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" Somehow it seems that all parents are certain that they themselves were victims of abuse in school and that they will not allow this to happen to their children. Even though children can also be the cruelest group imaginable - especially the cutest of them. "

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" I wanted to tell, in Hebrew, about my father who sat in jail for long years, with no trial, for his political ideas. I wanted to tell the Israelis a story, the Palestinian story. "

Sayed Kashua

Ideas

Story

Political

" We were, as Arabs in Israel, educated not to leave our villages, in order to protect our identity. "

" Somehow, since I became a family, every minute in which I am alone and not listening to two kids screaming in stereo feels like a vacation. "

" If there was genuine desire on the Israeli side, even without a solution, it would be possible to solve a large percentage of the problems between Israelis and Palestinians by means of simple statements from the Israelis. "

" I don't really wake up in the morning and say, 'Ohmigod, I'm a Palestinian in a Jewish state.' I wake up in the morning and say, 'Ohmigod, I have to make sandwiches for my kids.' "

" There is really no place for individuals in Israel. "

" I once wrote that the first week in Jerusalem was the hardest week of my life. I was different, other; my clothes were different, as was my language. All of the classes were in Hebrew - science, bible, literature. I sat there not understanding one word. When I tried to speak, everyone would laugh at me. "

Sayed Kashua

My Life

Laugh

" A trip to Tel Aviv is a ritual. I always wear the same clothes to Tel Aviv: black pants and a blue-checked shirt that I bought especially from Ralph Lauren. "

" The Palestinians have tried everything, and by God, it's Israel's governments that taught us that the only thing the Israelis appreciate is force. "

" I began to write, believing that all I had to do to change things would be to write the other side, to tell the stories that I heard from my grandmother. "

" For one moment, after I left Jerusalem with my family for life in Illinois, I thought that maybe there's still a chance: maybe there are still enough people in Israel who refuse to rule and oppress another nation. "

" I'm afraid of a gas leak, although I installed detectors. I'm afraid of a blown fuse that could cause a fire, and that's why I don't turn on electrical appliances at night. "

" Israeli independence - what we Arabs call al-Naqba, 'The Catastrophe' - it created Palestinian identity more than anything else. "

" I always see my wife as the clever one, as the wise one in the family. "

" I wanted the Israeli mainstream audience to meet different kinds of Arabs - not just terrorists or politicians - and to listen to their language and their stories. "

" What kind of people will these ghettos of Palestinians produce? What form of morality, national consciousness and hope will people be left with after so many years of stifling occupation and a sense of hopelessness? "

" It's the friends that make you survive this flat place called the Midwest. "

" I really just want to be a writer and a storyteller. But maybe pain is one of the things you have to feel in order to be creative. "

" All in all, we Muslims have only two holidays, and they're always getting moved around from season to season, from month to month, because we're dependent on the moon and not the sun, and unlike the Jews, we haven't created a leap year, so we have no Adar Bet. "

" When there's a revolution in Egypt, you can't really get depressed about not knowing what happens after you die. When there are millions out on the streets, that's not the time to start panicking about contracting swine flu. "

" There's a lot of hypocrisy and condescension in Israel's institutionalized support for Mubarak's tyrannical rule, in its backing of a corrupt leader who established a brutal secret police state to suppress his citizens and keep their mouths shut. "

" I wish I could be proud of being an Israeli citizen, but how can I do that when I'm not really recognized as a full citizen? "

" I don't like identity. We accept identities in Israel. We make them holy. But what does identity really mean? "

Sayed Kashua

Identity

Israel

" To be critical of television is almost like questioning the fact of God's existence. "

Sayed Kashua

Television

God

" I always envied them, the owners of the cars with the white plates who can be seen around Jerusalem. I always wanted to be one of them. We call them U.N., even though U.N. are generally foreign correspondents with leased cars and yellow plates. "

" The smell of onion is the most effective thing for relieving stinging eyes irritated by tear gas. "

" My children don't even know who Fairuz is - a horrifying thought. "

" I don't know how it works with the Jews, but here in Beit Safafa, as in every self-respecting Arab community that is respected in turn by the state, there are no street names and no house numbers. "

" When Jewish youths walk down the street and demand the death of Arabs simply because they're Arabs, then I've lost my own small battle. "

" Israel defines Palestinians more than anything else. "