The passage follows Russian Jewish immigrants protesting a treaty that may uproot them from West Bank homes. Their settlement lies in territory Israel took from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War, giving the fictional dispute a real territorial history. Having recently left the Soviet Union, they see another forced move as a betrayal of the safety they expected in Israel. They organize their neighbors, recruit an Orthodox rabbi, and march toward the Knesset with flags and a Torah. Beneath a portrait of Zionist thinker Theodor Herzl, a politically and religiously divided legislature faces a debate that could bring down the government. The treaty reaches into settlement, religious representation, coalition survival, and personal memories of displacement.
Transcript Excerpt · 3:35-6:39
A peace treaty strains Israeli coalition politics
A reading from the novel shows Russian Jewish immigrants, West Bank settlements, street protest, and coalition politics turning the treaty into a personal and institutional crisis.