Prison Literature: A Defining Genre of Palestinian Literary Production

Palestine
Written By Michael Muhanna

Tawfiq Zayyad with Amal and Abeer Murqus. Photo from the Digital Archive of the Palestinian Museum.

Prison literature (“Adab al-Sujoun”) — literary production that is written in prison or about the prison experience — forms an important part of the Palestinian literary canon. It is impossible to think about Palestinian literature without considering the place or significance of this genre of writing, especially considering that many – if not most – significant Palestinian literary and intellectual figures have been imprisoned by the Israeli occupation in their lifetime. 

“The revolution is not just a rifle but also the pen, the word, and the poem.”
— The motto and call to action featured in each edition of Nafha al-Adabi, a literary magazine from Nafha Prison.


What is Prison Literature? 

Prison literature is also called “captive literature”. An article on the Institute for Palestine Studies underscores that the English catch-all word “prisoner” has far more nuanced equivalents in Arabic: “By definition and linguistic conventions, Palestinian prisoners taken by the Israeli occupation are referred to as captives, asra, (أسرى) whereas Arab prisoners imprisoned by their own regimes are deemed political prisoners and detainees.” The genre refers to two types of literary production: that which is produced while the author is physically in prison and/or works that explore themes of imprisonment and captivity. By nature, this type of literature is intertwined with broader Palestinian political and cultural resistance movements. 

 

Brief History of Palestinian Prison Literature 

According to "Country of Words: A Transnational Atlas for Palestinian Literature", the term “prison literature” first came into use in the 1980s: at first references were made separately to “al-Adab al-wahshi” (“literature of brutality”) to point to writing that talked about Israeli torture and violence towards Palestinian political prisoners. Later, a 1984 article written by Jamal Bannoura and published in al-Jadid used the phrase “Adab al-sujoun” (“Prison Literature”). Around the same time, handwritten prison literary magazines began to emerge.

With the 1987 Intifada came an explosion in the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons and a renewed commitment to political resistance through writing. This manifested through prison magazines and periodicals – some of which specialized in literature – and other writings that prisoners produced during their sentence. Writing from within prison is in itself an act of political and cultural resistance. And one that is often hindered by the limiting conditions and access to the physical materials required to write. Hunger strikes in prisons are a frequent occurrence. One of the major demands of the “Big Strike” of 1980 in the Nafha prison was the “lifting of the ban on bringing books, paper, notebooks, pens and periodicals into prisons.” 

In general, this genre is understudied and often overlooked. But, as "Country of Words: A Transnational Atlas for Palestinian Literature" makes clear, prison literature plays an important role in putting Israeli prisons and prisoners firmly on the Palestinian literary map. Prisons – a space which occupies an important part of the Palestinian lived experience – becomes a site of literary production itself: what  Abdelrahim al-Shaikh calls the “sixth geography” and Elias Khoury “Palestine underneath Palestine”. 

 

Key Themes and Motifs

Works that sit under the umbrella of “prison literature” tend to encompass a few main themes, including: 

  • Resistance and resilience of the Israeli occupation 

  • Palestinian identity and lived experience

  • Human rights violations: violence, torture, and the reality of life in Israeli prison 

  • Hope and freedom 

 

What to Read in Palestinian Prison Literature

 

Tawfiq Zayyad

A Palestinian politician, poet and activist known for his revolutionary poetry, Tawfiq Zayyad was arrested and imprisoned multiple times during his life. He served as the editor of the literary journal al-Jadid, and was a very active politician – elected as a deputy to the Knesset and served as mayor of Nazareth. 

In 1973, Zayyad published a collection of poems entitled Sujanaʾal-huriyya (Prisoners of Freedom). Written in support of the 1970 hunger strike of prisoners in a number of Israeli prisons, the collection was quickly censored and banned. 

 

Mahmoud Darwish

One of Palestine’s most revered poets and writers, Mahmoud Darwish was imprisoned in the 1960s for traveling between villages without a permit. Here’s an excerpt from something he wrote:

The Prison Cell 

“It is possible for prison walls
To disappear,
For the cell to become a distant land
Without frontiers.
“What did you do with the walls?”
“I gave them back to the rocks.”
“And what did you do with the ceiling?”
“I turned it into a saddle.”
“And your chain?”
“I turned it into a pencil.” 

 

Samih al-Qasim

Seen as a “pillar of contemporary Arabic poetry and one of the most prominent poets of the Palestinian resistance”, Samih al-Qasim was arrested in the editorial offices of al-Ittihad newspaper in 1967. Much of his work explores and reflects on the experience of Palestinian prisoners. Here’s an excerpt translated by Nazih Kassis:

End of a Talk With A Jailer 

From the narrow window of my small cell,

I see trees that are smiling at me

And rooftops crowded with my family.

And windows weeping and praying for me.

From the narrow window of my small cell—

I can see your big cell!

 

Walid Daqqa

After 38 years of imprisonment, Walid Daqqa died in Israeli prison on April 7 of this year (2024). His writings include essays and fictional stories that detail life in prison. His book The Oil’s Secret Tale won the 2018 Etisalat Award for Arabic Children's Literature in the Young Adult category. 

 

Wisam Rafeedie

Trinity of Fundamentals is the fictionalized account of Wisam Rafeedie’s nine-year experience hiding from the occupation. It was written during his nine years in Israeli prison and subsequently confiscated.

 

Basim Khandaqji

A Mask, the Color of the Sky won the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Its author, Basim Khandaqji, remains in Israeli prison to this day.

Nasser Abu Srour

THE TALE OF A WALL provides insights into the Israeli occupation and the struggle of the Palestinian people. From the Nakba to the disastrous consequences of the Oslo Accords, Abu Srour writes on how the Intifada of the Stones (1987–1993) ultimately provided the only option for young Palestinians in refugee camps to infuse meaning into their lives, especially as they faced a constant threat of humiliation and manipulation by Israeli intelligence.

Nasser Abu Srour grew up in a refugee camp in the West Bank, near the wall that separates Israel and Palestine. As a child, he played in its shadow and explored the little world within it. As he grew older, he began questioning the wall.Later, sentenced to life in prison, with no hope of parole, he was surrounded by a new wall. “This is the story of a wall that somehow chose me as the witness of what it said and did.” Available via Penguin Press

SOURCES & OTHER RESOURCES: 

Michael Muhanna
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