The Olive Grove by Deborah Rohan is a memoir of the Palestinian people told through multiple generations of the Moghrabi family and their friends and neighbors from 1913-1948, from the Ottoman through the British occupations and up through the Zionist invasions and the birth of modern Israel.

World history and great power politics put the Palestinians and the Jews in bloody conflict and collision since the world wars. Both peoples were denied adequate refuge, help or support by powers large and small. Both peoples were largely unwanted in the countries that voiced support for one or the other. Great powers gave little succor, first controlling their territories and governments, then forcing them into collision in the Holy Land so dear to both. This conflict, with only occasional abeyance but never a secure peace, has been raging for many decades. The present war is its latest horrific iteration.

Contemporary conditions make The Olive Grove an imperative read today.

Read the review by Edward Tick here

Translated by Mariya Bahriy and Olga Kornyushyna

After each assault, the Russian occupiers would take a break from two to three days for pulling up the reserves, delivering more ammunition, and picking up their stiffs and wounded. The stiffs often remained unclaimed. The wounded would be picked up more often than not, but not on the regular basis.

If you caught this break, it was possible to daringly fuck around in the tree lines. The key was not to get too cheeky and keep out of the enemy’s line of sight. Or else.

Sometimes this moment of comfort came from our side as well. Then the silence was even scarier than hearing all those various bangs from both sides. On just such a day, we ventured into tree line number 18 with one aim only – to steal something…