"Courage and Hope: Inspirational Writings by Youth in Gush Etzion, Gush Etzion Foundation
Reviewed by Sybil Kaplan

Naomi Ragen, an outstanding American-Israeli author living in Israel (and an acquaintance of mine) began a review of this book in this way: "Have you ever wondered how the children in  Judea and Samaria are faring after two years of being shot at and frightened, and having friends and classmates and neighbors hurt,  injured and worse?"
 
Before I even reviewed this, I felt this was a book for every Jewish youngster eight to sixteen to read--and their parents too! 
 
Gush Etzion or the Etzion Bloc is a ten-minute ride from southern Jerusalem through a new tunnels road and is comprised of 18 Jewish communities with a population of almost 37,000 people. Three are kibbutzim and the rest are villages and urban communities. Some are religious, some are non-religious, and some are mixed.
 
The first settlement in the area was founded in 1943 and the Gush soon consisted of four settlements. During the War of Liberation in 1948, there were repeated attacks by Arabs, massacres, sieges and Jews were taken into captivity.
 
When the area was liberated by Israel in 1967, children of parents who fell returned to rebuild the communities.
 
In order to get a brief glimpse of what life is like for youngsters, this book was created to facilitate a dialogue between youth in Gush Etzion and throughout the Diaspora because the message is, this is what we feel and think, please support us, and come visit us when you are in Israel.
 
The media is often so focused on suicide murderers, they forget the victims. They also forget the children of victims and the friends of children of victims. Here is a book to read to get a real  understanding of the personal, intimate, human side of life in Israel today. 
 
Buy the book as a gift. Give it to day schools and religious school youth and their libraries. Have them read what these youth feel.
 
Sybil Kaplan syndicates her book reviews of Jewish works to Jewish publications throughout North America. She is a journalist who worked ten years as a foreign correspondent in Israel and has written about this experience in a book yet to be published, "Witness to Hsior: Ten Years as a Woman Foreign Correspondent in Israel." She is also a lecturer, public relations specialist, synagoague librarian, ESL teacher and serves as a member of the National board of Hadassah as a Region President. She lives in Overland Park, Kansas.