Her constant challenge to Zionism
Huzama Habayeb (حزامةحبايب), Palestinian writer, novelist, columnist, translator, and poet was born in Kuwait on June 4, 1965. In 1987, she obtained a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Kuwait. She is a member of the Jordan Writers Association and the Federation of Arab Writers. When the Gulf War broke out in 1990, she and her family moved to Jordan. Today she lives in the United Arab Emirates.
According to Huzama, the fact that she is a second-generation Palestinian refugee, with all the excess baggage that comes with it, added a complex element, as she could not help but dwell on feelings of discomfort, tremor, up rootedness, and the sense of not belonging. Her father and family grew up in the camps scattered around Jordan and she spent summers there with her cousins.
Writing, in a way, saved me from my own demons |
Writing has always been a way for me to seek answers to critical issues within myself, only to end up more often with unanswered questions. Questions that would generate more questions, it seems. Today, after all these years, I can tell you that writing, in a way, saved me, saved me from my own demons. It made the world around me more bearable. Not that I understand it better or myself better. At least, I am less lost than before. In this sense, writing is a constant process of trying, trying to know, trying to discover. |
Huzama is a second-generation Palestinian refugee. Her family grew up in the camps scattered around Jordan, she spent summers there with her cousins, helping them to knead bread, and swinging from climbing frames as the sun went down.
As a middle-class Palestinian who grew up in Kuwait, Huzama's life was not different from how her family in Jordan lived. “We were crammed into a small apartment with a meager income. Sometimes we could barely make ends meet. For both families in the diaspora zone, each day of life was an attempt to survive. Palestinian identity created a collective consciousness that was like a thread that connected Palestinians to the diaspora."
Conflict between Israel and Palestine |
Zionism - Jewish political and nationalist movement that emerged in the late 19th century. It advocates the creation and maintenance of a Jewish state in the land of Israel. Driven by anti-Semitism and the desire for self-determination, it resulted in the founding of Israel in 1948. It has several currents, from religious to secular and socialist. |
Israel - Jews are those who follow the Jewish religion. Zionists are those Jews who advocate the maintenance of the State of Israel. For some Jews, the existence of a state is not essential to the maintenance of the traditions and religiosity of Judaism. Many of them do not defend the violence committed by the State of Israel against the Palestinians. In Hebrew, the word Israel means conqueror of God, from israea (conquered) and Iel (God). |
Nakba or "catastrophe" - refers to the mass exodus and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. Marked by the loss of homes, lands and identity, this event caused forced displacement and consolidated a conflict that continues and fuels tensions and territorial disputes between Israelis and Palestinians that persist in the region. |
Palestine - represents the Judea and Canaan of the ancient world. The Romans referred to Syria and Palestine, which was the land of the Philistines. The independence of Palestine was declared on November 15, 1988, by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its government-in-exile in Algiers, Algeria. Currently, the key issues obstructing the agreement are borders, security, maritime rights, the status of Jerusalem and freedom of access to religious sites, in addition, of course, to Israel's "war" against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. |
In most of her works, whether a novel or a short story, there is a total adherence to his Palestinian identity; and this is surprisingly evident in his first two novels and in many of stories in her four collections. In her translations, she also clearly demonstrates this by choosing books whose content reveals the Palestinian crisis and the unjust policies adopted by Israel against the Palestinians.
Her most important challenge to Zionism was a campaign she launched against the publication of an anthology of stories by Middle Eastern women, organized by the University of Texas at Austin. The inclusion of short stories by two Israeli authors was the reason that led her to withdraw her article. Then she contacted all the Arab authors and convinced them to follow her example. The campaign was successful, as most authors withdrew their manuscripts, forcing the institution to cancel publication.
Partition Plan for Palestine |
The Partition Plan for Palestine was a United Nations proposal, presented in 1947, to divide the British mandate in the region into two states: one Jewish and one Arab, with Jerusalem under international administration. The proposal aimed to resolve conflicts between Jewish and Arab communities in the region, seeking to establish peaceful coexistence. Although accepted by the Zionist leadership, it was rejected by the Arab majority, who considered the division of historically inhabited lands to be unfair. The plan precipitated tensions, leading to the 1948 Arab Israeli War, which resulted in the creation of the State of Israel and the beginning of the massive displacement of Palestinians and intensified the conflict. |
On April 9, 1948, according to The New York Times, terrorist (Zionist) gangs attacked a Palestinian village, which during the fighting did not represent any military objective, and killed most of its population - 240 men, women, and children; they left a few alive to take them as prisoners in Jerusalem. Many claim that it was a genocide followed by a mass expulsion of Palestinians who are now confined to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Thus began the Palestinian Diaspora and the conflicts that continue to this day. |
Habayeb justified her actions in an editorial published in the UAE's Gulf News on May 25, 2012: "I cannot accept, ethically and morally, that my voice is shared equally with writers who reflect the voice of a disgusting occupier”.
As a Palestinian novelist, she considers it important not to write political allegories, but real and fully dimensional characters. “I do not write politics. The Palestinian issue for me is more about the people – the forgotten ones – whose untold stories, pain and suffering need to be unraveled.”
Velvet, the award-winning novel, in Arabic, and its award-winning English translation
Velvet, novel Mujmal (abstract) published by Hoopoe Fiction (AUC Press, Cairo 2019) and winner of the 2017 Naguib Mahfouz Medal of Literature, shows the intriguing realm of the Palestinian countryside in an unapologetic, profound and brutally honest way.
Amidst the hostile and harsh environment of the Baqa'a refugee camp in Jordan, Hawwa (the equivalent of Eva), and an apprentice Palestinian tailor runs her hands through velvet rolls. Hands that speak of a decaying spirit and so far, only witness the collective loss of the past. Hawwa manages to survive the refugee camp itself, as well as the humiliation and destruction of an outrageous family life.
The story is told with a particular sensitivity related to the sensual, albeit tragic, world of the character in relation to its disturbing and heroic challenge to reality. The harshness of Hawwa's everyday life contrasts radically with the softness of the material around which her world revolves. In a way, the novel is a study in the claustrophobia that stems from poverty and oppression; of daily life stripped of any kind of tenderness; family yoke and patriarchy.
It is the story of a immense woman who struggles to survive, love, and revive herself each time she is torn apart and perseveringly fulfills her desires despite the society that relentlessly crushes her. Hawwa finds her escape from the relentless everyday life of the countryside and a husband who, like her father, beats her regularly.
Meaning of Mujamal |
Mujmal (مجمل) is an Arabic term meaning "summarized", "concise" or "comprehensive". In Islamic and legal contexts, it refers to texts or expressions that have a general meaning, requiring interpretation for clarity. In the study of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), a mujmal term may require detailed explanation (bayan) to be fully understood. In Arabic grammar and rhetoric, it is used to describe synthetic phrases that can be further detailed. The concept also appears in Islamic literature and philosophy, indicating ideas or passages that require clarification for accurate interpretation. Thus, mujmal represents something essential, but which demands further explanation. |
Mujmal Faith (Iman Mujmal) is the concise and summarized faith in Islam, based on the fundamental belief in Allah, His prophets, books, and the Day of Judgment. Unlike the Mufassal (detailed) faith, Mujmal emphasizes the essence of the belief without extensive explanations and is sufficient for a new Muslim to accept Islam. |
Mufassal Faith (Iman Mufassal) is the detailed faith in Islam, encompassing belief in Allah, His angels, books, prophets, the Day of Judgment, divine destiny, and resurrection. Unlike the Mujmal (summary) faith, Mufassal specifies each element of Islamic belief, deepening a Muslim's understanding and commitment to his or her faith. |
Velvet is woven from Huzama's own memories of the time she spent with her family. As she wrote, she kept scraps of fabric she had bought in the souqs outside the countryside and studied the photographs she had taken there as part of her research.
Kay Heikkinen and Velvet's Award-Winning Translation
The female translator Kay Heikkinen, PhD from Harvard University and the Ibn Rushd Lecturer of Arabic at the University of Chicago won the 2020 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation for converting Huzama Habayeb's novel Velvet from Arabic into English.
This is an award given annually to translators of a work published in English from another entirely in Arabic and of recognized literary merit. The award is administered by the Society of Authors of the United Kingdom and its aim is to raise awareness of contemporary Arabic Literature, established by Banipal, the magazine of Modern Arabic Literature and the Banipal Foundation for Arabic Literature.
Velvet chronicles the life of Hawwa, a Palestinian woman growing up in a refugee camp in Jordan. Raised in an abusive environment, she finds refuge in sewing, which she learns from Sitt Qamar, who teaches her both the art of tailoring and self-worth. Amidst challenges, she seeks to build a dignified life, facing oppression, love and loss. The novel highlights the resilience of Palestinian women and the struggle for identity in exile. With writing rich in sensory details, Habayeb offers a deep immersion into Hawwa's journey. |
The jury was impressed by how Kay Heikkinen's translation manages to convey not only the meaning but also the tone and emotion of the original text, bringing to life a narrative that profusely describes the repressed life of the ordinary Palestinian woman, avoiding, it is of course, mentioning any kind of political cliché.
The story “is told in a rich, carefully crafted Arabic that poses a significant challenge to any translator, requiring toughness and resilience as well as accuracy and precision.”
She translated as if she were sewing a dress or doing some kind of embroidery. I would say that Kay embraced the world of Velvet and was able deftly reproduce the lyricism, general feeling, and vibrancy of the narrative in a way that bridged the cultural and linguistic disparities between Arabic and English. Huzama Habayeb.
Tale, poetry, novel and non-fiction
Tale
In 1992, she received her first writing award at the Jerusalem Festival of Youth Innovation in Short Stories with the tale collection The Man Who Recurs (الرَّجُل الذي يَتَكرَّر ) published by the Arab Institute for Research and Publications (AIRP), the publishing house that publishes the most of her construction.
In 1994, she received the Mahmoud Seif Eddin Al-Erani, her second award for the tale collection The Distant Apples (التُفَّاحات البَعيدَة) awarded by the Al-Karmel Publishing House — Jordanian Writers Association.
A Form of Absence (شَكْلٌ للغِياب), her third collection of tales, published by AIRP in 1997, was a turning point, that is, a moment when there was a change in Habayeb's writing technique. In an interview on Al Jazeera TV on May 4, 2004, she explained that all the female characters in the different stories could be the same person; all those people felt as if they "belonged to only one woman.”
Sweet Night (لَيْلٌ أحْلَى), released in 2002 also by AIRP was the fourth and final collection of tales that Habayeb published before transitioning to romance. A review published on 1 February 2002 in Al-Hayat, the London newspaper, praised the collection saying, "it unearths the very places its stories often address, but the excavation in this new collection is deeper, further away, richer and bolder than ever”.
Poetry
In May 1990, she published a collection of fourteen poems in free verse entitled Images, in issue twenty-three of the London-based magazine An-Naqid. His poetic work entitled Mendicancy is the most notable collection of poetry published in 2009 by AIRP.
Novel
2007 – The Origin of Love (Asl al-hawa), critically acclaimed.
2011 – Before the Queen Falls Asleep (Qabla an tanama al-malika), which critics have described as an epic novel of the Palestinian diaspora.
2016 – Velvet (Mujmal) first edition in Arabic published. In December 2017, he obtained the Naguib Mahfuz Medal for Literature.
The Origin of Love (أصْل الهَوَى) caused a storm of controversy due to the abundance of sexual content; presented both through innuendo and explicitly. The novel was banned in Jordan, where it was printed, by order of the Press and Publications Department.
Palestinian novelist and literary critic Waleed Abu Bakr wrote a critical article on the novel The Origin of Love in August 2007, in which he described it as "a serious and significant novel in terms of storytelling techniques or the importance of crucial themes. All the rich, well-structured sex scenes are not just meant to awaken – which is something the reader can feel without suspicion due to the absence of eroticism in its cliché and vulgar form – but to achieve gender equality.”
The Origin of Love, banned in Jordan |
The Origin of Love (أصل الهوى), a novel by Palestinian writer Huzama Habayeb, was published in 2007 and sparked controversy due to its explicit sexual content. As a result, the book was banned in Jordan, where it had been printed, by the Department of Press and Publications. In an interview with Al Ghad newspaper in 2008, Habayeb stated that media rhetoric proclaims support for public freedoms, including freedom of expression, but the reality demonstrates a lack of intellectual tolerance and the imposition of restrictions on thought and writing. |
Before the Queen Falls Asleep (قَبْلَ أن تَنامَ المَلِكَة) is a novel that delves into the depths of Palestinian humanity and offers a narrative of the sins committed by the rogue. The Arab reality against the Palestinians: sins that degrade humanity from that reality and increase the strength of the Palestinians and the nobility of their position. As an author for a generation not born in Palestine, her writing takes on an exacerbated meaning that emphasizes the Palestinian right and its entrenchment in knowledge. It is a novel that describes the Palestinian woman as never before was written so effectively and profoundly, and without any emotional feeling.
Non-fiction
Habayeb has written for several daily newspapers and magazines such as Al Ra'i, Ad-Dustour, Doha Magazine, Al-Qafilah Magazine and Dubai Al-Thakafiya, monthly magazine in which she currently has her own column. She addresses various themes in her non-fiction works such as politics, Literature, social issues, art, anthropology, and individual experiences.
Despite being an Arab author, whose published fiction is written in Arabic, Habayeb has managed to develop an international reputation by participating in various cultural events that took place outside the Arab world and translating some of her works into English.
In September 2011, in Oslo – Norway, she participated in the cultural event Visualizing Palestine, on Palestinian Literature. The event included lectures and seminar readings with various Palestinian authors. In April 2012, she participated in a cultural event organized by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in South Korea. She takes part in a lecture on the discrimination that Palestinians are subjected to in Arab states.
Some of Habayeb's stories have been translated into English, which has helped the echo of his literary voice reach more readers around the world. The London-based magazine Banipal has published a number of Habayeb's works translated into English, such as the short story Sweetest Night (لَيلٌ أحْلَى) from the collection of the same name, and the twelfth chapter of the novel Before the queen falls asleep ( قَبْلَ أنْ تَنَامَ المَلِكَة).
She was also one of the authors of Qissat, an anthology of short stories written by Palestinian writers published in 2006, with the short story Brooches of Thread (خَيْطٌ يَنْقَطِع) from her fourth short story collection Sweetest Night (لَيْلٌ أحْلَى) ֎
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