The Palestine Hotel, Nablus
Sitting in the University Library at Cambridge, reading the sculptor Eric Gill’s diaries of his trip to Palestine in 1934 (he had been commissioned by the architect Austen St. Barbe … Continue reading
New review: Jerusalem, Interrupted
Electronic Intifada, 11th January 2017 Whether Arabic or Aramaic has been the dominant tongue, or Islam, Judaism, Christianity or paganism the majority religion, the city has always been a patchwork; … Continue reading
Bats in the Museum
A couple of months ago I was furtling around in the online archives of the Rockefeller Museum, established under the British Mandate as the Palestine Archaeological Museum and run from … Continue reading
New review: ‘Men of Capital’
Electronic Intifada, 14th January 2016 Defying stereotypes of Mandate-period Palestinians as divided between a distant, dislocated upper class of “notables” and a majority of uneducated, rebellious peasants, Seikaly charts the … Continue reading
“For 9 months she fought in the Turkish army, up Beersheba way”
Came across this magificent snippet in an edited volume of the letters of Helen Bentwich, from her time in Palestine at the end of World War One and during the … Continue reading
New review: The Storyteller of Jerusalem
Electronic Intifada, 25th February 2014 The descriptions of his childhood center around a large house shared with tenants, situated around a courtyard and with communal facilities. “If you entered the … Continue reading
New article: British Mandate in Palestine – upcoming exhibition at the Brunei Gallery
Electronic Intifada, 21st May 2012: The project drew on testimonies from various people who had memories of the British Mandate period. Among the stories of arrests, house demolitions and hangings … Continue reading
Saturday night in Beit Sahour
It’s Saturday night in Beit Sahour, and a 70-something Palestinian woman is threatening to feed me arak (and salted almonds. I’m anyone’s for a few roasted almonds). Could be worse. … Continue reading
Sarah Irving 