Mohammed Massoud Morsi

I made heavy weather of reading The Palace of Angels, not because of any flaw in the writing, but because of its devastating subject-matter. For my entire adult life, the Israel-Palestinian conflict has been a running sore, and whether I read Israeli authors or Palestinian ones, whether the books reinforce entrenched positions or argue for some kind of resolution, I always feel oppressed by what seems to be a hopeless situation.

The Palace of Angels consists of three linked novellas, What's is Past is Dead; Twenty Two Years to Life and The Palace of Angels. What's Past is Dead is a prequel: it's about two youths trading hashish for weapons for the Palestinian side. Their plans are reckless and naïve, but their life experience is not. They have seen the capriciousness of death and they know, as all Palestinians know, that their side is and always will be outclassed militarily. To fight back and assert your rights means putting your life on the line. Submitting to the Occupation means tolerating the daily humiliations without complaint. This region is full of volatile young people on both sides. It's only too easy for patience to snap, with devastating consequences.

Twenty Two Years to a Life contrasts Palestinian life with the lives we take for granted. Fathi and Farid fall in love and marry, but they have trouble starting a family. They save up to seek medical help, endure an exhaustive process of getting passports and visas, and finally make it to Canada for specialist help, only to find themselves stranded with little English. They are helped by a Canadian man who recognises their plight, the irony being that they have to travel thousands of miles to get help that ought to be accessible to them closer to home. Given the recurring patterns of violent strike and counter-strike, what happens to this little family seems inevitable but is no less heart-breaking for that...

Later on, in The Palace of Dreams it becomes clearer that life under any occupation is full of invidious choices. Ultimately there is no choice but to choose.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/10/16/the-palace-of-angels-by-mohammed-massoud-mor...… (más)

Twenty Two Years To Life took a long time to write. Based on a true story, it's set in Gaza. In working as a photojournalist, I witnessed the suffering in Gaza first hand, especially during the conflict in 2014. Returning from assignment, I watched a full feature article I had written - on this same story - having a large cod slapped on top of it and the words which I had struggled to write, crumble in front of my eyes. This is first and foremost a LOVE story. Then it's a story about life and hope and how we look at each other. That we are really all the same, with the same hopes and dreams and wishes for life. The greatest crime in any conflict is the torment of children, as it leaves behind scars that will never heal. The Internet is full of memos that tell us how to act around children and how we need to look after them but somehow the children of Palestine, deprived of any form of benign childhood, are forgotten. They're presented as almost unreal, without hopes and dreams, and just numbers. This is not true. My wish is that this story, What Is Past Is Dead, and the last story in writing will offer close and personal stories that will make a difference, albeit a small one, for the children of Palestine. No one should be treated like an animal and collectively punished and imprisoned. Although I have written this story from Gaza, and my support to the people of Palestine is clear, the story is not biased. There is no black and white. The people of Gaza, of Palestine, face their own challenges within, unfortunately they'll be very difficult to challenge under an Israeli occupation. Free Palestine.… (más)

Find yourself thrown into a situation. You don't know the whole story but you're there and you know something is not right. But you're there and there's no way out. Who you are is important to why you are there. Your thoughts are racing and eventually the reality of it comes charging at you. What matters to you is justice but you haven't given much thought to whom you are truly seeking justice for.
What Is Past Is Dead is a short story about finding yourself in a jam. One you put yourself in. It's also about the desperate actions we sometimes take to counter desperate events. The plight of the Palestinian people, like all of us, to achieve freedom, is a difficult one. Behind the political rhetoric of the media are real people with real lives and stories like everyone else. It's also a short story about not believing everything we hear. There are no sides in a war and even if one joins one or the other, one is just as confused as all the rest of us. The price paid for this turmoil is often much more personal than we are told and the story more diverse than we are led to believe. The actions might be identical or similar but the words to the describe the opposing parts shrouded to make us choose a side. There are no sides though.
What Is Past Is Dead is going to leave you full of questions and asking to know more. Just like those involved in the story itself.… (más)