NEW ARRIVALS

Stranger in My Own Land: Palestine, Israel and One Family’s Story of Home by Fida Jiryis, Hurst and Company, 2023, hardcover, 392 pp. MEB $35.

After the 1993 Oslo Accords, a handful of Palestinians were allowed to return to their hometowns in Israel. Fida Jiryis and her family were among them. In this beautifully written memoir, Jiryis tells the story of their journey, which is also the story of Palestine, from the Nakba to the present—a 75-year tale of conflict, exodus, occupation, return and search for belonging. Stranger in My Own Land chronicles a desperate, at times surreal, search for a homeland between the Galilee, the West Bank and the diaspora, asking difficult questions about what the right of return would mean for the millions of Palestinians waiting to come “home.” Jiryis reveals how her father, Sabri, a PLO leader and adviser to Yasser Arafat, chose exile in 1970 because of his work. Her own childhood in Beirut was shaped by regional tensions, namely the Lebanese civil war and the 1982 Israeli invasion, which led to her mother’s death. Thirteen years later, the family made an unexpected return to Fassouta, their village of origin in the Galilee. But Jiryis, 22 years old and full of love for her country, had no idea what she was getting into.

The Untold Story of the Golan Heights: Occupation, Colonization and Jawlani Resistance edited by Muna Dajani, Munir Fakher Eldin and Michael Mason, I.B. Tauris, 2022, paperback, 248 pp. MEB $35.

In 1967 Israel occupied the western section of Syria’s Golan Heights, expelling 130,000 residents and leaving only a few thousand Arab inhabitants clustered in several villages. Sometimes characterized as the “forgotten occupation,” the western Golan Heights have been transformed by Israeli colonization, including the appropriation of land and water resources, economic development and extensive military use.

This landmark volume is the first academic study in English of Arab politics and culture in the occupied Golan Heights. It focuses on an indigenous community, known as the Jawlanis, and their experience of everyday colonization and resistance. Rich in ethnographic detail and with chapters from diverse disciplines, the book is unique in bringing together Jawlani, Palestinian and UK researchers. The innovative format, with shorter “reflections” from young Arab researchers, activists and lawyers who respond to more traditional academic chapters, establishes a bold new “de-colonial” approach.

Sitti’s Bird: A Gaza Story by Malak Mattar, Crocodile Books, 2022, hardcover, 32 pp. MEB $18.95.

Sitti’s Bird: A Gaza Story is a unique children’s picture book, written and illustrated by Palestinian artist Malak Mattar. Reflecting her experiences of childhood in occupied Palestine, Mattar’s story brings warmth and wonder to children as it tells of her self-discovery as an artist during the 2014 Israeli airstrikes on Gaza. It is the story of a young girl whose love for her family and art help her channel her fears and overcome traumas that few of us can imagine, traumas tragically shared by countless children in Gaza and around the world. While painfully real, this book teaches children to keep dreaming and loving in the face of every challenge and injustice.

alism, with its plans for pan-Arab unity centered around throwing out colonial hegemons. Today, an underlying assumption remains that colonialism is a phenomenon exclusively exercised by Europeans upon the Third World, explaining weak support among Arab governments for the Polisario Front’s liberation struggle in Western Sahara. As one example, the book notes the strong support from Polisario for the Palestinians—and the absence of reciprocation from the Palestinian leadership.

In contrast, the African Union has been stiffened in its support for the Sahrawis by its founding commitment to the sanctity of colonial boundaries. However, standing back, that is more a pragmatic rule than a fixed ethical principle, although pragmatism does go a long way in this case. There are few worse scenarios than the likely chaotic scramble for Africa if those boundaries were put in play.

Among the principles that the international community is actively flouting in the Sahara are not only decolonization, but the right to national self-determination, the prohibition against the acquisition of territory by force and the U.N. Charter’s absolute prohibition against aggression and invasion. And that is before we get to the innumerable conventions on human and civil rights. As the authors enumerate, the charge sheet is exacerbated by Rabat’s repeated defiance of specific U.N. Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, and its continuing and self-incriminating refusal to countenance any human rights element in MINURSO, the everlasting U.N. mission in the Sahara. They also recount numerous occasions where U.N. officials and agencies have overlooked such breaches. Morocco has indeed adopted the modern annexers’ handbook principle of talking without giving an inch.

With that background, the authors sadly explain the political and diplomatic balance sheet for Polisario—the robust sense of nationhood among the Sahrawis and, ironically, the ineptitude of the Moroccan monarchy, which has done as much to build Sahrawi patriotism as Vladimir Putin has to create a stronger Ukrainian sense of nationhood.

Western Sahara’s fish, phosphates and perhaps solar power are among the few ob- jective elements that Polisario has in its favor—and since it does not have physical control of them, it reinforces the need to invoke international law to exert leverage. The authors are aware of the odds, but as they point out, the world was even more oblivious to now-independent East Timor, with only three countries recognizing it and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations explicitly backing Indonesian annexation. SADR has 84 nations backing it, plus the African Union and a string of international legal judgments. But then again, Palestine has even more backing, and we know how that has turned out thus far.

You Are Your Own Best Teacher!: Sparking the Curiosity, Imagination and Intellect of Tweens

By Claire Nader, Essential Books, 2022, paperback, 237 pp. MEB $20

Reviewed by Delinda C. Hanley

self-conscious thinking behind, confidently speak truth to power, ask questions and continue to learn.

Nader warns kids, “Our society often underestimates you, categorizes or labels you too rigidly. It doesn’t allow you to discover how good, smart and idealistic you truly can be right now, especially if you are given a chance.”

Nader urges youngsters not to wait to use their imagination, creativity and unique strengths to ensure the future of our world. Young people, like Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, do inspire their elders to make essential changes. Thunberg was only 8 when she began studying climate disruptions. Nader writes that after teaching herself the facts, Thunberg collected “science-based arguments” and “enlisted her parents and her sister to endorse her personal philosophy: to step lightly on this earth, our only home.” The family adopted lifestyle choices that reduced their own carbon footprint. In 2019, when she was 16, she addressed the United Nations and demanded bluntly, “How dare you steal our future through inaction?” Her challenge resonated throughout the world. Nader’s book emphasizes another famous Thunberg quote: “I have learned you are never too small to make a difference.”

Nader argues, “Adults shouldn’t tell you that you’re too young to be an active citizen. Many children have found ways to help the poor, to clean a polluted environment, to invent things for the disabled and to better their communities.”

While Claire Nader’s engaging book is a guide for young “tweens,” 9-to-12-yearolds, their teachers and families, it’s also chock full of wisdom for readers of any age. The Nader family, of Lebanese descent, is well-known for their activism. Political scientist and author Claire Nader and her siblings were taught by their parents that informed civic participation begins early and should grow throughout life. You Are Your Own Best Teacher! encourages us to leave

Like many of us, when Claire Nader was a fifth grader, a “good student” was obedient, a teacher’s helper who always got high grades. Today, a good teacher or parent teaches kids how to think and encourages “you to disagree if you think the facts and what’s right are on your side.”

Students can use their moral sensibilities, their notions of right and wrong, to turn a bad situation around. If they witness injustice, they should be emboldened to speak out. After all, brave children who ask hard questions may become ground-breaking journalists like Helen Thomas, “who drove presidents and press secretaries up the wall during her 60-year career as a White House correspondent and author. Why?

Because she repeatedly asked questions (like you kids would) ask...such as ‘Mr. President, why are we in Iraq?’ or ‘What about the rights of Palestinians under Israeli occupation?’” Shouldn’t you be able to have factual discussions with the politicians who change our world? Claire Nader gives us the tools to teach ourselves how to wage peace instead of war.

Nader’s book reminded me that, at age 11, I wanted to be a missionary doctor. My parents nourished that desire, and let me volunteer at an orphanage in Damascus. (It was only chemistry and religion that put a stop to my plans.) How did you plan to save the world? How can we encourage children’s innate altruism? You can begin by reading You Are Your Own Best Teacher!