Shifra Shomron’s book, Grains of Sand, initially started out as quite a slow read and I had to convince myself to persevere. To my surprise, it was well worth it. Shifra examines almost every aspect of life in Gush Qatif, while pumping up the glowing menace, not only of the Arabs of Khan Yunis, but also, lehavdil, the insane Ariel Sharon expulsion initiative, supported by the leftist media bandwagon against liberated-territory settlers. Shifra, though, goes beyond mere political commentary and even examines the psychology of denial of many of the soon-to-be expellees. Shifra’s character, Efrat, relishes in the nature that she grew up in, making her personal expulsion that much more painful. Reviewing the expulsion events through the eyes of Shifra in hindsight is painful because now instead of chronological, but scattered media reports, her book is a chronicled document of cause and effect which gives us a startling big-picture view that forces us to ask, “what were they thinking?” On the last page of Shifra’s novel I found myself thinking one thing over and over…I want to read MORE of Shifra Shomron’s saga in an expanded epilogue, though a full-novel would be even better.


Ra’anan Elozory
BA Eng MA Eng Ed
English teacher
No’am Har Nof
Diberoth Moshe Har Nof
Midrashiya Mada’it Qeriyath Ye’arim (Telzstone)