Ghassan Kanafani

**Ghassan Kanafani** (9 April 1936 – 8 July 1972) was a Palestinian writer and activist. He was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He wrote many texts including _Men in the Sun_ (1962). At the age of 36, he was killed in a car bomb by Mossad.

## Early Life

Born in the British Mandate of Palestine in the city of Acre on 9 April 1936, Kanafani and his family were forced to flee to Beirut, with the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli War in 1948. Afterwards, Kanafani and his family settled in Damascus. Kanafani completed his secondary education, receiving a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) teaching certificate in 1952. In the subsequent year, he crossed paths with George Habash, who initiated him into the realm of politics and left a significant impact on his early endeavors. He was later expelled from Damascus due to his political activity in support of Pan-Arabism. He then moved to Kuwait along with his sister in 1956 and they both took teaching positions there. After spending some time in Kuwait as a drawing and sports teacher, Kanafani eventually returned to Beirut where he joined the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in 1967, serving as the spokesperson and editor of its newspaper, al-Hadaf.

## Political Views

During his time in Beirut, Kanafani moved away from Pan-Arabism, a movement calling for unity of all Arab countries, and focused on the Palestinian struggle for liberation. He also became interested in Marxism, which made him join the PFLP the same year it was founded in 1967, as it declared itself as a Marxist-Leninist organization.

The PFLP was known to carry out armed attacks against Israel and thus, was labelled a terrorist organization by many Western countries including the EU.

Kanafani was never directly involved in these armed activities, yet he supported the armed struggle against Israel and rejected any negotiations with the state. In a 1970 interview, when he was asked by the Australian broadcaster Richard Carleton why he won't participate in “peace talks” with the Israelis, he famously responded with: “That’s the kind of conversation between the sword and the neck.”

## Work

During his lifetime, Kanafani published many stories, his first and most famous novel, _Men in the Sun_, being translated into many different languages. Kanafani is often considered to be one of the most influential Palestinian writers, whose stories are part of a “resistance literature”, a term he created. The Palestinian resistance literature were an act of defiance because it preserved the Palestinian identity and allowed the stories of the people to be told, at a time where it was suppressed. Palestinians were forcefully displaced from their homeland, starting with the Nakba in 1948, and faced defeats with the loss of the Arab–Israeli War.

These stories reflect these painful experience of Palestinians who live under occupation, in refugee camps or abroad under harsh conditions. But instead of only documenting the pain of the Palestinian people and expressing the despair felt after the Nakba and loss of the Arab-Israeli War, Kanafani calls for resistance and to fight back against the Zionists. This made him stand out from other Palestinian writers who were in a state of self-pity.

#### Translation into English

|Year|Title|Genre|
| --- | --- | --- |
|1962|_Men in the Sun_|Novel|
|1962|Land of Sad Oranges|Essay|
|1966|_All That's Left to You_|Novella|
|1967|On Zionist Literature|Essay|
|1969|_Umm Sa'ad_|Novella|
|1970|_Return to Haifa_|Novella|

## Assassination and Legacy

After the massacre at Lod Airport in 1972 that killed 26 people, the Israeli secret service Mossad started to target members of the PFLP who, along with the Japanese Red Army, claimed responsibility for the attack. On 8 July 1972, Kanafani was killed in Beirut, along with his niece in a car bomb. The Israeli Mossad claimed responsibility.

However, he left a legacy behind that continues to inspire Palestinians. His face can be found as graffiti drawings throughout Palestine and its refugee camps. The Lebanese non-governmental organization Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation (GKCF) that supports education for Palestinian refugee children in Lebanon is named after him, and was founded in 1974 on his second death anniversary.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **name**: Ghassan Kanafani
- **caption**: A graffiti of Ghassan Kanafani in State of Palestine, Palestine
- **party**: Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
- **birth date**: 8 April 1936
- **birth place**: Acre, Israel, Acre, Mandatory Palestine
- **death date**: 8 July 1972 (aged 36)
- **death place**: Beirut, Lebanon
- **nationality**: Palestinians, Palestinian