Covert Contact 86: Bullets of Palestine
Howard Kaplan discusses Bullets of Palestine, the uneasy bond between its Israeli and Palestinian protagonists, and the possibilities and limits of reconciliation through espionage fiction.
Howard Kaplan returns to discuss Bullets of Palestine, an espionage novel built around an uneasy relationship between an Israeli operative and a Palestinian writer. We explore how he combines the history of Abu Nidal’s violence with fictional characters whose loyalties, mistrust, and personal experiences resist an easy division into opposing camps.
The conversation centers on the relationship between the two men and the possibility of understanding another person without resolving the conflict around them. Kaplan describes how the Palestinian writer’s outlook was shaped in part by a real literary figure, while the fictional relationship develops under pressure from the mission and the larger political struggle. Cooperation does not erase grievance, and shared danger does not automatically produce complete trust.
We also discuss the forces working against reconciliation. Hardliners on different sides have reasons to resist compromise, and people trying to establish a more humane relationship must operate within those constraints. What interested me in the novel was its attention to individual people: weary, imperfect characters looking for a way through a conflict that offers them few comfortable choices. The hope in their relationship remains grounded in the difficulties surrounding it.
Kaplan talks about his writing process, the long intervals between books, and returning to characters at different points in their lives. He also discusses the film adaptation of The Damascus Cover, which was approaching release at the time of this November 2017 conversation. A recollection about John Hurt’s involvement brings us back to the theme running through the interview: people who have spent their lives confronting one another recognizing the tragedy of still being trapped in the same struggle.
The result is a conversation about espionage fiction, the use of history in storytelling, and what a novelist can reveal by keeping attention on the human beings inside a persistent political conflict.