Can we inform everyone, but offend no one, when we talk about Israel and Palestine?
by Helen Said, Melbourne Australia This is a page from my family biography, Five Egyptian Pounds - the story of George Said OAM (published 2015, Equilibrium Books). This page describes the creation of the modern state of Israel, which occured when my parents were teenagers living in Egypt. The Arab-Israeli Wars that followed caused my parents to leave Egypt as refugees. This page is narrated by my father but written by me, and I filled in details using historical research. Looking back at what I wrote 20 years ago, I ask myself if it told the whole story. A t the time of writing about the creation of Israel, I felt compelled to appear impartial. I had interfaith, international family members, of many different viewpoints, who contributed family memories to my book and were eager to read my "family bible". I wanted to write an accurate historical account that would inform everyone but offend no-one, an almost impossible task. To do this, I downplayed some of the more ha...