Printed originally by Viewpoints, The State of the Arts in the Middle East: Volume IV, The Middle East Institute, Washington, DC, March 2010. Reprinted with permission.
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Over the last few years, the intensity and breadth of the solidarity actions for Palestinian rights dramatically increased. The second Intifada was followed by a campaign of non-violent direct-action, popularized in the West Bank by a joint Palestinian-Israeli organization, the […]
Shatila is a part of the Lebanese war that will never be forgotten, but it is a part of Beirut that few want to remember. I’m an ex-resident of and a frequent visitor to Beirut, but I had never even […]
Kamal AlJafari’s Port of Memory (2010) is situated in the port of Jaffa. The film explores the formation of time in space—durational affect—and constitutes a relation of space and architecture via the cinematic lens that conjures up a new way […]
Ilustrado. By Miguel Syjuco, Hamish Hamilton Canada, an imprint of Penguin Group, 308 pp., Toronto 2010. Miguel Syjuco (pronounced See-hoo-koh), with Ilustrado, has achieved what Salman Rushdie achieved with Midnight’s Children: a brilliant irruption into the literary scene. He also […]
(An editorial essay on the Middle East) What is it that we do here in Montreal or anywhere else in the world, as artists, writers, filmmakers, poets, that somehow draws us into the politics in the Middle East? We are […]
I am walking the streets of Ras Beirut where I grew up, where my parents’ home still exists in Diaspora; as I promenade while doing some errands within a four square kilometer area, I feast my eyes on the sign […]
Israel is losing the propaganda war. Mainstream newspapers now provide ample reason to conclude that Israel oppresses the Palestinians with sadistic enthusiasm based on flimsy excuses. (The Palestinians, after all, have lost the military war. Even Hamas works hard to […]
In Gaza breast milk for two years a well-spaced brother organic baby food furniture safety-checked growth carefully plotted then a well-chosen small school private lessons perhaps helmets even for sledding certainly for riding, figure skating enrichment in Gaza […]
Rezeq Faraj and the “Descent into Hell” It was when I read Palestine: le refus de disparaître, the 2005 book of our dear departed friend Rezeq Faraj, that I realized the full extent of the Palestinian people’s continuing “descent into […]
Bil’in, situated to the west of Ramallah, is a village typical of the eastern Mediterranean from many points of view: the white houses that are arranged along the length of roads that hug the meanderings and natural contours of the […]
The armed settlers descend from their colonies on the hill tops on the Palestinian farmers of Sousia day in and day out, damaging their crops and orchards and denying them access to their own land and wells. Settlements Mansions […]
A colleague of mine suggested that I contribute an article on my interest in the question of Palestinian rights and intention to participate in a World Education Forum taking place in Palestine at the end of October. At the time […]
Media coverage of the peace talks presently underway in Washington is generally pessimistic about the prospects of success. It tends to be depicted as formalized theatrics, with a “down-to-business” atmosphere, dark suits, hand-shaking, and canned speeches. Little, if anything, is […]
One party asks for more than he is willing to settle for. The other party offers less than he is ultimately willing to concede. Both parties haggle until they reach a compromise. Such is the universal law of negotiating. As […]
[from my Iraq suite, “Howl to the Dying of the Moon”] * A lean desert wolf howls... A child is being carried to her grave her tiny mouth closed forever but do not weep - do not weep! just open […]
Canada and Israel – Building Apartheid by Yves Engler, a co-publication of Fernwood Publishing and RED Publishing, ISBN: 9781552663554, Publication Date: Feb 2010, Pages: 168 Right off the bat, let’s take an excerpt from a blurb on the book issued by – […]
In a café somewhere a light switch clicked behind a blue paint-chipped door. The bright light which crept out from between it and the worn wooden floor disappears and two men watch from a small table across the room. They […]
In January 2009 Caryl Churchill penned the play Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza in response to Israel’s Operation Cast Lead military strike upon Gaza. Cast Lead lasted 3 weeks, ending January 18th 2009 and was responsible for the […]
I am a Japanese Writer. By Dany Laferrière. Translation by David Homel. Douglas & McIntyre, 2010. I am a Japanese Writer is a novel about a writer who is neither Japanese nor speaks Japanese, but is actually Black and hails […]