Ibrahim Nasrallah (Amman, 1954) was born and raised in Al Wehdat, the second largest of the ten refugee camps on the map of Jordan. His parents were forcibly moved there during the “Nakhba,” the Arabic term that summarizes the traumatic expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their land and preceded the State of Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948. There he took up writing, and only time would make him one of the Arab world’s most famous authors. Nasrallah presents his novel “The Time of the White Horses” in Madrid. The Palestinian Iliad,” recently translated into Spanish. He received LA RAZÓN at Casa Arabe when he was living, as he says, “the cruelest weeks” of his life due to the outbreak of war in Gaza.
What motivated you to get involved in literature and poetry?
It is a simple and difficult question at the same time. Before I realized I was going to be a writer, I discovered that I was a writer. I basically started when I was 14 years old. This first attempt was easy, simple. I was trying to express myself, to express myself, to convey a message. So I had no one to talk to. So I started speaking with the ink, with the paper, with the leaves. The teachers started reading my poems and they couldn’t believe it, they didn’t believe I wrote them. Then I thought, “If you don’t believe it, then I’m a good writer.” That’s when I realized I was a writer. Then I realized that writing is not only talking to yourself, but also to the world, to others.
It has an extensive bibliography focusing on its origins and Palestinian identity. To what extent was it your main inspiration?
Childhood is always the greatest influence a person has because it lies outside of our consciousness. It’s your feelings, what you felt about the world. Childhood leaves a huge impact on us. As a child, I not only lived with my relatives, with my parents, but also lived with the stories they told me. It was normal to hear stories about Palestine, about my parents’ Palestine, about the Palestine from which they had been expelled a few years before. Plus it was new. There were very few years of separation. I have experienced the effects of the “Nakhba” first hand. I saw what it’s like to live in a refugee camp, how you’re hungry and cold. How you have no space to have fun, to play, to dream. It was like a prison, a closed world.
What impact did growing up in a refugee camp have on you? How did you build your character?
When I started reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and The Tale of the Two Brothers from my refugee camp, which are sad novels, I thought everyone was sad because I was sad. It took me many years to realize that the world can be happy, that it is full of beauty. All of these experiences leave their mark on us. We write what we have experienced, what the people around us have experienced. We write the stories of people we’ve never met, and we also write what we read that influenced us. But all these experiences are not enough. They cannot be sufficient inspiration because there is another resource: we have to imagine.
In her novel “Weddings in Gaza” she tells the life of twin sisters Randa and Lamis, who grow up amid violence and dream of becoming journalists.
People reading now are saying, “Look, this is exactly what’s happening in Gaza.” The novel will be translated into Spanish in two to three months. Sometimes you realize that what you wrote in the past is what you should have written in the future, for tomorrow or the day after. I have written three books about Gaza. Two volumes of poetry and a novel. It is the Palestinian city that has the most space in her works. So much so that many of my readers think I’m from Gaza.
How have you experienced the last few weeks since the war broke out in Gaza?
They were the cruelest weeks I have ever experienced. Never before have the murders been so concentrated, so intense and so severe. We have never seen so much devastation, so much destruction. Cities and neighborhoods are destroyed just to clear the way for an Israeli tank. The number of Palestinian children killed is unprecedented in any other war in the world. Neither is the destruction of hospitals and schools. Israeli lies and propaganda are also unprecedented. It’s indescribable. The more crimes you commit, the more lies you have to sell. Propaganda is determined by the amount of crimes committed. It takes us many years to recover from what we experience. I know people who cry day and night. There is a lot of trouble. And fortunately there is also a lot of anger outside of Palestine, in many cities around the world. Anyone who says that what is happening in Gaza is not genocide is an accomplice. October 7th was a turning point.
More than 14,000 people have died. Many voices draw a parallel between the “Nakhba” I spoke about at the beginning and what we see today.
I think those who have not experienced the “Nakhba”, those who have not heard of it or seen pictures of it, are doing so right now. In 1948, before the Nakhba, 1 million Palestinians lived in Palestine. 2.3 million people currently live in the Gaza Strip alone, with the difference that the extent of the Gaza Strip only accounts for 2% of historic Palestine. We are experiencing a “Nakhba”, an intense genocide. If you set up a camera in the north of the Gaza Strip, you can see very clearly what is happening in the south. It’s a very small room. But despite all the visibility that a modern digital camera could offer us, there are regimes and states that prefer to look the other way, that prefer not to see.
How do you explain the trigger of this latest war, the Hamas terrorist attack?
Israel has been committing genocide and massacres for more than 75 years. And he started many wars against Gaza. The one in 2014 lasted more than 50 days. There was ethnic cleansing. And in this war there was no October 7th. It wasn’t Hamas that started this. Now there is no Hamas in the West Bank, but killings occur every day. There is no Hamas in the West Bank, there is no Hamas. But there are Palestinian cities and towns occupied by Israel where Israel systematically commits crimes and murders every day. Against this background, we are very surprised that what happened on October 7th is a benchmark for international justice. Without the occupation, Hamas would not exist. This is the root of the problem. And we must not forget that all international laws guarantee the peoples affected by the occupation the right to defend themselves. Gaza has been under siege for 16 years and everyone says it is the largest open-air prison, but they do nothing.
The Hamas terrorist attack once again placed the Palestinian issue at the center of the debate. She showed that she was not to be outdone. You worked as a teacher in Saudi Arabia and are very familiar with the Gulf states. Its leaders have tried to turn the tide, for example by normalizing relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords. But what do their societies think?
No Arab people are in favor of normalization with the State of Israel. This process is carried out by the regimes. There are governments that have slowed down the normalization of relations, such as Saudi Arabia. Others, like Jordan, have realized that all peace agreements do not provide them with adequate protection and now feel insecure and threatened. Therefore his position was very firm. There are Arab governments that already appear before our eyes as part of Israel. The worst example is the United Arab Emirates. They are more papal than the Pope. We also have an example from the West. When Biden traveled to Israel, he met with senior Israeli army officials as if he were just another Israeli. There are sovereign countries that categorically reject what is happening in Gaza, such as Spain, Ireland and Belgium.
Several heads of state and government from the countries he mentioned have brought the two-state solution back to the table. Is it viable?
It is a solution that we have been trying to make a reality for years. It is always said: “Israel’s worst enemy is Israel.” They insist on continuing on the path they have chosen. Since the Oslo Accords of 1993, we have been hearing things about the two-state solution. The Palestinians recognized the State of Israel and shook hands with Israel’s left, right and center. With all. But the results after Oslo were even worse than the situation before Oslo. Israel wants to continue its hegemony and believes in strength and power. It is difficult to continue to believe in this solution, considering that a very radical racist far-right has come to power in Israel. We must not forget that UN reports described Israel as an “apartheid state.”
How do you imagine the day after the end of the war?
I think we will see more crime again in the next few years. Israel does not want two states, it wants to subjugate the Palestinian people. This is what they have been trying to do for more than 100 years, but they haven’t succeeded yet. I think that after these massacres the Palestinians will be more determined. They will never let themselves be defeated again because a lot of blood has been shed.