Contemporary Hebrew literature; Arabs of 48; writers; Shammas; Kashu’

Abstract

The literary works in Israel are written by different authors of different generations, cultural, geographical and ideological references. These works provide a vision by which the Israel scene the author visualizes can be read in details. These works affect those authors. There are Palestinian Arab authors who stayed in their country during the Nakbah of 1948 (Day of the Catastrophe). After the establishment of Israel state, they became citizens. However, they kept their national loyalty to Palestine. The difficult circumstances they lived during the Israel occupation pushed them to learn Hebrew, to master it, and to study the Jewish culture. In addition, these circumstances urged some of the authors and poets to write their works in Hebrew, and they addressed Jewish by Hebrew in an attempt to express the suffering of the Arabs of 48 in Israel. This study aims to define Arabs of 48 and their cultural and linguistic reality. It also aims to answer questions such as: What are the reasons behind writing in Hebrew? Who are the most prominent authors? What are the popular works they wrote in Hebrew? To what extent, do Israeli or Arabs accept these works? This study also sheds light on the curriculum vitae of two popular authors: Anton Shammas and Sayed Kashu’.