The End 15 Jul 2012 | 05:34 am

... and so the time has come. To say goodbye to Palestine and to this blog. It's difficult knowing what to say. Impossible to sum up the past two years in one entry. Suffice to say coming here has be...

Chapter 123 Yaffa 25 Jun 2012 | 02:31 pm

It was in Yaffa that it hit home. Yaffa, that last bastion of Arabness; a remaining pocket of cultural survival. Yaffa, bride of the sea. A stunning coastline. Yet generic, potentially belonging any...

Chapter 122 Nablus circa 1890 23 Jun 2012 | 08:20 am

Chapter 121 Battir 19 Jun 2012 | 04:26 pm

Chapter 120 He played the oud 7 Jun 2012 | 07:44 pm

As his fingers rippled across the strings, all watching were transported to a candle lit night wrapped in a balmy breeze. The notes floated away, each tripping over the previous as it caught up with ...

Chapter 119 The hike to end all hikes 4 Jun 2012 | 06:18 pm

Nablus to Taybeh: Approximately 45 km over two days. Let me see if I remember  the series of villages we went through. Nablus to Awarta Through the mountains from Awarta to Aqraba. In a huge stroke...

Chapter 118 Taybeh 2 Jun 2012 | 03:36 am

One of my first West Bank discoveries was Palestinian Oktoberfest. Held in a tiny Christian village called Taybeh, the festival serves as a platform to sellers of Palestinian products from all around...

Chapter 117 Forbidden 31 May 2012 | 03:56 am

I’m not going to lie, Cremisan wine is not great wine. Palestinian olive oil is second to none, but the wine; it’s not great. I mean, it’s not terrible wine either. It’s probably closer to terrible...

Chaper 116 A whiter shade of brown 29 May 2012 | 11:42 pm

source Fair and lovely. Lovely and fair. Don't go in the sun and shade your face if you do. Keep that complexion creamy and pale. It's not that whitening creams are especially prolific in Nablus....

Chapter 115 Parent teacher conference 19 May 2012 | 07:07 am

"Oh we expect to be in Nablus for a long time. Except if the Israelis attack... then we'll go to America." "She's never gotten over when the PA took her father away for a month. After he was released...