Word: belfast
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...from Belfast to Israel is to be shot from a cold dark into an astonishing light, but one with a darkness inside...
...swing, a man solemnly takes tickets and the children mount the seats in pairs. Slowly the machine turns; slowly the nickelodeon starts up; and the chains that hold the swings grow taut until they parallel the ground. Suddenly the children are on their sides in the air, whirling above Belfast, impelled from the center by centrifugal force...
...land that is itself a child of war, where even the youngest know of places like Auschwitz and Dachau. For the Arab children in the occupied territories, darkness is in the present; the land is no longer theirs, their freedoms are snatched away. Like the children of Belfast, both the Israeli and the Palestinian children resist the life imposed on them. The Palestinians show their strength of will in bitterness toward the enemy. The Israeli feelings are often more generous, perhaps because they are children of the victors...
Jamila observes that by losing their parents they have lost their childhood as well. Like the girls in Belfast, these three have had to grow up quickly. Asked if they believe that they have gained anything by such experiences, Boutros replies, "Power." His face seems amiable for the answer. What he means by power is something specific: "To regain our homeland." At that all three talk at once: "First we were driven from Palestine in 1948"; "The Israelis tried to exterminate us." "It's not their land. It's our land," says Jamila. Her voice is urgent...
...asked if he believes in God; his yes is awed. Is his faith at all shaken when he sees something like the devastation of yesterday's explosion? "Do you think: How could God allow such a thing to happen?" His answer is like Elizabeth's in Belfast: "No There is no relationship between God and the people who do such things. Man does his work...