The Land of Sad Oranges

http://www.nobleworld.biz/images/sad_orange.pdf

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/326138/a_glance_at_ghassan_kanafanis_land.html?cat=38

http://middleeast.about.com/od/israelandpalestine/f/me080511.htm


The title of this entry is actually a short story by Ghassan Kanafani, a Palestinian writer who addressed the difficulties of the creation of the Israeli state in 1948. This story was the first exposure I ever had to an Arab, or Palestinian perspective of the al-Naqba (or, Catastrophe). The first time I read it, I had to resist the urge to cry. The second time, and every time after that, I felt hollow. The way in which Kanafani laid out the process of forced exile was, I believe, an exercise in restraint both figuratively and literally. This work is considered to be semi-autobiographical, and his literary choices tend more towards emotional descriptions of land symbolism, history and attachment, rather than volitile reflections on politics or war.
The story follows a Palestinian family as they receive news that they are to leave their homes. At first, no one believes it will be permanent (although the parents collect telling mementos of their homeland), and as the story progresses, the emotional plight being wrought gathers momentum as the father and head of the family begins to break down in the face of his own helplessness. For him, the symbol of his homeland and his livelihood is exemplified in an orange, taken from one of the trees in his former grove. The longer the exile, the more difficult the survival (physical and emotional), and ultimately, the complete loss of hope. By the time the final imagery of a shrivelled orange next to a gun is presented, I always find myself marvelling at how empty my own short (literary) journey has left me feeling. I suppose it is for this reason that I try to be mindful of everyones sorrows in this continuing conflict. I have always tried to make myself aware of every side of an argument so at least I don't have to plead ignorance. This story was the first chance I took to understand the emotional side of a war that continues to divide and harm people. I included a few links at the top of the blog, the top one has an abridged version of the story.
As a child of 12 or 13 at the commencement of the Arab-Israeli War, Ghassan and his family were forced into exile, and they fled to Lebanon before settling in Syria. Politics did play a significant role in his life, as he was a spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He was assassinated in Beirut in 1972 by a car bomb planted by the Israeli Mossad.