Читать книгу The Disinherited - Ibrahim Fawal - Страница 7

June 1947 was the eve of the end of the world for eighteen-year-old Yousif Safi, for Yousif is a Palestinian. Book One of this trilogy, entitled On the Hills of God, described the year-long journey of a boy becoming a man, while all that he has known crumbles to ashes. When we first encountered Yousif, he was filled with hopes for his education abroad to study law and with daydreams of his first love, the beautiful Salwa. As the future of Palestine looked increasingly bleak due to the pressure on the United Nations from the international Zionist movement, Yousif was compelled to think like a man. He was frustrated by his fellow Arabs’ inability to thwart the Zionist encroachment and by his own inability to prevent the impending marriage of Salwa to an older suitor chosen by her parents. As Palestinians faced the imminent establishment of Israel, on May 15, 1948, Yousif resolved to face his own responsibilities of manhood. Despite the monumental odds against him, Yousif won Salwa’s hand and his own happiness. But then the war came and his world was upended. He and his neighbors, friends, and family were forced from the homeland they had occupied for generations. They lost their homes, their possessions, and in some cases their honor and their lives. They became refugees on a desperate flight to sanctuary in Jordan. In the chaos, Yousif and Salwa were separated. In his heart, he knew she was alive, but how would he find her? As he and his mother adjusted to refugee life in Amman, Yousif vowed to win back both his loves—Salwa and Palestine—and create his world anew.