West Bank | West Bank
May.01.2011
If there had never been a Palestinian intifada, I might never have written my novel about the death of Mozart, MOZART’S LAST ARIA, which is published today in the UK by Corvus. (http://www.mattrees.net/mozart.html)Of course, 4,000 people would also be alive who are now dead. In the course of...
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Apr.08.2011
Susan Abulhawa is a unique voice in contemporary fiction. She’s a Palestinian, born in Kuwait to a refugee family. She spent some years in an orphanage in East Jerusalem, her ancestral city, before university education in the US and she now lives near Philadelphia. She’s the founder of a wonderful...
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Dec.25.2010
For the first time in years, the people of Bethlehem have something more to celebrate at Christmas than the recollection of an important birth in their town 2,000 years ago.After the city’s economy was devastated by the Palestinian intifada over the last decade, Bethlehem’s economic recovery has...
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Dec.23.2010
Samuel Johnson wrote that “When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.” The good doctor wrote that in 1758, long before the conversation of Englishmen was informed by the hyperbolic outrage of London’s present tabloids. Just lately it seems he might amend his phrasing to “their...
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Aug.01.2010
JERUSALEM — Israelis like to point out that theirs is the only democracy in a Middle East otherwise dominated by repressive regimes. Given the performance of legislators in the parliamentary session that just ended here, you might be forgiven for asking: with democracy like this, who needs...
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Jul.23.2010
JERUSALEM — Palestinian negotiators said again this week they’d refuse to re-enter direct peace talks with Israel unless the current partial freeze on construction in Israeli settlements is extended when its term runs out in September.But as a report released this week by the Israeli human-rights...
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Jul.09.2010
JERUSALEM--At his White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, United States President Barack Obama enthused that the talks about talks will probably lead to talks, and his assessment was that the Israeli government is ready to take part in those talks.As...
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Jun.12.2010
Their politics might be spinning wheels, but Palestinians are revving engines on the race track.NABLUS, West Bank — For a change, the Palestinians gathered on the main street of Nablus were happy to be going around in circles.Palestinian politics makes a lot of noise, only to end up spinning its...
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May.23.2010
NABLUS, West Bank — During the Palestinian intifada, I sat on a dusty hilltop overlooking this most violent of West Bank towns with a dozen of the top Israeli officers in the area. The brigade commanders told their regional chiefs that all the police work and house-to-house fighting of the intifada...
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May.09.2010
Hamas is steadily rebuilding its power in the West Bank, stockpiling weapons and materiel underground, biding its time for a renewal of the conflict with its Fatah rivals.
Palestinian security officials have been telling me this for some time, and they are frankly filled with fear and foreboding....
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