Unveiled: How an American Woman Found Her Way Through Politics, Love, and Obedience in the Middle East

Written by Deborah Kanafani

Narrated by Suzanne Toren

In the early 1980s, Deborah Jacobs was an ordinary Lebanese American college student from Long Island, New York. By the end of the decade, she would bear witness to the making of international history. Her story begins in graduate school: through a series of chance encounters, young Deborah was introduced to Marwan Kanafani, a dashing former soccer star turned high-ranking Palestinian diplomat who was working at the United Nations. A political dynamo with movie-star charm, Marwan swept Deborah off her feet and into a marriage that kept her in the company of diplomats, dignitaries, world leaders, international glamour and intrigue. Although exciting, this lifestyle also isolated Deborah increasingly from her independent, American way of living, creating a rift that would end their marriage. Marwan's profile was on the rise, and with it came a number of crucial connections for Deborah: while his involvement with the PLO intensified, eventually resulting in his appointment as senior advisor and spokesperson for Yasir Arafat, she formed friendships with such women as Suha Arafat, Queen Dina of Jordan, and other women married to Arab leaders. After her divorce, when these women agreed to tell their stories of struggle and survival for a book, Deborah traveled to the Middle East to record them, planning to join her children, who were on the West Bank visiting their father. To her shock and horror, he refused to return the children to her. Deborah stayed in the Middle East for several years to be near her children, finding strength in the women whose lives she documented and whose incredible stories are told in this book. She was eventually able to arrange the return of her children when they were evacuated to another country during a Palestinian uprising. The story of her journey, intertwined with those of the wives of the Arab leaders, takes the reader into an otherwise inaccessible and cloistered world populated by larger-than-life characters living out all-too-human dramas. Culture, politics, and family collide in this gripping front-row perspective of the Middle East conflict and of the courageous women working behind the scenes for peace and challenging the patriarchal traditions of their homeland.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 18, 2008
• ISBN: 9781436115773

Reviews for Unveiled

[mahallett · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

this seemed to be a look who i know. maybe it was just a piece of reporting on people you don't hear too much about in the middle east. she implied times were tough but drove a mercedes! yasir arafat's wife did seem to get a bum deal so it was interesting to see another side of her.

[puddintame-358807 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Deborah Kanafani is a Lebanese-American who married a high-ranking Palestinian official, and close confidante of Yasir Arafat. Through their marriage, divorce, and subsequent custody fight, she met with an array of people involved with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. During her marriage, she lived in the US with her children; when her husband seized custody of them, she moved to Ramallah in Palestine to be with them, and ironically, became much more involved Palestinian affairs than she was during her marriage. Her accounts of brave, defiant women struggling for more freedom within their culture, a better future for their people, and peace are fascinating. She became close friends with Raymonda Tawil, Palestinian activist, and her daughter Suha, controversial, independent wife to Yasir Arafat. She met Dina, the first queen of King Hussein of Jordan, as well as Toujan al-Faisal, the first Jordanian woman legislator. A unique perspective on some of the movers and shakers, as well as a heart-felt plea for compromise and peace. Kanafani includes a lengthy list of websites of organizations striving for peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

[bluesviola · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

no where near as good as "Leap of Faith" Interesting for ladies going through a tough divorce, may give some perspective of a "worst case" scenario.

[jeanie1_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

insipid, shallow, why was this book published?