Review of ‘The Other End of the Sea’ by Alison Glick

The first description of Israel in The Other End of the Sea by Alison Glick (Interlink Books, November 2021) is harsh. “A sandy yellow-colored structure, three stories tall, with a few high-placed windows. It was farther back from the road than nearby buildings. A whitewashed concrete wall, topped with a spiral of barbed wire surrounded it.”

“That is Ashkelon prison,” says Zayn Majdalawi. “Where I was held as a political prisoner.” He is speaking to Becky Klein, a “nice Jewish girl from the Midwest” who had previously studied in a six-month ulpan program on a kibbutz and returned to the region as a teacher at a Quaker-run school in Ramallah. After visiting Gaza, she crosses back into Israel in a 7-passenger taxi along with Zayn, a Palestinian “who had not let the devasting, scarring events of his life so far narrow his vision of the future.”

Descriptions of Israel do not get any better in the novel. While visitors feel the “warmth of Gaza” and Palestinian gardens are “verdant and intricate with bushes of fragrant basil, plain earthy potatoes, and showy trees of lemon and almond,” Israel is a land of “truncheon-wielding troops [crushing] the bones of victims,” during the first Intifada.

Although this novel’s background is the Israeli occupation, and exposure to the struggle for Palestinian rights gives Becky a “new view of the world,” it transcends political commentary and can be read as a cross-cultural love story. Becky’s first visit to Gaza “was like the blossoming of a romance,” but her real romance is with Zayn, the man she falls in love with and marries in a shotgun wedding.

Marriage to Zayn, Becky quickly learns, is not what she had originally imagined. A few days after the wedding, he resumes sleeping elsewhere. He continues to distance himself from his wife, but whether this is because of the cultural gap between a Muslim and a Jew, or because of his fear of being captured by the IDF, is not clear. "I love you," Zayn says into Becky's hair, in a rare moment of outward affection, but he quickly adds, "Take care of yourself," and departs.

With Zayn constantly on the run, Becky follows her husband to the Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria, to Tunisia, and then back to Gaza. “What would I do here without Zayn?” Becky asks herself. “I came to this land without knowing him, but he had become an anchor, an interlocutor, a translator of all things Gazan and more. Could I be here without him?”

The Other End of the Sea reads more like a memoir than a novel. Eloquently written, it is full of vivid, detail-filled recollections; tourist-oriented descriptions of places and customs; and brief mentions of “memorable instances.” Yet, more than anything else, it is a bittersweet love story which questions whether it is possible to follow one’s love across the most heartbreaking cultural divides.

Alison Glick lived for a short time on a kibbutz and in a town near Haifa. Her experiences opened her eyes to the realities of Palestinians living under Israeli control. After studying Middle East History at Temple University, she lived in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Yarmouk Camp in Syria for six years, working as a teacher, human rights researcher, and freelance writer. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, the Arab Studies Quarterly, and Mondoweiss. The Other End of the Sea is her first novel. She is based in Philadelphia.

Originally posted on The Times of Israel.

My Inspiration When I Write

I look up and I see the mountains. Fog dances in the valley as a shepherd takes his flock of sheep out to pasture. A cow bell can be heard as the morning mist lifts. I see the red-tiled roofs of houses and barns; some of them seem about to collapse. This is Gela, a village in the Rhodope Mountains of southern Bulgaria. And I view it in an enlarged photograph that hangs on the wall above my desk as I write.

The scenic view of Gela was captured by Maya Karkalicheva, a Bulgarian mountain photographer. Her photos have frequently brought back memories of my visit to Gela in 2015.

Following my return from a two-year stay in Bulgaria in 2011, I wrote almost exclusively about the country. My Bulgarian adventures led to the publication of my two novels and a collection of short stories that will one day soon, I hope, be published.

Although my fiction is no longer set in Bulgaria, I still take pleasure in looking up and seeing the green mountainsides of the Rhodopes. Gela village, the warm hospitality of its residents, the tasty local cuisine, and the crisp morning air - all of these continue to inspire me as I write. 

Hiking in Israel: Dead Sea Sinkholes

 
A sinkhole is, according to Wikipedia, a “depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer”. The Dead Sea shores are littered with them due to the porous ground left by the shrinking sea.

I joined a group of hikers exploring the “land of sinkholes,’ which was stunningly beautiful, but at the same time tragically sad. This most amazing place, the lowest in the world, is changing drastically and future generations will never see it like it is today.

The hike was from Metzukei Dragot to Tzomet Avnot on the northwestern Dead Sea shores. My health app measured 15.7 km. There were 20 people in the group and the weather was perfect. Although it was basically on level ground for most of the way, at some points it was quite challenging. We had to jump over wide gullies with flowing water, something we all successfully managed without mishap.

At one point we needed to cross a wide canyon but the opposite bank was too steep. We went down to cross at the sea itself. I took off my hiking boots and socks and carefully waded across the channel. My feet were nearly sucked into the ground and I almost lost my balance, which would not have been pleasant because I had my phone in my pocket and my boots were being held overhead.

The ground everywhere was very porous, and you would sink into it with each step. In one case, I sunk in to my knee. In several places we were walking on dead reeds, and you couldn't see that there were holes underneath. My friend fell in three or four times, and I saw one of the hikers fall in almost to his neck.

In short, visiting the sinkholes along the Dead Sea shore is not a very safe thing to do! Although I knew this to be the case beforehand, I only saw the sign saying entrance to the area was forbidden/dangerous at the end of the day.

To understand how sinkholes form, and to see the damage they have caused on the Dead Sea shores, see this: The disappearing Dead Sea – ABC News (Australia)

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Review of ‘Under Jerusalem’ by Andrew Lawler

“I can confirm to you that we know the exact location of the Ark of the Covenant.” These words are attributed to Rabbi M. Y. Getz, rabbi of the Western Wall for 27 years. Before his death in 1995, rumors circulated suggesting that the rabbi had explored tunnels underneath the Dome of the Rock.

Getz was hardly the first person in modern times seeking to locate the Ark and other holy relics from the First and Second Temples. Archaeologists, as well as religious leaders, had been excavating ruins and cisterns, and under mosques and churches ever since the mid-1800s, as colorfully described in Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World's Most Contested City by Andrew Lawler (Doubleday, November 2021). Some of these explorers were self-taught, employed unconventional techniques, and made unsubstantiated claims that shocked and excited historians and religious fundamentalists alike.

As this engrossing book reports, archaeologists sought to prove Biblical legends, and to locate the treasures of Jerusalem’s glorious past. Yet the most heroic of these efforts met with no success. “There is no contemporary map and no single stone that archaeologists can say with certainty was part of Herod’s rebuilt temple, or even an object that can be said was housed within its wall,” the author states.

The book makes clear that the lack of hard evidence was hardly a reason to stop efforts to reveal what lay hidden under layers of Jerusalem ruins and debris.

Under Jerusalem, an exhaustively researched work of non-fiction, describes the surveys and digs of Charles Wilson, Charles Warren, Conrad Schick, Ronny Reich, Eli Shukron, Eilat Mazar, and others. Revealed on its pages are accounts of controversial tunnel archaeology; the violent response to the opening of the Western Wall Tunnels; the intrusion of City of David developments into Palestinian neighborhoods; the contested significance of illegally removed rubble from the Tunnel Mount; and the constant interference of geopolitics.

This book may be non-fiction, but it reads like a fast-moving and suspenseful Indiana Jones thriller. In fact, the book makes several references to the swashbuckling, fedora-wearing protagonist of Steven Spielberg’s popular films.

Lost treasures that have long attracted dedicated archaeologists will fascinate readers as well. Under Jerusalem offers them a captivating exploration of a Jerusalem’s buried history.

Andrew Lawler is author of The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke, and Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, and Smithsonian. He is a contributing writer for Science, and a contributing editor for Archaeology.

Originally posted on The Times of Israel.

Please rescue ‘The Girl from Oslo’!

 
Two young Israelis and their Norwegian friend are on their way home from a holiday on the beaches of Sinai when they are kidnapped by Daesh terrorists. Held captive in mountain caves and Bedouin encampments, they are threatened with death unless 12 Islamic State members are released from prison, including a terrorist leader being held in Norway.

This is the beginning of the Netflix series ‘The Girl from Oslo’ (2021), created by Kyrre Holm Johannessen and Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz. Presented as the next big Israeli dramatic thriller to hit the streaming screens, the series is as much of a need of a rescue as the captives held in Sinai.

The ominous score; the panoramic scenes of Jerusalem from above; and a multitude of scowls, secrets, and scandals give the series the air of a soap opera. Ten episodes are a bit much. The terrorists should have been killed and the prisoners released much sooner.

The series stars Andrea Berntzen as the kidnapped red-cheeked Norwegian girl, Pia; Anneke von der Lippe as the mother who would do anything, even reveal her innermost secrets, to get her daughter’s release; and Amos Tamam as the hapless Israeli Minister of Intelligence, who seemingly can’t do anything right.

Outstanding performances are delivered by Raida Adon, as the mother’s Palestinian friend; and Rotem Abuhab, as the minister’s wife. Jameel Khoury is impressive as a wheelchair-bound Hamas commander, but ‘Fauda’ costar Shadi Mar'i is completely wasted in his role as a terrorist-in-training.

Many things are hard to believe in the series. All that the best Israeli intelligence officers can do on the captives’ behalf is stand motionless as their drones follow them from above. The Minister of Intelligence seems to be the only government official concerned with the incident. There is no explanation for relentless, seemingly unprovoked Israeli bombing of Gaza. And, the Egyptians don’t seem to be involved in what is happening in their territory.

Still, there is one reason to watch ‘The Girl from Oslo’, and that is the stunning desert landscapes where much of the action takes place. Although portrayed as Sinai, the series was actually filmed in the Negev and the Arava, and in Timna in particular. Israel’s southern regions have never before been shown so beautifully on the screen.

Netflix spends billions of dollars on content. One can only hope that the next Israeli thriller to stream on the service will be a bit more believable than ‘The Girl from Oslo’.

Originally posted on The Times of Israel.

My Books On Sale!

For a limited time only, you can purchase all three of my books for just $0.99 (£0.99 in the UK).

This is your chance to read The Virtual Kibbutz, Valley of Thracians, and The Burgas Affair at a discounted price!

Purchase The Virtual Kibbutz here.

Purchase Valley of Thracians here.

Purchase The Burgas Affair here.

Enjoy!

"The Tiger" - short story

“There’s a tiger in the playground!”

“That’s nice, Shmuel.”

“No really, Imma. It was coming toward me, but I didn’t run. I wasn’t scared at all!”

“That sounds very exciting! You’re so brave! Now, go wash up and call your brothers. It’s almost time for Havdalah.”

The tiger was like an enormous cat wearing a mask. A colorful Purim mask. Amber eyes stared at him as the large animal swayed back and forth with feline grace, its tail whisking in its wake. Its ears stood at attention; its paws were huge. Shmuel couldn’t see, but he could imagine, the beast’s razor-sharp teeth, and the thin white whiskers under its triangular pink nose. Such a pretty face!

Read the rest of the story on JewTh!nk

Photo by A G on Unsplash

2021 - My Writing Year in Review

2021, for me, was a year of short stories. Writing them and submitting them. The seven stories that were published online in 2021 are listed below. Twelve of my stories are included in Rakiya, my collection of short stories set in Bulgaria. That manuscript is now on submission with literary agents and independent publishers.

My main success of 2021 was having Rakiya selected as a finalist in the Eyelands Book Awards 2021 - an international contest for published/unpublished books based in Greece. While the collection did not win the contest, it is an honor that it made the shortlist.

I continued my habit of sitting in the Aroma coffee shop in the early morning, writing on my laptop before starting my work day. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I work most of the week remotely from home, so the number of times I came to Tel Aviv to sit in Aroma was limited. A good portion of my writing time was spent researching online literary journals and publishers suitable for my submissions.

Some writers keep track of statistics – how many stories they submitted and how many were accepted for publication. So, here are mine. In 2021, I made 122 short story submissions (many of them simultaneous submissions of the same story). 20 stories were withdrawn (having been accepted elsewhere); 78 story submissions were rejected; and 6 stories were accepted for publication.

As 2022 begins, a number of my short stories are ‘on submission’ and I am hopeful that one day soon they will be published. Hopefully there will be positive responses to my submission of Rakiya as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read my stories and share my writing career!

 

The Muse - CommuterLit.com 

Lockdown - Literary Yard           

Sozopol - The Write Launch

Three Women in Sofia - Literary Yard

Applesauce - Bright Flash Literary Review

Nocturnal Visitors - Across the Margin

The Magician - Mad Swirl

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash