A Country of Words:
A Palestinian Journey from the Refugee Camp to the Front Page

A New Book By Abdel Bai Atwan

to be Presented in London

on Monday, October 27, 2008

Abdel Bari Atwan   Editor-in-chief of the al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper will be giving a talk drawing on his autobiography, "A Country of Words: A Palestinian Journey from the Refugee Camp to the Front Page."

Monday 27th October 2008 7.00pm   Foreign Press Association 11 Carlton House Terrace London SW1Y 5AJ   All Welcome On a first come, first seated basis Refreshments will be provided afterwards (suggested donation of £3 towards costs)

About the Event This evening, hosted by CAABU, finds the author reflecting on his early days in London, his efforts to adapt to a western lifestyle and the thriving Arab communities he discovered in the British capital, known then as 'Beirut on Thames'.

About the Author

Abdel Bari Atwan is the editor in chief of al-Quds al Arabi, a London-based daily newspaper. He has written extensively on the Middle East, and interviewed Osama Bin Laden in Tora Bora, Afghanistan in 1996. He is the author of "The Secret History of al-Qai'da."

About the Book

In his memoir, "A Country of Words," Abdel Bari Atwan recounts with humour and honesty his journey from a refugee camp in Gaza to the front page.  

The earlier chapters provide an account of the author's parents' forced exile during the nakba and his own childhood spent in Gazan refugee camps. Moving to Jordan, Atwan takes up residence under the stars, sleeping on a hotel roof and scraping a living as a refuse worker and then in a tomato canning factory.  

Having saved enough to continue his education, Atwan attends university in Cairo and takes part in the student uprisings there in the early 1970s.  

Beginning his career in journalism, Atwan goes to Libya where his first article is published thanks to Colonel Gaddaffi's feud with the Shah of Iran, thence to Saudi Arabia, and finally London where he is made bureau chief for al-Madina newspaper with an office in Fleet Street.  

Atwan's first impressions of London range from the comical - his attempts to become more 'westernized' in appearance for example - to the downright alarming. His revelations concerning significant figures from various Islamist 'terror' groups who were living and operating in the British capital at the time, with the full knowledge of the government, seem incredible in the post-9/11 world.  

London became known as 'Beirut on Thames' in the 1980s and 90s, and Atwan provides a fascinating social anthropological description of the city's many and varied Arab communities.  

Atwan devotes a whole chapter each to Osama bin Laden and Yasser Arafat. In 1996 he stayed three days with the al-Qa'ida leader in the Tora Bora mountains and he describes the encounter in vivid detail as well as its aftermath for him, personally and professionally.  

He had what he describes as a 'love-hate' relationship with the PLO leader and here we find many previously untold personal recollections and anecdotes about Arafat; some hilarious, some deeply moving.  

Insisting on his right to return to Palestine, where he hopes to be buried, Atwan relates three, sometimes painful and awkward, visits to the Gaza strip in the 1990s and the difficulties faced there by his children, born and raised in London. He identifies the irony of this two-way culture shock, and concludes that he has become a perpetual exile, never truly at home either in London or his native homeland.    

Reviews

'A penetrating insight into the world as seen from the point of view of someone born and bred a Palestinian refugee in a Gaza camp...Atwan's authentic voice and sharp, descriptive writing brings alive a lifetime spent deep in the travails of the Middle Eastern tragedy.' - Polly Toynbee

For further details contact Dionysis Markakis on 0207 832 1310

----------------------------------------------------------

About CAABU Promoting an enlightened and positive approach to Arab-British relations in Government, Parliament, the Media, education and amongst the wider public.

 

We are the oldest and largest organisation of its type in Europe having been set up in 1967. We strive hard to build on the historical, political and cultural links between the Arab world and Britain.

 

CAABU

1 Gough Square

London EC4A 3DE Tel: 0207 832 1310 Fax: 0207 832 1329 caabu@caabu.org www.caabu.org

 

---

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.