My Enemy, My Self

To find out how Arabs experience daily life in Israel and the occupied territories, Binur, an Israeli journalist, took a daring step: he adopted the clothes and manners of a Palestinian Arab, wearing a red keffiyeh kerchief, smoking Farid cigarettes and speaking Arabic. For six months, this reporter for the Jerusalem weekly Kol Ha'ir was an ``Arab impostor.'' He lived in a Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, was employed as a garage mechanic and restaurant helper, worked on a kibbutz, shared cramped quarters in a Tel Aviv flophouse. He even had a brief romance with a Jewish woman. While Binur witnessed fear and hatred on both sidesIsraeli and Arabhis odyssey is especially revealing in its visceral portrayal of how Arabs experience discrimination and intolerance as second-class citizens or outcasts. His risky adventure led him to conclude that a continuation of Israel's military presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be disastrous. First serial to Penthouse. (Mar.)