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Knowing Palestine Better: It is time to reread Palestine outside of its political context

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This post is also available in: العربية (Arabic) اردو (Urdu)

“A poem exists only in the relation between poet and reader. And I’m in need of my readers, except that they never cease to write me as they would wish, turning their reading into another writing that almost rubs out my features. I don’t know why my poetry has to be killed on the altar of misunderstanding or the fallacy of ready-made intent. I am not solely a citizen of Palestine, though I am proud of this affiliation and ready to sacrifice my life in defending the radiance of the Palestinian fact, but I also want to take up the history of my people and their struggle from an aesthetic angle that differs from the prevalent and repeatable meanings readily available from an unmediated political reading.”

— Mahmoud Darwish, Palestinian Poet

“When the story is truly threatening, the writer is marginalized, either deemed a “political” writer or put in a box to be safely celebrated as some sort of “minority” writer.”

— Rabih Alameddine, Lebanese Novelist

Not long ago, I pursued an MA in Arabic Literature. I remember getting into debates about the role of Literature in society. I remember, after a year of studying a range of theories in Comparative Literature, I read a piece from Gayatri Spivak’s Death of a Discipline where she declared, “theory is dead.” I was not so much mad at Spivak than I was with my classmates for agreeing with her conclusion. A lively discussion ensued.

I believe there is always a new way of thinking, a new way to tackle a tired subject, a new way to understand. I spent a lot of time thinking about and writing on Palestinian Literature. Today, I still sit and theorize. I theorize on the different ways one can read Palestine. Palestinian Literature is rich with multiple experiences detailing the complexity of the human condition. Themes range from alienation and displacement to nostalgia and identity.

Source: ArabLit

Yet, Palestinians are continually demonized to the point, as demonstrated by recent events in Gaza, that they are responsible for their own deaths. As I sit down and write this, I realize I have to explain a Palestinian is a human being. I have to explain a human being’s sense of humanity. I am writing to explain a Palestinian is an individual who has a right to self-determination. I feel as if I am writing against many narratives that reduce my ancestry to a seventy-year conflict. The Palestinian voice is silenced by condemning a universe of souls to a single story. I know Palestinians are highly nuanced, complex human beings; it is about teaching others how to recognize their internal pluralities. The Palestinian people are afforded the right of complexity.

I think. I read. I remember. There are multiple voices that have and are contributing to the humanity of Palestinians. I am reminded by Emile Habiby in The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimist, “Conquerors, my son, consider as true history only what they themselves fabricate.”

Source: Fabingo.com

Born and raised in the United States to a Palestinian woman from Bethlehem, I am never going to understand the realities of what my people face. That is why I read. I reflect on the words of Mahmoud Darwish’s poem Identity Card:

“Record! I am an Arab
I have a name without a title
Patient in a country
Where people are enraged
My roots

Source: Medium

Were entrenched before the birth of time
And before the opening of the eras
Before the pines, and the olive trees
And before the grass grew ”

His words can be interpreted within a political framework, arguably making the case for Arab Unity, or if one chooses as a tool for the Palestinian cause. I choose to reread and do so closely. As Darwish writes, “My roots/Were entrenched before the birth of time…./Before the pines and the olive trees.” Darwish is transcending the political construction of Palestine by connecting his experience to the earth. It is about transcending borders. Stating “I am Arab” is not an association with a nation, but with a land, a history, predating the nation. My people were here before the olive tree became a national symbol of resistance. My people were here when the olive tree’s sole purpose was to provide sustenance and shade.

Palestinians are more than a death count. Palestinian Literature is also more than the multiple national symbols it produces. It is time to reread Palestine outside of its political context. Mahmoud Darwish, Samira Azzam, Ghassan Kanfani, Fadwa Tuqan and other writers knew we did not need a scriptural text to make us aware our roots traverse multiple histories. I read closely.

I look at the real implications of how language is used and interpreted and how it limits the meaning of a text. It is as if we can only see Palestinian work in light of a conflict and can only use literary theory to elucidate the conflict further in our minds. I read.

I read to remember the humanity of my people. I immerse myself in their daily interactions and their internal struggles which are laid out in the world on multiple sheets of paper. People have the responsibility to reach out and look past the cover. Open up and recognize it is a human being staring back at you from the page.

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