Eleven Lives

Stories from Palestinian Exiles

Muhammad Ali Khalidi, Perla Issa

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Paperback

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English

OR Books
31 January 2023

Middle Eastern history; Refugees & political asylum; Human rights

Written by the refugees themselves, this highly original anthology of Palestinians forced to live outside their homeland brings together stories of what it means to be exiled, reflections on the events that led to being displaced, and the raw experience of daily life in a camp.

The 11 lives given voice here are unique, each an expression of the myriad displacements that war and occupation have forced upon Palestinians since the Nakba of 1948. At the same time, they form a collective testament of a people driven from their homes and land by colonial occupation. Each story is singular; and each tells the story of all Palestinians.

As Edward Said argued in 1984, the object of Israel's colonial warfare is not only material-seeking to minimise Palestinian existence as such-but is also a narrative project that aims to obliterate Palestinian history ""as possessed of a coherent narrative direction pointed towards self-determination.""

In these pages, Palestinian refugees narrate their own histories. The product of a creative-writing workshop organized by the Institute for Palestine Studies in Lebanon, 11 Lives tells of children's adventures in the alleyways of refugee camps, of teenage martyrs and ghosts next-door, of an UNRWA teacher's dismay at the shallowness of her colleagues, and of the love, labour, and land that form the threads of a red keffiyeh.

What unites these 11 stories is ""the inadmissible existence of the Palestinian people"" highlighted by Said. Their words persist, as one contributor writes, ""between the Nakba and the Naksa, throughout defeats and massacres, love affairs and revolutions."" The stories of Palestinians in exile are also open-ended, and will continue to reverberate across borders until Palestine is free.

With contributions by: Nadia Fahed, Intisar Hajaj, Yafa Talal El-Masri, Youssef Naanaa, Ruba Rahme, Hanin Mohammad Rashid, Mira Sidawi, Wedad Taha, Salem Yassin, Taha Younis, Mahmoud Mohammad Zeidan

Co-published with the Institute of Palestine Studies.

Introduction by: Perla Issa
Edited and translated by: Muhammad Ali Khalidi
Imprint: OR Books
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 177mm, Width: 127mm,
ISBN: 9781682193471
ISBN 10: 1682193470
Pages: 300
Publication Date: 31 January 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Muhammad Ali Khalidi (Cambridge University Press, 2005). He holds a PhD in Philosophy from Columbia University and a BS in Physics from the American University of Beirut. He was born in Lebanon to a Lebanese mother and a Palestinian father.

Reviews for Eleven Lives: Stories from Palestinian Exiles

Vivid accounts of a world we know too little about. - Caryl Churchill In these rich, authentic stories from the Palestinian refugees of Lebanon there are the expected tales of courage and fear, war and expulsion, of longing for the lost homeland and the bitterness of family separations. But there's also the sweetness of romantic love, the playfulness of children, the strength and warmth of family bonds and the ever present hope of better lives to come. This is a book of remarkable lives, written by remarkable people, whose stories are to savour. - Elizabeth Laird The book is truly delightful. The stories are well-written, highly diverse in style, tone, and genre, but all thoroughly enjoyable, and often very moving. Stories about contemporary Palestinians are few and far between in English, let alone stories told in-and by-non-elite, diasporic Palestinian voices. The volume brings a vibrancy and vitality to these stories that reminds the reader of the multitudinous experience of Palestinian refugees, and of the dynamic tectonics of Palestinian lives in diaspora. In Khalidi's skilled hands, this volume is an important and welcome contribution to Palestinian stories in English specifically, and to Arabic literature in English translation more broadly. - Ghenwa Hayek