Culture Archives - Page 11 of 53

The Women of Jerusalem

marwan
August 9, 2026

CROSSFIREARABIA – This painting on the Women of Jerusalem was painted this year, 2026 by Rawan Al Anani. Its made in bright, vivacious colors of women in embroidered dresses. Some are sitting sipping tea at a leisurely pace while others attending the olive tree. All this against a Jerusalem background of homes, mosques and churches which speaks of a rich Palestinian community and a society. The details in the brush stroke speaks of a diversified but integrated.

Culture News

‘So We Don’t Forget’

CrossFireArabia
August 9, 2026

Artist Maher Naji was born in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza in 1963. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree and a PhD in Architecture. He attended the Al-Faluja Secondary School for Boys

Culture

Returning to Haifa – A Novel

marwan
August 8, 2026

This is literary work delves into a profound human experience and expresses the feelings, questions, and conflicts within the human psyche; it achieves a unique impact, distinct from a narrative that merely records reality.

Transcending events and immersing oneself in the depths of humanity, revealing its ever-changing circumstances, allows us to fully understand the motivations behind human actions leading his story to become relevant and timeless.

In his novel “Returning to Haifa,” written in Arabic Ghassan Kanafani doesn’t make the narration of the Nakba his central theme, but the framework in which this unique human experience unfolds.

Kanafani selects details from the events of 1948 that allow us to understand the psychological and human condition of the couple, Said and Safiya. He recounts the events of the Jews and the British closing and opening roads, the firing of bullets and shells at unarmed civilians, and the human stampede towards the sea, all to understand the human condition of a mother and father who left Haifa, abandoning their infant son in his cradle.

Kanafani compels us to empathize with the mother who carried the weight of guilt for 20 years, simply because she went out for a few minutes to look for her husband, thinking she would see him coming from the end of the street, reassure herself, and then quickly return to her child. Saeed’s guilt is no less agonizing; he too lived for 20 years with the guilt of not being able to reach home and save his son that night.

Kanafani immerses the reader in the parents’ tragedy as a profound human experience embodying helplessness, guilt, and loss. These human emotions intertwine throughout the novel.

In the scene where Saeed and Safiya arrive in Haifa after 20 years of absence, Kanafani reveals the deep connection between a person and the place they have lived in. He describes the streets, the fields, and the sea, and as soon as their car enters the city, memories crumble like a wall whose stones have fallen one upon another.

Kanafani prioritized the simplest things to convey the human tragedy, and their impact was deeper than any discourse on the Nakba. When Saeed approaches the house in his car, he parks in his usual spot. He describes the clothesline that has changed, the graffiti on the wall that remains unchanged after all these years, the neighbor’s door, the broken step, the replaced doorbell, and then the details inside the house: The table, the curtains, pictures of Jerusalem on the wall, the peacock feathers in the vase, the chairs that have changed and those that remain.

These details serve to convey the couple’s feelings in that situation and allow the reader to empathize with their emotions and sorrow.

Kanafani expresses the impact of these details on the scene through Safiya’s words about Miriam: “She acts as if she is in her own home.” These words express her feeling that the house is still hers despite everything that has happened. Similarly, Saeed’s question about the missing feathers, the intensity of his voice as he asks about them, reveals the extent of a person’s attachment to the details of their home.

The human dimension of the novel reaches its climax in the reunion between Saeed and Safiya with their son, Khaldoun. The meeting is no longer simply between parents and son, but rather a confrontation between two human experiences, each shaped by different circumstances. They stand before him, and that moment, which they have awaited for 20 years, becomes the most poignant of the novel.

Kanafani uses this encounter as an entry point for a dialogue that explores human issues transcending the Palestinian cause. He is not preoccupied with determining the victor, but rather poses questions that resonate with every human being: What is the meaning of fatherhood? Is it based solely on blood ties? What is the meaning of homeland? Is it merely the place where one is born, or is it a stance, a responsibility, and a sense of belonging?

He then connects these questions to the concept of manhood, asserting that rights are insufficient unless one is capable of defending them and bearing the responsibility for them. He also raises a profound ethical question when he examines the relationship between right and power: Does the weakness of the oppressed justify the injustice inflicted upon them? Does power grant its possessor the right to seize another’s land?

Kanafani offers no ready-made answers to these questions, but leaves them open, allowing them to become part of the human experience that the reader shares with the novel’s characters.

Kanafani doesn’t divide his characters into good and evil, nor does he force the reader to take sides. He doesn’t portray Khaldoun or Dov as inherently villainous. Instead, he clarifies that their personalities are shaped by their upbringing and the ideology they received from their parents and society, emphasizing the idea that a person is a product of their environment and choices.

He also doesn’t portray Saeed as victorious in the dialogue simply because of the righteousness of his cause. Rather, he grants each character their human justifications and allows them space to defend themselves—a characteristic that imbues this scene with its profound humanity and allows it to transcend the confines of the Palestinian issue.

Kanafani concludes his novel with a political and intellectual transformation in Saeed’s character, following a long journey of pain, self-reflection, and acknowledgment of mistakes. For Saeed, the homeland transforms from a realm of memories and lost possessions into a homeland of action and future stances.

Saeed tells Khaldoun that his brother Khaled has joined the resistance fighters, and that he might one day meet him on the other side of the battlefields. In reality, Saeed had tried to stop Khaled from joining. He leaves Haifa and confesses to Safiya that he was wrong to try to prevent his son, and he hopes to arrive home to find that he has already left.

The humanistic content of the novel “Returning to Haifa” explains its prominent place in Arabic and world literature. The novel has been translated into several languages and has attracted the attention of researchers and critics, who have analyzed its time, place, plot, dialogue, and characters in academic studies. It has also been adapted for television.

Kanafani succeeded in transforming the Palestinian cause into a universal human experience that resonates with every reader, regardless of their nationality, language, or culture.

Culture News

Dalal Abu Amneh: A Musician, A Neurologist

CrossFireArabia
August 6, 2026

She is a Palestinian singer, producer, and a PhD researcher in neurology from the Haifa Institute of Technology, the Technion.

Dalal Abu Amneh was born in Nazareth on 9 August, 1983 and became captivated by science and music at a young age. In music, Dalal got to be known for her melodious voice and ability to perform various musical styles.

In this she forged a global Palestinian identity producing all of her musical projects while making three albums: “Ya Baladi,” “Ya Sitti,” and “Nour,” underlined in the spirit and heritage of the Palestinian and Arab people while at the same developing didactic vocal styles including classical Tarab, Andalusian singing, Sufi spiritual chanting, and her revival of Palestinian and Levantine folk traditions.

Dalal grew up in an artistic family. Her mother, Juhaina Al-Hawari, has a beautiful voice but has not pursued a professional musical career, but looked after her children. Her father, Ghazi Abu Amneh, plays the oud and owns a fish restaurant. She has four sisters: Nida, Salam, Jihan, and Faten. Salam and Jihan work in the arts and singing, while Nida and Faten work in visual arts due to their hearing impairments.

Dalal began singing at the age of four, participating in the Princess of Spring competition and winning the title in 1987 with her song “Maryam Maryamti.” By the age of 16, she was known for her masterful performances of classical Arabic songs and traditional roles, in addition to her renditions of Palestinian and Levantine folk songs. Leading musicians in the Arab world, such as Salah El Sharnouby and Asala Nasri, have praised her voice, which they said blends authenticity with modernity.

Dalal is commited to socially-conscious art and is working to develop Palestinian art scene in a way to preserve its authenticity while appealing to younger generations and western audiences to strengthen Palestinian identity and support the Palestinian cause.

Over the years, Dalal participated in major international and Arab festivals, such as the Jerash Festival and the Arab Music Festival at the Cairo Opera House and represented Palestine in several Arab operettas, including “Land of the Prophets” (2012) and “Call of Freedom” (2014).

She also regularly participates in cultural and artistic events locally, regionally, and internationally. In addition to her performances with her own band, Dalal is the principal singer of the MESTO World Orchestra, performing traditional Arab and Palestinian songs with western musicians and orchestral arrangements worldwide.

Dalal released several popular songs, including “Ana Qalbi wa Rouhi Fidaak” (My Heart and Soul Are Yours) in 2001, with lyrics by Adnan Abbasi, music by Alaa Azzam, and arrangement by Habib Shehadeh. It was recorded at Karam Matar Studios.

She also released “Khallini Fi Balak” (Keep Me in Mind) in 2003 and two albums: “Kareem Ya Ramadan” (Generous Ramadan) in 2007 and “An Baladi” (About My Country) in 2013, an album that explores Palestine from various perspectives and through diverse musical styles.

One of her songs, “Ain Al-Adhraa” (The Virgin’s Eye), was a radio hit, and “Bokra Jadeed” (Tomorrow is New) was among the five songs selected for the Euromed International Festival in 2006. Dalal, also known as Amna, combined her artistic career with her academic studies.

She graduated from the Bishop’s School (Clerical School) in Nazareth in 2001. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science and Psychology from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, followed by a MA degree. She was then accepted to study medicine at the Technion in Haifa.

She became the first Palestinian Arab to study this specialized field, which combines computer science, medicine, biology, biophysics, psychology, and philosophy. In 2006, she enrolled in the graduate program at the Technion where she earned a MSC degree in Medical Sciences, specializing in neuroscience.

In 2011, she began working as a researcher and doctoral candidate at the same institute in the field of neuroscience, where she is developing a new technological method for treating chronic neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis.

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She is a Palestinian singer, producer, and a PhD researcher in neurology from the Haifa Institute of Technology, the Technion.

Culture News

Stitch in Time – Palestine

Heba
August 6, 2026

Travel Palestine

Embroidery is not merely a handicraft. It is a timeless heritage embodied in every stitch of thread and needle, proudly sharing the authenticity of our generations with the world.