"[5] It was published at a volatile time in the country's intergroup relations, involving the kidnapping/murders of Jewish students in the West Bank and an Arab youth in East Jerusalem, though prior to the July 8 outbreak of the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.
Kashua's concern for his family and despair at the Jewish-Israeli community's continued rejection of Arab-Israelis despite his 25 years of writing motivated his move to the United States.
In his Haaretz newspaper column, he wrote that "I'd lost my small war" and that he saw no hope of a world for his children where Arab- and Jewish-Israelis could coexist.
After reading The Catcher in the Rye, he discovered a passion for books and began writing himself, primarily about the Arabic narrative in a Jewish country.
Throughout the years, Kashua's fiction often uses stereotypical characters – caricatures of Jewish- and Arab-Israelis – to both foster familiarity with his audience and subvert the perception of these identities in real life.
[15] Kashua wanted to "tell the Israelis ... the Palestinian story",[12] and he does this by using "humor, sarcasm, and absurdity to appeal to readers and utilizes popular media such as television and journalism".
In a humorous, tongue-in-cheek style,[18] his column embedded political and social commentaries about problems faced by Arab-Israelis into anecdotes about parenting and day-to-day life.
[5] In one such piece, Kashua pondered one's ability to truly integrate into a new culture while recounting mundane yet familiarly realistic conversations between family members.
[19] He uses the perspective of his children to highlight the absurdity of social norms, such as his daughter's sad confession that she knows she will "always be an Arab" to the rest of Israeli society.
[citation needed] In his Haaretz article announcing his move to the United States, Kashua anticipated having to switch again to writing in English "about a far-off land in which children are shot, slaughtered, buried and burned", although "the readers will probably think I am a fantasy writer".
Amjad is a journalist working for a Hebrew newspaper (much like Haaretz) who desperately seeks to assimilate into the prevailing Israeli Jewish cultural milieu with mixed and hilarious results.
[23] In the auto-fictional drama The Writer [he] (2015), the character Kateb draws on his own experiences for his depiction of the turbulent daily life of a young Arab and his family living in Israel.