Will iconic images recorded in the grooves of an ancient vase unite the Holy Land or rip it further apart?

THE VASE

A novel by Mark M. DeRobertis

Muhsin Muhabi is a Palestinian potter, descended from a long line of potters. His business is run from the same shop owned by his ancestors since the day his forebears moved to Nazareth. The region's conflict saw the death of his oldest son, and rogue terrorists are in the process of recruiting his youngest in their plot to assassinate the Pope and Israeli prime minister.

Professor Hiram Weiss is an art historian at Nazareth’s Bethel University. He is also a Shin Bet operative on special assignment. With the help of fellow agent, Captain Benny Mathias, he plans to destroy the gang responsible for the death of his wife and only child. He puts a bomb in the ancient vase he takes on loan from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.

Mary Levin, the charming assistant to the director of Shin Bet, has lost a husband and most of her extended family to recurring wars and never-ending terrorism. She dedicates her life to the preservation of Israel, but to whom will she dedicate her heart? The brilliant professor from Bethel University? Or the gallant captain who now leads Kidon?

Harvey Holmes, the Sherlock of Haunted Houses, is a Hollywood TV host whose reality show just flopped. When a Lebanese restaurant owner requests his ghost-hunting services, he believes the opportunity will resurrect his career. All he has to do is exorcise the ghosts that are haunting the restaurant. It happens to be located right across the street from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.




Monday, April 1, 2013

Edits Are In

Friday night, just as I hoped, the second round of edits for The Vase returned. It's interesting, too, because I had just found out that the Mossad is Israel's foreign intelligence agency, and Shin Bet, or Shabak, is Israel's internal intelligence agency. And since Nazareth is internal, I should be using Shin Bet, or Shabak, instead of Mossad. So it's no problem to just change every use of the word Mossad to Shin Bet. Or Shabak. Or maybe just refer to it as the Israel Security Agency. Or the ISA. Hhmmnnn, so which name do I use?

To be clear, in English, it's the Israel Security Agency, or the ISA. But in Hebrew, it's a lot of Hebrew words which I won't even try to write here, or even in my book. But Shabak is the acronym for it. And Shin Bet is the first two Hebrew letters for it, you know, the abbreviation, like the CIA or FBI. So they call it Shin Bet, but according to Wikipedia, it's better known as Shabak, but since my book is in English, perhaps I should just call it the Israel Security Agency, and the ISA.

More people are familiar with Mossad, though, and I wish I could just call it that. But there's a new documentary/movie out now, called The Gatekeepers, and even though I haven't seen it yet, I'm told it features Shin Bet. Or Shabak. I'll have to see it, and then I might have a better idea how I should refer to it. Shin Bet, or Shabak, or the Israel Security Agency.

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