LITERATURE AND NATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST

marginal literatures of the middle easta Hebrew novel in 1966. But Anton Shammas is one of a group of Palestinianwriters – NaÆim ’Araydi, Nazih Khayr, Siham Da’ud, Samih al-Qasim,Muhammad Hamza Ghana’im, Salman Masalha – who are translating betweenArabic and Hebrew, and writing poetry in Hebrew. All were born after thefoundation of the State of Israel. The revival of Hebrew was a pillar of twentiethcenturyZionism. The incoming Jewish migrants came speaking numerouslanguages. Just as a people needed an exclusive territory, so they needed anexclusive language. Other languages associated with Jews – Yiddish or Ladino –were seen as languages of the Diaspora. Hebrew would help to cement the newnation. Conversely many Arabs outside saw the adoption of Hebrew as alanguage of literary expression by Palestinians as a kind of cultural treason. ButPalestinian Hebrew is not simply an attempt to challenge and undermine theJewish monopoly of the Hebrew language. It is an example of an interactionbetween Arabic and Hebrew culture that is taking place in contemporary Israel,that defies mainstream Arab and Israeli ideologies. ‘I do not know’, NaÆim’Araydi has written, ‘if I, who write in Hebrew, am writing Hebrew literature.But I do know that I am not writing Arab literature in Hebrew’ (Elad-Bouskila1999: 146).Palestinians choose to write in Hebrew out of convenience rather than forideological reasons. This should not come as a surprise. The Palestinians in Israelhave, like Arabs in most other countries, enjoyed universal schooling in the lastgeneration. In their case they have learned Hebrew from primary school. Theylive in a Hebrew-medium environment. All their dealings with police andofficialdom are in Hebrew. They are exposed every day to radio and televisionin Hebrew. Palestinian lawyers, doctors, civil servants and academics have towork in Hebrew. In all this their situation resembles that of North Africans fiftyyears ago. Hebrew for Palestinians, like French for North Africans, is theimperial language, the language of access to authority. The isolation of Palestiniansfrom the rest of the Arab world has made Hebrew an inescapable option asa language of literary self-expression. The language has become internalised.Unlike most of the Israelis of Iraqi origin who have shifted from Arabic toHebrew, the Palestinians are not writing exclusively in Hebrew or abandoningthe use of Arabic. But do we define the novels and poetry produced by IsraeliPalestinians as Arabic literature? Israeli literature? Hebrew literature?Enough has now been said to indicate that there is a huge amount of what Icall marginal literature emanating from the contemporary Middle East. It mayalso be defined as the literature of exile, of ghurba, of ightirab. This may includeArabs expressing themselves in French, English or Hebrew – or, like the SyrianRafik Schami, in German. It may be the literary expression of minorities whohave been eclipsed. It may be Israelis and Palestinians indulging in linguisticcross-dressing. Is it valid to group these disparate writings under one label?— 187 —www.taq.ir