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Returning to Haifa
You haven't asked, but yes, you both may stay in our house for the time being. And use our things. I figure it'll take a war to settle it all.
A compelling story of two families - one Palestinian, one Israeli - forced by history into an intimacy they didn't choose.
In 1948, Palestinian couple Said and Safiyya fled their home during the Nakba. Now, in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War, the borders are open for the first time in twenty years, and they dare to return to their home in Haifa. They are ready to find someone else living where they once did, but nothing can prepare them for the encounter they both desire and dread with the son they had to leave behind.
Ghassan Kanafani's classic novella Returning to Haifa has been adapted for the stage by Naomi Wallace and Ismail Khalidi. The play premiered at the Finborough Theatre, London, in February 2018 to coincide with the seventieth anniversaries of both the Nakba or 'catastrophe' - the mass dispossession of the Palestinians in 1948 - and the foundation of the State of Israel.
A compelling story of two families - one Palestinian, one Israeli - forced by history into an intimacy they didn't choose.
In 1948, Palestinian couple Said and Safiyya fled their home during the Nakba. Now, in the aftermath of the 1967 Six Day War, the borders are open for the first time in twenty years, and they dare to return to their home in Haifa. They are ready to find someone else living where they once did, but nothing can prepare them for the encounter they both desire and dread with the son they had to leave behind.
Ghassan Kanafani's classic novella Returning to Haifa has been adapted for the stage by Naomi Wallace and Ismail Khalidi. The play premiered at the Finborough Theatre, London, in February 2018 to coincide with the seventieth anniversaries of both the Nakba or 'catastrophe' - the mass dispossession of the Palestinians in 1948 - and the foundation of the State of Israel.
96 pages, ebook
Published March 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
March 21, 2022
I don't think I've ever been so moved by a novella in my life. Returning to Haifa perfectly captures the pain of losing home and family in such a way that few can relate to. I was gripped by every line of the text, unable to stop reading. My favorite quote is:
"I know that one day you'll realize these things, and that you'll realize that the greatest crime any human being can commit, whoever he may be, is to believe even for one moment that the weakness and mistakes of others give him the right to exist at their expense and justify his own mistakes and crimes."
"I know that one day you'll realize these things, and that you'll realize that the greatest crime any human being can commit, whoever he may be, is to believe even for one moment that the weakness and mistakes of others give him the right to exist at their expense and justify his own mistakes and crimes."
July 13, 2024
What? How can it be over already? But of course, it’s still going. While astonishingly short, this is one powerful play. How disappointing that its NYC production was canceled before it even began due to political pressure. Why is the entertainment world so loath to according a moment’s attention, a modicum of screen time / stage time to Palestinian stories? Thankfully we don’t need them to access these literary marvels. The staging brought this 2-D work to life. Now I need to get my hands on the original novella.
February 1, 2025
"You can’t see it but these equations of yours are worn out and full of cheating."
September 20, 2025
''we were immediately struck by the fact we didn't see any cars. It was a true sabbath! It brought tears to our eyes...but mine...I said to him, 'I am crying for another reason. yes, this is a true sabbath. But there is no longer a sabbath on friday, nor one on sunday.' do you understand what I am saying?''
this is a brilliant, one-act play, adapted for the stage from the novella by kanafani. the play details the experience in haifa during the 1948 nakba, zionist propaganda at the time, the transfer of european settlers to palestine and of course the harrowing ethnic cleansing of the palestinians. it is very interestingly structured, as there are four actors to play the couple: young said and safiya and older said and safiya. there are then these sort of analeptic moments which intersect with the present. for example older said and safiya experience the presently occurring six-day war, when the borders have opened, allowing them to return to their home in haifa and where they find the settler who now lives there. simultaneously, on the same stage yung said and safiya are involved in glimpses and flickers of the past, their idyllic youth contrasted with a violence and turbulent backdrop of the nakba, when they were expelled from the very same house that older said and safiya have returned to.
miriam, an elderly jewish settler, speaks of how she and her late husband fled persecution in poland, and having read 'Thieves in the Night', were actually aware that palestine was indeed not a ''land without people for people without land.'' but came anyway. there is much in this play about complicity in its different forms and interestingly miriam embodies much if not all. often miriam is immersed in her solipsism, presented in an out-of-touch manner, failing to grasp the full significance of the palestinian suffering. there is a cultural clash between the couple and miriam and it feels as though she is both understanding yet oblivious at the same time. there is also often intense dialogue between the couple and miriam, who reminisces back to the day she moved in to their house and dares to say ''- those things felt like our things. Like home.-'', whilst at the exact same time, there is said, who is thrust back to where he was on the very same day, desperately trying to return to haifa, their home, to look for their son, finding every road blocked: ''- a fence, a checkpoint, a bayonet forcing me to turn back'' . it is uncomfortable, but i think it's meant to be and should be. their voices do not clash so much as they amplify one another, as one speaks of gain, of possession, whilst the other speaks of only loss and disaster.
said poignantly asks his wife: ''Didn't the same feeling come over you that came over me as we drove through haifa? as though you knew the city but it refused to acknowledge you? haifa ignored me, safiya. It ignored us...''. the symbolism in this play is unparalleled, like that of the disappearing buttons of said's shirt, he questions: ''Where do they go, these buttons? Imagine if they all went to the same place, thousands of them, and all of them missing, all of them-'' , but what is he really talking about? perhaps not buttons, but people, children, homes, belongings, countries. they have lost everything and it would perhaps be a dream, ''if they all went to the same place'' but such a thing is impossible, instead there is only a scattered people, the diaspora as we know it. then running throughout the play are said's monologues, where he imparts crucial history of the nakba for us to learn from and the tragic stories of some of his friends. there is a perfect mix of everything here: the binary opposites khalid/khaldun; the intellectual tension between father and son; the arabic lullaby safiya sings to her son despite him not understanding the language nor even conceding that she is his mother; even pockets of wit and humour from said and safiya, amidst such painful moments.
dov's opinion that ''nothing changed...man is a cause'' as opposed to ''man, in the final analysis, is a cause...when we take a stand as a human being, it has nothing to do with flesh and blood and identity cards and passports..'' - said. the anguish and desperation arises especially when it comes to dov who is indifferent and impenetrable. How does one cope with the loss of a son who is still alive? no matter what, he cannot understand their perspective nor can he consider himself theirs. he says ''all the tears in the world won't carry even a small boat holding two parents searching for their lost child.'' there is so much more that goes on here, it is so thoughtful, the story, the stage directions, symbols, and the ending, whilst unsatisfactory for some, i consider rather perfect. ''I know that one day you'll realise these things, and that you'll realise that the greatest crime any human being can commit, whoever he may be, is to believe even for one moment that the weakness and mistakes of others give him the right to exist at their expense and justify his own mistakes and crimes.'' -said. how clever is this! it is an absolutely heart-wrenching play and i still am yet to read the original novella. the ending is painful, deferred, unresolved, and it must be. it should leave us torn and deny any catharsis because that is the reality of what the palestinians have gone through and until they have received justice, no one is to trivialise or undermine such suffering even in literature.
this is a brilliant, one-act play, adapted for the stage from the novella by kanafani. the play details the experience in haifa during the 1948 nakba, zionist propaganda at the time, the transfer of european settlers to palestine and of course the harrowing ethnic cleansing of the palestinians. it is very interestingly structured, as there are four actors to play the couple: young said and safiya and older said and safiya. there are then these sort of analeptic moments which intersect with the present. for example older said and safiya experience the presently occurring six-day war, when the borders have opened, allowing them to return to their home in haifa and where they find the settler who now lives there. simultaneously, on the same stage yung said and safiya are involved in glimpses and flickers of the past, their idyllic youth contrasted with a violence and turbulent backdrop of the nakba, when they were expelled from the very same house that older said and safiya have returned to.
miriam, an elderly jewish settler, speaks of how she and her late husband fled persecution in poland, and having read 'Thieves in the Night', were actually aware that palestine was indeed not a ''land without people for people without land.'' but came anyway. there is much in this play about complicity in its different forms and interestingly miriam embodies much if not all. often miriam is immersed in her solipsism, presented in an out-of-touch manner, failing to grasp the full significance of the palestinian suffering. there is a cultural clash between the couple and miriam and it feels as though she is both understanding yet oblivious at the same time. there is also often intense dialogue between the couple and miriam, who reminisces back to the day she moved in to their house and dares to say ''- those things felt like our things. Like home.-'', whilst at the exact same time, there is said, who is thrust back to where he was on the very same day, desperately trying to return to haifa, their home, to look for their son, finding every road blocked: ''- a fence, a checkpoint, a bayonet forcing me to turn back'' . it is uncomfortable, but i think it's meant to be and should be. their voices do not clash so much as they amplify one another, as one speaks of gain, of possession, whilst the other speaks of only loss and disaster.
said poignantly asks his wife: ''Didn't the same feeling come over you that came over me as we drove through haifa? as though you knew the city but it refused to acknowledge you? haifa ignored me, safiya. It ignored us...''. the symbolism in this play is unparalleled, like that of the disappearing buttons of said's shirt, he questions: ''Where do they go, these buttons? Imagine if they all went to the same place, thousands of them, and all of them missing, all of them-'' , but what is he really talking about? perhaps not buttons, but people, children, homes, belongings, countries. they have lost everything and it would perhaps be a dream, ''if they all went to the same place'' but such a thing is impossible, instead there is only a scattered people, the diaspora as we know it. then running throughout the play are said's monologues, where he imparts crucial history of the nakba for us to learn from and the tragic stories of some of his friends. there is a perfect mix of everything here: the binary opposites khalid/khaldun; the intellectual tension between father and son; the arabic lullaby safiya sings to her son despite him not understanding the language nor even conceding that she is his mother; even pockets of wit and humour from said and safiya, amidst such painful moments.
dov's opinion that ''nothing changed...man is a cause'' as opposed to ''man, in the final analysis, is a cause...when we take a stand as a human being, it has nothing to do with flesh and blood and identity cards and passports..'' - said. the anguish and desperation arises especially when it comes to dov who is indifferent and impenetrable. How does one cope with the loss of a son who is still alive? no matter what, he cannot understand their perspective nor can he consider himself theirs. he says ''all the tears in the world won't carry even a small boat holding two parents searching for their lost child.'' there is so much more that goes on here, it is so thoughtful, the story, the stage directions, symbols, and the ending, whilst unsatisfactory for some, i consider rather perfect. ''I know that one day you'll realise these things, and that you'll realise that the greatest crime any human being can commit, whoever he may be, is to believe even for one moment that the weakness and mistakes of others give him the right to exist at their expense and justify his own mistakes and crimes.'' -said. how clever is this! it is an absolutely heart-wrenching play and i still am yet to read the original novella. the ending is painful, deferred, unresolved, and it must be. it should leave us torn and deny any catharsis because that is the reality of what the palestinians have gone through and until they have received justice, no one is to trivialise or undermine such suffering even in literature.
December 11, 2023
Read this novella/play for bookclub, and it set the stage for an open conversation about the Israel-Hamas War. Returning to Haifa vividly depicts the complexity and nuances of individual experiences with war, identity, nationalism, family, etc. ... It's great (and devastating) base for discussion
April 9, 2024
Would love to see a production of this. Translated well to a play but Kanafani’s original novella had more depth
December 27, 2024
essential reading
December 6, 2023
I've read both the novella and the play version of this story and both are equally as gripping. I won't spoil anything here but please, please read it for yourself. In my opinion, it's worth reading both the play and the novella because the novella provides some detail that the play doesn't include. Overall, it's a very relevant and touching tale, given the current political context.
November 11, 2024
"When are you going to stop considering that the weakness and the mistakes of others are endorsed over to the count of your own prerogative? [...] Do you believe we'll continue making mistakes? If we should stop making mistakes one day, what would be left for you then?"
Mild spoilers ahead, although, it is a play/novella, so there's not much to spoil, and I think it's still very much worth reading.
When Said and Safiyya return to their homeland of Palestine following the 6-Day War in 1967, which they were forcibly and violently expelled from during the Nakba of 1948 (the settler establishment of Israel the result of this violence), they visit their old home. The inhabitant they find is a Polish-Jewish woman who moved there with her husband nearly 20 years prior following her harrowing loss of her young brother to Nazis during the Holocaust. On the fateful day that they were pushed from their home, Said and Safiyya were unable to bring with them their 5-month-old son, Haldoun (not sure on the spelling since this was audio book format for me).
In what is now known as Israel, they talk with the woman, Miriam, and learn that their 20 year old son goes by Dov, and he is a soldier for the very army that separated them from him. This results in a heart-wrenching exchange between these two bereft parents and Haldoun/Dov.
This was an intensely powerful read. To feel the contempt their own flesh and blood had for them despite how they tore themselves apart to try to bring him with them to Jordan all those years ago, was horrible. They have been forcibly displaced not only from their homeland, but from their oldest son, as well - his ideology directly undermines and opposes their lived experience of losing him.
In this singular story among countless ones just like it, we see the juxtaposition of humanity and inhumanity. Nationalism vs. patriotism. Settler colonialism and the erasure of natural-born people, customs, culture. But above all else, this story teaches us that what's been taken may sometimes be taken for good, but no one can fully take the spirit of, and the fight for, the homeland: Palestine.
Mild spoilers ahead, although, it is a play/novella, so there's not much to spoil, and I think it's still very much worth reading.
When Said and Safiyya return to their homeland of Palestine following the 6-Day War in 1967, which they were forcibly and violently expelled from during the Nakba of 1948 (the settler establishment of Israel the result of this violence), they visit their old home. The inhabitant they find is a Polish-Jewish woman who moved there with her husband nearly 20 years prior following her harrowing loss of her young brother to Nazis during the Holocaust. On the fateful day that they were pushed from their home, Said and Safiyya were unable to bring with them their 5-month-old son, Haldoun (not sure on the spelling since this was audio book format for me).
In what is now known as Israel, they talk with the woman, Miriam, and learn that their 20 year old son goes by Dov, and he is a soldier for the very army that separated them from him. This results in a heart-wrenching exchange between these two bereft parents and Haldoun/Dov.
This was an intensely powerful read. To feel the contempt their own flesh and blood had for them despite how they tore themselves apart to try to bring him with them to Jordan all those years ago, was horrible. They have been forcibly displaced not only from their homeland, but from their oldest son, as well - his ideology directly undermines and opposes their lived experience of losing him.
In this singular story among countless ones just like it, we see the juxtaposition of humanity and inhumanity. Nationalism vs. patriotism. Settler colonialism and the erasure of natural-born people, customs, culture. But above all else, this story teaches us that what's been taken may sometimes be taken for good, but no one can fully take the spirit of, and the fight for, the homeland: Palestine.
March 16, 2024
I cried. I feel like that's sufficient cause to rate a book a 5. (I am a Pisces.)
Returning to Haifa is heartbreaking. It moves away from the macro and into the micro by looking at the people— the individuals with lives and histories— that are involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. About all the unfortunate circumstances that has led each individual to where they are. It is a deeply sympathetic take for both sides, which I do love as much as I will forever be pro-Palestine, because it does a good job at simultaneously acknowledging that the fault lies largely at the bigger powers at play. Yes, the ending has a bit of a radical note (one that the Mossad probably didn't like), but the bigger message is still there.
Having read the play version before the actual novella, it seems that the more surreal magical-realist elements were not part of the original work. I actually really liked it. I'm aware that much more context seems to have been omitted, but I am the odd fiend that prefers to read an adaptation before the original, so I can make do with this. I really enjoyed the elements of the overlapping timelines and it added texture and surprise to the entire story. It was a good, compact read that packed a punch. What a wonder.
May I live long enough to see a free Palestine.
Returning to Haifa is heartbreaking. It moves away from the macro and into the micro by looking at the people— the individuals with lives and histories— that are involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. About all the unfortunate circumstances that has led each individual to where they are. It is a deeply sympathetic take for both sides, which I do love as much as I will forever be pro-Palestine, because it does a good job at simultaneously acknowledging that the fault lies largely at the bigger powers at play. Yes, the ending has a bit of a radical note (one that the Mossad probably didn't like), but the bigger message is still there.
Having read the play version before the actual novella, it seems that the more surreal magical-realist elements were not part of the original work. I actually really liked it. I'm aware that much more context seems to have been omitted, but I am the odd fiend that prefers to read an adaptation before the original, so I can make do with this. I really enjoyed the elements of the overlapping timelines and it added texture and surprise to the entire story. It was a good, compact read that packed a punch. What a wonder.
May I live long enough to see a free Palestine.
December 30, 2025
"It seems to me every Palestinian is going to pay a price. I know many who have paid
with their sons. I know now that I, too, paid with a son, ill a strange way, but I paid him as a price ... That was my first installment, and it's something that will be hard to explain"
My heart is breaking so much. To mourn someone for years along with your land, and to have irrevocably lost both.. is just so distressing. I can't ever imagine losing my ancestral home, land and god forbid a child to the very people who stole everything else. And to then have my child acknowledge the colonizers, wear their skin and not merely speaking the coloniser’s language; but being taught to see the world through it oh i would be devastated. Yet despite that, the book leaves room for hope, locating it in the other children, not yet lost, and in the possibility of a better Palestine.
with their sons. I know now that I, too, paid with a son, ill a strange way, but I paid him as a price ... That was my first installment, and it's something that will be hard to explain"
My heart is breaking so much. To mourn someone for years along with your land, and to have irrevocably lost both.. is just so distressing. I can't ever imagine losing my ancestral home, land and god forbid a child to the very people who stole everything else. And to then have my child acknowledge the colonizers, wear their skin and not merely speaking the coloniser’s language; but being taught to see the world through it oh i would be devastated. Yet despite that, the book leaves room for hope, locating it in the other children, not yet lost, and in the possibility of a better Palestine.
September 21, 2024
A very quick read, this is the play adaptation but I’d love to get my hands on the original novella.
Sadly nearly 60 years after Kanafani wrote this story, it’s more relevant to the current state of things in the world than ever.
A raw and heart breaking story. Written with a lot of compassion and empathy for the ‘other side’, even at times where it is seemingly undeserved, just shows the authors heart.
My favourite quote from the whole play is “First you say that our mistakes and our weakness justify your mistakes and your crimes; then you say that one wrong doesn’t absolve another. You use the first logic to justify your presence and our absence, and the second to avoid punishment your actions deserve”.
Sadly nearly 60 years after Kanafani wrote this story, it’s more relevant to the current state of things in the world than ever.
A raw and heart breaking story. Written with a lot of compassion and empathy for the ‘other side’, even at times where it is seemingly undeserved, just shows the authors heart.
My favourite quote from the whole play is “First you say that our mistakes and our weakness justify your mistakes and your crimes; then you say that one wrong doesn’t absolve another. You use the first logic to justify your presence and our absence, and the second to avoid punishment your actions deserve”.
June 10, 2021
The GOOSEBUMPS I felt through out the entire novel..
The shock and heartache I felt (& still trying to recover from) in the middle of it!!
The greatest & deepest meaning I received at the end of it!!
I feel disoriented (shaken somehow?) & at the same time the deep meaning of the novel gave me another kind of strength, hope, & perspective!
Expect the tears to fall down from your eyes without your permission! Expect to gasp out loud! Don't read this book in public!
#ReturningToHaifa by #GhassanKanafani
الله يرحمك يا غسان 🙏🏼❤️
The shock and heartache I felt (& still trying to recover from) in the middle of it!!
The greatest & deepest meaning I received at the end of it!!
I feel disoriented (shaken somehow?) & at the same time the deep meaning of the novel gave me another kind of strength, hope, & perspective!
Expect the tears to fall down from your eyes without your permission! Expect to gasp out loud! Don't read this book in public!
#ReturningToHaifa by #GhassanKanafani
الله يرحمك يا غسان 🙏🏼❤️
February 1, 2026
I really enjoyed this short story it was a quick read. The only reason I wouldn’t give it 5 stars is because some of the paragraphs were hard to understand and follow and I believe that is due to the translation from Arabic to English where many phrases and sayings could not be adequately explained.
Although some events were lost in translation the writing style was still amazing and it was an insightful read overall.
Favorite quote:
“We were mistaken when we thought the homeland was only the past. For Khalid, the homeland is the future.”
May 30, 2025
A powerful and emotionally complex story that gave me new insight into Palestinian history, especially how the 1967 border changes briefly allowed some to revisit though not reclaim their former homes. While I have reservations about the author’s political ties, the story still offers a valuable window into a perspective I’ve been trying to better understand. Thought-provoking. Didn’t shift my views. A short, accessible read.
February 27, 2024
I guess I now want to read the novella to see if an expanded form provides more depth to the characters. The play I think does not fully reveal the character of Miriam.
And I do not think that the criticisms raised by Dov to Said and Safiyya represent the actual efforts of Palestinians to return to their homeland.
And I do not think that the criticisms raised by Dov to Said and Safiyya represent the actual efforts of Palestinians to return to their homeland.
March 9, 2024
This is a novella written as a play, from which it was adapted. Regardless of what type of lit it is, it’s extremely compelling. It is about a couple who fled Palestine and come back years later. It’s also about confronting the trauma of our past and about the Isreali occupation of Palestine. It is short and heartbreaking.
June 4, 2024
“ If war is to be avoided, then a politics of justice has to succeed”.
Devastatingly prophetic, this play leaves you with a sense of rage but most importantly of a certain hardness that takes its own room within the kindness that the Palestinian characters show.
May we see the liberation of Palestine in our lifetime.
Devastatingly prophetic, this play leaves you with a sense of rage but most importantly of a certain hardness that takes its own room within the kindness that the Palestinian characters show.
May we see the liberation of Palestine in our lifetime.
January 3, 2024
I was listening to an Esra Klein podcast and this Novella was recommended. This is the screenplay version of the Novella. Has historical perspective on the Palestinian Israeli conflict following a couple from 1947 through the Yom Kippur war
February 7, 2025
An interesting play to read. The beginning is hard to follow with both the character and young version of the character being in the same scene therefore adding a layer of complexity when reading. Is a very appropriate play to read at the moment and considers the Palestine Isreal relationship though a nuanced perspective
June 1, 2025
Best novella I have ever read. Not that I have read many novellas, but I know if I was to hypothetically read more this would still be the best. Kanafani is a genius. Reminds me of Augusto Boal’s essay Theater of the Oppressed and his oppressed theory.
June 6, 2025
“You haven’t asked, but yet, you both may stay in our house for the time being. And use our things. I figure it’ll take a war to settle it all” - an amazing short read, would love to read some of Kanafanis other work.
June 9, 2020
If you're interested in the impact of the Israel-Palestine conflict, this novella is worth at least a glance
May 17, 2022
Re-reading the novel in English and reflectinv on it with my peers has proven to me its intensity and various dimensions. Always keeping me on my toes.
November 27, 2023
a heartbreaking story, plain and simple.
However, I didn’t realize I had bought the stage adaptation by NW so I still want to read the original material by Ghassan Kanafani.
However, I didn’t realize I had bought the stage adaptation by NW so I still want to read the original material by Ghassan Kanafani.
January 31, 2024
Man, I wish I could read the novella.
April 22, 2024
Moving, poetic, complex, informative, beautiful
Read
April 25, 2024double casting that makes u go crazy
July 27, 2024
I loved it!
Read
September 11, 2024i loved this and such a quick read
Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews