Exile, Identity and Resistance: Palestinian Realities in the Works of Sahar Khalifeh
Date
2018
Authors
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Publisher
National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal
Abstract
Sahar Khalifeh is one of the most outspoken authors from the Occupied Territories of
Palestine – the West Bank. This study examines the literary works of Khalifeh in
order to know the contemporary Palestinian situation through the literary prism. The
socio-political and economic impact of the Occupation on the life of Palestinians has
been so immense that it has become difficult for them to survive in their own
homeland. Khalifeh’s narratives effectively lend voice to these challenges faced by
them. The Occupation spanning for nearly two generations has taught the Palestinians
to resist the challenge in different ways. These multiple resistance strategies adopted
by Palestinian men and women constitutes another important theme that this study
seeks to unravel in the narratives of Khalifeh. Indeed, the Palestinian resistance
movement is constituted of both violent and non-violent forms of resistance
throughout their struggle for independence. Unfortunately, the media has sidelined the
issue of civil or non-violent forms of resistance movements pursued by the
Palestinians and represented the movement grossly as an act of terrorism or
insurgency. The different shades of Palestinian resistance to Israeli Occupation are
specifically looked into in this study.
Palestinians’ life of exile under the Israeli Occupation is another core theme discussed
in the literary works of Khalifeh. Simultaneously, she has written on the emerging
challenges faced by the Palestinians on their return to homeland. In depicting both
these issues, Khalifeh shows a departure from the previous accounts: the gendered
impact. If exile has a certain impact on men, the same phenomenon has another set of
impact on women; it is important to note that the latter effect has hardly been talked
about by earlier Palestinian litterateurs. Further, it is also true that Khalifeh raises the
issue of the effect of male exile on females in the Occupied Territories. Israeli
Occupation with patriarchal oppression in their own society, renders the Palestinian
women doubly challenged. The themes like Israeli Settler Colonial domination, exile,
resistance and gender discrimination in the narratives of Sahar Khalifeh have been
analysed taking insights from Settler Colonial theory, resistance theories and feminist
readings.
Description
Keywords
School of Management, Palestinian Women’s Literature, Occupied Territories, Israeli Occupation, Exile, Resistance, Settler Colonialism, Patriarchy, Gender Discrimination