My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness

“This is an amazing biography of the Arab-Israeli poet Taha Muhammad Ali, who was 40 years old when his poetry was first published. The biography’s author, Adina Hoffman, is an Israeli writer living in Jerusalem. Ali…has a voice that isn’t overtly political. He came from the little village of Saffuriyya, which the Israeli army captured and demolished in 1948 when he was a teenager. He continues to live in Nazareth, in a house overlooking the place where he grew up. He has spent much of his life coming to terms with the political upheavals he survived.What’s interesting is the emotional process Hoffman went through while researching the book. She had to face up to what her adopted country had done in 1948 and what happened to the Palestinians who stayed in Israel. She studied Arabic in order to read the poetry and speak with Ali and his family in their own language. She wanted to get behind the façade and she does a tremendous job.” Read more...

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Raja Shehadeh, Lawyer

“It’s a story of the Palestinian people told through a man who actually remained within Israel after the war of independence.” Read more...

Perspectives on Israel and Palestine

Gideon Lichfield, Journalist