My Enemy, My Self

by Yoram Binur

Book Overview

An Israeli Jew, Yoram Binur risked his life for his country by posing as an Arab. He knew that to better understand the mind of the enemy, he must become the enemy. He hopes to persuade his fellow Israelis to swiftly deal with the conflict. Photos.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385239955
• ISBN13: 9780385239950
• Release Date: February 1989
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Palestinian Like Me

In this book, Yoram Binur, a respected Israeli Journalist as well as an ex-officer in the Israeli Defense Forces, steals a page from F. H. Griffith's classic "Black Like Me, " as he takes a "walk on the wild side," posing as a Palestinian" in a number of situational vignettes that take place both in the "occupied territory," as well as in Israel proper. Driven by the desire to get to know the "Palestinian mind," as well as to expose Israel's multilevel class ridden hypocritical society, rift with racial prejudices, among other problems, in the first half of the book the author comes just short of proving that our erstwhile middle Eastern democratic ally is little more than "Mississippi in drag," cira 1950. The earlier vingettes (as an itinerate workers in a variety of settings) call to mind the famous debate (Has Zionism Succeeded?) between Ari Shavette and Jeffery Goldberg. The reader may recall that Shavette, in a spirited defense of Israel's errant ways with regard to its racist attitudes towards its Arab minorities, nevertheless did not try to sidestep the most important contradiction this issue raised for Israeli democracy: That given the very nature of Israel's establishment (on the ashes of the European Holocaust), Shavette stated with great conviction that for Israel "being "just" is a moral imperative and [is perhaps] Israel's only [real] strategic asset." What is most interesting about the first half of the book is that the author's change of identity, as he clandestinely went about infiltrating vignette after vignette, revealed Israel to be both a narrow racist nation, as well as one anxious to try to get the Palestinian crisis in its past. This ambivalence becomes much more pronounced in the second half of the book as the author continues to force his way into the very heart of Israeli life, including successfully becoming a volunteer in a Kubutz. But also, and this goes beyond the Griffith motif, he discovers a great deal about the anti-Semitic prejudices on the other side. He probes into how the Palestinians have come to "cope" with their greatly diminished way of life, and how anti-Semitism, even when justified, also undermines the Palestinian cause and diminishes an already diminished Arab humanity. In the end, it is clear that it is the hatred on both sides that is eating away at the moral fiber of Israeli society. Although the book may not command the same classic status as Griffith's book, nor does it have the same gripping emotional impact, it does have its finer moments and is a much needed independent non-ideological view of Israel from the inside out. It is the perfect counterweight to the incessant and distorted American media view that Israel is a "perfect democracy" and can do no wrong. Five Stars

A Jew poses as a Palestinian and gives us a glimpse of life

It's funny how some books, no matter how well written or well balanced, still get attacked for what they present us.Yoram Binur is a Jew who speaks Arabic and can pass for a Palestinian. As a journalist he decides to enter into that world to see how the other half lives. What he sees and feels cannot be debated, negated, ignored or even criticized. It just is. What Yoram experienced was an everyday existance of discrimination from the Jewish Isrealies he encountered. He wasn't brutally attacked or beaten or spit upon at every corner. No, his story is far more subtle. What he describes is a life of an outcast, of what it feels like to be someone who's viewed as "less than," as the "other." The routine details of this life are in fact some of the most important in the current debate about the situation in Israel. What Binur experiences is essentially the seed that has helped bring about the larger forms of violence with each side upping the ante. It doesn't start with a bulldozer destroying a Palestinian home. And it doesn't start with a Palestinian bombing a sidewalk cafe and killing a dozen innocent civilians. It starts with everyday hatred - and that's what Binur so clearly gives us.We already know that some (not all) Palestinians refuse Israel's right to exist. What we need, as Americans who have blindly supported Israel no matter what it does, is to see how some Israelis (not all) haves refused the Palestinians a right to their homeland - and their dignity. Binur's book is a step in the right direction in learning that lesson.

Yoram Binur - My Enemy My Self

This is an incredible book. Yoram Binur provides an entirely new perspective to an old issue. The depth of maltreatment of Arab Palestinians in Israel has not been put into such a consise, unobstructed manner in the history of literature. Anyone who is interested in educating themselves about the Civil and Moral Rights violations which are taking place in Israel should definately read this book. Any advocate of justice, any person concerned with the fact that there are people being horribly mistreated anywhere in the world, and anyone looking for a cause to support or solidarity to offer those who are oppressed should start with this book.

A Middle East "Black Like Me"

Yoram Binur, an Israeli journalist fluent in Arabic from covering stories in the Arab areas of his country, decided to take on a fake identity as an Arab to get first-hand experience of the treatment Arabs receive from the Israeli police and society. He was convincing enough to be singled out for harassment and violence from the police, and he experienced subtle discrimination from everyday Israelis. He learned to really feel the terror Arabs in Israel feel every time an army vehicle approaches them, or even passes by their house at night, knowing they could legally be brutalized at any time for no reason. It was an eye-opening account from inside one of the most complex political situations on earth, and Binur always kept it personal and involving.