Most books dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict see events through the eyes of policy-makers, generals or diplomats. Menachem Klein offers an illuminating alternative by telling the intertwined histories, from street level upwards, of three cities-Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Hebron-and their intermingled Jewish, Muslim and Christian inhabitants, from the nineteenth century to the present. Each of them was and still is a mixed city. Jerusalem and Hebron are holy places, while Jaffa till 1948 was Palestine's principal city and main port of entry. Klein portrays a society in the late Ottoman period in which Jewish-Arab interactions were intense, frequent, and meaningful, before the onset of segregation and separation gradually occurred in the Mandate era. The unequal power relations and increasing violence between Jews and Arabs from 1948 onwards are also scrutinised. Throughout, Klein bases his writing not on the official record but rather on a hitherto hidden private world of Jewish-Arab encounters, including marriages and squabbles, kindnesses and cruelties, as set out in dozens of memoirs, diaries, biographies and testimonies. Lives in Common brings together the voices of Jews and Arabs in a mosaic of fascinating stories, of lived experiences and of the major personalities that shaped them over the last 150 years. Most books dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict see events through the eyes of policy-makers, generals or diplomats. Menachem Klein offers an illuminating alternative by telling the intertwined histories, from street level upwards, of three cities-Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Hebron-and their intermingled Jewish, Muslim and Christian inhabitants, from the nineteenth century to the present. Each of them was and still is a mixed city. Jerusalem and Hebron are holy places, while Jaffa till 1948 was Palestine's principal city and main port of entry. Klein portrays a society in the late Ottoman period in which Jewish-Arab interactions were intense, frequent, and meaningful, before the onset of segregation and separation gradually occurred in the Mandate era. The unequal power relations and increasing violence between Jews and Arabs from 1948 onwards are also scrutinised. Throughout, Klein bases his writing not on the official record but rather on a hitherto hidden private world of Jewish-Arab encounters, including marriages and squabbles, kindnesses and cruelties, as set out in dozens of memoirs, diaries, biographies and testimonies. Lives in Common brings together the voices of Jews and Arabs in a mosaic of fascinating stories, of lived experiences and of the major personalities that shaped them over the last 150 years. A New Republic Book of the Year 2014 "A highly sensitive 'tale of three cities' which sheds light on often touching Arab and Jewish daily encounters before 1948. Klein is no nostalgic. His is a sober political assessment of a world that cannot be rebuilt, but a world whose civilised dialogues between Arab and Jew must be re-invented if Israel wants to move forward beyond today s political impasse." -- Diana Pinto, historian and author of Israel Has Moved "This important work by Menachem Klein posits serious challenges to the nationalist historiography of the Arab-Israeli conflict. In particular Klein's rich and detailed investigation into the lives of native Jews in Hebron, Jaffa, and Jerusalem at the turn of the nineteenth century undermines a central assumption held by Zionist discourse about "Arabs and Jews" as exclusive and antagonistic ethnic categories." -- Salim Tamari, Professor of Sociology at Birzeit University, and editor of Jerusalem Quarterly " Lives in Common tells a previously untold story of Jews and Arabs. Starting in the period immediately prior to the beginning of the current vicious conflict, the book demonstrates how everyday interactions in three key cities ... Jerusalem, Hebron, and Jaffa -- forged a common Jewish-Arab identity. Menachem Klein shows how subsequent events all-but destroyed this identity but perhaps left enough of a remnant to warrant a little optimism for the future." -- Joel S. Migdal, Robert F. Philip Professor of International Studies, University of Washington and author of Shifting Sands: The United States in the Middle East "...a significant achievement in scholarship and humanism." -- Christian Science Monitor Chosen as one of Christian Science Monitor 's "Top Ten Books in November." " ... a profoundly important and courageous book ... Here is a gifted and diligent scholar with a very strong sense of social purpose ... to use his learning about the past to promote the cause of peace and understanding in the present." -- leadersquest.org "Taking a new and original approach, Klein draws heavily on the diaries and memoirs of ordinary people, elevating his book beyond the usual leader-based perspectives or histories emanating from official documents." -- Ben Lynfield, The Christian Science Monitor , 2014 " Lives in Common