Cain's Field: Faith, Fratricide, and Fear in the Middle East

by Matt Rees

An award-winning Jerusalem bureau chief for Time magazine shares insight into the violent relationship between Israel and Palestine, discussing the internal rifts and self-defeating strategies that are contributing to daily conflicts and focusing on specific individuals, from Palestinian car thieves to Israeli settlers, whose personal lives impact or reflect regional circumstances. 30,000 first printing.

Genres: Middle East, Nonfiction, History, Religion

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

I'm an award-winning writer of international thrillers, mysteries, and historical fiction. I'm giving away a FREE ebook THE THRILLER CHECKLIST, a no-nonsense guide to get your thriller written. Get it here: http://bit.ly/2r2jciK.

My novels have grown out of my career as a Middle East correspondent, which took me into culture very different from my own, and my love of history, which takes me into times very different from now. But those places and times aren't so completely different. I love to examine the emotions that connect you and me to people who live in distant places or distant times.

My books have been dramatized for BBC Radio and published in 25 languages. Along the way I picked up some major awards (a Crime Writers Association Dagger in the UK and a National Jewish Book Council finalist in the US)) and some nice compliments: major authors have compared my writing with the work of Graham Greene, John Le Carre, Georges Simenon and Henning Mankell.

Reviews

[Stephie Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book takes a different view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Matt Rees’ premise is that not only do the two sides strive against one another for land, but that within their separate populations there are conflicting factions. This is Israelis against Israelis and Palestinians against Palestinians.

The book is divided into two parts of four chapters each. One for internal Palestinian conflicts and one for internal Israeli conflicts. Rees also has a short afterword. In part one the chapters cover the conflicts between Arafat and Hamas, petty rulers in the towns, between Arafat’s henchman, and Palestinian citizens of Israel. In part two the chapters cover conflicts between pre-Israel settlers and holocaust victims, the ultraorthodox and secular Jews, settlers and the Israeli left, and Jews from Arab countries and Jews from Europe. In each chapter he presents a few individual and their stories and dovetails this with the events that they lived through.

I do not know if Rees’ premise holds a lot of water, but it seems that a house divided cannot put up the best front against an enemy. Rees does an excellent job with the narrative, flowing smoothly between individual stories and events of the day. It was a different kind of book than I usually read, but I did enjoy the break from my usual fare.

If you want to read about the affect the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has on individuals, communities, and the internal conflicts within each group this is a good book for you. Whether you agree with his premise or not it is a good read, but you should also gain an understanding of the internal conflicts that affect the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.

[Judie · Rating 5 out of 5]

There have been countless stories both in book form and in the media about the relationships between Jews and Palestinians in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Matt Rees, former Jerusalem Bureau Chief of Time Magazine, provides a different perspective. Four chapters are about the relationships of Jews and Jews while the other four are of those between Palestinians and Palestinians. Many of those have had major effects on today's situation. He later used things from the Palestinian sections to write four novels featuring a Palestinian school teacher turned detective Omar Yussaf.
All of his books are must reading!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers a unique perspective on the Israel-Palestine issue by highlighting important sources of conflict that seem to exist only on the periphery. By juxtaposing the Cain/Abel, aggressor/victim in the context of interrelations among Palestinian factions and among Jewish sects/factions, the problems are merely magnified, but in such a way that new light is shed on the WHY of it all. I do not recommend this book for those who are not already fairly knowledgeable on the conflict, but it's a great addition for those looking for a new way to frame the dialogue and to reframe the conflict itself.

[Foxglove · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I have ever read about the Middle East conflict, bar none. Fair, balanced, intelligent, original, Rees sheds new light on the conflict by actually probing deeper into the internal divisions, making less of a binary Jews v Arabs but actually telling you how it is.

A must read book on the conflict.

[Dana Woodaman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sometimes brutal but always honest account of the problems facing the Israelis and the Palestinians - from interviews with ordinary people living the life and the difficulties on the ground.
One of the better books I have read, and plays no favorites.

[Marcie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting theory about the Israeli / Palestinian conflict,