The Deserter

Taking a trip up through the West Bank, Lev comes face to face with the dark, potentially dangerous atmosphere of fear and suspicion that prevails there. After witnessing the daily currency of careless humiliation and intimidation and after becoming involved in a number of incidents, he is eventually so moved that he voluntarily provokes a confrontation, which has devastating and lasting consequences for him. From his difficult entry into Israel, his meetings with members of his family each with a different perspective on the Arab-Israeli conflict through his renewed appraisal of the Jerusalem he once knew and on to the events in the West Bank which lead to conflict and violence, this is a powerful, sensitively-told narrative.

Through the medium of a fast-moving plot and a range of strong characters this book explores the complexities of both family and political tensions by presenting a comparison of the similarities between the intimate difficulties of the Dubnow family and the difficulties the Israelis and Palestinians are contending with, preventing a solution to their conflict.