Ghassan Kanafani 90th Birthday An Active Life Story Through Generations

italiatelegraph

By Rouquia Alami[i]

Don’t Die Before Becoming A Worth Opponent

This quote is the base for the book entitled “Ghassan Kanafani…The Eternal,” written by Palestinian writer Mahmoud Shukair [ii] published in 2022, by Tamer Institute in partnership with the Palestinian Ministry of Culture and Palestine’s Forum for Arabic Literature. Its English Edition was published in 2023, translated by Carol Khoury.

A book recounts for the Palestinian new generation, a portion of Kanafani’s life story for young people, revealing his belief that children are the future. It presents anecdotes about his interactions with children, highlighting his concern for them, their opinions, and the importance of their voices in life. Including several stories about Kanafani, emphasizing the importance of taking a stand and exploring the meaning behind his famous phrase:

“Don’t Die before Becoming a Worth Opponent.”

The Birth

On 9 April 2026, Palestinians commemorate the 90th anniversary of the birth of Palestinian activist, novelist, artist, journalist, and theoretician Ghassan Kanafani.

On the ninth day of April 1936, Kanafani was born in the Palestinian city of Acre “Akka” where he lived until the year of the Nakba, 1948. However, his birthday memoire will lead us to a main query:

“Why did Kanafani never celebrated his birthday?

On the date of his twelfth birthday, 9 April 1948, the Deir Yassin massacre occurred, this catastrophic incident was the turning point not only in his life but also in the lives of all Palestinians

Thereupon, he decided not to celebrate his birthday since it coincides with the anniversary of the massacre.

How could he celebrate his birthday while the memory of blood and the rape of women will remain forever in his memory?

Bodies Fall but Ideas Endure

Critical Literary reading was written by Dr. Princess Mona Raslan[iii] on his 90th year of birth entitled:

 “Ghassan Kanafani The Spirit of Freedom[iv]

Following are excerpts from the article:

Ghassan, the revolutionary, the weaver of {The land of Sad Oranges}

Your mother was still looking in silence at the ranges. In your father’s eyes were the reflection of the orange trees he had left behind; all the orange trees he had planted on by one, glittered in his face. He failed to stop the tears that filled up in his eyes.

When we reached Saida in the afternoon, we became refugees.

Ghassan, in your nineties, I do inform you that “Khaled” in “Returning to Haifa” embraced the vase and picture, choosing his yeast from “On Men and Rifles.” Indeed, you, Ghassan, have entirely implanted within each one of us a homeland, a home that will never decease.

Trees Change Their Leaves, Not Their Roots.

In query, Raslan continues:

Ghassan:

What is age? If you do not find soil that yearns for you on your great day!

And what is love? If your spirit does not embed itself in the memory of the land!

And what is life? Beloved Ghassan, if it is not an era full of stars shooting thrown towards freedom!

Constant Presence Despite Absences

The 90th The 90th commemoration of Kanafani’s birth has several significances and meanings, not only on his everlasting alive memory in the conscience of

Palestinians, but also due to the importance of this great Palestinian figure in all aspects.

Years has passed: 36 years of life, 54 years of death.

From that time in the past until now, and into the future, Kanafani is durable, everlasting flowing name in the entire space, this reality is confirmed in his words:

“ They tried to dissolve me like a sugar cube in a hot cup of tea, they exerted as God is my witness- tremendous effort for that, but I am still here despite everything.”

It has been five decades and four years since the day they deliberately chose to end Kanafani’s life, to silence his voice and suppress his pen, believing that his death would put an end to his ideas and convictions. 

But this assumption proved wrong. 

Since then, his intellectual and literary output has spread worldwide; his works have been translated into dozens of languages, and Kanafani has become a symbol of Palestinian literature, struggle, and death in the cause of his beliefs and the cause of his homeland,

Surprisingly, the spell had turned against the magician, and that Kanafani had become a global icon, helping to keep the cause alive in the literary, artistic, and activist consciousness alike.

He is a militant writer who combines short stories, essays, and novels; he is also a literary critic and journalist, as well as a skilled illustrator and writer of children’s stories.

In his book “Recalling Ghassan Kanafani[v]
Palestinian writer Feras Haj Mohammad writes about the enduring presence of Kanafani: :

“Here is Ghassan Kanafani, nearly half a century after his assassination, still at the heart of Palestinian political, cultural, and creative discourse, present despite his absence, manifesting himself in diverse ways. Ghassan will remain alive as long as the heavens and the earth endure, until God inherits the earth and all that is on it.”

In conclusion, Kanafani’s voice was not silenced; Contrarily, he is the compass of Palestinian literature. Despite his untimely departure, he leaves behind a considerable legacy:
more than eighteen books of short stories, novels, poetry, and plays, in addition to political articles in newspapers.

This Palestinian icon became a legend in life as well as in the manner of his death. Indeed, Kanafani is “Men in the Sun”: and who hasn’t knocked on the walls?
But the living Palestinian memory knocks on the walls every day, because this is all that remains for us, and incidentally, it is much.

[1] Palestine

[1] Palestinian writer born in Jerusalem 1941

[1] Mona Raslan: Professor of Contemporary Literary Criticism, Postmodern Literature, Comparative Literature and research of methodology at the faculty of arts at the Lebanese University

[1] The Silk Road Today 14 April 2026

[1] published by DAR alra’a and Jousour  Amman, 2021