Lives in Common

'Taking a new and original approach, Klein draws heavily on the diaries and memoirs of ordinary people, elevating his book beyond the usual leader-based perspectives or histories emanating from official documents... a significant achievement in scholarship and humanism.' * Christian Science Monitor *
'Lives in Common takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the streets, houses, and squares of Jerusalem, Jaffa and Hebron, and offers an extremely sensitive and engaging historical and contemporary account of Jewish and Arab daily lives and interactions in these mixed cities. Klein's unique focus on bottom-up interactions between Jews and Arabs in their shared urban environment exposes the reader to a new dimension of the complex relations between Jews and Arabs, and sheds fresh light on the existence, evolution and changes in a local form of a joint Palestinian identity, shared by Jews and Arabs alike. This is an exciting and invaluable contribution to a more nuanced look on the complex and dynamic relations between Jews and Arabs in Palestine and Israel.' * Abigail Jacobson, MIT, author of From Empire to Empire: Jerusalem Between Ottoman and British Rule *
'A highly sensitive "tale of three cities" which sheds light on often touching Arab and Jewish daily encounters before 1948. Klein is no nostalgic. His is a sober political assessment of a world that cannot be rebuilt, but a world whose civilised dialogues between Arab and Jew must be re-invented if Israel wants to move forward beyond today's political impasse.' * Diana Pinto, historian and author of Israel Has Moved *
'This important work by Menachem Klein posits serious challenges to the nationalist historiography of the Arab-Israeli conflict. In particular Klein's rich and detailed investigation into the lives of native Jews in Hebron, Jaffa, and Jerusalem at the turn of the nineteenth century undermines a central assumption held by Zionist discourse about "Arabs and Jews" as exclusive and antagonistic ethnic categories.' * Salim Tamari, Professor of Sociology at Birzeit University, and editor of Jerusalem Quarterly *
'Lives in Common tells a previously untold story of Jews and Arabs. Starting in the period immediately prior to the beginning of the current vicious conflict, the book demonstrates how everyday interactions in three key cities - Jerusalem, Nablus, and Jaffa - forged a common Jewish-Arab identity. Menachem Klein shows how subsequent events all-but destroyed this identity but perhaps left enough of a remnant to warrant a little optimism for the future.' * Joel S. Migdal, Robert F. Philip Professor of International Studies, University of Washington and author of Shifting Sands: The United States in the Middle East *