Confession from a Jericho Jail

The Israeli Palestinian conflict came to a head in 1989 with the first Intifada. Stephen Langfur-an American-Israeli Ph. D.-refused to serve in the West Bank, joining the 90-odd conscientious objectors in Israel. The army sent him to a cell for wayward soldiers in Jericho. A few feet from him were cells holding Palestinians. Langfur jotted down his observations and thoughts on the entanglement of Arabs and Jews. After release, he developed the notes into Confession from a Jericho Jail, first published by Grove Weidenfeld in 1992. Israeli Supreme Court Justice Haim Cohen wrote from retirement: "The author's brilliant exposition of ... the Israeli-Arab conflict may well prove a valuable contribution to present-day peace efforts." Instead, the Occupation has continued for 30 more years. If Langfur's confession is relevant today, it is because (as a reviewer put it) "the book is much more intimate-and much more intriguing and satisfying-than a mere political tract. It's a glimpse into the heart and soul of a man in middle age who is struggling with his ideals, his identity, his passions and his destiny.... At times, his prose is so deeply lyrical, so full of imagery and allusion, that it becomes a kind of poetry" (Jonathan Kirsch, reviewing the first edition in the Los Angeles Times).