Palestinian Literary Criticism in Ghassan Kanafani’s <i>On Zionist Literature</i>

In Fi al-adab al-sahyuni (On Zionist Literature, 1967)Footnote1, the Palestinian writer and Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) spokesperson Ghassan Kanafani provides an analysis literary production from early nineteenth century through mid-twentieth century, situating it in a broader schema Western imperialism, settler colonialism, dispossession Palestine. Through treatment texts, Kanafani’s study traces evolution representations Jewish subject explores their utility repudiating integration advancing racial supremacist logics. The works question venerate different relationships to land—extractive, romantic, fraudulent—in contrast those oral traditions; former are connected ongoing, material efforts colonizing was drafted Beirut is reflection sweep Arab nationalist anti-colonial cultural during 1960s 1970s, which targeted by anti-communist West. These experiences were formative intellectual project, sees criticism as revolutionary tool direct extension armed resistance, whereby reconstitution can be used service liberating both land people. suggests that “weapons” will most effectively brandished youth who lead struggle against Zionism.