In a reference to Walid Khalidi's book Before Their Diaspora: A
Photographic History of the Palestinians, 1876-1948, the French
newspaper Le Monde Diplomatique wrote: "We have all heard of 'a
land without a people for a people without a land.' This book comes
as the living proof to discredit this argument." The photographs in
Khalidi's book depict a vital society active in all areas of life:
on farms, in factories and construction sites, in demonstrations,
cinema houses, health clubs, social evenings, weddings, and
cultural and artistic activities. In fact, many renowned artists
and writers of the Arab world visited or performed in pre-1948
Palestine - Um Kalthoum, Naguib al-Rihani and the writer Tawfiq
al-Hakim - testament to the existence of a well-established society
and to a rare dynamism, in spite of the historical context and the
looming disasters.
Films
I recently came across a 1937 copy of An-Nafir newspaper, which
used to be published in Haifa. The issue featured photos of
Palestinian Arabs appearing in front of the Palestine Royal
Commission in the wake of the 1936 Great Revolt. But what really
captured my attention was an advertisement inviting the public to
purchase shares in the Arab Cinema Company Ltd., registered in
accordance with the 1929 company law. It was the first project of
its kind in Haifa, with a capital of 5,000 shares valued at one
Palestinian guinea a share. The advertisement goes on to assure the
Arabic public of the solidity of the shares and their high-yield
interest, exhorting them to "invest in a bid to reinforce the Arab
economic infrastructure." This might seem an insignificant piece of
information; its import, however, lies in the fact that it
demonstrates a recognition that the film industry forms part of the
economic life of nations.
In his well-researched book entitled Palestinian Cinema in the 20th
Century, Bashar Ibrahim states that the history of Palestinian
cinema dates back to 1935, when Ibrahim Hassan Sirhan filmed a
20-minute documentary about the visit of King Saud to Palestine.
Sirhan also produced a film under the title Ahlam tahaqaqat (Dreams
Fulfilled), with the participation of the Palestinian singer Sayed
Haroun. Two other films followed: Fi laylat el-eid (On the Night of
the Feast) and Assifah fil-bayt (A Storm at Home). During those
days, Egyptian films were also shown in Palestinian cinemas,
notably Ibn al-sahra (Son of the Desert), starring Badr Lama, an
artist of Palestinian origin who, in collaboration with his brother
Ibrahim Lama, is credited with the founding of Egyptian
cinema.
Literature
The history of Palestinian literature formed part of the wider
literature of the Arab nation. The term "Palestinian literature"
was not used until after the end of Ottoman rule and the arrival of
European colonialism, with the subsequent division of the Arab
world into states and spheres of influence. With the dispersal of
the Palestinians, a bulk of their writings was lost - some
completely - or perhaps for some reason or another they have not
been discovered yet. Only four years ago, I learned of the
publication of the poetry of the Palestinian poet Ahmad Hilmi Abdel
Baqi, whose poems were found 40 years after his death. This led to
the re-drawing of the map of Palestinian and Arabic poetry in the
first half of the 20th century, as Abdel Baqi was a distinctive
poet who composed all his poetic output in quatrains.
Translations
During the 19th century, a great number of translations into Arabic
were done by Palestinians. What paved the way were the missionaries
and the spread of more than one language - French, German, English,
Italian and Russian. Several pioneers in literary translations
appeared on the scene, such as the Palestinian dramatist Khalil
Beidas, who in 1908 founded the newspaper An-Nafa'es. Others were
Salim Qub'ein and Anton Ballan - in addition to the many
translators of articles and stories.
In 1889 Khalil Beidas translated three Russian works, among them
Pushkin's The Captain's Daughter. Najati Sidqi translated works by
Turgenev, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Gorky and Chekov. Translations from the
English also appeared by the hands of Ahmad Shaker al-Karmi, who is
credited with being the father of translation in the Arab world.
The translated output included works from English, French and other
languages, namely, Wilde, Melville, Shelley, de Maupassant, Tagore
and Twain. Anbara Salam Khalidi translated the epics the Iliad, the
Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid. Jamil al-Jowzi and Nasri al-Jowzi
translated dozens of plays from the English. Adel Zu'aiter, for his
part, translated from the French a number of important literary
texts by Voltaire, Rousseau and Anatole France, as well as the
complete works of the social psychologist Gustave Le Bon. Finally,
in 1938, Amin Abu al-Shi'r translated Dante's Divine Comedy
(Inferno). All this activity was documented by Hussam al-Khatib in
his book about translation in Palestine, where he also notes that
the Palestinian newspapers and magazines in the 1930s were full of
translations. Research indicates that the number of newspapers and
periodicals - literary, political, economic and sports magazines -
published in Palestine between 1871 and 1948 reached 190.
Drama and the Novel
Again going back to Khalidi's Before Their Diaspora, we get
acquainted with a life filled with dramatic activity. The
pioneering figure in this genre was Jamil al-Bahri, a Palestinian
dramatist who died in 1930 and has 12 plays to his name. Nasri
al-Jowzi wrote 17 plays, Istfan Salem eight plays and Asma al-Toubi
four. Before 1948, there were more than 30 Palestinian theater
troupes in Jerusalem alone.
The Palestinian novel saw its emergence in the 1920s. Khalil Beidas
wrote al-Warath (The Inheritor) in 1920, and also in 1920 appeared
the novel al-Hayat Ba'da al-Maout (Life after Death) by Iskandar
al-Beit-Jali. But it was only in 1946 that the modern Arab novel
made its real appearance, in the form of Jabra Ibrahim Jabra's
novel Surakh fi-Layl Tawil (A Scream in a Long Night).
Literary Criticism
Among the first Palestinian critics was Rouhi al-Khalidi, who
published his book Tareekh 'Ilm al-Adab 'Inda al-Franj wal- 'Arab
(A History of the Study of Arab and Foreign Literature) in 1904; it
was preceded in 1902 by a booklet entitled Victor Hugo: Batal
al-Hurriya wa Sha'er al-Faranciyeen fi-Qarn al- Tase' 'Ashar
(Victor Hugo: Champion of Freedom and Poet of the French in the
19th Century). Palestinian criticism later on played an important
role in Arabic literature, with two prominent Palestinian critics
backing the Modernist movement in poetry; they were Ihsan Abbas and
Jabra Ibrahim Jabra. The arrival in 1948 of the latter in Baghdad
was tantamount to an artistic storm. The Iraqi poet and formal
critic, Farouq Yusef, notes that "Jabra dragged with him the thread
of his freedom from Jerusalem to Baghdad, to Beirut. And this
thread illuminated his artistic life just as a lantern illuminates
the dark." Jabra's creative talents and innovative poetry were
widely anticipated by his peers. The 1950s bear witness to the
important transformation he brought into the artist's outlook on
life and, conversely, into society's outlook on art.
One remembers all this on the occasion of the passage of 60 years
since the loss of Palestine and, at the same time, appreciates the
fact that the Palestinians managed to avoid falling into
despondency. Instead, they have been able to come up with artistic
and literary achievements, creating an inspiring culture, in spite
of the setbacks that have been plaguing them for over 100 years.