ENEMY IN PROMISED LND

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: First of all, I am a high school student who is extremely pro-Israel. I spend most of my free time writing to people about Israel.
Ok, I picked up this book in my school library while looking for books on Israeli politics. I expected her to come into it hating Jews/Israel and coming out of it loving Israel. Boy was I wrong.
What amazed me was that, despite her hating Zionists and Israelis, she went to Israel and managed to live there for an extremely long period of time.
For any pro-Israel person, read this book. It really allows you to walk a mile in the other persons shoes. I had always seen Israel as a place where everything was happy and good. But, this showed me how Israel is just like any other country. Danny also amazes me, as some people say that Israel is worse then South Africa was during apartheid. Here is a South African in Israel. I LOVED THE BOOK!!! Read it if you have not already.

Rating:
Summary: A brave personal quest, intelligent and honest
Review: I have so thoroughly enjoyed reading this book it was difficult to put it down until the very last word.

This is the story of a young Egyptian Moslem woman, from a very wealthy family who became obsessed with Israel. She left her postgraduate studies at Harvard and went to Israel for a six-week visit that lasted three years. This all happened in the mid 70's before Sadat's visit to Jerusalem and Egypt's peace with Israel.

Sana Hassan delved into numerous aspects of Israeli society. She lived on traditional Kibbutz and on "progressive" Kibbutz; she lived amongst new immigrants from the former Soviet Union and elsewhere learning Hebrew, Judaism and life in Israel, she went through the process of how Israel receive new arrivals. She lived in ordinary apartments in Tel Aviv and amongst the cultural elites in Jerusalem. She also managed to pass herself as a Jew and worked in Israeli factories and restaurants and allowed herself to be recruited into religious orthodox ways. Sana Hassan managed to get herself everywhere imaginable in Israel and the occupied territories.

Sana succeeded in interacting with every possible segment of Israeli Society, politically, culturally, religiously and ethnically. From tea with Golda Meir at her house, lunch with Begin at the Knesset, and dinner with The Sharons all the way to meetings with pimps and prostitute as part of her volunteer work as a social worker. She managed to see more of Israel, perhaps than the vast majority of Israelis ever will.

The portrayal of the Israeli society is that of a country full of contradictions and racist attitudes. We see the lowly state of Eastern Jews and an almost pervasive hierarchy based solely on racial origin and beliefs. She portrays the "subhuman" untouchable type status of the vast majority of the Israeli Arabs and the West Bank Palestinians. She portrays an Israel full of push and shove, of vulgar, inconsiderate people with unabashed racism.

Sana Hassan also portrays an idealism, work ethic, warmth of ordinary people, capacity to love and learn and so much generosity. And yet, we see this hug mental barrier against admission or acceptance of the injustice befallen the Palestinians.

We are also treated to two love affairs of Sana Hassan, one with a married Israeli army officer and a very passionate affair with another young woman who was her roommate at the progressive Kibbutz. I puzzled for days over Sana Hassan's inclusion of these two stories, which undoubtedly would have been very controversial in her conservative home country. An affair with a married officer and a Lesbian episode would undoubtedly dilute Sana Hassan's message of peace. After years of condemnation in Egypt, Sana Hassan was finally rehabilitated, why did she choose to shock again and upset sensibilities?

Sana Hassan quest for peace was always personal, coming out of her inquisitive nature about Israel and things Jewish. From the days of her childhood when she was told off playing with an Israeli boy while on an Austrian holiday, from the unquestioning one sided media of Egypt, it was always a personal endeavor, she never pretended it to be on behalf of anyone else. I suspect for Sana Hassan, her on honesty and integrity were more important than acceptance and continued rehabilitation in conservative Egypt. She must have felt that she could not write about her experience in Israel without her affairs. Her recount of these stories certainly enriches the book and helps us understand her degree of assimilation and acceptance of the unthinkable.

Sana Hassan developed an in-depth understanding of Zionism, history, thought and present day attitudes. She presented the process with which she seemed apparently unable to reconcile her acceptance of Israel's right to exist, with Israel's "right" to be Zionist. She presented herself throughout the book as an unwavering supporter of Palestinian rights. Yet, she admitted to being more troubled by her army officer connections to racist South Africa than his career as an IDF officer. She also seemed throughout the book willing to accept the possibility that her lover was planted by the intelligence service.

With so much going on in her three years of Israel, you would expect a book written in simple straight forward story telling or even text style. That is not the case at all, Enemy In The Promised Land is so beautifully written. Sana Hassan is capable of great prose and lyrical descriptions of scenery, experiences and emotions, and most of all, of people. Her style comes across similar to the early work of Virginia Wolf, at times it seemed like she is even using similar words and phrases.

This is not a straight forward book. It is the sort of book that will truly makes no one happy. It is a confusing book. If you allow yourself the benefit of "learning" while reading it, it may shake many established beliefs and strongly held opinions.

Having read this book, I am absolutely certain of one thing. I will never never eat at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the standards of hygiene at the restaurant were appallingly low. On most other issues, I am a lot less certain.

Rating:
Summary: brilliant writer describes Israel "as is"
Review: While the book contains many biographical and historical information, the book i s centered around three years the author, daughter of an Egyptian career diplomat, spent in Israel, long before Israel and Egypt established diplomatic relations. Israel, Hebrew and things Jewish have always held a fascination for the author, and she decided to visit Israel and see for herself what the country and its people are like. Ms. Hasan's visit to Israel met with family disaproval, a hostile Arab press and thr eats of imprisonment by her own government. Having withstood all these, the author's courage and strong will are even more note worthy.

Right from the start, Ms. Hassan, the daughter of an Egyptian diplomat, impresse d me with her sincerity, humanity and powers of observation. Ms. Hassan encounters a very different reality from what she's read about Israel in the Arab media. "Ver y different" doesn't always mean better as it doesn't always mean worse. With envi able sensitivity, humour and humanity, Ms. Hassan is shares and disects her experienc es in the "promissed land".

Ms. Hassan didn't enter Israel tabula rasa; She has many preconceived notions ab out the Arab-Israeli conflict, and those may or may not be different from those of h er readers. But she's very open and forthcoming in stating her views up front, and she's sincerely interested in opposing views. Her style of writing is neither preachy nor dogmatic, and so I think the book can be enjoyed by people with views different from her's.

Her insights about life in Israel, the Israeli-Zionist ethos, and the various so cial strata she encounters are breath-taking. It's difficult to see how someone could acquir e such a profound understanding of Israel after such a short stay (3 years) in the country.

During the three years the author spent in Israel, she underwent many experience s, some positive, some negative, some sad, and some just plainly bizzare. During th ose three years, the author has occassion to discover what Israel is really like -- to a celebrity, to an annonymous tourist, to a newly immigrated Jew, etc. She meets w ith people, is exposed to their views and feelings and fears. She finds friendship i n Israel, and love. She's also exposed to the uglier sides of life in Israel -- to the rac ism and the poverty, to the facist-militarist mind-set so many people here seem to hold, she meets, lives and works with the underprivilages -- people working in factories, a hotel kitchen, kids in a reform school. The author, Ms. Hassan, has been exposed both to the touristy side of the promissed land as well as to the less flashy, more mund ane sides.

Throughout the book, Ms. Hassan retains her curiousity and optimism and most importantly -- her sense of humour. She's very self-critical throughout the book , demonstrating again and again how her own premises about Israel are undergoing constant revision and change.

Her basic attitude is intellectual, positively generous and humane. This doesn't mean that she changes all her views by the end of the book, nor does it mean that she converts everyone to her side. It does mean, however, that while she's an intens ly political and intensly intellectual person, she's also able to relate to people, to see their side (even if she disagrees with it), to show ampathy and compassion for o thers, and to see their needs and fears and motives.

As an Israeli, I found that Ms. Hassan's book certainly held a mirror up to my f ace, to let me see Israeli existance from a different angle. Unlike the other reviewer, I don't think that this mirror is the least bit distorted. I found the book inspiring, a nd I think that it's important reading material for Israelis at home and abroad, Jews every where interested in Israel or contemplating aliyah, and all others that would like to see Israel-as-it-is -- de-mystified, cleared of any romanticism, but still -- comple x, tricky, sometimes ugly and sometimes very beautiful.

All in all, the book was a delight to read, and I'm sure I'll re-read it again.