Semiramis Revisited: a story of the Nakba

Summary: the 1948 bombing of a hotel in an Arab neighbourhood of Jerusalem killed 24 civilians and drove the community out; a descendent of one of those forced to flee investigates a largely forgotten act of ethnic cleansing.

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1 thought on “Semiramis Revisited: a story of the Nakba”

  1. So interesting to read how details and more facts have been much later revealed to this writer, who was already by descent part of the Incident. It brings home once again the human side of these terrible ‘terrorist’ events, which never seem to cease, the people-centred, civilian wars which are fought disrupting daily life and destroying cities.
    It sounds as if there was, at least for a while after 1948, a sizeable community of Palestinians in Cyprus, which I didn’t know (though might’ve guessed, as it’s so nearby, of course).
    I was struck especially by the angle of how a historical incident story can be published as a book yet full of inaccuracies – and why. I like it that she kind of ‘forgives’ the writers for changing the ownership of the dog who waited for his owner to be found, excusing them as to cite foreign diplomat as the owner was just, well, more story-like, more ‘and when these things happen, people unrelated to the place and the reason, are caught up in life-changing ways’…

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