The Man of Twists and Turns

My Palestinian detective Omar Yussef has received official Palestinian parliamentary approval. Sort of. In a recent German tv interview, Palestinian parliamentarian Hanan Ashrawi referred to my novel The Collaborator of Bethlehem (UK title The Bethlehem Murders). She mentioned the lawlessness and the power of the gunmen detailed in the book and said, “Unfortunately Rees is [...]

With the publication of my second Palestinian detective novel, I decided to give readers some of the atmosphere of the place, so I made a video with my friend, photojournalist David Blumenfeld, on Youtube. I was the first to bring detective fiction to Palestine — I’m pretty sure I’m now the first to bring film [...]

In Bethlehem last week, I visited a place that gave me some of the bloody inspiration for my murder mystery The Collaborator of Bethlehem. Unfortunately, based on the way the town feels now and the things people tell me, I think that same place will have a dreadful part to play in the next Palestinian [...]

The backing Hamas gets from Iran is bringing the hatred between Sunni and Shia Muslims to the West Bank. In 2002, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal went to Tehran to put aside previous differences between the Sunni Palestinian group and the Lebanese Shia of Hizballah, Iran’s biggest success in the export of Islamic Revolution. Hizballah leader [...]

If you’re inclined to agree with the State Department that, for the time being, it’s just fine to have Hamas isolated in Gaza, so long as Fatah plays nice in the West Bank, think again. This week in Bethlehem, an old friend who’s a member of Fatah told me bitterly that the men who run [...]

BBC journalist Alan Johnston is free, but the truth behind his five months as a hostage in Gaza remains murky. If you only read the newspapers, that is. Journalists won’t be telling you who really kidnapped the 45-year-old Scottish reporter, or why he was released now. So I’ll tell you: powerful figures inside the Palestinian [...]

Here’s a review of Sari Nusseibeh’s excellent memoir that I published in today’s Jerusalem Post.Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian LifeBy Sari Nusseibeh (with Anthony David)Farrar Straus Giroux At least five times in his autobiography, Sari Nusseibeh likens his life to a mystery novel. As he negotiates the tortuous recesses of the PLO, Israeli jails, [...]

Here’s a piece I wrote for the Opinion section of today’s Houston Chronicle: In Bethlehem, Christmas 2006 is greeted with a wry, cynical smilePrince of Peace’s birthplace darkened by the stresses of continuing conflictBy MATT BEYNON REESAs we drove up to Bethlehem’s Manger Square, my friend’s cellphone rang. When he answered, he cursed and slapped [...]

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced last weekend that he would call new presidential and parliamentary elections, because Hamas leaders in parliament refused to join a coalition government that might persuade international donors to lift their boycott of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas, which defeated Abbas’s Fatah Party in this year’s parliamentary election, rejected the move and [...]