A Bottle in the Gaza Sea

Content Warning: The novel addresses themes of violence, conflict, trauma, and political tension, sensitively focusing on the human stories behind the headlines. It includes references to suicide bombings, terrorism, death, and mental health conditions.

Throughout the 20th century, intermittent wars and subsequent efforts at peace and reconciliation created a state of ever-fluctuating hope and despair for people in Israel and Palestine. While the conflict has origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many historians mark its modern onset as the 1948 Palestine War, which began with a plan from the United Nations for partitioning Palestine, resulting in the expulsion of most Palestinian Arabs and the establishment of Israel on Palestinian territory. More wars and conflicts followed throughout the 20th century, in 1956, 1967, 1973, and 1982.

There have been attempts to resolve the conflict, with significant progress during the Oslo Accords brokered by President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1995. Tal references this period several times in the novel, describing her father’s unfulfilled hopes for the future: “[T]he Palestinians and us, the Israelis, are finally going to agree about how to live in peace. There won’t be any more war, ever” (11). These negotiations between Israel, represented by prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, and the Palestine Liberation Organization, represented by Yasser Arafat, broke down after the assassination of Rabin at a demonstration for peace in 1995.