“I’m glad you asked that”, Ilan Pappé offers, in response to an audience question on the role of religion in Palestine. “I get to use one of my most famous quotes”. He laughs. It’s a fairly accurate snapshot of the whole hour: Pappé is surprisingly good-humoured, enlivening his discussion of the Middle East with the wit and vibrancy which makes his writing so easy to read. In person, he is even more interesting and well-informed than he appears on paper, dropping anecdotal stories about his mother-in-law alongside tales of historical revolution and political upheaval. Of course, an hour can barely scratch the surface of the problems facing Israel and Palestine; but it is an educational and engrossing sixty minutes nonetheless.
RBS Main Theatre, 16 Aug, 3.00pm (4.00pm), £8.00 – £10.00, eibfpp16.
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Sections: by Ellie Blow - ED2011 Book Reviews | Tags: Edinburgh International Book Festival
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