Intimate Acquaintance with Terrorism
In addition to the six Palestinian NGOs, Israeli officials branded my neighbor, my life partner and an ice cream company as terrorists. No evidence needed. Job Interview In 2017, a…
Celebrating Indigenous People’s Day
In the four decades that passed between my U.S. grade school education and that of my daughter, Columbus Day lessons have changed, but not enough. A capital city that’s also…
Tastefully Welcoming the New Year in a New Place
We’re starting the new year not feeling very welcome in our North Carolina apartment complex, where the neighbors expect children to be unseen and unheard. Cultural Differences and Plates “She’s…
Learning About Mixed Love from the Loving Family
Forat asked to watch a movie about a couple arrested for violating a ban on interracial marriage. I wondered what she understood about our family. Falafel in the South…
Coming Out of the Closet, Far from the Closet
After a year and a half of anonymity, it feels good and also a bit scary to emerge from the protection of a pen name. I began publishing this blog…
I wrote a love story. Not yet in English.
This time I’m writing under my real name. To thank you and to let you know about my book, a love story about the occupation. Dear Readers, I want to…
Quiet in Raleigh. Less so in the Jabalia Refugee Camp.
Far from the violence, Osama worries about his family in Gaza while I clumsily try to create a holiday atmosphere. It’s our third war together. Smoking Break Raleigh, North Carolina,…
Vaccinations arrive in North Carolina. Credit: Umm Forat
When It Comes to Vaccinations, Gaza is Better than the West Bank
Our daughter is enjoying sugary American food, but for her father, North Carolina brings something sweeter: a COVID-19 vaccine he wouldn’t yet get in Palestine. Eating Animals “Ima, which animal…
Leaving Palestine
We waited for hours, the children and I on one side of the checkpoint, Osama on the other, hoping to make it to the airport. Cleaning the refrigerator “I knew…
Buying Hanukkah Candles in Ramallah
“I am a Jew married to a Palestinian,” I told the supermarket man, with a smile that I hoped was courteous, pluralistic and also conversation-ending. I picked up Forat and…