Abstract
Palestinian narrative comes to reflect the reality of a nation under dislocation, Diaspora, and reshaping the indigenous identity. The Palestinian narratives always attempt to show part of the Palestinian suffering and struggling under the Israeli occupation. This study traces the life of a family, it is Abulheja’s during three generations as presented by Susan Abulhawa’s “While the World Sleeps” as the title of Arabic version, and it has other versions in English entitled ‘Mornings in Jenin’ or ‘Scar of David’, (2006). The study addresses the postcolonial concepts of dislocation, Diaspora, exile and reshaping the Palestinian identity of people/place in Susan Abulhawa’s “Mornings in Jenin”, it is a story of a Palestinian family living in the refugees’ camp of Jenin from 1948 to the beginning of the third millennium, 2002. It does not only represent the life of Abulheja’s family, it is a story of a nation, living in the refugees’ camp: Jenin refugees’, being strangers, even in their home. Many members of the family are killed, and many members of Palestinians’ identity are reshaped to avoid killing while a large group of Palestinians leave their country to America to fulfill the American dream of hope and happiness, and freedom and fairness as expected. However, their Journey to America and Europe may not help them to forget their traumatic past or start a new life away of nostalgic/collective memory and homeliness. The result showed the suffering and struggling of the Palestinian families, lacking the urgent needs of daily life. The study found the Jewish state worked on reshaping the cultural, religious, national, political and indigenous identity of the Palestinian people/place to fulfill their expansionist project of politico-historical domination, giving no serious considerations to the particularities of the indigenous people. The narrative showed that the indigenous identity of Palestinians had been reshaped and a lot of them left their home to places safer to live as strangers, away of their home.
Highlights
Palestinian fiction is not like the other ones which are formed by releasing imagination and giving it a larger space in writing the narrative
The establishment of Israeli state has changed their entire lives and led to an organized ethnic cleansing practiced against the Indigenous people of Palestine, enforcing global Diaspora upon the remainders
Most of the members have been killed by the Israeli bullets as Dalia, Fatima and her babies, and Amal who thinks her living the American dream and American identity may protect her from the Israeli snipers’ bullets or it may protect her from the miserable nostalgia
Summary
Palestinian fiction is not like the other ones which are formed by releasing imagination and giving it a larger space in writing the narrative. Nov. 15, 1988, Yasser Arafat, the chairman of PLO, had taken more courageous steps by declaring an independent Palestinian state that led Israel in 1991 to begin direct negotiations with Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan sponsored by USA and Russia in Madrid, Spain It was known by Madrid peace Conference. It signed peace treaty Oct. 26, 1994, with Jordan, including stop the threats or use the force against the other, terminate the economic boycotts, solve the problem of refugees from 1967 and 1948 Another agreement known with Oslo II Accords (Sep. 28, 1995) was singed between Israel and PLO which gave Palestine control over West Bank and Gaza. Mornings in Jenin (2006) tells us about a Palestinian family, Abulheja’s, the story of three generations They were enforced to move from their home, olive farming village of Ein Hod, by establishing a new state of Israel in 1948. They have given him a name, David, and Moshe and his fellows return back to Ein Hod to loot the newly emptied village and Moshe celebrates his happiness of getting a boy that brings smile back to his wife, and “Dalia (Ismael’s mother) lay heartbroken, delirious with the loss of Ismael” (P. 42)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
