This time our meeting place was a restaurant, Mezze du Liban, which turned out to be an ideal choice for a meeting: warm reception, wonderful food and not too loud, which made it easy to have a proper conversation. Michel, Helen, Robin, Caroline, Cynthia and Maren were all in attendance.
Everybody was enthusiastic about the book, although there were a few criticisms of the quality of Khadra’s writing style, and it certainly stimulated discussion.
An unexpected and enriching aspect was the fact that the book had already been made into a movie (directed by an Israeli) and our group turned out to be made up of readers only, readers and viewers and viewers only. The movie seems to be well known in Israel and Helen had actually been able to discuss it with some young Israelis she’d met that day. We were therefore able to juxtapose a number of points, particularly as there were some important differences. In the movie, Amin sees a video of his wife Sihem just before the attack, in which she seems to be having second thoughts, whereas in the book all he receives is a very short letter which seems to demonstrate her total commitment to the cause. There is also a significant discrepancy between the two endings: in the book he dies, in the movie he doesn’t. The major difference however was the fact that in the movie Sihem was a Christian, whereas in the book one always assumes, naturally enough, that she is a Muslim. But we all agreed that oppression, no matter what religion one belongs to, will create violence. As Cynthia experienced during her journey to the West Bank, everyone there identifies themselves as Palestinian and/or Arab and no one as Muslim/Christian/Jew – the unifying identification in this region is nationality, not religion.
Here are a few of the other points raised:
- We all agreed that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict seems insoluble, and thought it unlikely that anything would be resolved, at least in our lifetimes. One of the strengths of the book was to see it through the eyes of an Arab living as a naturalized Israeli.
- But this fact actually puts him Amin in a frail position, of which he is probably not even aware: it means he has to excel in all domains, professionally and personally, to prove his integration within Israeli society (at the highest level, by moving in well-regarded social circles, living in a residential and expensive neighborhood, going on expensive holidays etc.). He is exposed to offenses, open and hidden, intended and not intended, which he has to accept with calm and understanding. And probably most important, it cuts him off from his own cultural background. One error on his side, even if it is not intended or of his own making, and it will be turned against him. For the Israeli world he is and always will be an Arab.
- Amin leaves his family to become a doctor. With this act he leaves behind not just his family but a whole tradition. Can this be considered as betrayal, even if he follows his father's wish? Or is this a simple loss of identity? A denial? He is not anymore a member of the Arab world, but has become a member of Israeli society. What place is there for him when he is rejected by the society he has tried to make his own?
- In order to try and retrace Sihem’s geographical and psychological itinerary, he has to go back to his own roots and question his own feelings and motivations too. In the end do we feel he has understood and even forgiven her? We mustn’t forget that his job is to save lives). And more widely, is there any way an act such as this can be justified?
- Is it possible to really know somebody? Cynthia and Caroline felt there was nothing they didn’t know about their husbands. And yet Amin apparently did not really know his wife or at least not well enough – or was he not paying sufficient attention to her needs and real preoccupations?
- Does the fact that the suicide bomber here is a woman make a difference? What makes women become suicide bombers? Desperation? A desire to be equal to men? What about the old saying (thank you, Helen, for quoting your grandmother): “Women are there to clean up the mess when men have finished?” This led us to mention the first female police members in Afghanistan (who don’t wear a veil!) and to the fact that Israeli women have to do military service. Caroline recalled that one of the terrorists in the recent Nairobi shopping mall terrorist attack was a (British) woman and also pointed out that in the Moscow theatre hostage crisis, all the Chechen suicide bombers were women. In the case of the atrocities committed by Mohammed Merah in France in 2012 his mother was certainly aware, if not instrumental, in the killings (although in this case Maren wondered if she had any other choice).
- We found that all the locations were very vividly described. Tel Aviv was shown as a modern and organized city where one can make a good and comfortable living, in contrast with the chaos reigning in Palestine, just the other side of the Wall.
- And just for the record, Yasmina Khadra intends to stand as the next Algerian President (presumably under his real name, Mohammed Moulessehoul – his pseudonym is actually his wife’s name!).
All in all we had a very interesting and lively discussion! Thanks to Caroline for this choice!
Caroline & Cynthia
