Liana Badr (Jerusalem, 1950) has not stopped writing since she was 12, when as a child in the city of Jericho, in the West Bank, she sent stories to the local press. Her dream was to be a painter, but becoming a refugee overnight in 1967, after the Six-Day War, made her abandon her paintbrushes and devote herself to literature. “I have always told what was happening in Palestine through the eyes of its women,” she says, almost as an introduction, at the beginning of this interview in Arab House in Madrid, where he opened a series of university lectures on Monday.
The Palestinian women in her novels, which have not yet been translated into Spanish, embody exile, rebellion against social discrimination, the strength to defend their family and not give up their land, but also the daily fear of Israeli occupation. In all of them there are fragments that recall the life of Badr, who was a refugee in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia and has lived in Ramallah since 1994. “Palestinian women are stronger than men in general. They have responsibility for the house, the fields, the family, preparing food… They are everything, but they are always marginalized,” she laments.
It only takes a few minutes with this writer, poet and film director to realise that for some creators, not being able to detach themselves from reality is a punishment and a duty. With great sadness and anger, Badr is already immersed in a novel about the war in Gaza. “Israel is committing a ‘sociocide’, that is, they want to annihilate us as a society,” she says.
Ask. When you go to a large bookstore in a city like Madrid, it is difficult to find books by Palestinian authors.
Answer. I know. I think it is due to several factors. First, the Israeli occupation makes us very closed in and isolated and makes us lose contact with each other and with the world. This is true for male and female writers. The occupation makes our lives freeze and puts us in a cage. And feelings and creativity cannot flourish like that. On the other hand, our society is conservative. Not so much in the cities, where women have been writing and expressing themselves for years, but in smaller communities, where Palestinian women are still afraid of social scorn if they speak out and tell the world as they see it.
PDespite everything, have Palestinian women writers been gaining ground?
R. For the past 10 years, yes. I am surprised to see so many women working in journalism and communication. And a new generation of girls who are expressing themselves through digital media and social networks, where they criticize the political situation, but also the patriarchy, social and family dictates. It has not been easy for women in my country and it is not yet, but positive things are happening.
P. And in your case?
R. I am privileged. My father was a doctor and my mother a teacher, and they always encouraged me to write and create. Later, my adult life has been spent close to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), where the role of women is more or less respected and where I have been able to participate in unions, government bodies and literary circles.
P. His literature is inseparable from the Palestinian political situation and his personal experiences.
R. I started writing when I was very young. When I was 12, before the Six-Day War, I sent stories to newspapers in Jericho. But I wanted to be a painter and I wasn’t bad at it. But when we had to flee to Jordan in 1967, we lost everything and I became a refugee overnight, I started to write seriously about what had just happened and I have continued to do so to this day. I cannot live without writing about the reality that surrounds me.
Palestinian women are stronger than men in general. They have responsibility for the house, the fields, the family, preparing food. They are everything, but they are always marginalized.
P. The protagonists are always women. Why?
R. I have always told what happened in Palestine through the eyes of its women. I write about their internal and external conflicts, about their weaknesses and their achievements. There are men in my books too, but it is true that women are stronger. Why? Simply because Palestinian women are stronger than men in general. They have responsibility for the house, the fields, the family, for preparing food. They are everything, but they are marginalized all the time.
P. Are they real women?
R. Often. I was lucky enough to live in Beirut and work as a journalist at a time when freedom of expression was at its peak. In those years, I went to the camps in Lebanon to teach Palestinian refugees to read and write. I couldn’t be free knowing that there were illiterate women. They showed me a different way of speaking, wonderful ancient proverbs and a culture that I didn’t know about, because I had grown up in a bubble. These real women and their way of seeing life and facing their problems were the main characters of my second novel. Our destiny as Palestinians depends on ordinary people like them, not on supermen.
P. Her answers are reminiscent of the verse by Palestinian poet Fadwa Tuqan: “This land, my sister, is a woman.” But in practice, has the national cause taken priority for Palestinian leaders, with gender equality taking a backseat?
R. During my exile, I dreamed that the Palestinian revolution would also liberate women. But when I returned to Ramallah in 1994, I was overcome with great pessimism because I saw that women’s voices were still hidden. Then I realised that women were silently building themselves up. There were many Palestinian women working in the shadows, studying, preparing, meeting with NGOs, organisations… And little by little a wave of women emerged: for example, there began to be painters and writers who told their story and what they saw through art, and also women occupying important positions in the government.
We live in daily chaos, occupation makes everything difficult and makes us incomplete beings. It is already a miracle what women are achieving
P. Can we speak of a female literature in Palestine?
R. We have a lot of books written by women. Poetry, novels and essays in which we criticize social dictates, the lack of space in society and the political context. In our own way. But we live in daily chaos, the occupation makes everything difficult and makes us incomplete beings. It is already a miracle what women are achieving. We see it in Gaza now, for example, where they are the pillars of families, they embody strength and faith and they also continue to work. Many of them as journalists, by the way, reporting on what is happening.
Israeli settlers have made our lives hell. They shoot people, burn olive trees, block roads. They are brutal, gangsters with guns who do whatever they want to take over the land.
P. Ramallah, where you live, is not Gaza, but the situation there has also deteriorated significantly in the past year.
R. We literally cannot move from one city to another. The Israeli settlers have made our lives hell. They shoot people, burn olive trees, block roads. They are brutal, gangsters with guns who do whatever they want to take over the land. I don’t know where we are going, really, with so much violence everywhere.
P. In Gaza, is the fight also over land?
R. Yes, but there is something else going on too: Israel is committing a ‘sociocide’ in Gaza, that is, they want to annihilate us as a society. 70% of the buildings have been destroyed. There is also nothing left of the museums, libraries and all the cultural and historical heritage that Gaza possessed. They were true treasures of humanity.
P. Are you going to write about Gaza?
R. I am already immersed in a novel about Gaza, where I have many friends and part of my paternal family comes from. It is a fiction based on real events through the eyes of women, as I have always done.
P. Finally, what book by a Palestinian author would you recommend?
R. The poems and autobiography of Fadwa Tuqan, the great Palestinian poet. Through her we can understand many things about what is happening in Palestine and the role and difficulties of its women.
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