Journey through a devided land

In March 2003 Israel was awaiting the 2nd Gulf War.
I stumbled onto a piece of land, where two people were fighting each other for land, water and access to their holy places. Nobody asks for the price of that fight, as each side becomes united while facing the other. The hope for victory lives not an expectation to be fulfilled within the next decade. Each side is willing to carry on for centuries.
 
While Israelis and Arabs where fighting their battle, I felt welcomed by both sides. Both tried to drag me - the foreign tourist - on their side, and tried to let me have the best impressions of their country.  
[see the photos]

Books

The amerikan journalist Thomas L. Friedman describes impressively his experiences in Beirut during the Lebanon-War.
Later Friedman worked as correspondant in Jersualem and compares the his time in the Lebanon to the situation in Israel.
Exciting like a thriller and packed with in depth background information on history and people in the near east.

Yoram Binur, "My Enemy, My Self"
The author is an israely journalist, who tries to live undercover as a palestinian under the Israeli occupation. He dressed like a arab, finds illiegal work in Israel and describes the daily racism of his own people.
 
This thrilling undercover-report seems very serious and upto-date - but it not a literary piece of art.