LOVE AND DESIRE IN THE PROMISED LAND

A journalistic approach to intimate aspects of life in Israel and Palestine.

In this well-articulated, broad-ranging work of graphic journalism, French journalist and podcaster Parent-Rachdi interviews residents of Israel and Palestine facing a diversity of romantic and family situations. An Arab woman dating Jewish men in Tel Aviv weighs the enjoyment of personal freedom against cultural judgment, ultimately marrying a man from her own culture: “I hope that my daughter or my daughter’s daughter will be sexually liberated! I’m not quite there.” A mixed-religion celebrity couple makes a positive public example of their wedding—“We married beneath a chuppah and the ketubah was in Arabic and Hebrew!”—while navigating the administrative aspects of uniting lives: “On paper I’m divorced and [my wife] is single….In Israel, only religious authorities may perform weddings, which implies the spouses are of the same faith.” Parent-Rachidi also considers the challenges of creating a new generation in a conflict-ridden region. A woman in the West Bank acquires sperm from her long-imprisoned husband through covert means to have a child. In Jerusalem, a European Jewish emigrant seeks the right woman with whom to procreate via a co-parenting agency. Both deeply desire to pass on some piece of their heritage, but their options are drastically different. Parent-Rachidi largely lets interviewees speak for themselves, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions within individual profiles. Deloupy’s colorful and detailed illustrations add subtle weight to conversational exchanges and vignettes of urban life. The core text was created before the current Gaza war, but the book includes an epilogue that follows up with interviewees in February 2024.

A fascinating record of human persistence in the midst of turmoil.