Report by Firas Hajj Muhammad (Special)

Recently published by Dar Al-Ra’aa for Studies and Publishing in Ramallah, Palestinian critic Raad Al-Huwari’s new book titled “Palestinian Carving” examines the poetry of four poets: Ma’moun Hassan (Jordan), Jawad Al-Aqd (Gaza), Salah Abu Laoui (Jordan), and Sami Awad Allah Al-Betjali (United States). The book spans 251 pages.

The act of gathering these diverse poetic voices under one title goes beyond mere literary analysis. The title “Palestinian Carving” serves as a metaphor with artistic and historical significance, symbolizing the process of establishing and documenting awareness and identity in the face of attempts at erasure and fragmentation. When the critic connects the experience of a young poet from Gaza, living amidst war, with two poets from Jordan and another from the diaspora, he affirms that Palestinian identity is a single fabric extending across time and space.

The author drew the title of the book from one of Salah Abu Laoui’s poems. In his introduction, he explains: “I chose the title from one of Salah Abu Laoui’s poems, which I believe represents the book’s focus on poetry and experiences that carry presence through Palestine, its cause, and awareness, carving a stance, commitment, and vision that characterized the poets featured in this book.”

The first chapter discusses a collection of Ma’moun Hassan’s (b. 1953) poems. Born in Zarqa, Jordan, it includes twelve literary and poetic texts—ranging between poetry, flash fiction, and stories. The second chapter features sixteen readings of Jawad Al-Aqd’s (b. 1998) literature. An inhabitant of Gaza, he remained there despite the escalating war since October 2023. It covers two of his poetry collections, his book “Reflections on Aesthetic Sufism,” and thirteen other texts, including stories and poems.
 

The third chapter is dedicated to Salah Abu Laoui (b. 1963), born in Jordan. It comprises ten analytical perspectives on two of his poetry collections and a selection of his revolutionary, resistance-oriented poems. The book concludes with a fourth chapter containing eight readings of Sami Awad Allah Al-Betjali’s poetry (b. 1955), born in Bethlehem. The author discusses one of his collections and seven additional poems.

The literary experiences of these poets are varied within the book, combining insights into new, young poetry—represented by Jawad Al-Aqd—and the poetry of the seventies and eighties. The geographical diversity—Jordan, Gaza, and the diaspora (where Betjali resides)—further enriches the range. These two factors, temporal and spatial, give the book a broad perspective on the poetic experience and its artistic sensitivities, alongside the diversity of texts—prose, poetry, full collections, single poems, flash fiction, and short stories.

This selection affirms that Palestinian poetry is a mirror reflecting the complexity of the Palestinian human experience. It is not limited to stylistic or thematic analysis but also serves as a tool for preserving and documenting collective memory and national identity. As Al-Huwari describes it in his introduction, “Carving on the page of creativity” is a form of immortalizing the Palestinian experience in face of efforts to erase it, giving the work a deeper dimension beyond mere literary critique.

The critic’s style is characterized by detailed textual analysis, uncovering the aesthetic qualities and poetic energy embedded in the texts, paying close attention to the choice of words and their contextual significance. Moreover, the critic varied his selections between national and emotional texts. This diversity demonstrates that Palestinian poetry is multifaceted, engaging in ongoing struggles for survival and resistance, for freedom, and exploring internal human emotions and aesthetic reflections.

The strength of Palestinian poetry lies in its ability to blend national and artistic dimensions—something the critic sought to highlight. Poetry functions as both a historical and artistic document; it recounts history through individual experiences and immortalizes these stories in a refined artistic form.

On another note, “Palestinian Carving” is itself a significant critical project that combines literature, resistance, and documentation, reinforcing the idea of a unified Palestinian identity through its geographical and generational diversity. This analytical work contributes to eternalizing Palestinian awareness through creativity, making it a valuable addition to Arab and Palestinian literary criticism. It plays a role in bridging gaps in literary critique by introducing new analytical approaches and is the first critical compilation of these poets’ experiences, allowing comparisons in style and thematic content. The critic thoughtfully provided the studied texts to be accessible to both readers and critics, presenting the texts alongside his analytical commentary to allow others to express their opinions. Together, they form a kind of mini-ontology of these poets’ literary voices. This was further strengthened by brief creative biographies of each poet.

Thus, the book offers an overarching view of these poets’ literature, providing a useful resource for researchers in their scholarly studies