“Returning to Haifa”

1. “Returning to Haifa” Ghassan Kanafani

2. SETTING: HAIFA http://maps.google.com/maps?q=haifa&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&ll=32.83164,34.979353&spn=0.015217,0.027466&t=h&z=15&iwloc=addr

3. About Haifa • 3rd largest city in Israel; Largest city in northern Israel • More than 264,000 people • Mixed Jewish and Arab population • Built on the hills of Mount Carmel • A major seaport on Israel’s Mediterranean coast

4. BACKGROUNDWhat do you already know? • Palestine / Palestinian people • Zionism / Zionist movement • 1948 Arab-Israeli War • 1949 UN Armistice Line (Green line) • 1967 Six-Day War

5. Palestine / Palestinian People • Geography of Palestine • Generally, the region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River • Broadly, it includes contemporary Israel, Palestinian territories, parts of Jordan, and parts of Lebanon and Syria • Palestinian people • the Arabic-speaking population living in Palestine • Predominantly Sunni Muslims, with a small minority of Christians

6. Zionism / Zionist Movement • Jewish tradition of linking the Jewish people and the Land of Israel • International political movement • Seeks to reestablish a homeland for the Jewish People in Palestine • Support for the modern state of Israel

7. 1948 Arab-Israeli War • Support for Zionism increased after WWII, particularly among Jewish Holocaust survivors (consider “The Name”) • The United Nations proposed dividing Palestine into separate Jewish, Arab, and international states. • Arab population rejected the plan; fighting later erupted between Jewish and Arab Palestinian forces • The fighting resulted in the exodus of more than 700,000 Arab Palestinians

8. 1949 Armistice Line (Green Line) • Israel took control of the western part of Jerusalem, while Jordan took the eastern part, including the old walled city containing important Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious sites. • From 1948 to 1967, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, was ruled by Jordan. • Palestine remained divided in this way until the outbreak of the Six-Day War in 1967.

9. 1967 Six-Day War • In addition to East Jerusalem, Israeli forces captured the Sinai peninsula, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights. • Mandelbaum gate was the main passage between West Jerusalem (belonging to Israel) and East Jerusalem (belonging to Jordan) • The gate was torn down by Israeli forces, thus “reuniting” Jerusalem • Borders were thus “reopened”; those who had been previously exiled were allowed to return to see their homeland. • This is where the story “Returning to Haifa” begins.

10. About the story: “Returning to Haifa” • Explores the personal suffering behind the decades-old Middle East conflict, from both an Israeli and Palestinian perspective. • The story opens with Said and Safiyya, an Arab couple, as they drive toward Haifa. • Through flashbacks, we learn that Said and Safiyya fled from Haifa during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War; they settled in Ramallah in the Jordanian-controlled West Bank • After 20 years in exile, Said and Safiyya return to Haifa in 1967 after the Six-Day war and the reopening of Haifa’s borders.

11. About the Author: Ghassan Kanafani • Palestinian writer • During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, his family was forced into exile; he was 12 years old • They fled to Lebanon, and then settled in Syria to live as Palestinian refugees • Educated and began writing while in Syria • Wrote short stories, novels • Literary techniques: complex narrative structures, using flashbacks and multiple narrators • Published “Returning to Haifa” in 1969 • Assassinated in 1972

12. Return to Haifa: The Play • The short story was adapted by an Israeli playwright Boaz Gaon • The play was performed in April 2008 in a theatre in Jaffa, south of central Tel Aviv. • Pictures taken April 14, 2008. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (ISRAEL)