The Yellow Wind: With a New Afterword by the Author Paperback – September 7, 2002

The Yellow Wind is nonfiction. The title refers to what is described in the book as the wind that comes out of Hell to consume everything in its path. It fits the message of the text. The way the yellow wind from Hell consumes everything in its path, is just like the way the cycle of violence and revenge in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The introduction runs through some things that have happened after the book was written. Then it goes on to talk about Grossman's meetings with a group of Israel and Palestinian writers. The book's cover has a picture of a man with angry look on his face with one of his fists raised slightly, as if to strike out at the object of his focus. The fist is set apart from the rest of the picture by black lines. I think it's symbolic of the cultures' focus on their hatred for enemies, that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict has turned the people to thoughts of revenge. The book doesn't really have proper characters. It has characters, but none other than the author really come up more than once. The characters affect the story by living out the cycle of revenge and hate because the reader is meant to see the need to bring it to an end. I think a lot of the characters are easy to empathize with because no one is indifferent to being oppressed and injustice generally offends the moral sensibilities of readers.Fear, hatred, and the power struggle between the Israelis and Palestinians are big themes in the book. I'd say they help drive home the point I think the book is trying to make. They are very effective. His style is a little odd. At first the events seem a little muddled and disjointed. That might have been because I wasn't used to his style. I think very accessible. Those with strong religious opinions about the things in the book might not find it so, but I think it works for almost anyone who would decide to read the book.A quote that I think does a good job of capturing the thought of the book, "And the children listen, and are meant, it seems, to patch together some sort of philosophy and system of moral values in which one attempted murder is acceptable and another is not." I think this quote shows that things need to change because the way they are is unacceptable.The book is set in Israel during 1980's. The author travels around and talks to people about their lives. I think the text reaches the reader easily but that's intended because the real purpose lies in the answer that it seeks.A minor theme he did a good job was the theme of homeland. He brings it up and shows us that both people groups have very similar values because there are different stories with the different people groups that revolve around a loss of their h

David Grossman is one of the three top Israeli novelists. Each tries to resolve the Israeli-Arab conflict and bring peace. The other two are Amos Oz and A. B. Yehoshua. Grossman wrote his book to show the agony suffered by both sides. The volume is vivid and disturbing. It made Grossman one of the leaders of Israel's left. It caused many Israelis to hate him, hatred that continues today. He still receives threats from fellow Jews. Readers may want to read the excellent analysis of Grossman and his writings in George Packer's article "The Unconsoled," in the September 27, 2010 edition of The New Yorker.Grossman visited the west bank and listened to men and women, Jewish and Arab, students and teachers, old and young, and reported the bitterness of Israelis and Arabs. He tells how Arabs live, their aspiration, frustrations, bitterness, and rage. He reveals how Arab students are stopped repeatedly from attending school by Israeli soldiers. He reports how Israeli judges judge Arabs and how they are afraid to release Arabs who are obviously innocent lest they appear overly lenient to the Arab people and encourage more violence. He writes of incidences where Israeli soldiers mistreated Arabs, physically and psychologically. He gives examples of how the Israeli presence in the west bank is breeding contempt and hatred.He recalls the statement of Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz immediately after the 1967 war. Leibowitz said that it is impossible to be occupiers and remain moral. Grossman emphasizes that "today the real enemy is not the Palestinian or the Israeli but the extremist and the fanatic on either side." Yet, these extremists have infected Israelis and Arabs, like a spreading black plague that is savaging the morality and the future of both people.Grossman describes his meetings with Arabs at a refugee camp on the west bank, the frustrations of the women, and how the men are afraid to talk, afraid of Israelis, spies, and fellow Arabs. The women speak of returning to parts of Israel where their grandparents once lived, land they never saw. Grossman is struck by how the Arabs remind him by their looks, words, aspirations, and actions of Jews that he knows, as well as Jews in ancient and near ancient history.He cites a scientific study of the dreams of Israeli and Arab children. Seventeen percent of the dreams of the Jewish children had meetings with Arabs; thirty percent of the Arab children dreamed of encounters with Jews. The Jewish children saw the Arabs in their dreams as criminals. The Arab children dreamed of conflicts and battles with the Israelis. "(A)mong some thousand dreams of Jewish and Arab children, there is not one which indicates a longing for peace."He reports on his visit to a Jewish settlement on the west bank. All of the inhabitants are militants. Some tried to plant bombs and kill Arab leaders, mayors and other politicians. He met with some fifty inhabitants in a room and asked them over and over again, very politely, can you tell me how you think the Arabs feel about you settling in the west bank? They could not answer his question. They refused to consider the feelings of the Arabs. They wanted to discuss their rights. Even a so-called moderate and well-respected rabbi had strong anti-Arab views. Grossman encountered other rabbis in other settlements with similar strong destructive anti-Arab feelings. He tells of psychological studies of the adverse affects of these settlers' attitudes upon them. They want to be pious. They see themselves as following the dictates of Torah. But they are destroying themselves and chances for peace. They are demolishing the goal of Torah. They have set a cancer within their souls.He tells what an old Arab said about a yellow wind "that will soon come, maybe in his lifetime: the wind will come from the gate of Hell." It will set "the world afire, and people will seek shelter from its heat in the caves and caverns, but even there those it seeks, those who have performed cruel and unjust deeds, there, in the cracks in the boulders, it exterminates them, one by one. After that day, Abu Harb says, the land will be covered with bodies."

For anyone who goes to Israel or who is interested in Palestinian-Israeli relations, this book is essential background even if a lot of time has passed since it was written. It isn't easy to read, however, not because it is badly written or poorly translated but because of the subject matter. The history of that part of the world, sadly, is one of conflict and this book explains in some part why it still is.

This book is more important today than when it was orginally written, in 1988. It contains a new afterward by the author. The author, a journalist, gives his impressions, and relates various converstaions, as he travels all over the West Bank, and through parts of both Israel and Palestine.He presents views from both sides of the issue very well. The book is not about politics, or various peace agreements. It is about individual people's feelings. I have read many books on this topic, and this is one of the BEST. I feel that I understand MUCH better why all the peace agreements come to nothing. To sum it up in a nutshell, the extremists on both sides will EACH never accept less than ALL of the land-that is why nothing works.

This is a tremendous inside look at a country created at a cost to a people & culture who have been living under occupation for over 70 years. 40 years at the time of publication. Nothing has changed. Occupation continues & Mr. Grossman gives us an unflinching look at it. The dream that was Israel Is a corrupt nightmare.

I don't know if people are still reading this book, but they should be. It feels like not much has changed in 30 years except that Israelis (and other Jews) have managed to sweep the moral issues raised in this book further under the rug. Read this book to be reminded of the realities of occupation. Regardless of where you stand politically, you should confront this ugliness.

I love his beautiful historic story telling. Helps me to understand the middle East perspective.

A must read for everyone. This ethnographic journey of one of the most humane voices in Israeli culture expands the reader’s understanding in layers of complexities. This reading is a practice in empathy.

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