Why subscribe?

I’m David B. Green, a writer and editor at Haaretz English Edition, in Israel. I began this blog in late 2022 in order to talk about an extraordinary family of artists from the Israeli Arab city of Umm al-Fahm. At the time, the five Abu Shakra painters were the subject of a retrospective exhibition that was opening at the Kibbutz Ein Harod Mishkan Museum of Art.

Shortly after that exhibition opened, Israel elected a new government, the government began efforts to legislate a makeover of the country’s constitutional regime, and this past October 7, Hamas’s devastating attack across the Gaza border plunged us into a major war, for which no end is currently in sight.

All of these events have affected Israel’s 2 million Palestinian citizens and the way that the Jewish majority relates to them. These events have all tested the country’s commitment to democracy and equality, and even to the very concept of peace. In reporting on various aspects of Palestinian identity and the way that Israel society comes to terms with it, I hope to address the larger question of the future of Israel’s democracy might be.

I’m an optimist by nature, so I don’t intend to be the deliverer of bad news alone. The Abu Shakra family and the gallery that Said Abu Shakra founded in Umm al-Fahm, for example, are sources of constant encouragement and also insight into what is happening in Arab society, which is why I will continue to come back to them.

I’m happy to hear from readers, and encourage you to share posts with others you think might enjoy them.

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