City of Oranges: Arabs and Jews in Jaffa - Softcover

'Outstanding ... LeBor uses the recent fortunes of Jaffa as a magnifying lens through which to explore the entire knotted history of Israel and Palestine in the twentieth century' Guardian 'This book is for anyone who loves the Middle East, but also for those who do not yet know it ... LeBor succeeds in telling the story of ordinary people living in extraordinary times, and by doing that tells us the painful story of Palestine itself' Janine di Giovanni, Independent on Sunday 'In tracing the story of the bitter division of Israeli and Palestinian territories via some of the individual families who have lived in, or fled from, Jaffa, Adam LeBor not only avoids academic dryness, but also manages to tell each of their stories without condemnation' Observer 'Their stories are remarkable and typical of many involved in Jaffa's turbulent century ... City of Oranges brings us something quite different: the sound of ordinary people trying to get on with their lives in the middle of interminable conflict' Sunday Times

Jaffa - famed for its orange groves - was for centuries a city of traders, merchants, teachers and administrators, home to Muslims, Christians and Jews alike. That is, until the founding of the state of Israel, which was simultaneously a moment of jubilation for the Jews and a disaster - the Naqba - for the 100,000 Arabs who fled Jaffa in 1948. Through the stories of six families - three Arab and three Jewish - Adam LeBor delicately illuminates the complexity of modern Israel, going beyond the media stereotypes and political rhetoric to tell a moving human story. From the Christian Arab car-dealer, the Jewish coffee-and-spice merchant and the Arab baker who makes bread for the whole community, to the Jewish schoolgirl who befriends an Arab drug dealer, these people strive to make a life in a country born of conflict.