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Fifteen years after its first publication, the novel Brotherland by Georges Melhem is back in the spotlight, revamped and more relevant than ever. Through the poignant story of twins separated by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the author issues a heartfelt call for empathy and reconciliation.
Fate has a strange way of bringing people together. This is the tale of Brotherland, the latest novel by Lebanese writer Georges Melhem, which returns to bookstores 15 years after its first release, deeply reworked and more urgent than ever. At the heart of this moving story are twin brothers, Ameer and Amir, separated at birth in the Holy Land in 1948 and adopted by two families that could not be more different: one Palestinian, the other Israeli.
Through their respective journeys, Georges Melhem highlights the tragedy and absurdity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict without falling into simplistic binaries or hasty judgments. “Each of the twins could have been in the other’s place,” insists the author. “We live in a world where the mere accident of birth justifies extraordinary hatred and violence against another who, after all, could have been us.”
Ameer grows up in a perpetually fleeing Palestinian family, condemned to a life of misery and humiliation. Amir, on the other hand, is raised by an Israeli officer and his wife in a nascent nation that lives in constant fear of being erased from the map. As the pages and decades unfold, from the creation of Israel in 1948 to the first Intifada in 1989, we follow these two fates that remain ignorant of each other but echo one another, cross paths unknowingly and occasionally confront each other in missed encounters.
Tarek and Rima on one side, Ely and Sarah on the other: through these two couples, Georges Melhem explores the human complexity of the conflict, far from slogans and postures. With great attention to detail and accuracy, he depicts the intimate aspirations and fears of each people. For the Palestinians, a desperate quest for a land and a state. For the Israelis, a visceral terror of being “thrown into the sea,” a fear rekindled by the barely veiled threats of Arab leaders of the time, such as Nasser.
Above all, Brotherland narrates the tragic spiral of violence. Over time and through tragedies, Amir and Ameer harden, each engaging in their respective camps, participating in battles and unknowingly crossing paths during mysterious missed encounters on the battlefield. Their personal journeys mirror the major geopolitical upheavals of the region: the hope sparked by the Oslo Accords, the emergence of an Israeli civil society ready for peace, followed by the tragic disillusionment of the second Intifada, fueled by extremists on both sides.
This murderous spiral is something Georges Melhem, himself deeply marked by the Lebanese civil war, attempts to address through writing. It was the live death of young Mohamad el-Durrah in 2000, struck by Israeli bullets while his father desperately tried to protect him, that triggered Brotherland. “The only thing I could do? Write… for myself first. But I didn’t stop,” the author recounts. From this cathartic impulse was born a novel that aims to “deconstruct the narrative of terror” to finally consider the paths to a just and lasting peace.
The message of Brotherland is clear: “This conflict has lasted long enough, caused enough harm, misery, death, and suffering.” Georges Melhem tells us that it is high time to “ridicule war,” to build bridges between peoples, starting in our minds. This urgency is even more pressing in light of the tragic events of last October 7, which saw extremists on both sides attempt to torpedo yet another peace process.
“To overcome hatred, we must cross bridges we first have to build ourselves, to meet and ‘become’ the other,” writes Georges Melhem beautifully. This is the whole issue of this bright and necessary novel, which many already imagine being adapted into a film—a screenplay is ready, in the hope that the seventh art can carry this cry for peace. “If someone with the right vision understands the scope and potential of the book’s message and decides to finance and produce it, that would be wonderful,” emphasizes Karim Mezran, author and resident fellow at the Atlantic Council.
In the meantime, Brotherland continues its initiatory journey in bookstores. Readers in Beirut will have the chance to meet Georges Melhem at two book signings: on June 3 from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Yasmine Bldg, Rue 33 in Rabieh, and on June 4 from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM at Paul in Saifi.
The author will also be present at the much-anticipated Cabriolet Film Festival. These are all opportunities to discover or rediscover this powerful and redemptive novel, a bridge of empathy extended between humans.
Beyond all divisions, Brotherland forcefully reminds us of this fundamental truth: “There is no other.” Only human brothers, twins in their fragility and hope, artificially separated by the tragic whims of history on their shared land, their “Brotherland.”
