Fridays in Jerusalem looks at the obscure, untold stories of the Arab-Israeli conflict in a new way: by asking “What if?” Fridays will be a collection of short stories — written by me and illustrated by professional comic artists — each of which takes place in different alternate history universes where the history of the Middle East has deviated from our current history at some branching off point. The purpose of each story is to illuminate the conflict by changing an obscure or seemingly minor detail of our current history, then explore its impact by examining how things could have been different. The compelling dramas are intended to reveal the hopes, desires, emotions and concerns behind the simple labels which for too many represent the entire depth of their understanding of this conflict.

My hope is that through reading these stories readers will be connected, and in some cases reconnected, to the humanity of the people caught on both sides of the conflict. In a conflict such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, the highest stakes are at risk for the people involved, and too often this means that perspectives become polarized and immovable. Nothing is a bigger impediment to resolution than having people sitting around with their arms folded, each insisting that the other side see their point before any concessions can be made. My purpose in writing Fridays in Jerusalem is to give honest brokers on both sides some leverage in breaking that deadlock.

Tower of David, Jerusalem (Old City). Image © 2009 Flickr user lapidim

The first story, currently being written, explores the significance of the Golan Heights battle in the Yom Kippur war by asking what would have changed if the Israelis had both evacuated Nafekh and lost the battle at the Valley of Tears. The main protagonist is a conscript manning the Bar Lev line in the Sinai, on the opposite end of the war. At the outset of the war, he is forced to withdraw his position in the face of an overwhelming Egyptian advance. As news of the Syrian advance in the Golan reaches him, his concern turns away from his country to his family at home, situated on Israel’s northern border. I intend for this story to be a suspenseful drama and an intense political thriller, about the size of one comic book issue.

A key challenge in this project will be getting the illustration done. I want the art to be of the highest quality, and from what I can tell at the moment, this means upward of $150 per page. The entire project will have 5 stories, each about 22-28 pages, raising the production costs above $20,000. At the moment I don’t have this kind of funding, so I am focused on writing, which only costs me time.

Keep watching this space for updates and releases.

Update

I spent an incredible amount of time doing research about the Arab-Israeli conflict in 2009. It was great and I learned a great deal about military tactics, nuclear weapons programmes, espionage, foreign relations and the Roman Empire. At this point I’ve decided that it would be an interesting project to do, but it’s not my top priority. I wrote a few rough and final drafts, but again, finding a suitable artist is too expensive.

Skulls of victims on display at one of more than fifty genocide memorial sites located all around Rwanda. ©2009 Radio Netherlands Worldwide

When I was in school I had a Rwandan-Tutsi friend whose family survived the genocide and escaped to Belgium. Hearing her story sparked my curiosity and interest in the history of the war and the genocide, but it had been mostly at an intellectual level.

Then, flying home this weekend, I picked up a copy of The Economist (SIR — I rather enjoy your publication) and read an article about Rwanda, 15 years after the genocide. The article illuminated for me the reality of the 1994 atrocities: it was a tangible event with real, even mundane complications and consequences. I felt the impact of surviving such an event. I began to consider the terrible, mostly unknown stories of the people who lived through this time. After reading about the dean at the university in Butare who actually murdered students as part of the massacre, I wanted to explore what a Tutsi student at that school would have felt.

I wrote this story in a single eight hour sitting that night, from 10 pm to 5 am: a session driven equally out of a commitment to the subject and a commitment to completion. I wrote it not just to tell the untold stories of the victims in Rwanda. It was a challenge to push myself to go beyond starting projects and actually complete them. I feel driven to manifest this project in a way that people can be moved by it.

Génocidaire is a short story hyper-focused on one family’s sudden awareness of the danger facing their lives and their attempt to escape Rwanda. The word génocidaire is defined as a person who is involved in a genocide; its English cognate would be “genocider,” if that were a word. The title applies in two ways: first, that the victims are génocidaires in that they too are involved in a genocide, and second, the story is also about the making of the titular entity.

This project is to be a short comic, perhaps part of a series of stories focused on Africa or another theme. I have completed the first draft of the script for this project. Watch this space for progress updates.

Update

I spent several months trying to find an artist whose style I felt was polished, professional and appropriate for the story. And affordable. Unfortunately a professional art production would cost upward of $250 per page, which is outside of my budget. So this script is sitting on the shelf for a while.