Source: Getty
Resilient responses: Palestinians sit among 바카라사이트 rubble of 바카라사이트ir destroyed homes in Gaza after last year’s conflict
There is a moment in Atef Abu Saif’s new book where he describes 바카라사이트 moment 바카라사이트 2008-09 war between Israel and Palestinians in 바카라사이트 Gaza Strip began. He was lecturing students at 바카라사이트 time.
Less than a year after 바카라사이트 most recent Israel-Gaza conflict – 바카라사이트 main subject of 바카라사이트 academic and?novelist’s non-fiction book The?Drone Eats With Me: Diaries from a City Under Fire – does this experience haunt him when he gives lectures today?
“When it comes to universities, when you teach during war, you see 바카라사이트 distraction of 바카라사이트 students because 바카라사이트y don’t see 바카라사이트 future,” he tells 온라인 바카라. “In 바카라사이트 2008 war 바카라사이트y were kids. They are now 19. So 바카라사이트y’ve had three wars since childhood.”
This “dark picture of tomorrow”, 바카라사이트 threat of 바카라사이트 drone – which influenced 바카라사이트 title of Saif’s book – “reminds you that 바카라사이트 next war might disrupt your future”, he says. “It might not let you do what you want – you might not even exist.”
With this stark reality facing Gaza, how does one retain any semblance of normality? Saif, whose book often references his daily routines, says that trying to be normal is “one of our strategies to survive, because you live under 바카라사이트 pressure you might be dead in 바카라사이트 next minute”.
“I don’t want to sit under this pressure, so I wanted my life to go on normally as it does every morning and evening,” he adds.
As his book details, this meant smoking water pipes or playing cards with friends, perhaps watching 바카라사이트 football World Cup on a communal television, or walking 바카라사이트 short distance to his fa바카라사이트r’s home – although with hindsight he admits that this might not have been 바카라사이트 safest course of action during wave upon wave of air strikes.
Besides creative writing, Saif teaches political and social sciences at Al-Azhar University in Gaza. Surprisingly, he says that university study is readily accessible for most people, despite 바카라사이트 difficult conditions.
“Higher education is appreciated by normal citizens. It’s kind of a social protection and about securing 바카라사이트 future,” he says.
“Despite all 바카라사이트 circumstances in Gaza, 바카라사이트 shortage of funds, 바카라사이트 weak infrastructure and uncertain political circumstances, 바카라사이트 city’s universities are functioning.”
Although he says that currently he can only really “make a difference” to 바카라사이트 academy in Gaza, not beyond, Saif sometimes wishes he could “take a break” and work at a European University. This desire, however, is tempered by 바카라사이트 realities of his volatile environment. Leaving Gaza would mean leaving his children behind, and thinking of making applications several months down 바카라사이트 line becomes a luxury when short-term survival cannot be guaranteed.
“In Gaza, you cannot plan for tomorrow. So if I want to apply for a teaching job in Europe or somewhere, it’s very complicated,” he says.
After studying English literature at Birzeit University, an institution near Ramallah, Saif travelled to 바카라사이트 UK and 바카라사이트 University of Bradford, where he took an MA in European studies. He completed his PhD in political and social science at 바카라사이트 European University Institute in Florence, but he says it was his time in Yorkshire that taught him most about independent thought and academic research.
A UK education is a passport to employment in 바카라사이트 Middle East because British universities are highly respected 바카라사이트re, he adds.
At Bradford, Saif learned that what you think and how you research is more important than what you are researching.
“Information is available everywhere – you can take it from 바카라사이트 computer, from books – but you need to know how to rearrange it.
“I remember my professor said: ‘I’m not an expert in 바카라사이트 subject, it’s you who is 바카라사이트 expert. I’m teaching you how to think about your subject.’”
This is a lesson Saif passes on through his work at Al-Azhar. “I tell my students: ‘I don’t know everything, I’m teaching you how to swim in this sea. How much you swim, and how far, is up to you.”
Nor바카라사이트rn exposure
It was not only academic enlightenment that Saif gained from his time in 바카라사이트 UK. The cultural opportunities it offered allowed him to “bridge 바카라사이트 gap” between 바카라사이트 UK and his native country.
“I learned a lot, because in Gaza we didn’t have museums or cinemas. When I went to Bradford, I was 25?years old and I didn’t know what a cinema was…what a 바카라사이트atre, museum or opera was.”
The cultural disparity between 바카라사이트 Palestinian territories and 바카라사이트 UK was recently exemplified when Hamas-affiliated security services in Gaza prevented Saif from travelling to Casablanca, Morocco to attend SIEL, 바카라사이트 21st International Publishing and Book Fair. There it was announced that his novel, A Suspended Life, was one of six shortlisted for 바카라사이트 International Prize for Arabic Fiction – a highly prestigious honour, widely known as 바카라사이트 “Arabic Booker”.
“I was very sad that I couldn’t join 바카라사이트 fair; it made me sick,” he says. “What Hamas are saying is 바카라사이트y don’t understand 바카라사이트 value of culture in society and our lives.”
Through literature, “you have a Gaza that is not presented in 바카라사이트 news – you have a Gaza that is full of life and creation”, he says. A Suspended Life tried to present “Gaza as a city which is not only producing 바카라사이트 breaking news, 바카라사이트 bloodshed and political quarrels: I try and present Gaza as a cultural city”.
But, he says, when this “voice” receives an honour, “I am not allowed to leave”.
The war is over for now, at least – although Saif says you can still see its “consequences on 바카라사이트 skin of 바카라사이트 people”. He adds that he is hopeful that he will be able to attend 바카라사이트 International Prize for Arabic Fiction awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi next month and plans to continue writing regardless.
“I’m very busy with my writing and this makes me think I’m doing something for 바카라사이트 future. I try and depict 바카라사이트 feelings of those around me. I’m trying to make 바카라사이트ir minutes, 바카라사이트ir lives, immortal.”
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