The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan

Tolan explores the story of Palestinian Bashir Khairi’s relationship with Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, a Bulgarian-born Israeli who moved into his childhood home.  Bashir’s father had planted a lemon tree in the backyard of that home. Its continued growth was a symbol of Palestinian dispossession and occupation to Bashir, and a symbol of hope for a devastated Jewish people to Dalia. The story starts when Bashir knocks on Dalia’s door and a friendship blossoms.  Listeners are swept up in their intertwined lives and the fates of their communities.  We hear Dalia and Bashir begin to understand each other, and later struggle with how complicated their friendship has become.  When Bashir is jailed for his alleged role in a supermarket bombing, the friends do not speak for years.  They finally reconcile and begin working together to convert the house into a daycare for Arab children in Israel, and a center for dialogue between Arabs and Jews.A dialogue is exactly what the production achieves.  With minimal narration, listeners go back and forth between Bashir and Dalia speaking about the slow process of accepting one another without always finding common ground.  The documentary is a masterclass in nuance, offering voices that are introspective and loving, but also doubtful and angry.  More importantly, The Lemon Tree is a reminder of all that is at stake, and all that is still possible in a region that is ever more divided.  Listening in this moment feels imperative. The stories of Dalia and Bashir form a personal microcosm of the last sixty years of Israeli-Palestinian history. Awards: Overseas Press Club Award for RadioThe Lemon Tree was produced by Sandy TolanThe Imaginary Village was produced by Sandy Tolan and Melissa Robbins.