Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Why, oh why, do they fawn over people like this? Jordan's Queen Rania rejects offer to publish Hebrew edition of her children's book
The book, which has reached the New York Times' bestseller list, touches on such issues as getting to know others, openness and multiculturalism.
Queen Rania of Jordan has turned down several offers to publish a Hebrew version of a children's book she recently wrote. The book, which was published in the United States by Hyperion under the title "The Sandwich Swap" for children between 4 and 8 years old, was co-written with Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Tricia Tusa...
Excuse: 'Well...you know...her society has problems and we have to be sensitive to that, so let's just overlook this little matter..' Sure, when you're one of the Queens of the Nazis you have problems. We're supposed to overlook that?
Update [h/t: Hillel]: Queen Rania's people deny she was even asked. (Can I sue Haaretz for getting me and my commenters all excited?): Jordan Queen Rania never got offer to publish Hebrew translation of her book, say official sources
...Official Jordanian sources on Thursday denied a recent Haaretz report that Queen Rania had turned down several offers to publish a Hebrew version of a children's book she wrote.
Official Jordanian sources said that Rania had never received such an offer from Israeli publishers, adding that requests like these would have been sent directly to the U.S. publisher and not to the writer herself...
...The sources stressed that Jordan was as committed as always to dialogue and tolerance, messages central to the story written by the queen...
Jordan is "palestine".
aaarrgggghhhhhhhhhhhhh.
This really makes me kind of ill.
Sophia,
Feel the reality.
This is what a lot of Israelis initially besotted with a "there are moderates with whom we can exchange kindness and consideration" have discovered, that it does not exist where a millennial culture cannot tolerate the existence of others.
The West is so enamored of half or quarter American Queen Noor, she could take a dump on a piece of posterboard and the NYT would declare it a Summer Must Read. Am I the only one who finds it funny that Arabs greatest contribution to world literature in the last thousand years is a childrens' book? Put all those copies to good use and air drop them on the heads of Hamas. They might hit someone.
Trudy,
Queen Noor was 1/4 Arab ancestry, not 1/4 "American." And the writer in question here isn't Noor, it's Queen Rania.
As for the Arab contribution to literature, well, there's Kahlil Gibran, Naguib Mahfouz, Adonis, the playwright Ali Salem, all of whom I knew of, plus a host of others.
See www.infoplease.com/ce6/ent/A0804478.html
See the update. She denies she received any request for a Hebrew translation. The original Haaretz story was crap.
Was the original story really crap? Then there should be no problem if Israeli publishers approach the American publisher about a deal for a Hebrew version. If it's such a warm, fuzzy book about tolerance and multi-culti, printing it in Hebrew should please her majesty. The story ain't over till it's over—either there a Hebrew version comes out or it's clear there won't be one. (There are ways to block it without going on record as saying no.)
It would have been nice if the initial story had given some attribution or sources. Maybe the story just stretched things a little. The queen (or her flacks) could have been approached informally and responded like that. That she denies it now doesn't mean it isn't true.
Let's put it this way. If this had come from a "right wing" outfit like Arutz7 I would have been much more cautious in my language and display of ire if I posted at all. But because it was Haaretz I accepted that the underlying message of outrage MUST be correct, right? Turns out there wasn't enough information to go with the story (the implied story).
Could it still be true? It could, but this never should have gone up unless someone checked. The implication was that she REFUSED to have the story published in Hebrew, but that's a fact not actually in evidence.
Let's not quibble over whether Haaretz should have run the story. Nappy's glad they did, triggering the queen's denial. So now let's see what happens. Publishing a Hebrew version of a kids' picture book is pretty routine. Will an Israeli publisher be able to get a deal?
Maybe this little keruffle is part of a plot to build buzz for the book here and in Israel. No publicity is bad publicity.
Queen Rania always planned to publish a copy in Hebrew if there developed a demand for it.
This was horrific and irresponsible publishing by Haaretz and the others who picked up this story without first investigating. Unidentified sources make this claim and Haaretz jumps all over it. For a so called progressive newspaper Haaretz really dropped the ball.