cover image Healing Israel/Palestine: A Path to Peace and Reconciliation

Healing Israel/Palestine: A Path to Peace and Reconciliation

Michael Lerner. North Atlantic Books, $16.95 (296pp) ISBN 978-1-55643-484-6

Rabbi Lerner, founder of the progressive Jewish journal Tikkun, may or may not have the answer to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but he does have answers for progressive Jews who are trying to find a way of understanding the conflict and find a stance that is pro-Israel without being anti-Palestinian.""The first step in the process of healing is to tell the story of how we got where we are in a way that avoids demonization,"" he writes. So he relates the history of Zionism and the state of Israel in a way that acknowledges both the rights, and the wrongs, of Jews and Palestinians alike. His evenhandedness may irritate readers who feel strongly for one side or the other, but his answers to tough questions (why should Israelis deal in good faith with the Palestinian people? How can the violence end when some Palestinians want to destroy Israel?) will aid many who are perplexed by the complexity of the region's long-lasting conflict. b&w photos.