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Based on true events, this novel delves into the profound and disturbing themes surrounding the Nakba (the Catastrophe), the mass displacement and expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in 1948 and 2002.
As I read this eloquent, lyrical, and thought-provoking novel, my thoughts kept drifting to Gaza, where genocide against Palestinian children and families continues.
The story follows the life of the Abu Heja family, who lead an idyllic life in a small Palestinian village called Ein Hod in 1941, before the Nakba is destroyed. The story is set as the family patriarch, Hajj Yahya, prepares to harvest olives from the family’s orchard. As the family loads their old truck with their harvest of olive oil, almonds, figs, citrus fruits, vegetables, and grapes, one can’t help but feel uneasy about what is about to happen. Yahya is worried because one of his sons, Hassan, wants to go to a distant market to sell their produce.
“You know I’d rather you didn’t go all the way to Jerusalem,” Yahya said to Hassan. “Tulkarem is only a few kilometers away, and gas is expensive. Even Haifa is closer, and the markets there are just as good. Why travel so far?” But Hassan longed to meet his best friend, a Jewish boy named Ali. Ali’s family had fled the Nazis in the 1930s, and their friendship had endured despite the growing divide between the Zionists and the Palestinian people. The story of the friendship between the two young boys is a tale of lost innocence, similar to the friendship they might have had if the Zionists hadn’t ethnically cleansed the Palestinian people and seized their land. Decades later, after war had divided the two young friends, Hassan told his young daughter Amal about his Jewish friend Ali with sadness and regret. “He was like a brother,” Hassan said.
Yahya understood better than most the Zionist motives for attacking the British in Mandate Palestine. He told his wife, “Don’t you hear on the news every day that the Zionists are killing the British and Palestinians every day? They want to get rid of the British so they can get rid of us, but everyone is too stupid to see that and to do anything about it.” And so it turned out.
The book opens with a beautiful Bedouin girl named Dalia, whom Hassan falls in love with and marries despite the fact that his mother and the women of the village despise this headstrong, free-spirited girl. Dalia is unwilling to abide by the stifling rules set by her father and the women of the village. An Arab boy teaches her to ride a horse, which is a taboo in itself. One day, she secretly borrows the horse, but is accused of stealing it by the boy’s mother. The women of the village are furious and demand that she pay for yet another act of perceived rebellion. Her father feels humiliated and decides to punish his arrogant daughter cruelly. He drags her to the center of the village and burns Dalia’s hand holding the horse with a branding iron. Dalia refused to submit, and instead of screaming or asking for mercy, she showed her defiance “The burning metal burned the skin of Dalia’s right palm, but she made no sound… She gripped the torture device tightly in her hands, gritting her teeth, tears streaming down her face.” Dalia’s refusal to submit to the tyranny of her father and the women of the village parallels the plight of the Palestinian people, who will never give up their right to self-determination despite the brutal Zionist genocide currently taking place in Gaza.
Susan Abuhawa is an American Palestinian who experienced Zionist colonial rule firsthand, and she tells the harsh realities of the time with a unique and honest perspective. Mornings in Jenin draws you in from the first page. It gives you an unforgettable and vivid insight into life in the Jenin refugee camp. The book is beautifully written, with lyrical and poetic prose. It is haunting and deeply moving. If you want to learn more about the truth behind the Palestinian conflict and the human cost of war, this book is highly recommended.
The author is the former president of Cambridge University in the UK.
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