By Sandy Tolan
Two families, one house, divided histories
Subject
Themes
In July 1967, weeks after the Six Day War, Bashir Khairi stands before the stone house in Ramla where he was born. For nineteen years, since he was six years old, this moment has lived in his imagination: the journey home, the return to the place that exists in fragments of memory and family stories. With his cousins, he boards a bus in West Jerusalem and rides toward al-Ramla, the town Palestinians call by its Arabic name. When he rings the doorbell, a young Israeli woman named Dalia Eshkenazi answers. The encounter that follows, initially awkward then intense and ultimately transformative, becomes the foundation of a four-decade relationship that mirrors the Israeli-Palestinian conflict itself, passionate yet painful, unresolved yet sustained by hope.
In July 1967, weeks after the Six Day War, Bashir Khairi stands before the stone house in Ramla where he was born. For nineteen years, since he was six years old, this moment has lived in his imagination: the journey home, the return to the place that exists in fragments of memory and family…
Sandy Tolan's work arrives at a critical juncture in American understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Published in 2006, during the collapse of the second intifada and the stagnation of peace efforts, the book challenges dominant narratives on both sides whilst refusing to abandon either…
At the heart of this story lies a profound irony: Dalia's family found refuge in the very place where Bashir's family lost theirs. The Eshkenazis arrived in Palestine as Holocaust survivors, carrying trauma that defied comprehension. In Bulgaria, they had narrowly escaped deportation to death camps…
In March 1943, whilst Nazi Germany was systematically exterminating European Jews, Bulgaria stood as a remarkable exception. Adolf Beckerle, Germany's ambassador in Sofia, later wrote in frustration that the Bulgarian people "lacked the ideological enlightenment" necessary for a "final solution" to…
Growing up in 1950s and 1960s Israel, Dalia learned a simple story about 1948: the Arabs had fled like cowards, leaving their soup steaming on the table. This narrative, taught in schools and embedded in national consciousness, served a clear purpose. It absolved the new state of responsibility for…
When Bashir rings Dalia's doorbell in July 1967, he initiates something rare in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: a sustained, face-to-face engagement between two people on opposite sides. Over four decades, they meet, correspond, argue, and listen. They visit each other's homes, introduce each…
The lemon tree stands at the centre of this story, both literally and symbolically. Planted by the Khairi family before 1948, the tree was already bearing fruit when the Eshkenazis arrived in 1949. For nearly fifty years, it grows in the garden of the stone house in Ramla, witnessing two families'…
In July 1967, weeks after the Six Day War reshaped the Middle East, Bashir Khairi stands before a mirror in West Jerusalem's bus station, preparing himself for a journey he has dreamed about for nineteen years. At twenty-five, he is finally returning to al-Ramla, the town where he was born but from…
In Sofia, Bulgaria, February 1943, Moshe Eshkenazi finds a wallet full of money lying on a cobblestone street. The struggling Jewish salesman, identifiable by the yellow star he must wear, does not hesitate: he takes the wallet to the police station. The officer on duty is shocked to see a Jew…
After the war ends in 1945, Moshe and Solia Eshkenazi begin piecing their lives back together in Bulgaria. Despite surviving the Holocaust through the extraordinary resistance of Bulgarian citizens, the couple faces an uncertain future. Post-war Bulgaria offers little promise for Jews, and the pull…
The Eshkenazi family settles into Israeli life in Ramla during the 1950s. Moshe finds work whilst Solia manages the household, and young Dalia begins school. She grows up surrounded by other children of Holocaust survivors, many carrying traumas they cannot articulate. The silence of these children,…
The Six Day War erupts in June 1967, fundamentally reshaping the Middle East. Israel launches pre-emptive strikes against Egyptian airfields, destroying most of Egypt's air force on the ground within hours. Similar strikes devastate Syrian and Jordanian air capabilities. With air superiority…
In the years following their initial 1967 meeting, Bashir becomes increasingly active in Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation. He joins organisations advocating for Palestinian rights, participates in protests, and works to maintain Palestinian national identity under military rule. The…
By the 1990s, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict enters a new phase with the Oslo peace process. Secret negotiations in Norway lead to mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, raising hopes that decades of bloodshed might finally end. The Oslo Accords promise a…
By Sandy Tolan
Subject
Themes
In July 1967, weeks after the Six Day War, Bashir Khairi stands before the stone house in Ramla where he was born. For nineteen years, since he was six years old, this moment has lived in his imagination: the journey home, the return to the place that exists in fragments of memory and family stories. With his cousins, he boards a bus in West Jerusalem and rides toward al-Ramla, the town Palestinians call by its Arabic name. When he rings the doorbell, a young Israeli woman named Dalia Eshkenazi answers. The encounter that follows, initially awkward then intense and ultimately transformative, becomes the foundation of a four-decade relationship that mirrors the Israeli-Palestinian conflict itself, passionate yet painful, unresolved yet sustained by hope.