Crazy drivers, religious zealots, terrorist attacks -- and an 'electrifying daily atmosphere'

In 'A Little Too Close to God,' David Horovitz depicts life in Israel

David Horovitz emigrated from England to Israel in 1983 and now lives there with his family

By Todd Leopold
CNN.com Books Editor

(CNN) -- In the opening pages of "A Little Too Close to God," David Horovitz describes a mundane afternoon in Jerusalem. He and two friends were having lunch at a restaurant on Ben-Yehuda Street, a major shopping venue, sitting outside while munching on vegetarian specials. The atmosphere was convivial, their meal relaxed.

The next day, three terrorists positioned themselves on Ben-Yehuda Street, detonated the explosives they carried, and obliterated themselves and five Israelis.

Such are the extremes of daily life in Israel, where the Israeli-Arab antagonisms of six decades and the overlapping religious claims of three millennia form an occasionally combustible -- and headline-grabbing -- mix. But, as Horovitz observes in his book and in an interview, life in Israel is never so black and white.

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"I very much wanted to tell it like it is. I didn't think there was any (book) out there that told the realities," he said in a phone interview from Jerusalem last week. "The easiest story to pick up is about the peace process, but there are a lot of interesting stories here that matter less to the rest of the world."

Most English-language books about Israel are memoirs of the peace process, written by international journalists. Horovitz was on the same track, he said, until his publisher, Knopf, suggested otherwise.

"When I proposed the book, the publisher didn't like the idea," he recalled with a chuckle. "Knopf told me to make it personal. ... They wanted a real-life take on Israel."

His real-life stories arise as much from the polyglot nature of Israel, a texture of attitudes and peoples ranging from laissez-faire Mediterranean to need-it-yesterday Western, as they do from its inescapable political conflict.

It can be a strange place to live, as Horovitz notes. Driving habits are unspeakable; travelers on the country's roads and highways speed mercilessly, ignore most standard traffic laws, and occasionally even mix in their political beliefs. (Horovitz, whose politics lean to the left, tells of cutting off cars whose bumper stickers favor opposing political parties.) With mandatory military service, soldiers are fixtures throughout the land, and often hitchhike rides from passing motorists.

Israelis are routinely overdrawn, and that's fine with the banks -- so long as their patrons pay huge overdraft charges. And though, until recently, high-tech gadgetry was out of the means of most Israelis, cell phones became a de rigueur accessory almost overnight.

It is a frantic country, Horovitz said. And that's one of the things the English-born author, the editor of the Jerusalem Report magazine, loves the most.

"I love the speed of life, its quick-wittedness, the idea of living for the moment," he said. "There's an electrifying daily atmosphere. I was in Manhattan a couple weeks ago, and it was positively mellow compared to here."

In "A Little Too Close To God," David Horovitz writes about how he is torn between making a difference in Israel and fear for his family's safety

But underlying that tumult is the constant threat of attack, whether from Israel's Arab neighbors (though that possibility appears to have declined) or random terrorists. It can take a toll on raising a family. Horovitz writes at length about how he and his American-born wife agonize and argue over whether they should be raising their children in such a difficult country.

"That's really a dilemma," he said. "Safety-wise, other places can be better. But they have a Jewish heritage here they can tap into, and connect to a rich history surrounded by people with similar (experiences)."

But children, he added, get life "hard and early" growing up in Israel. In the book, he writes of his wife giving their youngsters a casual talk about what to do if they're near a bomb blast. Military service awaits almost everybody. "I don't think they have it easy. ... Israeli kids are more mature (than others of the same age) and deeper into the seriousness of life," he said.

The interview was conducted just prior to the most recent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians, in which more than 70 people -- mostly Palestinians -- have been killed.

But there's no easy us-versus-them mentality in the country; Israel's Jewish and Palestinian populations are divided as to the best way of pursuing peace, and the Jewish community is further divided along religious and secular lines.

Moreover, everybody still has to live together. Israeli businesses employ a large number of Palestinians, who often have to cross several checkpoints to get to work. Ultra-Orthodox Jews tend to keep to themselves, but have considerable influence in creating laws. In a country as small and densely populated as Israel, it's enough to create a lot of friction even when nothing is happening on the peace front.

Author David Horovitz describes modern daily life in Israel -- everything from the physical beauty of the landscape to the incredible tension that permeates the atmosphere

Horovitz laments the divisions that have been exacerbated since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. He also worries about the always-fragile state of compromise.

"In essence, things have changed. We have become more intolerant internally," he said. "We may have some problems with our neighbors, but if we can't live with each other ... It's every stream (of belief) versus every other stream, and there's more than enough blame to go around."

Despite all the problems, Horovitz doesn't plan to leave Israel. He and his family are committed to the long haul. Hope is always present, if hidden, in Israel.

"Life is good," he concludes in "A Little Too Close to God." "Fragile, but good. We, too, take each day as it comes."

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Israeli Government Official Web site
Palestinian National Authority Home Page
Jerusalem Report magazine
Alfred A. Knopf (Random House)

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