On a busy day, The Educational Book-shop on Salah Eddin Street in East Jerusalem feels more like a think-tank than a store. Visitors come and go: foreign activists browsing books, pilgrims looking for postcards and researchers seeking a conversation. Stocking texts from poetry by the local Palestinian activist Mohammed el-Kurd to recipe books, and analysis by Israeli scholar Ilan Pappé, the shop has become a focal point for East Jerusalem’s cultural, political and academic circles.
‘In 1997, the First Intifada began and many people came to the city, including human rights activists, aid workers and journalists,’ says owner Imad Muna. ‘The bookstore has become an important symbol of cultural resistance, providing a space where Palestinians can celebrate their heritage and share their stories with the world.’
Corroding a capital
In recent years, however, the Muna family has noticed a marked decline in sales, fuelled chiefly by a new and evolving consumer culture in the city. ‘It is becoming increasingly difficult to shop
