Arabic literature in Israel

Abstract

Arabic literature in Israel is still in its first stages of development. Yet this literature, now only 18 years old, is a true mirror for all the aspects of Arab life in Israel. It reflects the problems, hopes, opinions, feelings and character of the Israeli-Arab intelligensia in particular and the whole Israeli Arab community in general. The purpose of this article is not to venture any assessment of this literature, as it is almost all the product of young people just embarking upon rheir literary careers but to trace the initial steps that have been taken and to underscore certain characteristic features that can already be discerned. During the Mandatory Period in Palestine (1918-1948), the main themes in Arabic literature were politics, education and history, challenging the Jewish National Home in Palestine. When the State of Israel was established, the handful of Arab writers remaining within her borders, stopped writing, mainly for psychological reasons. The only group which represented a literary potential were the Communists, who soon resumed publication of their organ Al-Ittihdd. This, however, was a political journal, devoting little space to literature.