Against All Odds: The Story of a Binational Village

Amia Lieblich’s book on Wahat al-Salam - Neve Shalom, which first appeared in 2013 in Hebrew, has now been translated and published in English. The book, based on many interviews, tells the story of the village through the personal stories and narratives of the village members.

Amia Lieblich, a psychologist and writer, is well known in Israel for her books on three other communities. The Hebrew edition of her book was also highly successful. See our earlier article.

The book is available internationally as a paperback or e-book from the publisher.

Or from Amazon. If ordering from Amazon, consider using their charity donation service "Smile", and choosing to the "American Friends of Neve Shalom - Wahat al-Salam".

Extract from the Amazon page:

Against All Odds: The Story of a Binational Village
Paperback – November 5, 2015

by Amia Lieblich (Author)

‘’I soon discovered a very basic fact: In Neve Shalom, nothing is agreed upon, other than the agreement to disagree…’’ Facing Latrun’s Monastery, on a roundabout leading to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Be’er Sheba, one can find the village Wahat Al-Salam-Neve Shalom, the only settlement in Israel where Jewish and Arab families live side by side, out of choice, and who have led a life of proximity, communal children’s education, and an egalitarian life style, for the past three decades. Amia Lieblich, whose unique books addressing Israeli communities have been of great interest for many years, presents this time a collection of fascinating interviews with members of the community, relating the story of an exceptional community – a human laboratory, if you will, examining in real time the key enigma of our existence here: Is integration possible, against all odds? How does an ideological settlement truly sustain itself in a world torn apart, with all the arguments, controversies, the struggles, and the achievements implied therein? Is it possible at all to accurately portray the complex situation of the village, rooted in Israeli society with all its complexity in the second decade of the 21st century? ‘’I do not pretend to present the historical truth here’’, writes Lieblich, who, in her way, aims to tell a story that has not yet been related. ‘’The book is categorized as ‘’related history’’… as told to me by each of the participants… All those filters associated with the so-called truth – if there is any, out there – are those to paint it in a wide range of colors, revealing the richness of the phenomenon called Neve Shalom’’. Against All Odds is a work spoken in various voices, alive and diverse, joining Amia Lieblich’s best-selling books: Tin Soldiers on Jerusalem’s Coast, Kibbutz Makom, Transition to Adulthood During Military Service, Only Birds, and Israeli Women in the New Family, which were published in Schocken Press, and Kfar Etzion Children, which was published by Keter, and the University of Haifa.