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There is not much use today in lamenting such a statement as the Balfour Declaration. It seems more valuable to see it as part of a history, of a style and set of characteristics centrally constituting the question of Palestine as it can be discussed even today. Balfour’s statements in the declaration take for granted the higher right of a colonial power to dispose of a territory as it saw fit. As Balfour himself averred, this was especially true when dealing with such a significant territory as Palestine and with such a momentous idea as the Zionist idea, which saw itself as doing no less than reclaiming a territory promised originally by God to the Jewish people, at the same time as it foresaw an end to the Jewish problem. Balfour himself was quite clear about these matters. Note in the following extract from a memorandum he wrote in August 1919, how as a member of the Cabinet he was well aware of the various contradictory promises made to parties in the Middle East theater, and how what finally counted was not any violation of promises, but his (that is, his as a privileged member of a superior political, cultural, and even racial caste) sense of the important priorities:

The contradiction between the letter of the Covenant [the Anglo-French Declaration of 1918 promising the Arabs of former Ottoman colonies that as a reward for supporting the Allies they could have their independence] is even more flagrant in the case of the independent nation of Palestine than in that of the independent nation of Syria. For in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country, though the American Commission has been going through the forms of asking what they are. The four great powers are committed to Zionism and Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long tradition, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desire and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land. In my opinion that is right.

— The Question of Palestine by Edward Said (8%)

In Israel today it is the custom officially to refer to the Palestinians as “so-called Palestinians,” which is a somewhat gentler phrase than Golda Meir’s flat assertion in 1969 that the Palestinians did not exist.

— The Question of Palestine by Edward Said (5%)

Until today, it is a striking fact that merely to mention the Palestinians or Palestine in Israel, or to a convinced Zionist, is to name the unnameable, so powerfully does our bare existence serve to accuse Israel of what it did to us.

— The Question of Palestine by Edward Said (4%)

In sheer numerical terms, in brute numbers of bodies and property destroyed, there is absolutely nothing to compare between what Zionism has done to Palestinians and what, in retaliation, Palestinians have done to Zionists.

— The Question of Palestine by Edward Said (3%)

“To criticize Zionism,” Said writes, “is to criticize a wall of denials.” That is surely as true now as it was in 1979.

— The Question of Palestine by Edward Said (2%)

Munyon did not formulate his assorted homeopathic nostrums, pills and potions himself, but employed a large corps of “expert chemists and physicians” to do this for him. According to his slogans, within his cabinet of medicines, there was “A cure for every disease.” Quarter- and half-page advertisements recited a lengthy catalog of ailments and illnesses, everything from the common cold to jaundice, insomnia, cholera, headaches, piles, kidney disease, loss of “male vitality,” constipation, malaria and syphilis, for which Munyon provided remedies. For a mere 25 cents to $2 per bottle, customers were assured they would be relieved of their suffering. These pre-packaged remedies were never difficult to obtain and could be purchased at any drugstore or procured by mail order. Munyon even provided a free booklet, his Guide to Health, which showed customers how to select their own medicines and cure themselves. Astonishingly, Professor Munyon never had a single dissatisfied customer. This was not due to the overwhelming success of Munyon’s Remedies, but rather because James Munyon had, in the manner of the most influential “patent medicine men,” muzzled the newspapers by threatening to withdraw his lucrative advertising should a word be printed against him.

— Story of a Murder by Hallie Rubenhold (20%)

Skriver du för hand? Ingen skriver för hand nuförtiden, funderar Gazmuri, utan att vänta på Julios svar. Men Julio svarar, han svarar att han inte gör det, att han nästan alltid skriver på dator.

Gazmuri: Då vet du inte vad jag talar om, då känner du inte till kraften. Det kommer en särskild kraft när man skriver på papper, ett ljud från pennan. En märklig balans mellan armbågen, handen och pennan.

— Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra (Page 62)

De var femton år båda två när de blev tillsammans, men när Emilia fyllde sexton och sjutton var den klantige fortfarande femton. Och så vidare: Emilia fyllde arton och nitton och han femton, igen, tills hon blev trettio, för Emilia fortsatte inte fylla år efter trettio; inte för att hon då bestämde sig för att uppge en lägre ålder än sin riktiga, utan på grund av att Emilia några dagar efter att hon fyllt trettio år dog, och då fyllde hon inte fler år eftersom hon började vara död.

— Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra (Page 15 - 16)

I slutet dör hon och han blir ensam, även om han egentligen blev ensam redan flera år före hennes död, innan Emilia dog. Låt oss säga att hon heter eller hette Emilia och att han hette och fortfarande heter Julio. Julio och Emilia. I slutet dör Emilia; Julio dör inte. Resten är litteratur:

Första natten de sov tillsammans var en ren tillfällighet. De skulle ha tenta i Spansk syntax II, ett ämne som ingen av dem var särskilt bra på, men eftersom de var unga och i teorin redo att göra vad som helst, var de till och med redo att studera Spansk syntax II hemma hos tvillingsystrarna Vergara. Studiegruppen blev ganska mycket större än planerat: någon satte på musik, som sa sig ha för vana att plugga med musik, en annan hade med sig en flaska vodka och menade att det inte gick att koncentrera sig utan vodka, en tredje gick för att köpa apelsiner eftersom det var omöjligt att dricka vodka utan apelsinjuice. Klockan tre på morgonen var de fullkomligt packade och bestämde sig för att gå och lägga sig. Även om Julio hade föredragit att tillbringa natten tillsammans med någon av systrarna Vergara accepterade han snabbt att dela jungfrukammaren med Emilia.

— Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra (Page 11 - 12)