Haim Watzman Livres

Great Britain ruled Palestine from 1918 to 1948, replacing 500 years of Turkish control and leading to the State of Israel in 1948. Based on diaries, letters and first-hand accounts, this narrative history explores the legacy of colonial rule.

The Great Rift Valley, which runs some three thousand miles from Syria to Mozambique, is one of the earth's most extraordinary geological features. The result of Syria's split from the African continent fifteen million years ago, this great "crack in the earth" crosses Jordan, Syria, Israel, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Kenya. In 2004, Israeli journalist Haim Watzman set out to explore the northern part of the Rift Valley, where he had lived for nearly two and a half decades. He interviewed a number of scientific experts: a zoologist fascinated by the behavioral patterns of indigenous birds; an archaeologist trying to re-create the standing stone formations left to us by ancient cultures; a geologist speculating on the valley's origins. Watzman raises provocative questions about the nature of this massive feature in the earth's crust: where it comes from, how it has developed, and how human civilization has fared on its shores. "Humankind has overlaid the geology not just with cities, dams, fields, and roads," he writes, "but also with history and biography and meanings."

The narrative centers on Haim Watzman's unexpected journey from American immigrant to a soldier in Israel's army, detailing his eighteen months of compulsory service and subsequent two decades of annual reserve duty in Company C. Despite lacking a desire for military life, Watzman’s experiences reflect the complexities of identity, duty, and the personal impact of military service on his life in Israel. Through his story, readers gain insight into the realities of soldiering and the profound connections formed within the military community.