Yossi Yonah - the life that thrives beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

  (photo credit: YEHOSHUA YOSEF)
(photo credit: YEHOSHUA YOSEF)

“Literature,” says Yossi Yonah, former Labor Party Knesset member, author, and academic, “allows us to encounter the thriving human drama, along with its myriad manifestations, lying under the one-dimensional, political façade. Although Jews and Arabs,” he adds, “live in close proximity to each other, they do not know much about each other. They virtually dwell in different worlds.” Reading Yonah’s new novel, Tel Aviv Ramallah,’ the gap between the two worlds seems to diminish. Originally published in Hebrew in 2015, the book, which was recently translated into English and is available from Amazon in both print and electronic formats, is narrated from the perspectives of two couples – Yoav and Tali, a mostly apolitical, young Israeli couple from Tel Aviv, who are planning a temporary move to the United States to pursue graduate studies, and Hisham and Hadil, a Palestinian couple living in Ramallah, who are experiencing difficulties in their marriage. Hisham is a failed poet, who teaches in the Quaker ‘Friends School’ in Ramallah, and Hadil is a psychologist who heads a women’s empowerment center.  

“If you write about the Jewish-Arab relationship,” he explains, “by definition, it is political. Yet the novel is not a political novel per se; it does not deal with military heroes or avid political activists.” The protagonists of the novel, both Israelis and Palestinians, attend to their personal pursuits, though living in the shadow of a national conflict. And sometimes the conflict refuses to be ignored, cruelly interfering with people’s plans and designs.” Appropriately, the book’s epigraph is an Arabic proverb that states, “The wind does not blow at the ship's whims.”

You can purchase the book on Amazon: Tel Aviv Ramallah >>

  (credit: Editing house –Liron Fine)
(credit: Editing house –Liron Fine)

As someone who has worked over the years for organizations that promote equality and peace in Israeli society, Yossi Yonah is uniquely qualified to write about this sensitive subject. Yonah was born in Haifa to parents who immigrated from Iraq, and studied at the University of Haifa. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania and is today a professor of philosophy at Ben Gurion University in Beersheva. Yonah was one of the leaders of the Geneva Initiative, a draft agreement composed in 2003 that proposed terms for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is fluent in Arabic and spent a great deal of time in Arab towns and villages, sensing the ambiance and gleaning the color, aroma, and texture of daily life, allowing him to vividly describe the reality depicted in the novel.  “I don’t know of any other Israeli novel for which a large part of it was written from within Palestinian society,” he says, adding that the people whom he interviewed in Ramallah and other towns were very helpful and cooperative. 

Though recoiling from possible didactic readings of the novel – “it is first and foremost a literary venture,” says Yonah, “which has a plot, a human drama, and intriguing characters, as befitting such a venture” – he believes that the novel has the potential to dispel mutual stereotypical perceptions and demonization. “It can impart to the readers,” he says, “a greater understanding of the intricate reality engulfing Jews and Arabs alike.” English-speaking readers of his book, suggests Yonah, will not only gain insights into Arab life in the West Bank but will learn more about Israeli society as well. Yonah says that he has been encouraged by positive reviews posted on Amazon, praising the book for its new way of looking at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He was gratified to read comments from renowned Israeli author Sami Michael, who wrote that “the novel is indeed an inspiring achievement in literary border-crossing. Tel Aviv Ramallah is an endearing demonstration of the intractable human drive to lead a meaningful and rewarding life despite the heavy clouds filling the sky.” 

You can purchase the book on Amazon: Tel Aviv Ramallah >>

When asked for his take on Palestinian society vis-à-vis the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Yonah says that he believes that most Palestinians want to live their lives freely in an independent Palestinian state side by side with Israel. There are those,” he admits, “who still dream of reclaiming all of ‘Palestine.’ They actually provide a mirror image to right-wing Jews who claim the exclusive right to the same piece of land.”

Yonah believes that novels may encourage readers belonging to feuding parties to become sensitive to the fears and anxieties of each other. Gaining a deeper acquaintance with the lives of others, with their concerns about their family life, their children’s well-being, their love affairs, their dreams, dashed hopes, and tragedies, may help people rediscover their common humanity. We may rediscover this thing that goes beyond the deep differences and struggles setting us apart. 

“I have had a desire to write novels since my childhood,” says Yossi Yonah. “It took me many years until I dared to try.” ‘Tel Aviv Ramallah’ seems to have been worth the wait.

You can purchase the book on Amazon: Tel Aviv Ramallah