The Arab-Israeli conflict is a continuous conflict that has been in a struggle for compromise for a very long time. The conflict was especially escalated and prolonged in 1948 when Israel was created as a homeland for Jewish people upon the recommendation of the United Nations. This change in geography affected all the other Arab countries in the region, thus leading to lengthy turmoil. Sandy Tolan’s Lemon Tree is a book that trails the story of one native Palestinian Arab and a Jewish immigrant of Palestine; their stories aluminate the hardships and travesties experienced during the Arab-Israeli conflict post-1948. De Blij, the author of the textbook Geography: Realms, Regions, and Concepts, also details this conflict in Chapter 7. These two accounts of this region partner each other and clarify the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Tolan’s book, Lemon Tree, was a very personal story. It…show more content… Blij describes the Palestinian Arabs as “one of this realms’ stateless nations.” But what struggles did Palestinians and Israeli’s face to get to this point? Tolan expresses this with the story of Bashir and Dalia. Bashir, being a Palestinian in an Israeli conquered land, was ridiculed for his nationality. He was accused of a crime he didn’t commit and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Bashir, as a prisoner, was tortured for being a native Palestinian. On the other hand, Dalia was a peace maker; but her past wasn’t pleasant either. Tolan makes sure to cultivate on the history of the two main characters. Dalia was a Bulgarian Jew; as it is known throughout history, Jewish people were treated despicably. Therefore, while Blij’s text perfectly exemplifies the geographical obstacles faced during the Arab-Israeli conflict, he does not do what Tolan does, which is tell a story through real