Haus Buku Islam

Muhammad book on hold in the UK

hausbukuislam — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:52:05 +0000

Sumber BBC News via Yahoo! Alerts

Sherry Jones has been heavily criticised for her book

The author of a controversial novel about the Prophet Muhammad has postponed its UK publication.

American writer Sherry Jones has also cancelled her promotional tour next week for The Jewel of Medina.

The novel, which focuses on Muhammad’s relationship with his child bride Aisha, has been dismissed by one academic as “softcore pornography”.

A member of staff at its UK publisher in London was recently targeted in a suspected petrol bomb attack.

Three men have since been arrested and charged with conspiring to damage Martin Rynja’s home and office.

Denise Spellberg, an associate professor of Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas, was quoted in the US media as saying the book took “sacred history” and turned it into “softcore pornography”.

It is not an easy call for any author, particularly in the case of a debut novel that attracts so much attention from the British media

Spokesman for publisher

A spokesman for Gibson Square Publishers said: “We respect Sherry Jones’ decision.

“In her view the best thing to do is to postpone her visit and the publishing of the novel in Britain.

“It is not an easy call for any author, particularly in the case of a debut novel that attracts so much attention from the British media.

He added that “despite the controversy of the past two weeks, Sherry Jones’ intention remains as it was from the start to engage with a current debate in a positive way”.

In August US publisher Random House decided not to release the book becaue of fears it could spark violence.

The novel was subsequently bought by Beaufort Books

Press Release: The Random House Group signs Webgains as affiliate network

hausbukuislam — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:18:17 +0000

Sumber : Yahoo! News via Yahoo! Alerts, Release Date: 21 October 2008

The Random House Group, one of the largest general book publishing companies in the UK, has signed an agreement with international affiliate network Webgains to represent its affiliate marketing program within the UK.

The affiliate program will be for rBooks.co.uk (www.rbooks.co.uk ), the official book shop for The Random House Group. It sells over 12,000 titles and provides exclusive author information, special offers and the newly released book-browsing widget. Webgains will be promoting opportunities for other sites to host click through banners to the rbooks website.
Joy Judge, e- commerce manager for The Random House Group, said the rationale for running an affiliate program for the first time was to expand brand awareness of the rbooks website and to tap into another area of online marketing.

She said: “The affiliate network is a great way to encourage authors and web users to link to the rbooks website. We chose Webgains to ensure we worked with a partner who was attentive, valued by affiliates and had innovative yet user-friendly technology.”

Robert Glasgow, Managing Director of Webgains is confident of The Random House Group’s future affiliate marketing success. He said: “If you look at online buying research you will find that books top the list of consumer purchases. Given the wide breadth of books and the calibre of rBooks.co.uk authors, this program will do well. Book publishers are often the most creative practitioners of online retailing, creating strong user-generated content and widgets. The Random House Group has tackled the challenge of a new route to market with innovation and professionalism.”

Webgains UK represents around 250 merchants, such as Cadbury’s Gifts Direct, Hawkins Bazaar, Tesco eDiets, Viking Direct, Matches Fashion and Maplin. The company is currently expanding its international reach having opened offices in Spain and the US in the last 3 months. The UK office has an exceptional reputation in the marketplace having been nominated in multiple categories for the a4uAwards (www.a4uawards.com) 2008, including Best Use of Creative, Best Network Innovation, Publishers Choice of Account Manager and Publishers Choice of Network.

-End –

Webgains

Founded in 2005, Webgains is one of the leading European affiliate marketing networks, providing a highly effective combination of user-friendly technology together with world-class client account management. With fully-localised platforms in the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Ireland and now the USA, Webgains is the fastest growing affiliate network, facilitating trans-national transactions for the benefit of both affiliates and merchants. Webgains is part of ad pepper media International N.V, the global online marketing specialist.

The Random House Group

The Random House Group is one of the largest general book publishing companies in the UK. The Group is based in London and has subsidiary companies in Australia, New Zealand and India, with a joint venture in South Africa called Random House Struik. The Group comprises six publishing companies with over 40 diverse and highly respected imprints and brand-name publishers including BBC Books, Jonathan Cape, William Heinemann, Chatto & Windus, Vintage, Corgi, Doubleday, Bantam Press and Virgin Books. Novelists published by the Group include Dan Brown, Jilly Cooper, John Grisham, Robert Harris, Mark Haddon, Ian McEwan, Andy McNab, Chris Ryan, Terry Pratchett and Ruth Rendell.Random House’s non-fiction publishing consists of broad general non-fiction and specialist categories such as cookery, gardening, travel and business books. Notable authors of non-fiction include, Bill Bryson, Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith. The Group’s classic backlist of over 6000 titles includes the works of Graham Greene, Iris Murdoch and Virginia Woolf amongst others. Random House Children’s Books publishes many bestselling writers including Philip Pullman and Jacqueline Wilson, the former Children’s Laureate. The Random House Group distribution business services its own imprints as well as 60 other UK publishers.

For further information contact:

Sheema Luca, International Marketing Director
Tel: +44 (0)207 269 1228
Email: sheema@webgains.com

Mafia book author in ‘great danger’ from mob: Rushdie

hausbukuislam — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:32:24 +0000

Sumber: Yahoo! News via Yahoo! Alerts Thu Oct 16, 1:17 pm ET

PARIS, Oct 16, 2008 (AFP) – British writer Salman Rushdie, who lived in hiding for years after an Islamic death threat, said Thursday that the Italian author of a book on organised crime is in far greater danger than he himself ever was.

“I met Roberto Saviano in New York in April. He’s an extremely pleasant, very intelligent man, but he’s in great danger,” he told France Info radio.

Saviano, the author of “Gomorrah,” said Wednesday he plans to flee his native Italy after learning that the Naples-area organised crime gang, the Camorra, wants him dead by the end of the year.

Rushdie said that “in April in New York, the FBI believed he was already in danger, because there is the mafia in the United States too.”

“Things are worse” for Saviano than for him, Rushdie said. “The mafia poses a much bigger problem than the one I had to face.”

Rushdie’s “Satanic Verses,” published 20 years ago, earned him an Islamic death threat and forced him to live in hiding under police protection for nearly a decade.

Some 1.2 million copies of Saviano’s book have sold in Italy.

Filmmaker Matteo Garrone’s screen version of the book won a major prize at the Cannes film festival in May and is in the running for an Oscar.

Muhammad-related novel published without incident

hausbukuislam — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:07:35 +0000

Sumber : Daily Magazine via Yahoo! Alert, Posted on Tue, Oct. 14, 2008

By Nicholas K. Geranios, Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. – Sherry Jones’ The Jewel of Medina reached bookstores Oct. 6 amid fears that the book about the Prophet Muhammad’s child bride might lead to violence and threats. But the author said she had received no threats and was spending the day quietly, except for talking to reporters and being photographed.Jones’ novel is about Aisha, who according to tradition was 9 when she became the wife of the Prophet Muhammad, and later a political and military leader in her own right.

“I’m going to a dinner party tonight, but it’s not in my honor or anything,” Jones said.

Jones said she first saw a hard copy of her novel the previous week while in New York.

“I burst into tears,” she said. “This has been my dream since the second grade.”

It was a fight to get The Jewel of Medina into print, though.

The original publisher, Random House Inc., backed out, fearing publication would spark violence because of its provocative topic. Company representatives said it had received what it called “credible” information that publication “could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.”

A smaller independent New York publisher, Beaufort Books, then agreed to publish the novel, and sped up the release date to Oct. 6 instead of the original Oct. 15 to “reduce or eliminate the chance of violence,” according to Eric Kampmann, president of Beaufort.

Publication in Britain remains in doubt after the arrest of three men in London in connection with a fire-bomb attack on the offices of publisher Gibson Square, which had announced intentions to bring out the novel. The offices of Dutch publisher Martin Rynja of Gibson were bombed Sept. 27. The book is still scheduled to come out in more than a dozen countries this month, including Serbia, Hungary and Italy.

Kampmann noted the London arrests and said, “What had occurred in London, we didn’t want to have occur here. We wanted people to have a chance to read the book. Once they read the book, we thought the violence part of this story would disappear and people would be focusing on the story, and the book and Sherry.”

Jones has already completed a sequel about Aisha’s adult life that Beaufort plans to publish next year.

Jones, who initially said she was “surprised” and “disappointed” by Gibson Square’s decision to postpone British publication, said she had received no information from the publisher on any plans to proceed. But she hoped that publication in the United States would finally show people that the book is not insulting to Muslims.

She has, however, decided to cancel a publicity tour to the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany to promote the book, according to Bookseller magazine.

“We respect Sherry Jones’ decision,” Gibson Square said in a statement quoted by Bookseller. “In her view the best thing to do is to postpone her visit and the publishing of the novel in Britain.”

Surah Yasin Dalam Kehidupan Sehari-har

opungregar — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 08:22:03 +0000

Yâ Sîn. Bunyi ayat pertama sekaligus nama surah ini merupakan panggilan kesayangan yang khusus Allah berikan kepada setiap hamba yang membacanya. Allah menyeru pembaca “Jantung Alquran” ini untuk
berjuang menyebarkan kasih sayang.
Ketika ditimpa berbagai penderitaan, seseorang memerlukan pijakan yang amat kuat, yang kukuh. Ketika dakwah Nabi Muhammad dilecehkan, dan bahkan Nabi sendiri mulai diserang, Surah Yasin diturunkan untuk memperkukuh basis perjuangannya dalam menegakkan keadilan dan kasih sayang, yang sering kali diringkas menjadi penegakan kebenaran.
Tuhan telah memberi kita kemerdekaan. Sayangnya, kita sering menyalahgunakannya. Bahkan, kita acap menggadaikan kemerdekaan itu dengan mengekor pikiran orang lain. Hidup kita pun sekadar peniruan
terhadap pikiran orang lain. Hasrat kita hanyalah kutipan belaka.
Surah ini memperingatkan kita agar mampu memilih kebenaran dan bisa memanfaatkan hukum ketertarikan untuk kesejahteraan hidup ini. Surah Yasin juga menyampaikan kabar bahwa dalam kehidupan ini kita senantiasa diiringi oleh utusan-utusan Allah. Utusan-utusan ini mengingatkan umat manusia agar selamat hidupnya. Sayangnya, banyak utusan yang didustakan oleh manusia yang ada di sekitarnya. Sayangnya, banyak pula orang yang minta diakui sebagai utusan Allah. Akhirnya, hidup ini tidak sepi dari konflik kepercayaan dan agama, dan saling menyesatkan.
Sebagai kupasan terakhir pada jilid pertama ini, manusia diajak berpikir untuk menemukan pijakan hitungan peredaran rembulan dan matahari agar sebagai umat Islam mereka bisa hidup bersatu dan damai
sejahtera.
Achmad Chodjim membuktikan bahwa Alquran tidak pernah ketinggalan zaman karena dalam buku ini dia mengaitkan Surah Yasin dengan isu aktual, seperti pemanasan global dan kekerasan dalam beragama.
Untuk informasi lebih lanjut klik www.serambi. co.id
Judul : Surah Yasin Dalam Kehidupan Sehari-hari, Pengarang : Achmad Chodjim, Halaman : 309/HVS
ISBN : 978-979-024- 030-8

REVOLUSI IQ/EQ/SQ

hausbukuislam — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 08:19:56 +0000

Menyingkap Rahasia Kecerdasan Berdasarkan Al-Quran dan Neurosains Mutakhir (Edisi 2008, hard cover)

Author : Taufiq Pasiak, Publisher : Mizan, Our Price : Rp. 102.600,00

Buku ini menyoroti dan menguak tirai misteri struktur dan fungsi otak yang amat kompleks, dengan menggunakan ungkapan yang mudah dicerna. Ia bahkan diperkaya dengan kajian metafisik di balik tirai struktural dan fungsional otak.
—Prof. dr. Soejono Aswin, Ph. D.
Guru Besar Anatomi, Embriologi, dan Antropologi Fakultas Kedokteran UGM

Buku ini adalah kacamata tembus pandang: sebelah kiri terbuat dari sains kedokteran dan sebelah kanan dari agama. Hanya kacamata jenis inilah yang dapat mempelajari manusia secara utuh. Apalagi memaparkan “pusat manusia”, yakni otak fungsionalnya …. Pantas dibaca siapa saja yang percaya pada kekuatan-dahsyat manusia.—Prof. dr. J.W. Siagian, Guru Besar Patologi Anatomi, Fakultas Kedokteran Universitas Sam Ratulangi, Manado

Selama ini kita lebih suka memakai otak rasional untuk berpikir dan melupakan otak intuitif dan otak spiritual. Buku ini dapat memberikan pencerahan tentang pengoptimalan seluruh kemampuan otak. Diharapkan buku ini dapat membawa bangsa ini ke arah yang lebih baik.—Prof. Ishak Pulukadang,Guru Besar Ilmu Politik, Universitas Sam Ratulangi, Manado

Buku ini berhasil menyajikan temuan dan riset ilmiah kontemporer di bidang psikoneurologi dengan bahasa yang ringan dan enak dibaca. Dengan latar belakang dokter serta mahasiswa pascasarjana di bidang ilmu kedokteran dan agama, Taufiq Pasiak berupaya mempertemukan hasil kajian deduktif berdasarkan Al-Quran dan kajian induktif yang berkembang dalam ilmu kedokteran. Ia juga memperkaya analisisnya itu dengan literatur filsafat dan psikologi sehingga buku ini memiliki keunikan tersendiri dibandingkan dengan buku-buku yang sudah ada.

Praktisi pendidikan dan orangtua perlu sekali memahami tema ini untuk mengantarkan terbentuknya generasi baru yang cerdas, humanis, dan religius.
—Prof. Dr. Komarudin Hidayat, Guru Besar Filsafat Agama, Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah, J

Masyarakat Muslim Inggris

hausbukuislam — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 08:15:32 +0000

Sumber : BBC Indonesia, Diperbaharui pada: 19 Agustus, 2008 – Published 18:03 GMT

Anton Alifandi
BBC Siaran Indonesia


	Brick Lane dari East London Mosque, salah satu masjid nesar London

Masyarakat Muslim Inggris sebagian besar terdiri dari para pendatang yang terutama berasal dari Pakistan, Bangladesh dan India.

Gelombang kedatangan para imigran Muslim Inggris bermula pada tahun 1950an dan 1960an, dan sampai sekarang warna anak benua India masih kental dalam identitas kaum Muslim Inggris.

Pemerintah Inggris sekarang getol mendorong pembentukan identitas Muslim yang khas. Apakah ini bisa terjadi dan bagaimana bentuknya?

Setiap hari Jum’at Masjid Brick Lane di London Timur dipenuhi jemaah yang datang dari jalan-jalan di sekitarnya dan bahkan orang-orang Bangladesh yang tinggal di bagian lain kota London.

Simak Bag 5 Laporan Khusus tentang Muslim di Inggris

Kecamatan tempat masjid ini berada, Tower Hamlets, lebih dari sepertiga penduduknya berasal dari Bangladesh.

Khotbah di Masjid Brick Lane disampaikan dalam Bahasa Bengali dan Bahasa Arab, tanpa sepatah kata pun dalam bahasa Inggris.

Tema menarik

Salah seorang jemaah, Jahangir Khan, rela melakukan perjalanan setengah jam setiap Jum’at karena khatib di masjid ini selalu mengucapkan tema-tema yang menarik dengan cara yang memikat.


	Keluarga muslim menunaikan salat di salah satu masjid London

Seorang jemaah lain mengatakan berbeda dengan Masjid East London yang letaknya tak sampai satu kilometer dari Brick Lane, Masjid Brick Lane tidak mendapat bantuan asing dan sepenuhnya dibiayai oleh masyarakat setempat.

Masyarakat Muslim keturunan Bangladesh termasuk di antara kelompok masyarakat termiskin di Inggris, dengan capaian pendidikan yang lebih rendah dari rata-rata.

Di Brick Lane, lagu-lagu religius berbahasa Bengali mengalun dari luar toko yang menjual buku-buku agama dan kebutuhan ibadah lainnya.

Di kanan kiri jalan, terdapat banyak toko dan restoran yang menjual kebutuhan masyarakat asal Bangladesh.

Kehidupan komunitas Muslim di daerah ini bersifat mono kultural dan mono lingual dengan ikatan yang masih sangat kuat dengan negara asal mereka. Tak sampai sepuluh kilometer ke arah Barat, irama yang mengalun sudah sangat berbeda.

City Circle

Tak jauh dari stasiun kereta api Marble Arch, di tengah kota London, sebuah kelompok profesional muda Muslim mengadakan acara mingguan, malam itu mereka menghadirkan seorang penulis yang baru saja menerbitkan bukunya.


	Pendidikan menjadi isu penting di City Circle

The City Circle adalah sebuah jaringan profesional yang sebagian besar terdiri dari kaum Muslim yang acaranya membahas tema-tema seperti pendidikan, pekerjaan, soal integrasi, masalah ekstremisme, maupun masalah spiritualitas dan agama.

Dengan jasnya yang parlente dan kaca mata desainer, ketua yayasan City Circle, Asim Siddiqui, berpenampilan seperti umumnya para eksekutif di pusat keuangan kota London. Dia seorang akuntan yang bekerja di sebuah perusahaan jasa keuangan.

“Cara kami berdiskusi di sini mendorong peserta untuk mengajukan pertanyaan. Pesertanya pun sangat beragam, kami tidak punya keanggotaan resmi, ada Muslim konservatif ada pula yang liberal, selain itu kalangan non Muslim.”

“Yang juga penting bagi kami adalah agar komunitas non Muslim bisa melihat bahwa masyarakat Muslim bisa berdiskusi secara terbuka dan kritis terhadap mereka sendiri,” kata Asim Siddiqui.

Lebih dari separuh peserta yang hadir malam itu adalah wanita, sebagian berjilbab sebagian tidak.

Karena diskusi diadakan dalam Bahasa Inggris, pendatangnya pun terdiri dari anak-anak muda Muslim yang berasal dari berbagai negara.

Islam di Indonesia

Apakah acara City Circle menggambarkan komunitas Muslim Inggris di masa depan? Dr Musharraf Hussain adalah seorang hafiz, pendidik dan salah seorang ketua UK-Indonesia Islamic Advisory Group yang dibentuk mantan Perdana Menteri Tony Blair dan Presiden Yudhoyono.


	Banyak orang mengaku terkesan dengan kehidupan muslim di Indonesia

Dia terkesan sekali melihat Islam di Indonesia yang sudah mempunyai identitas tersendiri.

“Saya kaget sekali melihat bedug besar di Masjid Istiqlal, yang tidak akan mungkin terlihat di Timur Tengah, bisa-bisa dianggap bid’ah besar yang harus dikutuk,” katanya.

Agama Islam sudah berabad-abad menyebar di kepulauan Nusantara, sedangkan di Inggris, sampai tahun 1951 diperkirakan hanya terdapat 21 ribu warga Muslim.

Jumlah itu sekarang meningkat pesat menjadi sekitar 1,6 juta jiwa, terutama karena kedatangan para pekerja dari Pakistan dan Bangladesh.

Jadi bagaimana identitas keislaman Inggris. Apakah Islam di Inggris mempunyai identitas yang khas?

“Kami berusaha menciptakan identitas itu, Insya Allah. Itulah salah satu keindahan Islam, dimanapun Islam menyebar, Islam bisa menyesuaikan dengan lingkungan setempat tetapi sekaligus membentuk masyarakat di sana.”

“Saya kira cirinya adalah sifatnya dinamis, perpaduan antara sifat-sifat keinggrisan seperti demokrasi yang berhasil dan ajaran Islam, sifatnya terbuka dan mau berinteraksi dengan berbagai pihak,” kata Musharraf.

Ciri-ciri fisik identitas kaum Muslim Inggris, seperti bentuk masjid atau bedug belum terlihat, tetapi sifat-sifat yang diinginkan sepertinya sudah mulai terbentuk

Kampanye pemilu 2009 dimulai

readingcomunity — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 08:13:13 +0000

Diperbaharui pada: 08 Juli, 2008 – Published 11:12 GMT

Sumber : BBC Siaran Indonesia, Posting, 31 Agustus 2008


	Parpol pada pemilu 2009 berjumlah 34 sementara thaun 2004 berjumlah 24 partai

Kampanye bagi pemilihan umum 2009 secara resmi dimulai hari Sabtu 12/7 dimana pemilu akan diikuti 34 partai.

Partai peserta pemilu bertekad untuk melaksanakan kampanye secara santun, tertib dan damai.

Namun dengan begitu banyaknya partai yang berusaha untuk mendapatkan dukungan, bagaimana menurut anda, apakah kampanye akan bisa berlangsung tanpa gangguan.

Apakah kampanye di dalam ruangan seperti yang dimulai minggu ini akan berguna bagi masyarakat luas untuk bisa mengetahui keberadaan partai ?

Selain nama-nama partai yang sudah diketahui masyarakat banyak seperti PDI-P, PPP, PKB, PAN, Partai Demokrat, dan Golkar, partai-partai baru harus bisa mengyakinkan masyarakat untuk memilih mereka.

Apa saja yang harus dilakukan berbagai partai tersebut untuk menarik perhatian anda ?

Kirim pendapat anda

Email : indonesian@bbc.co.uk

Telepon : 0800 1401 228 (Selasa dan Jumat, Pukul 18.30 dan 20.30 WIB)

Tulis komentar di kolom samping dan jangan lupa nama serta asal kota anda.

Tidak semua pendapat yang masuk ke redaksi akan dimuat dan BBC Siaran Indonesia akan melakukan edit seperlunya bagi pendapat yang masuk.

3 men in court charged with publisher attack plot

hausbukuislam — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 06:43:38 +0000

Sumber :Charlotte Observer via Yahoo! Alert By ROBERT BARR, Associated Press Writer, Posted: Friday, Oct. 03, 2008

LONDON Three men charged with plotting to attack the publisher of a novel about the Prophet Muhammad’s child bride made a brief court appearance Friday after being charged with plotting to damage the offices of Gibson Square publishers.

Ali Beheshti, 40, Abrar Mirza, 22, and Abbas Taj, 30, Beheshti also were charged with possession of a weapon designed or adapted for the discharge of a noxious liquid or gas – reportedly a gasoline bomb. No one was injured in the incident.

The suspects were returned to jail and their next court appearance is set for Oct. 17.

They were arrested early Sept. 27 under anti-terrorism laws, but were not charged with any terrorist offenses.

Gibson Square had announced on Sept. 8 it would publish “The Jewel of Medina” by U.S. author Sherry Jones. The novel is focused on the prophet’s wife Aisha, who according to tradition was 9 when she became the wife of the Prophet Muhammad.

Random House Inc., backed off plans to publish the book in the United States citing credible threats the book “could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.”

In 1989, mass protests worldwide followed the publication of Salman Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses,” because it allegedly insulted Islam. Rushdie lived in hiding and under guard for years after Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, called for his death.

Rushdie joined in criticism of Random House, his publisher, for dropping Jones’ book. “This is censorship by fear, and it sets a very bad precedent,” he said in an e-mail to the AP earlier this year.

U.S. publisher Beaufort subsequently said it would publish the book on Oct. 15 but on Thursday moved the release date up to Monday in an effort to reduce the chance of violence. As of Friday morning, the book was No. 435 on Amazon.com.

On Tuesday, a report on The Bookseller magazine Web site said Martin Rynja, which owns Gibson Square, was reconsidering whether to go ahead with the book.

Borders UK and Amazon have said they intend to stock the book, while the Blackwell’s chain is leaving the decision to individual shop managers. Waterstone’s has said it had not decided what it would do if the book was published, but that the safety of its staff would be a consideration.

Book ban ends rare Arab-Israeli cultural exchange

hausbukuislam — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 05:57:51 +0000

Sumber : Yahoo! News via Yahoo! Alerts, By Joseph Nasr Tue Sep 30, 10:41 PM ET

HAIFA, Israel (Reuters) – For 15 years Israeli Saleh Abbasi has traded books between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors, fostering a rare cultural link.

But in August Israeli authorities suddenly refused to renew his trading license because he was trading with “enemy” states Lebanon and Syria, frustrating both Abbasi’s business and the Arab and Israeli readers he has helped interest in each other’s literary traditions.

“How can the People of the Book be against books?” Abbasi asked, evoking the Jewish Bible as the first monotheistic holy text. “Books are a bridge to peace between cultures.”

An Israeli Trade Ministry spokeswoman declined to explain the timing of the ban. But she cited a recent legal opinion that forbade importing goods from four countries Israel views as enemies — Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Israel has no diplomatic ties with Beirut or Damascus, so 57-year-old Abbasi uses Jordan and Egypt, the only Arab nations to sign peace deals with the Jewish state, as conduits.

Abbasi’s original aim was to cater for Israel’s 1.2 million minority Arab citizens, many of whom feel the perpetual absence of relations between Israel and its neighbors denies them cultural and ethnic ties to the Arab world.

But he branched out, and over the past 10 years has sold over half a million copies of some 16 Hebrew titles to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Arab countries, where the translated books reach Arab readers mainly through public libraries and universities.

FROM FACT TO FICTION

Most are biographies of famous Israeli statesmen and military commanders, such as former prime ministers David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir, or former armed forces chief Moshe Dayan, the general with the iconic eye patch.

But Abbasi has noticed a shift in Arab readers’ tastes in Hebrew books. Last year, he sold over 30,000 copies of seven novels by Israeli writers in 15 Arab countries, including Syria and Lebanon.

“Arab readers … are over the know-your-enemy mentality. Nowadays they want to know what Israeli novelists write about,” Abbasi said.

Prominent Israeli actress Gila Almagor, whose semi-autobiographical novel Abbasi translated into Arabic and sold in Arab countries, said the decision to ban books from Syria and Lebanon was “arbitrary and stupid,” especially as translation is funded by Israel’s National Lottery.

“When I was told that my book would be translated into Arabic it was very emotional for me,” said Almagor, whose book “The Summer of Aviya” depicts her childhood with a mother driven to insanity by their experiences during the Holocaust.

“My story is universal and I always believed that publishing it in Arabic would help give Israel and its people a face, an image other than that of the conflict,” Almagor said.

From his office in an Arab neighborhood near the Port of Haifa, Abbasi said the ban would have a major impact on his business, given that Lebanon translates and prints more books in Arabic than any other country.

Lebanon’s Publishers’ Union said the country publishes 3,000 new titles every year, surpassing Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

“Children’s books like Pinocchio and Harry Potter and thousands of works in many fields are translated and printed in Arabic only in Lebanon,” Abbasi said.

“MORE THAN DISAPPOINTING”

Among Abbasi’s recent imports is “Gate of the Sun,” a novel by Lebanese author Elias Khoury that explores the suffering of Palestinian refugees. The book, which Saleh translated into Hebrew, has been a hit with both Arabic and Hebrew readers.

“The ban is more than disappointing. It’s a shock, especially for people like me who know that the best Arabic books come out of the capital of Arab culture, Beirut,” said Ya’akoub Hijazi, an ardent reader of Arabic poetry and literature who is a 60-year-old Arab citizen of Israel.

Rana Idriss, manager of Lebanese publisher Dar al-Adab, said the ban was disastrous for business because Arab Israeli and Palestinian booksellers were a large chunk of her clientele.

“It’s not a democratic step at all by a country that says it’s open to thought,” Idriss said. The ban amounted to “war” on Lebanese culture and Arab thought, she said.

In Syria, publishing firm Dar Cana’an translates and prints more than 15 Hebrew titles under government supervision, including some by renowned Israeli writer Amos Oz, Abbasi said.

Dar Cana’an’s manager Saeed Barghouti said Israel’s decision showed it had no interest in peace with Syria and Lebanon.

Abbasi said the ban could mean the end of his business.

“If the ban is final — and I plan to go all the way to the High Court — I have two choices: close or leave the country.”

(Editing by Opheera McDoom and Catherine Evans)