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SUE TURNER recommends an outstanding book of short stories set in the Palestinian city
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The Book of Ramallah
Edited by Maya Abu Al-Hayat
(Comma Press, £9.99)
THE BOOK of Ramallah is the latest in Comma Press’s short-story collections based on a city, usually a capital.
Situated in the West Bank, some 10 miles from Jerusalem and ranged along a ridge of the Samarian Hills, Ramallah is a capital city of sorts. It acts as an administrative centre, with government ministries, the HQ of the Palestinian Security Services and the Mukata’a compound, the seat of the Palestinian Authority.
It’s notorious for the two-year siege the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) imposed on Yasser Arafat, almost killing him as the bulldozers rolled in at the end.
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