Hope Valley

 I grew up during the 1960s and early '70s sitting at the holiday table with relatives who were Holocaust survivors.  By  high school I was a proud Zionist and marched in New York City in an Israeli Day parade chanting "Never Again".  I thought my understanding of what was happening in Israel was the only story. We took pride in the strength of the Israeli  army to win the 6 Day War and the Yom Kippur War.  We thought the Jews were right in taking land and pushing Palestinians out in 1948.  

Well as time has gone on and we are learning more of our history all the time, reading both non-fiction and fiction stories can offer other opinions and different interpretations of the events of Israel's history.

In Hope Valley, a novel set in northern Israel near the Galilee, author Haviva Ner David explores the history of the land from an Israeli point of view and a Palestinian perspective.  Beautifully written this novel has found a unique way of showing us both sides of the story. 

We meet Tikvah, a woman who followed her Zionist dream from Long Island, NY to make aliyah to Israel and marry Alon, a displaced Israeli who becomes an officer in the Israeli army.  We also are introduced to Ruby, or Rabia, her Palestinian name.  She was born in the settlement of Yakut al-Jalil a stone's throw away  from the village her father grew up in.  He has been attached to the area all her childhood, until she left to find herself and become an artist.  

Ruby has come home for the health treatments she needs for her cancer.  Tikvah, Alon and their daughter, Talya are living on the moshav that developed after Ruby's father's family and their neighbors were evacuated from their village.  Moshav Sapir is where Tikvah and Alon have come to create a safe and secure world for themselves after the tragedies and difficulties in their lives.  

Two women, one Jewish-Israeli , one Palestinian-Israeli, seem worlds apart, but they build a friendship as they are both artists and are dealing with disease worrying about the fragility of life and remnants of trauma.  The accidental, casual encounter leads to a strong friendship that helps them both.  Meeting in the valley between their opposing villages at the beginning of the second intifada. They share their personal stories and offer the reader hope that getting to know an individual can change the course of the Israeli Palestinian divide.

Ner David's characters insinuate their way into the reader's heart.  Each of the women seems to really  believe her version of the history of the area and it takes the love that is developing between them to keep them open to seeing that maybe the other person's story may have some credibility.  This can give the reader hope that there is hope for the future of Israel to reach peace someday with the Palestinians if everyone can just really hear what the other side is saying and want to make peace.

A wonderfully expressive novel written from the perspectives of three characters, Tikvah, Ruby and Jamal, Ruby's father.  We read Jamal's diary to give us the background story to Tikvah and Ruby's friendship.  With incredible sayings like, "Open your mouth only if what you are going to say is more beautiful than silence."  What a perfect concept.  Another theory to contemplate;  "It's when you stop trying to swim against the current and just let it carry   you, instead. It's about learning to surrender to the flow instead of trying to grab on to rocks along the way.  Because in the end, you won't be able to hold on forever. Rocks are slippery, and no one has endless strength. Nothing is permanent."

This is a novel that will stay with you after you finish the last page.  There is quite a lot of food for thought.