Scattered like seeds

In a historical novel that tells the story of one Palestinian-American uprooted by the Arab-Israeli conflict, Shaw J. Dallal descries the tensions and cultural bonds that shaped the lives of Palestinians in exile. Thafer Allam is the son of a celebrated Arab resistance fighter against the British occupation of Palestine before World War II. With such strong Arab roots, his exile in the United States means that Thafer belongs to two different worlds, and returning to his homeland is difficult after years immersed in the culture of the West. His career in nuclear technology and law places him in a position of advising Arab governments on U.S.-related nuclear issues. Allam moves easily from the living rooms of the Palestinian ghettos to the offices of Arab ministers. With the 1973 oil embargo against the west underway, Allam tries to reconcile the pull of his Palestinian heritage with his ties to America.