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del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 21:43 05/10/2006 Can a Palestinian Muslim and a Zionist Jew be friends? "Prisoners" is the story of a Jewish boy from America who becomes a staunch Zionist, immigrates to Israel, and joins the Israeli armed forces - and his friendship with Rafiq Hijazi, a Muslim from the Jebalya refugee camp. I'm discussing Jeffrey Goldberg's great new book this week in Slate. Goldberg is a reporter for The New Yorker, and our dialog now contains two posts I wrote on the book, and the responses of the author. Here's a glimpse of some of the things I wrote. You can read the whole dialog here: "Prisoners" is the story of a redheaded Jewish boy from America - Jeffrey - who becomes a staunch Zionist, immigrates to Israel, lives on a kibbutz, and joins the Israeli armed forces, where the book really begins. Jeffrey serves as a military policeman and is charged with the unfulfilling duty of guarding Palestinian prisoners in the Ketziot prison during the first intifada, the Palestinian uprising of the late '80s. Advertisement In Ketziot, he befriends Rafiq Hijazi, a Muslim from the Jebalya refugee camp. The friendship between these two men and the many obstacles and barriers that both of them must overcome in the next 15 years or so - the years of the Oslo peace process and the years of the second, more bloody, Palestinian uprising - are the core of the book. It takes the reader to Jerusalem, Gaza, Jericho, Pakistan, Africa, Washington, Abu Dhabi, and many other places. It deals with the fundamental dichotomy of two men who like each other personally but belong to two rival tribes. Boiling down the book this way raises the basic question: Can a Palestinian Muslim and a Zionist Jew be friends? In this first note, I want to focus on something at the end of the book - the positive, optimistic answer it gives to this question: "[I]f Rafiq and I could allow friendship to triumph over anger, then it wasn't impossible to believe that the rest of Isaac's children, and the rest of Ishmael's children, could stop their long and dismal war. You left Israel and your personal Zionist dream, and went back to being an American. Still a Zionist - no doubt about that - but an American Zionist. And an American journalist. An American citizen. You married an American woman, and your children live safely in America. That's why you managed to travel to places no Israeli can visit and talk to leaders no Israeli can interview. And the same can be said about Rafiq. At heart, I'm sure he is still a Palestinian, but in practice, he has also changed his place of work and residence. He studied in the United States, then went to be a teacher in Abu Dhabi. Both of you - and I'm not, in any way, expressing any criticism here - no longer share the daily anxieties of Palestinians and Israelis who choose to stay in the region or have no choice but to stay... Which brings me back to the skepticism I expressed earlier: Is a friendship between a Jew and an Arab that is maintained outside the Middle East in any way an indication of what might be possible within that war-torn region. Regrettably, I suspect that it isn't. Read the dialog here. Get the book here. You will not regret the time you invested in it. More Diplomacy on Rosner's Domain: Rosner's Guest: Barak Ben Zur on Lebanon, Gaza and counter terrorism. The Hamas Time Saver: Features, opinion, interviews, studies Bookmark to del.icio.us Muslim about face A key U.K. Muslim group ends its boycott of Holocaust Memorial Day. Calling all Aleppo Jews Yad Ben-Zvi is calling for the return of centuries-old Aleppo Codex fragments.   1.   their beliefs are different... 22:55  |  maria 05/10/06   2.   OUTSIDE the Middle East, decades ago 23:12  |  Yaakov K. 05/10/06   3.   Haaretz 00:46  |  Omar 06/10/06   4.   Yaakov K. 00:51  |  Omar 06/10/06   5.   maria 00:57  |  Gaza Boy 06/10/06   6.   ofcourse YES friendship have nthng to do with believs 01:07  |  wadha 06/10/06   7.   Can a Palestinian Muslim and a Zionst Jew be friends.. 01:09  |  Edithann 06/10/06   8.   school 01:11  |  avi 06/10/06   9.   Friends, Yes. True Friends.....??? 02:06  |  Tony Anthony 06/10/06   10.   gaza boy....Jesus has already visited me. 02:47  |  maria 06/10/06   11.   islam and judaism are not worshipping the same God 03:19  |  maria 06/10/06   12.   Both Jewish and Palestinian nationalism are broad enough 03:26  |  Itamar 06/10/06   13.   response to omar... 03:53  |  maria 06/10/06   14.   Yes I am a living proof 04:00  |  A Palestinian 06/10/06   15.   to omar....i copied it from my kjv bible. 04:00  |  maria 06/10/06   16.   you and the gaza boy attacked my country instead. 05:51  |  maria 06/10/06   17.   i can`t believe it...that palestinians and jews became friends. 06:22  |  maria 06/10/06   18.   probably you`re both amercanized now 06:24  |  maria 06/10/06   19.   testimony 07:03  |  Amir 06/10/06   20.   Only The Ones That Live There Now! 07:08  |  Sam The Sham 06/10/06   21.   Gaza Boy - interethnic friends 07:48  |  david 06/10/06   22.   Edithann and trust 07:53  |  David 06/10/06   23.   #10 - Actually, it`s CHRISTIANS who worship a different god 08:49  |  Yaakov K. 06/10/06   24.   To my sister in the Lord Maria 09:32  |  Simon 06/10/06   25.   Not in earth 09:46  |  Ralph 06/10/06   26.   Can Clickfool and voice of the whatever be friends? 10:59  |  British academic 06/10/06   27.   they definitely can... 11:06  |  Tity 06/10/06   28.   #23 sorry yaakovYOU ARE WRONG 11:08  |  PAUL HARRIS 06/10/06   29.   Possibility within a war-torn region?repair has to start somehow. 11:13  |  simon 06/10/06   30.   The Word Zionist 11:16  |  Ronnie Wolman 06/10/06   31.   Of course 11:26  |  Peter Dale 06/10/06   32.   British academic 11:53  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 06/10/06   33.   Edithman coming from a people who riot when someone says somethin 11:56  |  Jabadini 06/10/06   34.   I consider myself a strong zionist but 12:06  |  Jabadini 06/10/06   35.   I am a religous zionist who belives in Israel from the bible 12:08  |  Jabadini 06/10/06   36.   Yes they can 12:10  |  Walid 06/10/06   37.   Yes but 12:15  |  Wael Hendawi 06/10/06   38.   I think so! 12:17  |  Niall 06/10/06   39.   Oh Maria! 12:29  |  Babs 06/10/06   40.   Omar you are right! 12:32  |  Itsik 06/10/06   41.   another thing... 12:36  |  Itsik 06/10/06   42.   Sorry folks.... 12:41  |  Clickfool 06/10/06   43.   Difficult right now I suppose.... 12:44  |  Jack 06/10/06   44.   Haaretz You Had Me Worried For A While! 12:49  |  Sam The Sham 06/10/06   45.   To British Academic #26: The answer is yes, but 12:56  |  Jonathan S 06/10/06   46.   #14 Real friendship 13:03  |  Isac 06/10/06   47.   to Maria and the likes 13:09  |  The One 06/10/06   48.   My Concept Of Reality! 13:15  |  Sam The Sham 06/10/06   49.   Yaakov- Jesus the Christ= God Incarnate 13:22  |  Calhoun 06/10/06   50.   #46 you are talking nonesense 13:32  |  Itsik 06/10/06   51.   # 46 Isac re # 14 13:33  |  ChanahS 06/10/06   52.   to maria 13:34  |  Marcelo 06/10/06   53.   To Walid #36 who forgot the biggest troublemaker 13:54  |  Jonathan S 06/10/06   54.   to Maria # 16 14:10  |  clickright 06/10/06   55.   walid 14:13  |  bev 06/10/06   56.   FRIENDS-Palestinian Muslim / Zionost Jew 14:14  |  Khalid Husain 06/10/06   57.   39 Babs 14:23  |  RPF 06/10/06   58.   Yes they can ! Why not ??! 14:28  |  Ben 06/10/06   59.   OH Maria..I am sure they can 14:29  |  Sanna 06/10/06   60.   thank you Itsik and ChanahS 14:32  |  Babs 06/10/06   61.   24 Simon 14:48  |  Maria 06/10/06   62.   Totally Meaningless Story 14:57  |  Ben Israel 06/10/06   63.   to simon....... continuation 15:05  |  maria 06/10/06   64.   I guess we can count out Edithann a potential `friend` 15:09  |  Jacob Blues 06/10/06   65.   Answer to RPF/BABS 15:10  |  Sanna 06/10/06   66.   Rosner looking too much at labels, not enough at people 15:15  |  Jacob Blues 06/10/06   67.   Jabadini`s Posts 15:23  |  Ronnie Wolman 06/10/06   68.   I guess we can count Khalid Hassan out too 15:25  |  Jacob Blues 06/10/06   69.   #16 clickright 15:27  |  Maria 06/10/06   70.   maria, the Middle East is never part of Asia 15:31  |  Gaza Boy 06/10/06   71.   oh my ,because of this article....i stirred up muslims nest. 15:38  |  maria 06/10/06   72.   to the living proof...do you support israel and not terrorism. 15:41  |  maria 06/10/06   73.   Yes... 15:42  |  Edith 06/10/06   74.   #16 maria you strated talking about religous subject 15:45  |  Gaza Boy 06/10/06   75.   Palestinian polls say No 15:47  |  Bimmer 06/10/06   76.   #47 CALHOUN AND THE ILLUSIONS OF IGNORANCE 15:49  |  PAUL HARRIS 06/10/06   77.   Can a Palestinian Muslim and a Zionist Jew? 15:51  |  Ren 06/10/06   78.   To Wael Hendawi 15:53  |  Israeli 06/10/06   79.   remember islam is different from any other religion. 15:55  |  maria 06/10/06   80.   to n.7 16:02  |  Joe 06/10/06   81.   won`t u ever wake up ??!! 16:02  |  Realistic 06/10/06   82.