Leading Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury dies at 76

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Leading Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury dies at 76

2024-09-15 20:52 Last Updated At：21:00

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury who dedicated much of his writings to the Palestinian cause and taught at universities around the world, making him one of Lebanon’s most prominent intellectuals, has died. He was 76.

Khoury, a leading voice of Arab literature, had been ill for months and admitted and discharged from hospital several times over the past year until his death early Sunday, Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily that he worked for said.

The Lebanese writer, born and raised in Beirut, was outspoken in defense of freedom of speech and harsh criticism of dictatorships in the Middle East.

In addition to his novels, Khoury wrote articles in different Arab media outlets over the past five decades making him well known throughout the Arab world.

Two days after the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7, Khoury wrote an article in Al-Quds A-Arab daily titled “It’s Palestine.” Khoury wrote then that “the biggest open-air prison, the besieged Ghetto of Gaza, has launched a war against Israel, occupied settlements and forced settlers to flee.”

Born in Beirut on July 12, 1948, Khoury had been known for his political stances from his support of Palestinians to his harsh criticism of Israel and what he called its “brutal” settling policy in Palestinian territories. He studied at the Lebanese University and later at the University of Paris, where he received a PhD in social history.

"The Catastrophe began in 1948 and it is still going on,” he once wrote referring to Israel’s settlement policies in occupied Palestinian territories. The “nakba,” or “catastrophe” is a term used by many Arabs to describe the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians when Israel was created in 1948.

Khoury was an outspoken supporter of Arab uprisings that broke out in the region starting in 2011 and toppled several governments.

“The question is not why the Arab revolts broke out,” Khoury wrote after uprisings that toppled long-serving leaders such as Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. “The question is not how people tore down the wall of fear but how fear built Arab kingdoms of silence for five decades.”

Khoury, who belonged to a Greek Orthodox Christian family, took part in Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war and was wounded in one of the battles.

From 1992 until 2009, Khoury was the editor of the cultural section of Lebanon’s leading An-Nahar newspaper. Until his death, he was the editor-in-chief of the Palestine Studies magazine, a bulletin issued by the Beirut-based Institute for Palestine Studies.

His first novel was published in 1975, but his second, Little Mountain, which he released in 1977 and was about Lebanon’s devastating civil war was very successful.

Bab al-Shams, or Gate of the Sun, released in 2000, was about Palestinian refugees in Lebanon since 1948. A movie about the novel was made in Egypt.

His novels were translated to several languages including Hebrew.

Khoury also taught at different universities including New York University, Columbia, Princeton and Houston, as well as the University of London.

Analysis: Spats, shoves, snubs and smapbacks have permiated the NFL sidelines in 2024

2024-10-15 17:55 Last Updated At：18:00

Some of the NFL's biggest moments of late have come not on the field but the sideline.

Spats. Shoves. Snubs. Snapbacks.

It started with Aaron Rodgers refusing a bro hug from Robert Saleh after a touchdown in September before things went sour at the the New York Jets training center.

Two instigators who raised eyebrows in Week 6 quickly backtracked with Maxx Crosby denying his two-handed shove to the chest of an assistant Raiders coach was out of malice and Eagles coach Nick Sirianni apologizing for taunting his own fanbase at the Linc following a narrow win over the Browns.

Jerry Jones had a very unhappy 82nd birthday watching his Cowboys' fourth straight home loss, a 47-9 thrashing from the Detroit Lions. But Jones said after the worst home loss since he bought the team in 1989 that he's not considering dumping coach Mike McCarthy like Woody Johnson canned Saleh five days earlier.

Dallas' home skid includes lopsided losses to the Packers in the playoffs and the Saints this season along with a 28-25 loss to the Ravens after falling behind 28-6.

So, Saleh's stunningly early pink slip heading into Week 6 with the Jets just one game out of first place in the AFC East didn't lead to any copycats like so many other things in NFL do — at least not right away.

Rodgers and Saleh made light of their awkward moment in the aftermath of their rout of the Patriots, but the laugh track ended following two subsequent ugly offensive performances in back-to-back losses and Saleh was shown the exit as he was preparing the Jets for their showdown against the Bills on Monday night.

Rodgers insisted he played no role in Saleh's firing, which came as Saleh was reportedly considering stripping Nathaniel Hackett of his offensive play-calling duties, something Jeff Ulbrich did in his first major move as interim head coach on Thursday.

Ulbrich replaced Hackett with Todd Downing, the Jets’ passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Hackett — who is close to Rodgers from their time together in Green Bay — chose to remain with the team and retained his offensive coordinator title.

Rodgers, who nearly had his first 300-yard passing game since 2021 in New York's 23-20 loss to Buffalo on Monday night that dropped them to 2-4, said during the week that he takes a lot of the blame for the team's struggles and feels some responsibility for the changes because he hasn’t played up to his standard.

Rodgers, by the way, levied some serious criticism at the officials Monday night for throwing 22 combined flags for 204 penalty yards: “It seemed a little ridiculous. Some of them seemed really bad. Including the roughing passer on me. That’s not roughing the passer.”

Sirianni apologized Monday for gesturing and jawing at fans in the final moments of a win during which restless fans booed a listless performance and “Fire Nick!” chants permeated pockets at Lincoln Financial Field. After the team's fourth win in its last dozen tries, Sirianni defended his antics, saying he was simply “excited” to get a victory. He added the Eagles “don’t necessarily like it” when fans boo at home games.

Sirianni struck a conciliatory tone for his behavior a day later after his boorish behavior was ripped by fans and media.

“I was trying to bring energy yesterday. Energy, enthusiasm,” Sirianni said Monday. “I’m sorry and disappointed at how my energy was directed at the end of the game. My energy should be all in on coaching, motivating and celebrating with our guys.”

The Raiders have been the among the league leaders in drama this season with Devante Adams' trade request, a quarterback shuffling and now their superstar Crosby shoving Mike Caldwell, the Raiders' run game coordinator and linebackers coach, during the Raiders' 32-13 loss to the Steelers.

Crosby called it a “love push” in a post on X, and also addressed the situation at his locker with reporters after the game, saying, "Mike Caldwell is a great dude. We have a great relationship, and we do that all the time. ... That's how we play football. We're grown men. We're alpha males. We don't greet each other the same.

“So ... like he was just hyping me up and I hyped him up like, 'Let's go!' We're down, but it just showed that we're not quitting. And so that was literally all it was,” Crosby added. "... The camera, they made it look bad. It looked like I was throwing him out the club but that was not what happened at all.”

A week earlier, the Raiders lost in Denver, where Bo Nix clapped back at coach Sean Payton, who laid into his rookie quarterback as he retreated to the sideline following an off-script incompletion in the end zone.

Payton called his passionate reaction “my love language," and added that Nix still has “some Ferris Bueller in him," a babyboomer jab that made a lot more sense Sunday when the Broncos offense took much of the day off in their loss to the Chargers, falling behind 23-0 in the fourth quarter. At halftime. Nix had just three completions for 22 yards, plus an interception that safety Elijah Molden returned 25 yards.

With contributions from AP Pro Football Writer Dennis Waszak Jr., and AP Sports Writer Dan Gelston.

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