Intercultural Tolerance in Ghazi Abdel-Qadir's Die sprechenden Steine

Abstract

This paper explores the theme of intercultural tolerance in the context of the controversy in the West Bank in Ghazi Abdel-Qadir's Die sprechenden Steine, a German novel for young adults. In the novel, this theme is played out through narratives of experiences of the child protagonist Kamal, an eleven-year-old Palestinian boy, which reveal the complexity of the conflicts arising from the claiming of the rights over the same piece of land between Palestine and Israel. The author criticizes violent resistance and presents possible solutions to the conflicts through his recognition of interracial co-existence instead of non-partisanship.