Ghassan Kanafani (1936 – 1972) is perhaps the greatest Palestinian novelist, whose books including Men in the Sun and Returning to Haifa documented the horrors of war and occupation. His literature was deeply inspired by his life as a political thinker, strategist and revolutionary.
Kanafani was born in Acre, Mandatory Palestine in 1936. During the 1948 Palestine war, his family was forced out of their hometown. Kanafani later recalled the intense shame he felt when, at age 12, he watched the men of his family surrender their weapons to become refugees. The family settled in Damascus, Syria, where he completed his primary education. He then became a teacher for displaced Palestinian children in a refugee camp, where he began writing short stories in order to help his students contextualize their situation. He begun studying for an Arabic Literature degree at the University of Damascus in 1952, but before he could complete his degree, he was expelled from the university for his political affiliations with the Movement of Arab Nationalists (MAN), to which he had been recruited by George Habash. He later relocated to Kuwait and then Beirut, where he became immersed in Marxism.
Kanafani left Kuwait for Beirut in 1960, when the first symptoms of his diabetes were detected. There he joined the editorial board of the magazine al-Hurriyya published by the movement. In 1963 he became editor of the daily al-Muharrir and in charge of its monthly supplement Filastin. In 1967 he became the editor of the weekly supplement of the daily al-Anwar, remaining in that post until 1969.
Kanafani took part in founding the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in December 1967 and was elected to its political bureau. He then became its official spokesman and was in charge of its media activities and in 1969 became editor of al-Hadaf, the movement's magazine. He remained in that post until his assassination in 1972.
Selected Works
Mawt Sarir Raqam 12 (1961) (موت سرير رقم 12, The Death of Bed Number 12) (Short story)
Ard al-Burtuqal al-Hazin, (1963) (أرض البرتقال الحزين, The Sad Orange Land) ISBN 978-9963610808
Rijal fi ash-Shams, (1963) (رجال في الشمس, Men in the Sun) ISBN 978-0894108570
Al-bab, (1964) (الباب, The Door) ISBN 978-9963610839
'Aalam Laysa Lana, (1965) (عالمٌ ليس لنا, A World Not Our Own) ISBN 978-9963610952
'Adab al-Muqawamah fi Filastin al-Muhtalla 1948–1966, (1966) (أدب المقاومة في فلسطين المحتلة 1948–1966, Literature of Resistance in Occupied Palestine) ISBN 978-9963610907
Ma Tabaqqa Lakum, (1966) (ما تبقّى لكم, All That's Left to You) ISBN 978-1566565486
Fi al-Adab al-Sahyuni, (1967) (في الأدب الصهيوني, On Zionist Literature) ISBN 978-1739985233
'An ar-Rijal wa-l-Banadiq, (1968) (عن الرجال والبنادق, On Men and Rifles) ISBN 978-9963610877
Umm Sa'd, (1969) (أم سعد, Umm Sa'd) ISBN 9788440427588
A'id ila Hayfa, (1970) (عائد إلى حيفا, Return to Haifa) ISBN 978-0894108907
A 'ma wal-Atrash, (1972) (الأعمى والأطرش, The Blind Man and The Deaf Man)
Barquq Naysan, (1972) (برقوق نيسان, The Apricots of April)
Al-Qubba'ah wa-l-Nabi, (1973) (القبعة والنبي, The Hat and the Prophet) incomplete
Thawra 1936-39 fi Filastin, (1974) (ثورة 1936-39 في فلسطين, The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine) (45–page Pamphlet)
Jisr ila-al-Abad, (1978) (جسر إلى الأبد, A Bridge to Eternity) ISBN 978-9963610815
Al-Gamis al-Masruq wa-Qisas Ukhra, (1982) (القميص المسروق وقصص أخرى, The Stolen Shirt and Other Stories) ISBN 978-9963610921
Arabic Short Stories, (1983) (transl. by Denys Johnson-Davies) ISBN 9780520089440
Faris Faris, (1996) (فارس فارس, Knight Knight)
Translations of Ghassan Kanafani's Work
All That's Left to You: A Novella and Other Stories. Translated from the Arabic by May Jayyusi and Jeremy Reed. Austin: University of Texas, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, 1990.
Männer und der Sonne. Basel, Germany: Lenos Verlag, 2008.
Men in the Sun, and Other Palestinian Stories. Translation from the Arabic by Hilary Kilpatrick. London: Heinemann Educational, 1978.
Palestine's Children: Returning to Haifa & Other Stories. Translation from the Arabic by Barbara Harlow and Karen E. Riley. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2000.
The Revolution of 1936–1939 in Palestine: Background, Details, and Analysis. Translated by Hazem Jamjoum, with an introduction from Layan Sima Fuleihan and an afterword from Maher Charif. New York: 1804 Books, 2023.
Des hommes dans le soleil. Roman présenté et traduit de l'arabe par Michel Seurat. Arles: Actes Sud, 2005.
Retour à Haïfa et autres nouvelles. Traduit de l'arabe par Jocelyne et Abdellatif Laabi. Arles: Actes Sud, 1997.
Contes de Palestine. Nouvelles présentées par Ibrahim Souss. Paris: Stock, 1979.
On 8 July 1972, Kanafani, was assassinated in Beirut by the Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence service. When Kanafani turned on the ignition of his Austin 1100, a grenade connected to the ignition switch detonated and in turn detonated a 3 kilo plastic bomb planted behind the bumper bar. Both Kanafani and his 17-year old niece Lamees Najim, who had been accompanying him, were killed
