IN OUR OWN WORDS...

Translated by J. Baker

In speaking with Palestinians from different circumstances West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem; men and women; refugees and non-refugees; Muslim and Christian Palestine Report is providing a forum for expression of the wide range of experiences and opinions in the Occupied Territories. This week, we speak with novelist and state-prize winner for literature.

Name: Ahmad Harb

Date of birth: 1951

Place of birth: Thahriyya

Occupation: Professor of English Literature / writer

I was born in Thahriyya and spent my childhood and adolescent years there and as you know, childhood is the spring of all experiences, so those years carry a special importance to me. After I graduated from high school in Hebron, I got a scholarship because of my high Tawjihi scores, to attend the University of Jordan. There I studied English literature and finished my undergraduate work in 1974. I later obtained my Masters degree in literature in 1979 from Roosevelt University in Chicago after which I returned to Palestine to teach at Birzeit University. One important event which changed the course of my life was the opportunity to attend an international writing program in the University of Iowa. That program is what changed the focus of my study and work from literary criticism to creative writing. After the course I applied for the Ph.D. program in the university and in 1986 received my Ph.D. in literature. Since then I have been a full time professor at Birzeit in the Department of Language and Literature.

When did you write your first novel?

It was in 1981 and it was actually in response to a novel written by an Israeli novelist who was with me in the international writing program in Iowa. My novel is called Hikayet Aa'ed (The Returnee) and it revolves around the occurrences of the 1948 war, or what we Palestinians call al-Nakbeh (the disaster). The Israeli novelist had written a novel called The Ants, which, if seen from a political perspective, is also about the same period but from a totally different perspective. Anyway, the novel is about a young man, Aa'ed who lost his entire family in the war in one of the massacres which actually occurred in al-Dawaymeh near Hebron. The boy, who was only a child, lived by a miracle. The rest of his family and neighbors were ordered to line up and were shot at point range, but because he was shorter than the rest, he was able to survive save for an injury to his ear. Pretending to be dead, he waited for the Israelis to leave and then managed to walk to a neighboring village where he was picked up by the Red Cross. He ends up in the village of al-Ain where he is exploited and used by the village mukhtars. He marries the daughter of a sheikh and becomes obsessed with the building of a house, which in the end he is able to achieve. However, his house comes under the attack of snakes whose numbers become uncontrollable. The people of the village start to believe that he is like a plague in their village and the only way to rid themselves of this plague is to rid them selves of him. So they decide to burn down the house, thus getting rid of the snakes. He refuses and throws himself on the house which burns down over him.

The theme of struggle and belonging are highly significant in the book; two things which were of great importance at that time. The Israeli novel The Ants is also about a house newly inhabited by a young married couple. The house soon gets invaded with ants which the couple can not exterminate even with the most modern of weapons until finally the ceiling of the house collapses over their heads.

I believe the ants are representative of the Palestinians who refuse to leave and the Israelis who are faced with this small but insistent enemy. The ants are a symbol of the Palestinians ability to survive.

How many novels did you write in all?

I wrote four novels, the last three being part of a trilogy. All of my novels deal with Palestine and the Palestinians failure in giving our internal problems enough attention. In my opinion the Palestinians are facing a multitude of problems largely due to the fact that we look for excuses for our problems from the outside. We use scapegoats and refuse to see our part in it. My novels deal with this issue from both a political and social level. For example my second novel, Ismail deals with the Palestinian revolution after its maturity as opposed to The Returnee which was in the period be fore revolutionary awareness. Although Ismail deals with the revolution, it has an equally significant importance having to do with the Palestinian revolutionary mentality. Ismail is a rebel who has embraced the ideology of armed struggle. Ismail is the symbol of the Palestinian leadership who sacrificed but failed because it did not learn from its own history. It ignored the internal aspects of the society and did not realize the dynamics of the armed resistance. At that time I was highly influenced by the well-known Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani and my novel was effected by his Men in the Sun and All that Remains. The novel shows Ismail's inability to deal with the confiscation of his land by the Israelis and his father working on that same land but for the Israelis building settlements. He can not deal with his sister's pregnancy from her university professor who names her dead child after her brother. Ismail escapes to Jordan where he is imprisoned by them also and is confused by the intelligence men with the dead baby Ismail and is released. He becomes frustrated and angry with everyone and everything around him.

I have tried to portray the true sentiments of the Palestinian people though my novels. I have also tried to show the desperation and disintegration of the society as a whole. The two novels which followed Ismail , a-Janeb al-Akhar l'Ard al-Miyad, 1990 (the Other Side of the Promised Land) and Baqaya 1997 (Remains) continued to portray the political and social situation of the Palestinians, and I must say that unfortunately they ended on a very bleak note. In all I wanted to show that everything is falling apart. My last novel is about the present situation and how everything is upside-down and fragmented; not only the homeland but the people. Even my protagonists are fragmented- Ismail and Aa'ed do not look into themselves to find the truth and that is why they fall.

Do you write anything other than novels?

Of course, my main interest is in literary criticism since that is my field of study. But I am also interested in journalism because I feel it is close to my interest in critical writing. I write for local papers, such as my weekly article in al-Ayyam and I also write for international journals. My essays deal with both the political and social aspects of the Palestinian society.

Any new novels on the horizon?

Of course, a writer never stops being a writer and there is always the possibility of creating. Yes, I do plan to write more novels but I still can not say what they will be about because, like most writers, the story is first conceived in my head and according to my creativity and inspiration,. I write. How did it feel to win the state prize? Pretty good considering that the state prize for the novel is the highest prize in the country so naturally I am pleased. Technically I won it for my novel Al-Janib al-Akhar l'ard al-Miyad but in reality the novel cannot stand alone since it is part of a trilogy. I must admit, the feeling of winning is a good one. It is not only a benefit to my reputation but it is very flattering to see the attention it has received among so many people.