and https://www.elca.org/Resources/Peace- Not-Walls US Campaign for Palestinian Rights: https://uscpr.org/

July 2020