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“You’re going to visit the land of the enemy?”
This is the question put forth to the author of Journey into the Heart of the Enemy, an Iraqi man who has just announced his intent to visit Israel. Though asked in jest, the question reflects a level of ingrained fear, and it sets the tone for this insightful account of one man’s personal journey through Israel.
When Israel’s most renowned authority on Iraq invites Najem Wali — an Iraqi journalist and novelist who has lived in Europe for the past twenty years — to attend a conference in Haifa, Wali’s trip is more than just an opportunity to meet with experts on Iraq from all over the world. It is his chance to get acquainted with the country that, for so long, has been labeled “the enemy” by much of the Arab world.
And so Wali sets out to visit Israel not as a tourist but as an observer, entering kibbutzim and immersing himself in the Israeli-Iraqi Jewish community. In the process, he searches for signs of rapprochement between Arabs and Israelis, and offers readers unexpected moments of optimism in an environment so long fraught with unrest.
This is the question put forth to the author of Journey into the Heart of the Enemy, an Iraqi man who has just announced his intent to visit Israel. Though asked in jest, the question reflects a level of ingrained fear, and it sets the tone for this insightful account of one man’s personal journey through Israel.
When Israel’s most renowned authority on Iraq invites Najem Wali — an Iraqi journalist and novelist who has lived in Europe for the past twenty years — to attend a conference in Haifa, Wali’s trip is more than just an opportunity to meet with experts on Iraq from all over the world. It is his chance to get acquainted with the country that, for so long, has been labeled “the enemy” by much of the Arab world.
And so Wali sets out to visit Israel not as a tourist but as an observer, entering kibbutzim and immersing himself in the Israeli-Iraqi Jewish community. In the process, he searches for signs of rapprochement between Arabs and Israelis, and offers readers unexpected moments of optimism in an environment so long fraught with unrest.
