A Middle East oasis of peace

ENAR

The economy of peace in the Middle East is dwarfed by the economies of war. But at times like today, when the region is being suffocated once again by the overbearing weight of global power interests, even small stories that combine authentic experiences of real coexistence with critiques of its deficiencies can remind us of the cultural and economic potentials of such coexistence. “The Anteater and the Jaguar,” which is both a personal account and a book about the politics of intercultural co-existence within the wider context of the Arab-Israeli conflict, is such a story. In its experiential dimension, the book is the personal account of author Rayek Rizek, who describes his life in the “Oasis of Peace,” a mixed Jewish/gentile settlement halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in Israel. This autobiographical aspect for me only adds to the book’s credibility and to what it represents: contemporary history and a