In this 1948 photo from the UNRWA archive, Palestinian refugees stand outside their tent in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. (photo credit: AP/UNRWA Photo Archives)
The end of World War II marked the end of an era in many ways but one of those ways was that this was effectively the end of large empires and distant colonies. One of the most famous examples of this dissolution of imperial power was the British Empire. Before the war, it maintained colonies all over the globe. One of these colonies was the territory known as Palestine and under the British rule, it was home to a majority of Arabs. Following WWII, this area became the source of heated debate as Jews became a united voice in the international arena asking for a state of their own. While the issue is much more historically complex, these are the roots of our modern Arab-Isreali conflict.
Kanafani’s “Returning to Haifa” looks at this conflict through the context of personal narratives which I thought was particularly helpful in understanding the day-to-day thoughts of the people who found themselves in the midst of a terrible situation. There are two situations that Kanafani addresses in his writing that I think are especially important to this discussion of displacement. The first is the plight of those Arabs who were forced out of their homes and the second is the plight of those unique few who were allowed to stay but were faced with an entirely new world around them.
The text starts out with the recollections of Said and his wife, Safiyya, as they return to see their old home in what became Israel. They have been exiled from Haifa for 20 years and they are still very distraught by the violent upheaval that forced them from their homes. It is here we learn that, as the British were dissolving their colonies, they quietly told the Haganah (a Jewish faction within Palestine) that they were removing their troops early which led to this brutal assault on the city as the Haganah fought to secure the city for themselves. This sudden exile of Said and Safiyya forced them to leave behind, not only their home and everything they know, but also their only son. They go on to live their lives in exile and eventually have other children, but they carry with them the guilt and trauma of this sudden departure as quite evident in the descriptions of their demeanors. Kanafani writes of Safiyya: “It [Safiyya’s suffering] was with her in every bite of food she took and in every hut where she had lived and in every look she cast at her children and at him [Said] and at herself” (152). This suffering consumed Safiyya and it is evident that Kanafani sees this as a common experience, not the exception to the rule.
Kanafani also tells the story of one of Said’s friends, Faris, who returned to his old residence with righteous indignation to find a man living there. The surprise comes when the man is not a Jew but a fellow Arab who welcomes Faris into his old home. What strikes Faris is that the portrait of his brother, Bakr, is still hanging in the same place on the wall. To the new residents of Faris’ old home, the image of Bakr was not just a symbol of Arab pride and resistance; he was a friendly face, a fellow Arab in a nation given over the Jews as a consolation prize. The man living in Faris’ old home even named one of his sons after Bakr and stated, “… we [his family and the portrait] are all one family. We have lived together for twenty years” (177). While it was very uncommon that an Arab would be permitted to stay in Palestine, this story illustrates the hardship that comes from staying and suddenly being thrust into the minority. The fact that he would cling to this image of a person that he doesn’t know but has some cultural connection to is very powerful.
The photo that I chose for this post depicts a mother and young child, both of whom appear to be utterly distraught. I though that this accurately described the emotion that I felt when I read the accounts of the Said, Safiyya and Faris. They were all wrought with emotion and confused by the sudden political upheaval. I also thought that this photo was significant because it is such a quintessential “refugee picture” and I don’t think that we tend to view Arabs from Palestine in the same context that we might view other refugees because of the complexity surrounding the “need” for Jews to have their own nation following WWII. They are simply the collateral damage of these international power-plays.
It is hard to think about experiencing either of these situations today, partly because they are wrought with emotion and controversy but also because they are a result of rapid decolonization, a process that we simply don’t see manifest in modern times. Still, this controversy over Israel/Palestine is very prevalent in world politics today, especially in discussions over whether or not nations recognize the sovereignty of Israel or a nations stance on nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. These are still complex issues that we are grappling with every day. However, in the midst of these political agendas, the most important thing is that we remember, as historians, as human beings, that those people whose lives were completely reshaped by this violent shift were regular people, each of whom possessed their own powerful story.
Sources:
Photo- https://www.timesofisrael.com/un-photo-archive-tells-story-of-palestinian-refugees/
Returning to Haifa by Ghassan Kanafani- https://www.brown.edu/academics/south-asia/sites/brown.edu.academics.south-asia/files/uploads/Kanafani%20Palestine%27s%20Children.pdf
For more background on Kanafani- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghassan_Kanafani
For more stories from those exiled from Palestine in 1948 see the following video- http://www.palestinedocs.net/collecting-stories-from-exile-chicago-palestinians-remember-1948.html
I like your final connection which brings an abstract story and focuses it back in reality. I agree one of the most valuable things that historians can do is make history relatable. In doing so those exposed to this history experience the emotions behind the events, and emotions evoke actions.
I think the photo you chose was very powerful, and it really emphasized the pain and suffering that accompanied the events we read about. I agree that reading experiences makes the situations a lot more real, rather than just the numbers or abstract events. I think it’s important that we remember these things today, because this conflict is still a prevalent issue in politics today.
How much power did the Palestinians lose by becoming the minority in Israel? If Palestinians had been allowed to stay would their current power be any different than it is today?
Do you think the feeling of Palestinian’s as being one family with those who lived in the house before was key to their identity? If they didn’t have this feeling do you think they would have lost their sense of being a Palestinian?
I think you did a great job on this post and I agree with others that the image you chose is very powerful. One thing that I would mention is that the Zionist movement had been presenting a unified call for a Jewish state in Palestine for decades before the end of WWII as seen in documents like the Balfour Declaration and the work of the World Zionist Organization.