Rating: 
Summary: We Just Want to Read Here
Review: This is a compelling book written with the letters between two implausible friends, a Palestinian teenage girl, and an Israeli teenage girl. They write letters to one another throughout the book, discussing political, social, and everyday issues. Amal Rifa'i, the Palestinian girl, and Odelia Ainbinder, the Israeli girl, met through a student exchange trip to Switzerland in the summer of 2000. They discuss concerns such as how the conflict between their countries can be solved, and they strive to overcome their political biases and opinions. They attempt to learn about the other's culture and religion in order to understand it better. Amal and Odelia also have some very heated arguments about issues such as the misconceptions Amal has about Israelis, or the ignorance Odelia has about Islam.
The strengths and weaknesses of this book are very apparent. The development of the characters, while unorthodox, is very strong. Reading the actual character's writing makes it more appealing. However, it is a slow read. It takes a long time to understand their extreme points of view when you are an outsider looking in. A very commendable part of this book is the fact that it has very little bias. The bias that is apparent is only there because that is how the characters feel as they write their letters to one another. However, the bias is balanced; you get facts and opinions throughout each and every letter which makes it more fascinating and riveting to read. The reason the author put together this book is to bring awareness to outsiders about the Israeli - Palestinian conflict. It makes strangers to the situation become engulfed in it and wanting to know more. This universal concern will create willingness for peace and change in that country. Also, there is a definite reason that the author chose these two girls to have in her book. She wanted to show that not every Israeli is prejudiced against Palestinians and that not every Palestinian is prejudiced against Israelis. Both of these girls have liberal opinions and were open to learning more about the other's view. Surprisingly, this book has tremendous flow. One would think that a book written with letters would be choppy, however although it is a slow read, it has a good pace for the subject. I would recommend this book to anyone in middle school and older. It can appeal to adults because of the issues raised in the girls' discussions. However, teenagers may relate more to the characters. This book should be taught in school because it is one of the few books on this subject that does not have a bias. This book is great for learning about this issue, and I strongly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for History..... Bad for Pleasure
Review: This is a unique and captivating non-fiction book, in which two eighteen-year-old girls exchange letters about the Arab-Israeli conflict. The catch is that one of the girls, Amal, is an Arab living in Jerusalem and the other, Odelia, is a Jew also living in Jerusalem. The girls meet in Switzerland for a student exchange program. When they get back, they are proposed a challenge to write letters to each other discussing political and social views, while also writing about the conflict and how it can be resolved. This book is special because it doesn't include the view of an outsider looking in on the issue, but it involves two girls who have to live with the conflict and the daily lives of Arabs and Israelis. The girls talk about a wide selection of topics including boys, the army, the intifada, school, and about the daily life of living in the middle of a conflict. The author, Sylke Tempel decided to have two girls on the different sides of the conflict because most of the public just reads the newspaper, which is filled with biases. This collection of letters is better for the public because it includes the views of both Israelis and Arabs. The voice that isn't heard is that of the Israelis that just want to kick out all of the Arabs. This voice is left out because Odelia, the Jewish girl, believes that the Arabs should be given their own state. Also another voice that is left out is the voice of Arab extremists. Amal, the Palestinian, is a little more firm and extreme than Odelia. Amal believes that the Jews invaded their land and that they do not belong. Although she believes this, she isn't one of the terrorists who bomb the Israelis and causes conflict. If Tempel really wanted to show the extremes on both the sides of the issue then she would have chosen an Israeli who wanted all of the Arabs gone and an Arab that is part of a terrorists group. This book reads fast in some parts, but others need more time to fully understand the issues. I would recommend this book for young adults who are interested in both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict. I think that if you were to pick up the book you could finish it in about a week. This would be a great book to use in a class because it shares both sides of the issue and also includes a lot of historical references and how one conflict could change your life. This book is a great example of how people who live in the same city can have so much of a difference in opinions and daily life.
Rating:
Summary: We Just Want To Live Here
Review: We Just Want To Live HereIn the book We Just Want To Live Here by Sylke Temple two eighteen year olds from different peoples who are at war talk about their feelings. One is an Israeli and the other is a Palestinian. Almost immediately this book caught my attention because it looked interesting and also realistic. It gave me an inside look at what some of the people who are living in the conflict and what they think about it.
The book is about an Israeli girl and a Palestinian girl. They met a few years ago on a trip to Switzerland that promoted Israeli and Palestinian friendships. A few years later they are both eighteen and have just started writing letters to each other. At first they don't tell much about each other, they just want to know about the other one. Slowly they approach the subject of government and then the army. But before that they figure out each other's views on the conflict. Odelia, the Israeli, feels that Israel might have stolen the Palestinian's land and she can sympathize with them. She also doesn't believe with the Israeli's draft plan for the army. She thinks that it's wrong and that this conflict cannot be solved with the force of the army. Amal, the Palestinian, thinks that the land was stolen and that the Palestinians have to fight for it because it's the only option that they have left because the Israeli's won't have any reasonable peace talks. You can see both of the letters written by people so it's easier to sympathize with both of them. Since you can see both of their main points, you can also see that both of their arguments are quite reasonable. As the book progresses they share more of their feelings with each other. You also can hear them talk about issues that are being discussed in Israel and Palestine today. It seems to me that if these girls were the heads of their countries and people, then there wouldn't even be a conflict between the two today.
This book was really good because it was very realistic and you could also see the letters that they were writing to each other. I could see their arguments and think that their points are very valid. This book would be great for either someone who is interested in the Middle East or for people that are in their early to late teens because that is the age of the girls that are in the book. It really taught me a lot about the problems of the Middle East and about the people who are going through them.
Rating:
Summary: A good book showing two girls resoluteness to acheive peace
Review: We Just Want to Live Here Now, finally, I am a full-fledged believer, for the youth possess the power to end the conflict in Israel through unity, friendship, and discussion. We Just Want to Live Here by Sylke Tempel is a convincing story on the future of the conflict, and how our only hope may be the future of our children. All we hear now in Israel is terror, hate, and discrimination, even after years of in-depth discussion on how to end the conflict. Yet this book may hold the key to the solution, for the friendship that these girls have found between themselves defeats the boundaries in which religion enslaves them while entrapped in the heart of this war. This book is convincing. You cannot learn to like someone without first being friends. This friendship is evident in Amal and Odelia. As a core step to understand the differences between the two faiths of Islam and Judaism, these two girls show knowledge and wisdom past their years. They hold in-depth discussions about marriage, faith, the war, school, and other topics that make this book easy to relate to for everyone. Odelia and Amal not only show how they might be able to solve the conflict, but prove that amity, eagerness for peace, and common moral beliefs can lead regular people just like these young girls to friendship, maybe even peace. This book proves that besides the terrorist bombers that we hear about in the news, there are Palestinians who only seek peace. Although this book covers the beliefs of these two children well, an improvement to this book would be to not only cover these girls, but describe more in-depth the conflict and how ordinary people on both sides may not be helping this conflict. This book is for anyone with interest in how friendship, leadership, and resoluteness may not only lead to peace in the Israeli Palestinian conflict, but may become a reference for problems around the world. I am sure of it now. Leadership and peace lie in the hands of children.
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