newspapers. Did you hear that after the British government diverted all the water from an Arab village to give to the Jews building houses in Jerusalem, the Arabs took the government to court, and they won? I think this is a sign that the British government is a just government, that they will relent before their own legal system when the proper argument is made.
Salamat,
Sahar
2 October 1925
Dear Sahar,
Your reaction to the water dispute made me smile. Sometimes the law can seem boring but sometimes, yes, law is the stuff of life. As to whether the British government is just, we shall have to see.
Thankfully I was not in Syria. We have been organising a Central Committee for the Relief of Syrian Victims since the uprising started, however, and we have written to the League of Nations to protest the brutal French bombardments of Damascus.
I begin to wonder whether a revolution is what we need in Palestine, as they have in Syria. There are some people promoting this in the North. Our tragedy is that the Palestinian national movement currently has no strategy. More than a thousand Jewish immigrants enter the country each month and it is clear they wish to create a Jewish state. We might be the majority but we are treated as a minority, and I see they intend to make us one. This alleged British policy of maintaining the Status Quo is totally false.
I am building a new house in the Musrara neighbourhood which I hope will be pleasing to you. The architect is Turkish and has designed several other houses nearby. Meanwhile I am working with domestic disputes and land issues, and it seems that while we enter a political malaise there is an atmosphere of sociality with the Brits. There are many parties, for example.
You are back at school now. How is the start of your final year?
Salamat,
Hani
15 November 1925
Dear Hani,
Entering the final year of school I have an unusual feeling. I will be sad to leave my friends, particularly Margo and Lamees. I know I will still see them although not every day. However, I am also excited. Tonight we have a concert in the courtyard and Lamees is playing the piano.
How is the house in Musrara? It is strange to think there are only a few months left. Today we had a sewing class and I have been making a turban hat for myself. I am afraid these details are boring to you, but they are all I have to tell, so forgive me!
Sahar
9 January 1926
Dear Sahar,
The details you share are not boring in the slightest. It is always wonderful to hear what you have been doing, day by day. Very soon you will be telling me this over dinner, God willing. I hope I have already told you this, but your Arabic has improved tremendously and your handwriting is also very nice.
Excuse me for being brief, but I must now prepare for a reception tonight with the new High Commissioner, and tomorrow I will be attending a meeting with a few of my colleagues in the Old City. I very much look forward to seeing you in May. The house is ready.
Salamat,
Hani
When Sahar walked out through the school gates for the last time that spring, unveiled, she took a taxi straight to her husband’s new home in Musrara, a West Jerusalem neighbourhood not far from the Old City walls. And there he was, waiting at the top of the steps before the open door. He was not as tall as she remembered. Certainly, he looked older. At school this man had been the envy of her classmates and source of her quiet pride. But her first sensation, as she stepped over the threshold, buttoned up in her new dress and carrying her bags of books, was that Hani did not quite match the picture she had created and shared and adored.
The house had two floors and plenty of bedrooms, and the windows onto the street were arched. The ground level was centred in the traditional style on a courtyard with a pool and fountain, and a floor of ornate black, red, and blue tiles. The tiles made a deep smacking sound as Sahar followed her husband to view the living rooms.
One year later, when the Jericho earthquake shook through Jerusalem, a fault appeared in these tiles, spining across the courtyard and stopping just before the pool in the centre. Once the dust had settled on the city and the casualties had been