Encyclopedia of the Palestinians

This is a delightful book. “Delightful” is not a word I usually apply to encyclopaedias, but I am happy to do so for this one; and this even despite the rather intimidating subject of the Palestinians. In contrast to the stone‐throwing, gun‐toting, hysterical images we get on our television screens and newspapers, what we have here is a book which is attractive, easy to handle, urbanely informational and bursting with leads and references to other sources.

Abbas, Mahmud, is the first entry. The entry by‐line tells us he is also known as Abu Mazin, that he is an activist and...