Raja Shehadeh reflects on the UN resolution to recognise Palestine as a non-member observer state

"In my tale, "The Two Djinnis and the Wall", I let loose my imagination and have a Palestinian hiker who has been stopped at an Israeli checkpoint tell of his dreams of a new reality in the region to a female Israeli soldier detaining him while his backpack is being searched. She had claimed she did not understand Arabic, but when he finishes she asks: "Will I ever be able to travel to the places you speak about? My family comes from Aleppo." I hope writers can serve the cause of peace by provoking people's yearning for it. Aren't new realities created by first imagining them, making what is possible in art thinkable in life?" Raja Shehadeh

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/dec/14/palestine-diary-state-un-resolution-month?fb=optOut

Palestine: Diary of a historic month

29 November 2012 … Palestinians at a rally in Ramallah. Photograph: APAimages/Rex Features