Haifa . . . Burqa A Search for Roots Volume III: A Memory of the Diaspora - Softcover

Masoud, Samih

9781970020632: Haifa . . . Burqa A Search for Roots Volume III: A Memory of the Diaspora

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1970020636 ISBN 13: 9781970020632

Publisher: inner child press, ltd., 2018

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Preface The circle of my search in the memory of the place has grown complex and widened in the second volume of my work, Haifa . . . Burqa. A Search for Roots. I have uncovered new roots and recorded them with a passion that stems out of my undying love for the soil. It is, after all, on that soil where I came to know many people who lived in numerous regions of Palestine as well as events pertaining to them that bear a patriotic and personal significance. In preparing my work, I was eager to make visits with the purpose of getting acquainted with as many towns and villages in internal Palestine as possible. I traced the times of ancestors who had passed away and whose offspring I was lucky enough to meet, people who displayed the pride they take in the deep roots of their origin. I have met a group of those fine people for the first time in my life for an extended period. My friend, the historian Johnny Mansour and I visited them in their homes in Haifa, Iksal, Nazareth, A’arah, A’ra’rah, Shafa A’mr, I’bleen, Yanouh, al-Judayyidah, Kufr Yaseef and Abu-Sinan. I had lengthy conversations with them about the past and the present, and explored events and situations of their common background. This exchange opened for me a dialogue with them, which unraveled the many horizons for search of their roots and those of others. That search helped me to discover important aspects of the Palestinian collective memory that had claimed its irrevocable place in time and space. In this book, I provide a detailed account of my conversations with a large number of people. By doing so, I aim to stress the critical importance of discovering one’s self but also encountering the core identity of others. Such approach dictates that everything relevant to the memory of the past lives in Palestine is recorded in order for no vital detail to be lost for the forthcoming generations. For, it is crucial that we create for them a thorough understanding of our national identity, leaving in their minds an eternal connection to Palestine, its people, villages, towns, lands, and suffering. This form of inheritance is a vital element for them in their expatriation, because it grants them a factual insight into their homeland; thus, urging them to retrieve their vanished rights. I also narrate my permanent connection to my city of birth, Haifa and to my village of origin, Burqa in this third volume. This book’s pages are full of specific data through which the strong link between the place and the memory becomes evident, attesting to the fact that the Palestinian roots have remained intact over time. My second book was published in two prints: The first, in Jerusalem in 2015 by the al-Jundi Publishing House and the second, in Amman by the al-Aan Publishing House. The book launch for both prints took place in my village, Burqa, at the Mahmoud Darwish Center in Nazareth and at the Center for the Association of Jordanian Writers in Amman. Because of the interest the second volume had created, the impact of space on people began to occupy my thoughts intensely, which led me to endless dreams of new projects in the realm of a search for roots. Thus, I was prompted into preparing this third volume, eager to commence it with the accounts of the life of Abd al-Rahim al-Hajj Muhammad al-Saif –Abu-Kamal, the general commander of the Palestinian Revolution of 1936. For that book section, I have utilized data provided to me by his son, the engineer Jawad, all of which showed Abu-Kamal’s Burqawi roots and his rare historical status. In a narrative, I have also commenced this book with the lifetime of Khaled al-Hasan (Abu-Saeed), one of the most prominent Palestinian thinkers and leaders of the Palestinian struggle after Nakba. Khaled al-Hasan was one of the great sons of Haifa. I traveled to Morocco in specifics to meet his son, Saeed, whose excellent recollections of his father’s life and his contemporaries in Haifa are reflected in my book.

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