Badr Study Guide

“A Balcony Over the Fakihani”

• It is primarily a historical and political novel: creating a competing narrative to the Zionist master narrative.
• Themes of Exodus, concentration camps if you like, life on the march, genocide, a sense of chronic martyrdom, martyr’s cemetery, exile and diaspora: all these themes reflect the Zionists’ telling of their predicament in order to legitimize their claims to Palestine.
• Memory of a homeland: competes with the Zionist memory of a “promised land for them.”
• Mocking narrative tone throughout the novel but also one of hope.  This internal tension often indicated through the artful choice of people’s names which suggest optimism.  For example,  Yusra—ease, wealth; Su‘ad—happy, lucky; ‘Umar—derived from life; Salwa—solace
• Significance of names: names are after all the basis of identity.  Nom de guerres
• The Palestinian movement is not a religious movement but a nationalist movement, in which Palestinians are shown to possess national and ethnic solidarity.  Both Muslims and Christians appear as protagonists on the same side.
  • Thus on p. 6, take note of George Matta; Monastery of the Good Shepherd
• When a recent member of the PLO was gunned down by the Israelis during the current outbreak of hostilities, the major church in Bethlehem rang its bell to commemorate his memory.
• George Habash, a Christian, has been the leader of one of the most militant Palestinian commando groups: the PFLP (the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine).
• P. 65: Beit Sahour—a predominantly Christian village
  • Inversion of the normal symbolizes the Palestinian tragedy: white hair on the child’s head (Ruba); parents watching their children die

Discussion question: How is water invoked as a political motif?

Think about: Palestinians left with brackish water, the sea, and their tears – how is this broadly evocative of the general Palestinian experience?