Love and Desire in the Promised Land (The Private Lives of Israelis and Palestinians) - Salome Parent-Rachdi

Love and Desire in the Promised Land collects a dozen interviews with real-life citizens of Israel and Gaza navigating messy boundaries in their homes and bedrooms against a background of geopolitical violence. Collecting interviews conducted before the October 7 attack unleashed a new wave of bloody conflict, the book introduces fascinating individuals and couples who speak frankly about the transgressions that define their experiences with intimacy. The portrayals represent a diverse population, including an interfaith celebrity power couple, an Orthodox gynecologist, a young gay Muslim, a Palestinian American feminist, a Ukrainian-Israeli artist, and a Palestinian lesbian in a relationship with an Israeli soldier. Through these candid conversations, recorded by Parent-Rachdi and illustrated with a warm touch by Deloupy, the authors humanize the people living in Israel and Gaza. As conflict wages around them, these ordinary citizens struggle with their all-too-human urges and desires that drive them to cross borders and boundaries in the name of love and sex.