Upside-Down Love

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One of the most iconic and delicious dishes of Palestinian cuisine is the Maqlube. The expression of both abundance and frugality, the Maqlube can be made from scratch or with leftovers enriched by spices and colorful herbs, requires only one pot, cooks slowly, and its beauty relies as much on talent and imagination as on chance. Layers of vegetables and meats are organized at the bottom of the pot and interspersed with washed rice and fragrant broth. The result is revealed when the pot is turned upside-down and lifted, so that everyone can see what the bottom layer looks like at the top.

It seems most appropriate that Sari Bashi called her book Maqlube (upside-down in Arabic), a metaphor of her life and our times. While the hardship of living upside-down is difficult to fathom for those who don’t experience it, there is much readers can learn from the exercise of reversing our gaze on life, reason, and values. 

Join us for a conversation with Sari Bashi, author of the award-winning Hebrew-language memoir, Maqlube (English edition: Upside-Down Love, Blackstone).

Osama is a Palestinian professor, originally from Gaza, who cannot leave the West Bank city of Ramallah. Sari is an Israeli-American lawyer who petitions Israel’s Supreme Court for his right to travel freely. When the case began, neither expected to fall in love–and when it was over, nobody expected their love to endure. 

First published in Hebrew in 2021, Maqulube chronicles Osama and Sari’s romance, built across barricades, hatred, and war through the gentle exercise of intelligence, empathy, and imagination. Challenging societal, political, and legal paradigms, they also conjure new ways to understand love and coexistence.  The Hebrew, Italian, and Dutch versions have received critical acclaim.

Sari Bashi is an internationally renowned human rights lawyer, the former program director of Human Rights Watch, and the cofounder of the Israeli human rights organization Gisha. She is a graduate of Yale Law School and has previously clerked on the Israeli Supreme Court. She has taught international humanitarian law at Yale Law School and Tel Aviv University. She has also been a Jerusalem correspondent for The Associated Press and has appeared on and been interviewed by major English-language outlets. She and Osama (a pseudonym) are married and living in the West Bank.

Image: Muhammad al-Idrisi, World map, 12th Century