Saturday People, Sunday People

Saturday People, Sunday Peopleis a unique portrait of Israel as seen through the eyes of a Christian who came for a visit and unexpectedly chose to permanently relocate there. Long fascinated by a land that to outsiders has become an abstraction centering on international conflicts of epic proportions, Lela Gilbert arrived in Israel on a personal pilgrimage in August 2006 -- in the midst of a war. What she found was a vibrant country, enlivened by warm-hearted, lively people of great intelligence and decency. Saturday People, Sunday Peopletells the story of the real Israel and real Israelis--ordinary and extraordinary-- and the energetic rhythm of their lives, even at times against a backdrop of tragedy and terror. The book interweaves a memoir of Gilbert's experiences with Israel's people and places, alongside an account of past and present events that continue to shape the lives of Israelis and the world beyond their borders. As she watched events unfold in the Middle East, Gilbert saw first-hand how the simplest facts turned into lies. Denial of the existence of a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The characterization of Israel's defensive border fence as "Apartheid." Hype about a "disproportionate" military response to rockets fired from Gaza on innocent Israeli families. Then she came across a story that had all but vanished into history: the persecution and pogroms that drove more than 850,000 Jews from Muslim lands between 1948 and 1970--the "Forgotten Refugees." Their experience is now repeating itself among Christian communities in those same Muslim countries. This cruel pattern embodies the Islamist slogan calling for the elimination of "First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people."