Confession from a Jericho Jail

When he refused military service in the West Bank, Stephen Langfur-an American-Israeli tour guide with a Ph. D. in Religion and Culture-was sent to a cell for wayward soldiers in Jericho. It was 1989, 22 years into the Occupation, and the first Intifada was underway. A few feet from him were cells holding Palestinians. Langfur kept notebooks on what he saw and heard and thought. After release, he developed the notes into Confession from a Jericho Jail (Grove Weidenfeld, 1992). Retired Israeli Supreme Court Justice Haim Cohen wrote: "The author's brilliant exposition of the problematicity of the Israeli-Arab conflict may well prove a valuable contribution to present-day peace efforts." Instead, the Occupation has continued 30 more years. I f Langfur's confession is relevant today, it is because (as a reviewer put it) "the book is much more intimate-and much more intriguing and satisfying-than a mere political tract. It's a glimpse into the heart and soul of a man in middle age who is struggling with his ideals, his identity, his passions and his destiny.... At times, his prose is so deeply lyrical, so full of imagery and allusion, that it becomes a kind of poetry" (Jonathan Kirsch, reviewing the first edition in the Los Angeles Times).