A new book co-authored by a Jewish American and an Arab Canadian is hoping to keep the conversation going between Jewish people and Palestinians.
Raja Khouri and Jeffrey Wilkinson spoke to a sold out crowd at The Bookshelf for just over an hour Tuesday night, and stayed to sign copies of their new book, The Wall Between.
Khouri – an Arab Canadian originally from Lebanon – is a human rights and inclusion consultant, and a former 10-year commissioner with the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
Wilkinson, an American Jew living in Guelph, holds a PhD in education at the University of Toronto and works in the Jewish community.
"The essence of our book is about two traumas," Wilkinson told the audience.
For Jewish people, it's the Holocaust. For Palestinians, it's the expulsion of 1948.
"It is these two traumas that the two communities live in, and have really prevented them from hearing and learning from each other," he said.
The book delves more into the history in the West Bank, the conflict between Jewish people and Palestinians, but the key is the book frequently explains how each side feels about a certain topic.
It touches on antisemitism, Zionism and more.
Khouri said he and Wilkinson were lucky that COVID happened, as it allowed them to spend time together, have discussions and learn from each other.
"These discussions we had, started creating the content of the book," Khouri said.
Wilkinson said the process was a great learning experience, not only from asking questions of Khouri, but taking the information and doing more research.
He said immediately, the two of them had great empathy and a connection to one another.
"This is not a book of a Jew and a Palestinian who really disagree on a lot of things and try to work it out," Wilkinson said.
"I knew very little about (Khouri's) story, and he had more advance knowledge on my story than I had of this, but a limited understanding of my story. It was about constantly learning more and understanding, that's what it was."
It was a learning experience for Khouri as well, and he thought the two made an excellent team.
"We both respect each other, we both are honest," he said. "We're not trying to score points, we're just trying to understand and do better."
The book was released just days before Oct. 7, the date of the Hamas attack on an Israeli music festival.
The situation has generated interest all over the world, and may explain the packed theatre in Guelph. Both Wilkinson and Khouri were happy to see the numbers, as well as how open and engaged the crowd was.
"I think it speaks highly of the kind of people that are here," Wilkinson said. "That are socially engaged, that are interested in bettering our world and also bettering themselves."
"This is not an easy subject to talk about, as you well know," Khouri added. "It's polarizing, for some people it's threatening, it's emotional, triggering."
He said the problem is not between Jews and Palestinians, but is political and driven by many political interests.
"Jews and Palestinians can be allies," he said when asked what message he hopes people walk away from Tuesday night with.
"Seeking justice and human rights and freedom for all, we demonstrate that, by our work together, that we can do this."
As for Wilkinson, he wants people to continue to be curious and find allyship.
"Reach out to people that they didn't think that they had things in common with," he said. "Find out where their common allies are and work together. That's what I hope."
