Bashir and the “Right of Return”: The Lemon Tree Anonymous College

The path of any human life is shaped from events encountered and the exploration of certain passions. Inevitably, the mission of an individual has the potential to be impacted from both positive and negative experiences. The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East, by Sandy Tolan, curates the historical context of the Arab-Israeli conflict and a story of a Palestinian family to enlighten the reader of the political and social dynamics that evolved throughout the twentieth century, specifically, within Muslim-Arab and Israeli spheres. What was once a comfortable life in British Mandate Palestine turned into a struggling and even inhumane one for the Khairi family during Israel’s war for independence. Relocated from Palestine to Jordan, Ahmad and Zakia Khairi’s son, Bashir, spent most of his childhood in the environment of a refugee center. He noticed both external and internal qualms his parents faced in the wake of displacement. Financial instability and dependence on aid services manifested through the lives of refugee families, but along with these economic factors was the displacement of their culture as Arabs. The childhood events Bashir encountered within a refugee environment served as a foundation...