I’m thrilled with the response. Ever since I lived in Israel, I wanted to try and find a way to shine a light and show a better way. I’ve been able to do that through The Almond Tree. People who could care less about the conflict are reading it. A writer can reach into readers’ hearts and change them. I’m not advocating hate, I’m trying to show how strong we could be if we worked together to advance humanity instead of dividing and destroying each other. The vast majority of readers are responding to my book extremely positively. Of course you will always have a few extremists on both sides. On the Jewish side a few people have said it’s biased. On the Palestinian side, I have been accused of hijacking the Palestinian narrative. The reality is that I’ve written a novel in first person in the voice of a Palestinian. If he saw through Israeli eyes, it would be unbelievable. I didn’t write the Palestinian narrative, nor did I write the Israeli narrative.
I did what President Obama asked an auditorium packed with Jewish Israelis to do, namely, try and put yourself in Palestinian shoes and see the world through their eyes. In conflict resolution, you are taught that it’s important to try and put yourself in the other’s shoes, and that’s what I have tried to do.