The Longest War Israel in Lebanon

Israel’s controversial invasion of Lebanon is the subject of Jacobo Timerman’s harrowing book that unsparingly describes the impact of the war both on himself and his country.  Timerman-whose account of his imprisonment and torture in Argentina, Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number, was a national best seller in 1981 has been living in Israel with his family since 1979, and his book begins as one of his sons leaves for the front.  As the weeks pass and the war grows in intensity – the war that Israel’s leaders had announced was to be over in days – Timerman visits the nearly destroyed cities of Sidon and Tyre and becomes a witness to the carnage inflicted by the Israeli forces, as well as to the demonstrations being held inside Israel against the war.  But this highly personal journal is most importantly an attempt to understand and come to terms with the larger issues: that Israel has become an aggressor; that Israel’s actions hold the most serious implications its own people and for Jews   everywhere.    Timmerman foresees consequences that Israel will have to face in the years ahead: a rise in pacifism and anti-militarism among its people; an army and air force that will no longer unquestioningly follow their governments lead; the worlds sense of Jews, who role has shifted from that of victim to that of victimizer/The longest war is an impassioned book.  It digs deeply into the psyche and identity of a people who now find themselves at a watershed of historical importance, and it movingly reveals the ambivalences and anguish of one extraordinary man.