The University of Idaho Argonaut

Israeli author Susan Nathan came to the University of Idaho on Friday to discuss her book, “The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish-Arab Divide.” Courtesy Photo

Raw sewage runs down street gutters. Despite rugs placed over the mess, the smell is overwhelming. Poverty makes municipal taxes impossible and leads to the deterioration of piping systems for water and the downsizing of local schools.
Tamra, an Arab town in Northern Israel, may not be the perfect place to build a home, but Jewish author Susan Nathan has hope.
Nathan came to the University of Idaho on Friday to discuss what she has learned of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from being the only Jew in an Arab town.

Her experience is outlined in her recent book, “The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish-Arab Divide.”
Following the Law of Return, that grants Israeli citizenship to those of Jewish decent, Nathan came to Israel to live in the Jewish town of Tel Aviv before moving to Tamra to pursue a job teaching English.

While there, Nathan said she witnessed countless acts of discrimination. Municipalities often force Arabs to take shelter in prominently Jewish areas, she said, and often in homes scheduled to be demolished. Because land expropriation is so common, these individuals have no control over the safety of their new homes.
Nathan said there are currently 150 homes in Tamra scheduled for demolition.

She said there are about 30,000 inhabitants in Tamra and each year 800 babies are born. With the current trend of land expropriation, Nathan said it is estimated by 2020 there will be 45,000 people living on the same-sized plot of land.
People suffer from a case of “acute suffocation,” she said.

Nathan said the current Israeli citizenship law allows citizenship to be stripped from anyone believed to be “disloyal to the state.” Palestinians who break their current Israeli borders even to visit loved ones can be denied citizenship, she said.
Nathan said the wife of her neighbor had traveled outside the state to visit family and was denied access after returning to the state. She found her way back to Tamra by traveling through olive groves.

Laws like this contribute to feelings of ruthlessness and not belonging, further breeding the inequalities between the Israelis and Palestinians, Nathan said.
Having kept a diary all her life, Nathan recorded all of these instances. After an interview with The Guardian, a British newspaper, Nathan said she was asked to compile her accounts into a book.

It took Nathan a year to complete the book. She said one of the most important aspects of her work was to present the facts as clearly as possible.
“I had to make all my research, apart from all my issues I wanted to cover, very accessible for the general public,” she said. “Most don’t get to read academic articles, they want to know more.”

During her exposition Friday, Nathan said she believed the final outcome of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to be the acknowledgement of Israel as a non-Jewish state. Nathan’s remarks weren’t taken lightly by a few members in the crowd, but she said her notions are nothing new.
“It’s very important to be honest about the state our country,” she said. “It’s not about where you live, it’s about how you live.”

For those searching for a way to aid the peace process, Nathan said keeping informed and maintaining a strong dialogue are the greatest assets.
“The only way to stop the violence is to address all these injustices,” she said.