NOTHING MORE TO LOSE
madrasah of Saladin: A former center of learning founded by Saladin in Jerusalem.
village of Lifta: An Arab village on the outskirts of Jerusalem whose inhabitants were expelled in 1948. Although many of its houses are riddled with holes, Lifta is a rare example of a deserted Palestinian village that was not razed by the Israeli authorities. The empty houses are still standing, making it a particularly potent symbol of Palestinian loss.
Wadi Salib: Literally “the valley of the cross,” this is a neighborhood in Haifa. When the vast majority of the neighborhood’s Arab population fled in 1948, the Israeli authorities, instead of destroying their houses, cemented many of them shut.
SLEEPING IN GAZA
Fado: The Portuguese word for “fate”; it also denotes a popular form of singing, generally mournful and melancholic in quality, and often evoking loss or resignation to one’s fate.
THE NIGHTMARE BUS TO SABRA AND SHATILA
Sabra and Shatila: Two camps for Palestinian refugees located in Beirut. In one of the bloodiest incidents during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, a Lebanese Christian militia allied with Israel carried out a massacre of between 750 and 3,500 of the camps’ residents.
“WHO REMEMBERS THE ARMENIANS?”
“Who Remembers the Armenians?”: These famous words by Adolf Hitler, evoking the massacres of the Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, were meant to garner support for the Holocaust.
NAJI AL-ALI
Naji al-Ali: A Palestinian cartoonist known for his lampoons of both the Israeli and Arab regimes (including Palestinian politicians). He was murdered in London in 1987. Although the case was never solved, both the Mossad and the PLO are suspected to have been involved in his assassination.
QUSS BIN SAIDA
Quss Bin Saida: A pre-Islamic orator who lived in the sixth century AD.
THE GAS CHAMBERS
Nakba: Literally means “disaster” or “catastrophe” in Arabic, but is now more specifically used to denote the exodus of Palestinians in 1948.
MARY
Kamal Salibi: A popular Lebanese historian (1929–2011). His theory that the Bible originated in Arabia was met with disapproval by the Catholic church and other Christian groups.
A NOTE TO BERNARD MAZO
Bernard Mazo: A French poet who died in July 2012.
TELL
Musrara to Sheikh Jarrah: Two neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
Qalandia checkpoint: An Israeli military checkpoint separating Ramallah from Jerusalem.
BINT JBEIL
Bint Jbeil: A town in the extreme south of Lebanon, viewed by many as a symbol for Lebanese resistance to Israeli incursion and occupation, particularly after Israel’s failed attempts to capture the town in the 2006 Lebanon War.
FABRICATIONS
Merriam Kirschenbaum,: An Israeli TV producer.
Shlomo Ganor: A nightly news moderator on Israeli TV. His broadcasts were in Arabic.
Fairuz: A Lebanese singer (b. 1935) and one of the most famous singers in the entire Arab world.
I WILL RISE ONE DAY
They’ve gone now, Saladin: A reference to something supposedly said at the tomb of Saladin in 1920 by General Henri Gouraud (1867–1946), after the French army had occupied Damascus and defeated the Syrian nationalist forces: “We’ve come back, Saladin.”
THE LAST SOLDIER’S WORDS TO SALADIN
al-Qadi al-Fadil: Saladin’s vizier, well known for his eloquence. Saladin once famously said of him: “I did not conquer the lands with soldiers, but rather with the pen of al-Qadi al-Fadil.”
FOR MATOUB LOUNES
Matoub Lounes: A famous Algerian Amazigh singer (1956–1998) and outspoken advocate of Amazigh rights. His support of secularism and his avowed atheism made him unpopular with Algerian Islamists. He was assassinated in 1998, and both the government and militant Islamists have been accused of the murder. The case has yet to be solved.
Tizi Ouzou: A predominantly Amazigh province in Algeria, and the birthplace of Matoub Lounes.
Hauran: An area in southwestern Syria.
ARRIVING AT KARMAT IBN HANI
Karmat Ibn Hani: The name of the Cairo home of the famous Egyptian poet Ahmed Shawqi (1868–1932); it is now a museum dedicated to the poet.
WANT AD
by sandals in the bath: In the Mamluk period of Egyptian history (1250–1517), some of the many domestic political assassinations were carried out by beating people to death with wooden clogs.
SULEIMAN AL-HALABI
Suleiman al-Halabi: A young Syrian Kurdish student (1777–1800) who assassinated General Jean Baptiste Kléber (1753–1800). Kléber’s occupying forces had just put down an Egyptian revolt against the French in Cairo. According to the prevailing historical accounts, al-Halabi disguised himself as a beggar and stabbed Kléber four times. He was arrested and tortured, then sentenced to death by impalement. His skull is still on display at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris.
IRAN
Ahvaz: A large city now in western Iran, and also the name of the surrounding county. Ahvaz (both the city and the surrounding area) has a sizable ethnically Arab population. Iran’s annexation of Ahvaz has been a source of tension between Iran and the Arabs.
TANTURA
Tantura: A small Palestinian fishing village located near Haifa on the Mediterranean. On the night of May 22, 1948, Israeli forces attacked and occupied Tantura. There is still debate, especially within Israeli academic circles, about what transpired during the attack and how many Palestinians were killed, and particularly about whether or not the events of that night constituted a “massacre” of civilians or were merely part of the “normal” course of war.
Night of Destiny: Also known as the Night of Power, this was the night when the first verses of the Koran were said to have been revealed to the Prophet Mohammed. In many traditions, it is held that the doors of heaven open on this night each year and light up the darkness.
THE OBELISK
Umm Kulthum: An Egyptian singer (1898 or 1904–1975) and one of the most famous vocalists in the entire Arab world.
BETWEEN TWO DOORS
“the ones expelled from their lands”: This is a citation from the Koran, Sura 22, Verse 40.
AN OPERA FOR KAMAL BOULLATA
Kamal Boullata: A prominent Palestinian artist and art historian (b. 1942) from Jerusalem. He has been living in exile since 1967.
A BELATED VISIT
Mohammed Wahid al-Din Siwar: A Syrian professor who was expelled from his post and exiled by the Baath regime. At the end of his life, he was allowed to return to his homeland for summer vacations. He died in Zabadani in 2011 at the beginning of the civil war in Syria.
Zabadani: A city in southwestern Syria and a popular summer destination due to its relatively mild climate.
THOUGHTS ON THE STATUE OF TALAAT HARB
Talaat Harb: A leading Egyptian economist and nationalist (1867–1941) and the founder of Egypt’s national bank. His statue adorns a central intersection in downtown Cairo (referred to as Talaat Harb Square).
THE WORLD WILL BE GOOD
“split yourself into many bodies”: These words are from a poem by Urwa Bin al-Ward, the famous pre-Islamic “brigand” poet whose verse extolled the virtues of ultimate generosity and friendship. The poet’s name literally means “son of the rose.”
Eid al-Adha: Literally “the Festival of the Sacrifice,” this is a Muslim holiday that celebrates Abraham’s (Ibrahim’s) willingness to sacrifice his eldest son Ishmael (Ismail) on God’s command.