Seeds of Peace

An American's Search for Hope in the Middle East

By Jennifer Miller

Writing with fierce honesty, Jennifer Miller has created an extraordinary synthesis of history, reportage, and coming-of-age memoir in Inheriting the Holy Land. Her groundbreaking perspective on the conflict is presented through interviews with young Israelis and Palestinians and conversations with some of the most influential officials involved in the Middle East, including Shimon Peres, Yasir Arafat, James Baker, Benjamin Netanyahu, Colin Powell, Ehud Barak, and Mahmoud Abbas. This book will open eyes, open hearts, and open minds. Miller grew up in an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C., surrounded by the chaotic politics of the Middle East. Her father was a U.S. State Department negotiator at the Oslo and Camp David peace summits, and dinnertime conversation in the Miller household often included discussions of the Middle Eastern conflict. When Miller joined Seeds of Peace, a program that brings Middle Eastern kids to Maine for intensive sessions of conflict resolution, her real experience with the Middle East began. As she befriended young Palestinians, Israelis, Egyptians, and Jordanians, Jennifer came to realize that their views were missing from the ongoing debate over the Holy Land. By helping these young voices be heard, she knew she could reveal something vitally new and deeply challenging about the future of this torn region. Miller, however, learned fast that it was one thing to hang out at the idyllic Seeds for Peace camp in Maine and quite another to confront young people on their own turfin the alleys of East Jerusalem, behind the armed gates of West Bank settlements, in the teeming refugee camps of Gaza. Friendships that had blossomed in the United States withered in the aftermath of yet another suicide bombing. Big-hearted teens on both sides of the conflict shocked Miller with the ferocity of their illusions and the twisted logic of their misconceptions. But she also found rays of hope in places where others had reported only despairsurprising open-mindedness among the ultra-religious, common ground shared by those who had lost loved ones to the violence, a yearning for peace amid the rubble of refugee camps and the shards of bombed cities. A deft writer, she interweaves her startlingly candid interviews with the vibrant realities of life in the streets. Just as Jennifer Miller was forced to confront her biases as an American, a Jew, a woman, and a journalist, in Inheriting the Holy Land, she similarly challenges readers to reexamine their own cherished prejudices and assumptions. Advance praise for Inheriting the Holy Land “Miller’s book provides a fresh and sparklingly well-written look at the contradictions and consequences of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” Madeleine Albright “The next generation is critical to Israeli-Palestinian peace. Jennifer Miller’s important book tells you why.” Mahmoud Abbas “Miller has brought her talents as a keen observer and engaging storyteller to the captivating tale of the young generation of Israelis and Palestinians.” Shimon Peres “Inheriting the Holy Land underscores the importance of cross-cultural understanding and dialogue as a basis for peace and reconciliation and the power of hope and imagination to transform the future, even in the most difficult conflict environments.” Her Majesty Queen Noor “Jen Miller’s personal story about young Palestinians’ and Israelis’ efforts to renounce violence and war will certainly contribute to the new atmosphere of détente in the Middle East. Their quest for mutual understanding and peace communicates a moving appeal for faith in hope.” Elie Wiesel Jennifer Miller graduated with a degree in English and Creative Writing from Brown University. She lives in Providence, Rhode Island, where she works as a freelance writer. Click here to purchase the book through Amazon. Click here to purchase the book through Barnes & Noble. To read an interview with Jennifer Miller, please click here.