New Media

I mentioned on this blog a little while back that I wrote a novel in 2010. It’s called A History Of The Middle Eastside and it’s now available for purchase on Amazon.

If you haven’t quite finished your Christmas shopping (I know, I didn’t quite make the deadline for Chanukah) and like books, check it out. It’s a “Gangs of New York”-style allegory for the history of Zionism, international intrigues and the modern Middle East. It’s a bit surreal, like a Charlie Kaufman film, with some emulative touches of Michael Chabon’s “The Yiddish Policemen’s Union”. And violent, as you might expect from a gangster story. Er, perfect for the holiday season.

If you’re a book reviewer or political commentator (blogger or mainstream media) and interested in writing about it, I do have a limited number of review copies available. Contact me at jnarvey [AT] writeimage [DOT] ca

Cheers.

For this International Day of Peace, I was generously invited by The Mark to write about a possible pathway to peace. To no one’s surprise, I chose the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And I’d like to think that if reality played out this way, we’d have a solution in about 24 hours. Read the full article, China Can Solve Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. An excerpt:

Middle East watchers and pundits are gobsmacked at the sheer speed of the talks. How could these leaders hash out an agreement in mere hours after decades of wrangling and bloodshed?

That morning, an utterly forgettable American envoy named Joe walked into the room and sheepishly addressed the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He turned out to be an accountant. Querulous introductions followed. Next, he outlined some harsh truths.

“Look, the U.S. just can’t afford to keep pouring money down the drain and neither can our European pals,” Joe said with a shrug. “We’re broke. And our Chinese creditors, to whom we owe trillions, are threatening to call in our loans. And they’ve given us certain … conditions on our discretionary spending.”

The latest round of Middle East peace talks has the potential to break an impasse that’s plagued international relations for too long. But as my colleagues and I noted on the CIC Scene site, the usual spoilers are still upsetting this apple cart. To wit:

• Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah – Can You Tell The Difference?
• According to Reports: Obstacles to Peace, Real and Imagined
• Hamas Harms Chances For Peace, Again

Happy new year, y’all.

The Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that launched recently have re-focused attention on one of the great Gordian knots of international politics. Lately, I’ve been contributing to the CIC Scene blog with some backgrounders on some of the challenges facing the negotiators — mainly, extremists (and their state sponsors) who have an incentive to ignite conflict.

First, I take a look at the terrorist on board the Mavi Marmara. Remember the “peace boat” in the Gaza flotilla? It turns out at least one of the crew had some experience with violence on boats:

Who is Tekir? He was one of the hijackers involved in the Black Sea hostage crisis back in 1996, when terrorists seized a boat carrying nearly 200 civilians and threatened to blow it up. According to the New York Daily News: “Nadia Naskova, a Russian woman who escaped from the ferry, said several people were wounded and that Russians were herded together and beaten.” Continue Reading »

Throw out your first answer, give your head a shake and read this insightful piece in The Propagandist from a refugee from Arab lands:

My thoughts turn to those savage days when my family fled Libya in 1967. We narrowly escaped death at the hands of a bus driver who, instead of taking us to the airport, tried to burn us alive inside the bus.

I am one of nearly one million Jews indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa who were forced to flee their ancestral homes in the last 60 years. I am now the voice of an Arab minority culture that has been ethnically cleansed…