Lives in Common: Arabs and Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Hebron by Menachem Klein (review)

Menachem Klein, professor of political science, and a leading expert on Jerusalem and the Arab-Israeli conflict, has produced an innovating and original study, which is also a fascinating and engaging account, a fresh look in the often-exhausted field of research and other literature on the Arab-Israeli conflict. His work challenges common wisdom and perceptions. This “tale of three cities,” each has played a central role in the conflict, takes us on a historical tour of Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Hebron, all in detail, since the late nineteenth century to present, and rewrites the modern history of relationship between Arabs and Jews in the “holy land.” Lives in Common is rich in compelling vignettes and anecdotes that portray a rich fabric of joint life, mainly before 1948 — “Segregation was not complete until the 1948 war” (p. 127) — and follows the development of the conflict since then.

Given this praise, the book is not free of some problems, and even faults. One of the book’s key arguments is that the concept “Arab Jews” should be implied not only on Jewish natives of the Arab world, but also on Jews in Palestine before the rise of Zionism and the State of Israel. Klein convincingly demonstrates this with examples of people who adopted the Arabic language, along with Arab culture and code of dress and behavior, such as the Shlush family of Jaffa, portrayed here as an “Arab Jewish family” (p. 71). Modern national identity and political consciousness in Palestine developed fully mainly in the 20^th century, in the wake of the 1917 Balfour Declaration. This created a dichotomy between Arabs and Jews, hence jeopardizing the full development of Arab-Jewish identity in Palestine (unlike its contemporaries in Arab countries such as Iraq and Egypt, even if short lived). This might lead to certain controversies, or incosistencies. Thus, for example, the book refers to “Zionist Arab Jews” in Jaffa at the beginning of the British period, a definition that was unlikely shared by its own subjects (p. 106). Israeli diplomat Moshe Sasson, born in Damascus, is “not an Arab Jew,” as he would have probably agreed. His father, Eliyahu (Ilyas) Sasson is also “not an Arab Jew” (p. 161), despite being the only Jew who served both as an Israeli government minister, and in Emir Faisal’s Arab national administration in Damascus from 1918 to 1920. Jerusalem-born Ya‘akov Yehoshu‘a (1905–82), author of books in Arabic and Hebrew, had ceased to be an Arab Jew, according to Klein, when ignoring his old friend Arab writer Ishaq Musa al-Husayni following Israeli occupation in 1967 (p. 189), though it turns out later on that they kept up their friendship to the mid-1980s (p. 198). It seems that the full complexities, sensitivities, and delicate nuances of this term still need a more thorough approach.

Despite the erudite translation by Haim Watzman, the skillful reader will find more than just commonly mistakes in transliteration or type errors. Some examples are Yaakov Tahon, instead of Thon (p. 30); Jajati Efendi Nashashibi instead of Najati Effendi Nashashibi (p. 34); al-Hatib instead of al-Khatib (p. 36); Ruzat al-Ma‘araf instead of Rawdat al- Ma‘arif (p. 36); Butros Street instead of Bustrus Street (p. 75); Rada Karmi, instead of Ghada Karmi (p. 78); Safini’s department store, instead of Spinney’s (p. 81), Lusidus instead of Louisides (p.81), Zanziri instead of Zananiri (p. 81); Gaberdian instead of Garabedian (p. 82); Tovia Dunieh and Dunya on the same page (p. 83); and others that should have been eradicated by a more careful editing.

The book is also not free of occasional factual mistakes, such as the claim that in the 1940s 5,000 Jews lived in Jaffa’s northern Jewish neighborhoods, and 5,000 more in its central part, out of a total population of 70,000 (Jaffa in the 1940s had an...