Literary Stars Learn ‘Occupation 101’ Firsthand in Tense Tour of West Bank

The American writer Ayelet Waldman was on a tour near the Hamra checkpoint, deep inside the Palestinian West Bank, when a silver car with Israeli plates pulled over. The driver, an Israeli Jew, got out and began taking photos of Waldman’s tour group, which included the Austrian author Eva Menasse and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks, as well as a bevy of photographers and anti-occupation activists.

In another setting, the Israeli driver might have been a fan of, say, Brooks’ most recent novel, “The Secret Chord,” about the life of King David. But it was clear that he had no idea whom he was photographing, only that he meant to intimidate the group. “What are you doing?” Menasse said, notebook in hand, as he held his camera phone in front of her face. “Taking your picture,” he said. “You’re not the only ones who can walk around with cameras.”

The interaction was par for the course for the wild West Bank, where settlers are known to confront Palestinian rights activists. But it’s not every day that some of the most acclaimed novelists in the world find themselves caught up in a flashpoint of the Israeli occupation.

The authors’ visit to the Hamra checkpoint was part of a weeklong tour of the West Bank by Breaking the Silence, the controversial Israeli group that collects and distributes testimonies of soldiers who served in the occupied territories. In addition to Waldman, Menasse and Brooks, several other literary stars attended the tour: American novelists Dave Eggers, Rachel Kushner and Michael Chabon (Waldman’s husband and a Pulitzer Prize winner) and Nigerian author Helon Habila. More than a dozen other writers will be taking similar trips in the coming months in research for an upcoming book of essays.


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