Published : 25-05-2015
By: Mahmoud Sarhan
The late novelist, GhassanKanafani, spoke in one of his stories about the early stages of bitterness of the Palestinian asylum, and the permanent status ofalliance with poverty, hunger, and displacement. He spoke about "engagement time," the other face of a war without guns, whosefighters began an overheated struggle with oppression, injustice, and refraction. Additionally, he spoke about the miracle of passing through two bulletsand surviving where the first virtue in that time is to stay aliveand everything else comes second.
What is happening in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, South of Damascus, gives us a new version that is crueler, and even more hideous than the first engagement time, when all the harsh experiences Palestinians had had since that time had been reduced, and offered in onebattle. War hasdozens offaces that are intensive and simultaneous. Moreover, patrons of war should, always, stick to the miracle of passing through two parties or more, and survive again.
There, inside the siege prison, all prisoners undergoa joint war in order to survive, and test the truthof their previous myths about resilience at a time where media outlets are displaying their deaths "fresh" on the tables of the world.
The latter expressesconcern, and nothing else, while the PLO rulers and its factionsshare incapability and abandonment, and some of them share treason. The besieged people, all alone, are living a continuousstruggle with the question of identity; the identity of the place and the human being of this place. The camp is built on Syrian land, yet, with Palestinian spirit and architect, and both have rightstowards each other.
But, the question remains elusive to the inquirers:which comes first, Palestinian or Syrian? The siege answers on their behalf for all of them are facing death equally. Stories of the siege are going through the memory rapidly; stories in Tel Zaatar, Beirut and Jenin. They grant identity and heritage to the new siege; they determine, unequivocally, the common traits among them all. Who shots on a loaf of bread? Who cuts water and destroyshomes?Names differ, but the end is the same, which isexcluding them from their existence and pulling its survivors, those who survivedby mistake, intoa new conflict between entrenched in memory or forgetfulness in excess Syrian death.
In the Yarmouk refugee camp, where the highest rates of death owning to hunger in all of Syria were recorder, the clash between hunger and first virtue explodes of anger at times, and continues silently most often. It does not announce itself except with the fall of new deaths, or with the story of a father who assaulted his neighbor, and stole from him a handful of rice, only to feed his children.
It also did not find its way to the media in this harsh time through the stories of mothers about miraculouslysurviving passing through two bullets and a shell while collecting herbs on the fighting axes, after they hadran out of the camp's lands and gardens, and how they fooltheir children to overcomethebitter taste with a little salt and sweet talk about satiety! And their faith thata miracle would occur, when aid return after a long suspension, when they wake up at dawn, to go to the distribution points, hoping to escape detention; as ill-treatment and humiliation become unbearable, sniping or shelling, yet, they return to their children in the evening, they and aid are both fine.
The fathers, at the time of unclear endless siege, spend their time engaging with everyone, in order to achieve the first virtue, and they have to constantly arrange the relationship with relief offices and the headquarters of the militants inside thecamp.
They also have to race with others to homes that werebombed the day before to get theremains of furniture, window frames, and doors of wood for heating and cooking. As well as, they have to follow-up the experiments as "The Alchemist" in previous eras, to get a little electricity, within the available tools, or to search for a source of water for drinking and daily use.
Amidst all these essential tasks, the most important work for the fathers to do is to of protect the family from starvation, and also of the “innocent”greed of the hungry people. All this happens without a big noise. Thisis a simple daily affair within the siege walls.
The besieged childreninside the camp are having another silent clash, between those who were born in the siege, and those who were born before it.They share the same memoriesabout violent bombardment nights, when all of them pile up terrified just like small birds in the arms of their mothers.However, the shared memory perge when talking about something unknown named fruit and its types, about its taste, shape, and color, and whenthe elder childrenwho were born before the siege, insistthat desserts are something other than apricot jam, which comes in the family's share of aid.
Moreover, elder children insist thatthere are many other games in the feast yard than those worn-out and dazzling swingsthey have. They tell them about the animation cartoonheroes, and nights that resemble the day thanks to scattered light bulbs, and many other items in the missing memory, in which they draw to their young siblings the great difference between the real siege era, and another beautiful legendary time.
Also, there is a clash of a different kind, going on among all children on the one hand, and adults on the other hand, when they hear them talking about incomprehensiblewords; words about the meaning of dignity, steadfastness, and about their refusal of Yarmouk to be a new "Tel Zaatar".
،Yarmouk camp is the most prominent title in the contemporary eraof the new Palestinian conflict.Within its geographic borders, fierce wars of siege and death are breaking out; wars of hunger and poverty, wars ofdisplacement and steadfastness, wars of identity and existence, wars ofoblivion and forgetfulness, wars between chaos of memory and challenge of willingness, in a manner similar to a large extent, epic plays that are overflowing clash of meanings and humanitarian ideas; plays that prospect, in conclusion, a triumph of meaning, not the hero;a story that may be only assumed as imagination, yet, the conflict on the Yarmouk theater is realistic, actual, and public.
Residents of the camp are the heroes, the public, and the victim! The show has been going on for about three years;many of its imaginary and real heroes have been falling on its flanks. The current scenes do not predict a close or happy end, but the extended engagement era in the Yarmouk camp hasclearly specified the nature of the epic before its theater. The meaning is steadfastness, and the real hero is the place.
GhassanKanafaniwrote his story about this time; almost half a century ago, under the title (The ChildGoes to the Camp 1967) within his collection of short stories (AboutMen and Guns).The question that became urgent is:Has engagement erafor the Palestinianever stopped over long decades that have passed since their Nakba in 1948? Or is it a clash passing through times, continuous and permanent, its nature, and headlineschange, according to only its Diaspora map?
*Source: al-Araby al-Jadeed
By: Mahmoud Sarhan
The late novelist, GhassanKanafani, spoke in one of his stories about the early stages of bitterness of the Palestinian asylum, and the permanent status ofalliance with poverty, hunger, and displacement. He spoke about "engagement time," the other face of a war without guns, whosefighters began an overheated struggle with oppression, injustice, and refraction. Additionally, he spoke about the miracle of passing through two bulletsand surviving where the first virtue in that time is to stay aliveand everything else comes second.
What is happening in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, South of Damascus, gives us a new version that is crueler, and even more hideous than the first engagement time, when all the harsh experiences Palestinians had had since that time had been reduced, and offered in onebattle. War hasdozens offaces that are intensive and simultaneous. Moreover, patrons of war should, always, stick to the miracle of passing through two parties or more, and survive again.
There, inside the siege prison, all prisoners undergoa joint war in order to survive, and test the truthof their previous myths about resilience at a time where media outlets are displaying their deaths "fresh" on the tables of the world.
The latter expressesconcern, and nothing else, while the PLO rulers and its factionsshare incapability and abandonment, and some of them share treason. The besieged people, all alone, are living a continuousstruggle with the question of identity; the identity of the place and the human being of this place. The camp is built on Syrian land, yet, with Palestinian spirit and architect, and both have rightstowards each other.
But, the question remains elusive to the inquirers:which comes first, Palestinian or Syrian? The siege answers on their behalf for all of them are facing death equally. Stories of the siege are going through the memory rapidly; stories in Tel Zaatar, Beirut and Jenin. They grant identity and heritage to the new siege; they determine, unequivocally, the common traits among them all. Who shots on a loaf of bread? Who cuts water and destroyshomes?Names differ, but the end is the same, which isexcluding them from their existence and pulling its survivors, those who survivedby mistake, intoa new conflict between entrenched in memory or forgetfulness in excess Syrian death.
In the Yarmouk refugee camp, where the highest rates of death owning to hunger in all of Syria were recorder, the clash between hunger and first virtue explodes of anger at times, and continues silently most often. It does not announce itself except with the fall of new deaths, or with the story of a father who assaulted his neighbor, and stole from him a handful of rice, only to feed his children.
It also did not find its way to the media in this harsh time through the stories of mothers about miraculouslysurviving passing through two bullets and a shell while collecting herbs on the fighting axes, after they hadran out of the camp's lands and gardens, and how they fooltheir children to overcomethebitter taste with a little salt and sweet talk about satiety! And their faith thata miracle would occur, when aid return after a long suspension, when they wake up at dawn, to go to the distribution points, hoping to escape detention; as ill-treatment and humiliation become unbearable, sniping or shelling, yet, they return to their children in the evening, they and aid are both fine.
The fathers, at the time of unclear endless siege, spend their time engaging with everyone, in order to achieve the first virtue, and they have to constantly arrange the relationship with relief offices and the headquarters of the militants inside thecamp.
They also have to race with others to homes that werebombed the day before to get theremains of furniture, window frames, and doors of wood for heating and cooking. As well as, they have to follow-up the experiments as "The Alchemist" in previous eras, to get a little electricity, within the available tools, or to search for a source of water for drinking and daily use.
Amidst all these essential tasks, the most important work for the fathers to do is to of protect the family from starvation, and also of the “innocent”greed of the hungry people. All this happens without a big noise. Thisis a simple daily affair within the siege walls.
The besieged childreninside the camp are having another silent clash, between those who were born in the siege, and those who were born before it.They share the same memoriesabout violent bombardment nights, when all of them pile up terrified just like small birds in the arms of their mothers.However, the shared memory perge when talking about something unknown named fruit and its types, about its taste, shape, and color, and whenthe elder childrenwho were born before the siege, insistthat desserts are something other than apricot jam, which comes in the family's share of aid.
Moreover, elder children insist thatthere are many other games in the feast yard than those worn-out and dazzling swingsthey have. They tell them about the animation cartoonheroes, and nights that resemble the day thanks to scattered light bulbs, and many other items in the missing memory, in which they draw to their young siblings the great difference between the real siege era, and another beautiful legendary time.
Also, there is a clash of a different kind, going on among all children on the one hand, and adults on the other hand, when they hear them talking about incomprehensiblewords; words about the meaning of dignity, steadfastness, and about their refusal of Yarmouk to be a new "Tel Zaatar".
،Yarmouk camp is the most prominent title in the contemporary eraof the new Palestinian conflict.Within its geographic borders, fierce wars of siege and death are breaking out; wars of hunger and poverty, wars ofdisplacement and steadfastness, wars of identity and existence, wars ofoblivion and forgetfulness, wars between chaos of memory and challenge of willingness, in a manner similar to a large extent, epic plays that are overflowing clash of meanings and humanitarian ideas; plays that prospect, in conclusion, a triumph of meaning, not the hero;a story that may be only assumed as imagination, yet, the conflict on the Yarmouk theater is realistic, actual, and public.
Residents of the camp are the heroes, the public, and the victim! The show has been going on for about three years;many of its imaginary and real heroes have been falling on its flanks. The current scenes do not predict a close or happy end, but the extended engagement era in the Yarmouk camp hasclearly specified the nature of the epic before its theater. The meaning is steadfastness, and the real hero is the place.
GhassanKanafaniwrote his story about this time; almost half a century ago, under the title (The ChildGoes to the Camp 1967) within his collection of short stories (AboutMen and Guns).The question that became urgent is:Has engagement erafor the Palestinianever stopped over long decades that have passed since their Nakba in 1948? Or is it a clash passing through times, continuous and permanent, its nature, and headlineschange, according to only its Diaspora map?
*Source: al-Araby al-Jadeed
