In
the interests of transparency and full disclosure, I first met Marc
Goldberg, the author of “Beyond the Green Line,” when we both
emigrated from London to live at a Jerusalem residential
Hebrew-language course back in 2001.
It
was crystal clear to everyone that Goldberg’s primary and
overwhelming motivation in immigrating to Israel (way beyond
attending Hebrew classes!) was to join an elite unit of the IDF.
Beyond the Green Line is his memoir consisting of vignettes
describing his experiences during his military service as a British
Jewish immigrant.
Indeed,
the person I knew after his IDF service was a different person to the
rather gung-ho and glory-seeking individual who went in with such
commitment to the cause of defending Israelis from the terrorism that
was destroying lives during the so-called Second Intifada.
Goldberg’s
book offers a personalized and very honest insight into how the IDF,
and the intense experiences he went through, changed him.
Too
many commentators and media have already relegated the Second
Intifada to the history books, which is premature.
For any Israelis
who lived through those dark times, it is the terror war on the
streets of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and elsewhere that remains seared in
the Israeli consciousness when compromises with the Palestinians come
up for discussion.
While books have been written about that period,
barely any have focused on personal accounts from regular Israelis
who lived through it, whether as ordinary civilians or soldiers.
If
you are looking for geopolitical analysis of the IDF operations that
took place to arrest Palestinian terrorists and prevent suicide
bombings, you won’t find it here.
What you will find are the honest
and vivid thoughts of an Israeli soldier serving his new country
while seeking meaning and self-identity.
Goldberg
doesn’t make grand judgments when he finds himself in situations
that raise legitimate moral questions over how to deal with the
Palestinian civilian population while fighting terror. He doesn’t
need to.
Incidents involving the military takeover of Palestinian
civilian family homes in the dead of night or dealing with
stone-throwing Palestinian children feature in Goldberg’s musings,
offering a human and personal side to the conflict while allowing the
reader to draw his or her own conclusions.
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Read original review on: http://honestreporting.com
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