“Once Upon A Country” A Palestinian Perspective Worthy Of Your Time

My latest non-fiction book which I started this week is one that dives into a region of the world that has held my attention since I was a teenager. After learning of the news from Plains, Georgia about President Jimmy Carter starting hospice and given the powerful role he played with the Camp David Peace Accords, places Sari Nusseibeh’s Once Upon A Country into a fitting time frame.  A bittersweet one, for sure. 

A few weeks ago, I read Thirteen Days in September by Lawrence Wright.  As I concluded that stupendous narrative which placed so many interesting and compelling spokes into the larger wheel of the drama that was the brainchild of Carter, I was mindful of needing to read Nusseibeh’s story that has been heralded as a necessity if wishing to feel and better understand the plight of Palestinians. 

I recall watching the historic journey of Egyptian President Sadat to Israel and listening to his speech in the Knesset and months later staying home to watch the handshake and signing of the famed peace accords at the White House.  All the drama that played out between leaders with deep political uncertainties in their own countries and much deeper historical animosities made what occurred at Camp David worthy of more understanding on my part. Even decades later.

I have always found most troubling the lack of awareness from the public about what happened to entire Palestinian villages and farms, and families in 1947 and 1948.  Between the United Nations voting and the time for the British mandate to end, we read the words of the author’s father, a judge and highly educated man, who wrote a 60,000-word personal account in 1949. Of those expelled, he writes the lost villages “mean more than red dots on the map. They mean the warm hearths and proud homes of an old established community.  The hearth has turned to ashes and homes ground to dust and the life once throbbed within them throbs no more.” The entire story is compelling and grounded with the candor of history and facts to guide his readers onward.

Sari does not allow for the misjudgments and harsh behavior from either side of the ancient hatred to have free rein.  There is no latitude given for the misdeeds and empty leadership that too often has been the source for even more glaring and consequential examples of hate and bloodshed.   

History oozes from the pages and for one such as myself, this is why lights in our home are on into the morning hours. Here is the story of a man who descended from one of the tribal leaders who accompanied Muhammad on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the seventh century as he heads to Medina. This is the family with the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  The richness of the ages rolls along as Nusseibeh stresses the complexities of the people, history, religion, and social tensions that create a backstory to the headlines.  Sadly, it is only the headlines that most people today care about or know about.  Not enough newspaper readers or viewers of BBC news.

This is why the book, Once Upon A Country is so needed and, in light of recent events most relevant. For those who know, as I do, that a two-state solution is a requirement for the region, the book offers more history than hope, given the nature of conservative Israeli leaders.  I trust that those who read this post will find the book at their local bookstore or on Amazon, as I did. It will add many perspectives, as most who pick up the read already will likely have a good foundation of the region’s background. It will make Zionists squirm, but thoughtful people (like many who reside in Israel and know the trajectory of their regional affairs and governing policies are flawed morally and fiscally) will find this book time well spent.

Most Pleased Daniel Silva Landed On My Bookshelves

It was one of those perfect fall weekends in Wisconsin.  I would not have changed one thing about how it played out if given the ability.  Saturday was sunny and warmish for an October day which allowed for a delightful drive to get a carload of squash from a farm market in the country.  The annual trip was made complete with apple cider donuts!  Sunday was perfection with brisk winds ushering in a damp chill which made the warmth of the oven as a Blue Hubbard baked feel like a scene from the cover of an old Saturday Evening Post.

What surrounded all the joys of the weekend, be it cups of afternoon coffee or late-night burrowing under a blanket, was the plotting and pacing of Daniel Silva as he mesmerized me with another in his Gabriel Allon series.  During the pandemic, I reached out on social media to broaden my list of authors who write about espionage and spying along with tense international dramas.  While I always have a few historical or biographical books going at any one time, I also much enjoy the John Le’ Carre type book.  It was from around the nation, and even a kindly lady in Britain, where I came to know ‘new’ authors. I thank them all for the advice, and for being kind not to over-state ‘how could you not have read’ this or that author!

While I have become very engaged with a slew of the authors (as evidenced by my bookshelves) the reading idea that most impacted me with continuous smiles and adrenalin, came from a longtime friend, George Meyer, who also added a strong suggestion. Read Daniel Silva he said, after being somewhat surprised I had not already ventured down that path.  But when you do, read the books in order.  (Being OCD there was no worry about not reading them sequentially.)  What I discovered, by the time the first half of the initial book in the series was completed, regarded how detailed the narrative continued to be concerning the place and feel of locations around the world.  I was sensing the smell of the fog or the way the cobbled steps felt underfoot.  Throw in abundant background and angst with Middle Eastern tensions and religions and I was on Amazon looking for the next several books in the order of their publication.

That was the effect Silva had on me from the start. The evolving nature of the lives of a few characters with the added depth of the past inter-relationships that played out on the pages of history is remarkable. Stepping back and just considering how he places all the people and events into a seamless narrative, but one we do not get to grasp until many of the books are under our belt, proves how epic his original plotting had to be for the series. I always am amused by the way authors plot a book, or better yet, a series. Silva is a master at the craft and one that needs to be experienced by those not having yet had the pleasure of opening one of his works.

Israeli intelligence and the workings of Mossad as it plays out against dastardly international crimes are like headlines ripped from the newspapers. Allon had his start eliminating the killers at the infamous Munich Olympics where Israeli athletes were held hostage and then killed. Leaving the service he slips into the world of being an art restorer, only to be pulled back into intelligence action by one of the most multi-dimensional characters I have found in many a book, Ari Shamron. Real life-spies can not have better stories to tell.

Since 2020 the following authors and series are ones that, after being recommended by others, made a strong impression to now take up space on my bookshelves. (This is why we have larger homes, right? Since the pandemic, James and I act as if our book budget is akin to parts of the U.S. defense appropriations…unlimited and off-budget.)

Alan Furst

Daniel Silva

David Downing…(two series)…WWI….WWII

David Liss

Olin Steinhauer

Stuart Kaminsky

Andrea Penrose

Thomas Mullen

Conn Iggulden

President Biden Correct About Flag Issue In East Jerusalem

The Middle East trip by President Biden has included a conversation about a wide range of hot-button issues from the threat posed by Iran, global economic pressures from oil production quotas, and the need for movement among the different parties in the quest for Palestinian rights and security safeguards in a volatile area of the world.

It is a good week for the United States when our president can present the issues as the topic of the day, rather than being the topic of the day. It is good to have gravitas not only in the Oval Office and also when presented on the world stage.

Not only do the weighty conversations matter on such trips, or the policy moves and offers of assistance but so do the smaller messages and actions a president takes. The leader of the free world is not a trite phrase that no longer has meaning. The American president matters. That is why a serious person needs to always hold the office.

It was most appropriate, therefore, for the presidential motorcade, when entering East Jerusalem, to no longer bear the Israeli flags. Israeli sovereignty in the entirety of the city will need to be addressed if any meaningful and long-lasting peace accord is ever to be finalized between the two sides. While Israel has long enjoyed the land it seizes, does not mean the military conquests and occupations are geopolitically the best outcome for all the people in the region.

That Israel is not a fair player in the region has long been noted on this blog. The Biden administration has sought from the first days of the administration a reopening of the US consulate to the Palestinians. That office was previously located in western Jerusalem, but as is so typical of Isreal they have utterly refused to authorize the reopening. Diplomatic moves and creating structures for dialogue would further demand accountability from Israel, and that would be so much harder than just shooting and killing a journalist and continually undermining the dignity of the Palestinian people.

Israel, with its military might, has forgotten a truism about global affairs. Without a legitimate political process, there will be no peace. The simple, but meaningful act by President Biden of removing the Israeli flag when entering East Jerusalem underscores that fact.

Religious Dialogue Needed During Political Bombast, International Bloodshed

This weekend the world’s major faiths observed sacred and meaningful holidays. Passover, Easter, and Ramadan are all underway and there are many faithful people worldwide who undertake certain rites and services to meet their spiritual needs. That is all to be much applauded.

At the same time as the world seemingly slows a bit and many people are more contemplative and inner-seeking the chaos and carnage continues, either in violent outbursts or verbal bombast.

Israeli forces carried out a widespread campaign of raids into towns and cities across the West Bank, in a response to a wave of recent Palestinian attacks inside Israel that have killed 14 people. The Israeli authorities then also imposed temporary economic sanctions.

A mass shooting Saturday at a busy shopping mall in South Carolina’s capital on Saturday left 14 people injured. The mall was filled with kids and others on this holiday weekend.

In Ukraine, bombs fell, families continue to flee, and bodies are buried wherever the ground space can be found nearby to lower a loved one down into the earth.

In Ohio, Republican senate candidate Josh Mandel continued his primary campaign with an agenda of division against those who aren’t white, patriarchal, and Christian.

I bring this all to the fore as it is Easter Sunday in our home, a day of hope. For many years Sunday was also the day when Tim Russert would hold forth on Meet The Press. Many an Easter weekend I recall Russert having a special look at faith in the nation and how it intersected with all the headlines of the day.

I looked up one of those transcripts online and wish to take you back to Sunday, March 27, 2005.

(Videotape, January 20, 1961, inaugural address):

PRES. JOHN F. KENNEDY:  Let us go forth to lead the land that we love, asking his blessing and his help, but knowing that here on Earth, God’s work must truly be our own.

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT:  “Here on Earth, God’s work must truly be our own,” Father. That’s politics and religion together in a very clearly stated way.

REV. DRINAN:  And I think that it–we all agree with that.  The problem is when some religions say that you have to impose in the law our particular beliefs.  Certain fundamentalists think that gays should be discriminated against, and that’s not in the common tradition.  There’s a common core of moral and religious beliefs, and frankly, we are in total violation of that. We are supposed to be good to the poor; we have more poor children in America than in any other industrialized nation.  We’re supposed to love prisoners and help them; we have 2.1 million people in prison, the largest of any country of the Earth.  We also allow eleven children to be killed by guns every day.  All of the religions are opposed to that.  That’s violence.  Why don’t we organize on that?

MR. RUSSERT:  What’s the answer?

REV. DRINAN:  The answer is that there is a core, as President Kennedy said, and that we had that core when we finally abolished abolition and segregation. We had that core when finally we entered the war in Vietnam.  We had that core when we passed the Americans With Disabilities Act, the best law for the disabled in the whole world.  That core is there, and you have to look back and say that President Roosevelt orchestrated it and LBJ was fantastic getting through the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.  That’s the type of religious unity that exists if we can pull it together.

Many people will observe the surface traditions and customs around the world for the holidays of which they are a part, but the larger conversations, of the type Russert engaged in and we need to hear, are far less a part of our dialogue. That lack of connection around the world between what we profess to be, and what we do, or what governments do in our name, remains a great gulf.

And so it goes.

Israel Needs To Join International Community And Enact Sanctions On Russia

It is not a pretty picture to see when Israel, which portrays itself as some arbiter of righteousness and moral certainty, shows its true colors on the world stage.

It was most unsightly to read and hear this week of Israel attempting to balance between aligning itself with its biggest funder in the world–that would be the United States–or with Russia who has committed the largest military operation in Europe since—oh, yes, the time when another madman sought to eradicate the Jews.

It was jaw-dropping to then read on Wednesday Israel could only issue a luke-warm statement that supported Ukraine’s territorial integrity—but hold on dear readers–as it did not condemn Russia. 

The statement then dropped off the cliff into the comically absurd.

“War is not the way to solve conflicts,” Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said.

Wow.

One only needs to read a few decades of Middle Eastern history as it relates to military actions caused by Israel as to why many in the international community are voicing concern about the fragile nature of loyalty from Isreal as it relates to Ukraine.

Events on the ground forced Israel—not some inner commitment to justice or fighting evil–to state a bit tougher language about Russian President Putin’s attempt to reconstruct the Soviet Union. Still left unstated as of this posting was the Israeli government stepping up in adult pants and joining the international sanctions against Russia. 

It must take time to climb down from the rarefied air of Israeli certainty to mix with the rest of the world leaders.

And so it goes.

Strong Female Congresswoman Challenged For Being Honest, Anti-Muslim Bias in Democratic Party

Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar made public a concern this week during a congressional hearing that has caused an uproar within the Democratic caucus. The incident underscores the bias within the elected class in Washington towards views that need to be heard but too often are marginalized.

It was during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Monday, when Omar, a Muslim woman elected from Minnesota, asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken about an International Criminal Court probe of allegations against both the Taliban and the U.S. in Afghanistan and by Hamas and Israel in the most recent Middle East conflict.

Omar later shared the exchange in a tweet that read: “We must have the same level of accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban.”

Late last night a dozen of her caucus colleagues put out a late-night statement criticizing her for comparing war crimes in the fashion she did. In response, Omar called her fellow House Democrats’ reaction ‘shameful’,

She is correct.

I find it lamentable that one of the first two Muslim women elected to Congress needs to feel that her views and perspectives on issues which she has every right to speak out about, are to be curtailed and shaped so as to mollify the larger group. She has every right to express facts, lodge questions, foster dialogue, and seek analysis over war crimes as much as the Baptists and Catholics from all points of this nation do.

Calling out the abuses and addressing the headlines from the Middle East–whether they always make this nation’s front pages of newspapers or not–is essential. Omar is doing her work with diligence when making the comparisons and asking the questions.

Israel Apartheid Showcased In Editorial Cartoons

Not for the first time does this blog speak to the issue of proportionality when it comes to the massive airstrikes unleashed by Israel. The pounding of Gaza, such a confined area, packed with poorly protected people has led to a death toll, as reported this morning in a front-page story in The New York Times, 20 times as high as that caused by Hamas. In Gaza over 1,200 people have been injured. Nearly 200 have been killed.

The international press has reported in-depth on the carnage in this latest decades-long struggle. The editorial cartoonists have perhaps caught the moment best with the following journalism. The drawings are determined to make the point. You know you have an international conscience if these hit a nerve. Taking land in war and through an immoral settlement policy is not a good way to win respect or peace.

Ten Members Of Family Killed, Eight Were Children

An orphaned baby is brought to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City after it was injured in an Israeli airstrike, which destroyed a 3-story house and killed ten members of the child’s family.

Today Israeli bomb hit a home in the Gaza refugee camp. The house where a family had gathered to celebrate the end of Ramadan.

A baby (pictured) was brought to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City for treatment after being injured in that airstrike, which destroyed a 3-story house and killed 10 members of the child’s family, including eight children who were located in the al-Shati refugee camp.

At least 20 other Palestinians were wounded after several nearby houses were damaged in the airstrike.

In addition, for those readers who claim to honor laws and international norms let’s start by enforcing UN Resolution 242 stating Israel must withdraw from occupied lands. The over-reach and lack of proportionality from Israel make me sick.

Let me cut to the core here. Palestinian aggression, if one wants to argue that point, could be contained rather than the wholesale murder which is now taking place. Netenyahu, however, needs to distract from his crimes. Israel has already this week attacked the most revered mosque in the world, murdered children, and lynched innocent civilians, along with now attacking news offices such as Associated Press and Al Jazeera.

Of course, that last group was going to be targeted as Israel can not abide honest and free coverage of their war crimes. Israel wants to kill Palestinians without press coverage.

Palestinians inspect their destroyed houses following overnight Israeli airstrikes in town of Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip, Friday, May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)