Haifa ~ Burqa . . . a Search for Roots ~ Volume II - Softcover

Inhaltsangabe

Foreword In Haifa… Burqa, A Search for Roots trilogy, of which two books have been translated into English, I evoke so many places in my homeland, Palestine, through which I bridge spatial and temporal distances between my life yesterday and today. I trace the trail of my old days, meet the child I was, and shed light on significant memories of my childhood, including the paralysis that I suffered from until I was five, my school days in my birthplace, Haifa, my life with my family and friends, and portraits of my early years in Haifa with so many details of its roads, quarters, and stores. I then talk about the violent clashes that occurred at the time, followed by its occupation and my forced departure from there. I was barely 10 when I lost my home and my school mates, and lived for a while in Burqa, the land of my ancestors, away from my birthplace. Afterwards I moved to other countries as a stranger. From the depths of memories, countless scenes pass before my eyes from the days of the diaspora, which I have tracked in my trilogy in a series of successive links in heightened continuity. Among these scenes is my visit to Haifa half a century after my departure: I visited the family house where I spent my childhood. The doors were locked. I circled it seven times, a surge of pain sweeping through my heart. I reconstructed the past events in my mind; I heard my mother’s footsteps, the aromatic smell of her coffee filled my chest, and her pots, pans and cutlery rang in my ears. I also re-visited Haifa figuratively, through the poems and articles that I wrote for Al-Ittihad, an Arabic weekly newspaper issued in Haifa since 1944. In one of my articles, “A Search for Roots,” published in Al-Ittihad on July 17, 2009, I talked about my family and great grandfather. The article helped me establish contacts with the children and grandchildren of one of my father’s cousins, who lived in the village of Iksal, near Nazareth. Having been separated for 61 years following the Nakba, we knew nothing about each other. They contacted the newspaper and got my address in Canada. It is because I met them that I decided to write Haifa… Burqa, A Search for Roots, the first book of the trilogy, and dedicate it to my aunt’s granddaughter, Hasnaa Darawshe, who was the first to read my article. Now the trilogy has been completed, and Bassam Abu-Ghazalah, the translator of Volumes I and II has started translating Volume III. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the great effort my friend Dr. Bassam S. Abu-Ghazalah has made in translating this book into English. My heart is filled with gratitude that no words can adequately express. Samih Masoud

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