Arts & Entertainment

Giacomo Puccini

JEWISH BOOK FAIR

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A Search from page 67

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68

tions, misgivings and
uncertainties of her own.
In embracing her identity
so forcefully, Miller exposes
the reader to her own inno-
cence and biases, but more
importantly she preempts
any criticism of an ulterior
motive or a hidden agenda
— the usual pitfall in a
book about Middle East
peace.
In an age of embedded
journalists and alternative
media sources, whose inter-
ests and motives can often
be hard to ascertain, it is
precisely this unquestioned
adherence to her own roots
and identity that makes
Inheriting the Holy Land
breathtakingly honest.

Jennifer Miller: Teens on both sides of

the conflict shocked the author with

"the ferocity of their illusions" and "the

twisted logic of their misperceptions."

Generation Gap

With a forthright style and
interviews ranging the spectrum
of age and power, Miller opens the
reader to the discrepancies
between a generation in power
and a generation of potential
heirs.
This generational component of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is
no more apparent than in Miller's
interviews with Ehud Barak and
the late Yasser Arafat.
While the young appear intro-
spective and, at times, accepting of
their "enemy's" history or present
plight, Barak responds to Miller
with the same answer he has been
repeating since the failure of
Camp David five years ago: "It
takes two to tango." (Read: Barak
was sincere about peace and
Arafat was not.)
Arafat, on the other hand,
avoids thinking self-critically by
remaining unwilling to answer
Miller's questions in good faith.
To be fair, the youth of
Inheriting the Holy Land have nei-
ther the responsibility nor experi-
ence of the former Israeli prime
minister or Palestinian president.
Nor do all of the power brokers
featured in the book appear as
preoccupied with the past as
Barak or as stubborn as Arafat.
There are men like Ami Ayalon
(former head of the Shin Bet —
Israel's FBI), Mohammad Dahlan
(former Palestinian security chief
in Gaza) and Saeb Erekat (a senior
Palestinian negotiator) who, as

Miller said in an interview, "still
speak of one another with admi-
ration and respect, even after so
many years of violent intifada
looking at the past with critical
eyes:'
But these few voices withstand-
ing, the gap between the genera-
tion in power and the one coming
to terms with their leaders' legacy
is hard to miss. "Who do I want to
be in 10 years? What do I want my
country to be in 20?" Miller writes.
"[The youth] are frustrated many
of the people currently in power
are not asking these questions."
The hope for Miller is that the
region's new generation will have
the power and opportunity to
choose paths for themselves.
"Young Israelis and Palestinians
are hungry for opportunities to be
productive citizens',' Miller said.
"They don't want to follow paths
of violence, but they need their
leaders to provide the tools of
empowerment."
Though they may hail from dis-
parate backgrounds and view-
points, many of the young people
featured in the book already have
found that empowerment, and it
bonds them together, said Miller.
Whether they'll stand alone, or be
joined by others, remains to be
seen.

❑

Jennifer Miller speaks 6:30
p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6, at the
West Bloomfield JCC.
(248) 432-5577

October 27 . 2005

jw