Ibrahim Abu-Lughod

141 Pages·2006·0.42 MB·English

Ibrahim Abu-Lughod:
Resistance, Exile and Return
Conversations with
Hisham Ahmed-Fararjeh
2003
First Published in Palestine in the year 2003 by the
Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute of International Studies (IALIIS)
Birzeit University, Box 14, Birzeit, Palestine
Tel. [phone]
E-mail:[email protected]
Financial Support for IALIIS publications comes from the
Swiss Development Corporation
Design and Layout
Al Nasher Advertising Agency
To
Ibrahim Abu-Lughod,
My mentor, the man whose memory will live on
Contents
Acknowledgements.................................................................................................................................................7
Preface...............................................................................................................................................................................9
Introduction................................................................................................................................................................11
Editor’s Note..............................................................................................................................................................13
Chapter 1
Early Childhood Days...................................................................................................................... 15
Reading Sideways............................................................................................................................... 16
Developing Through Adversity................................................................................................. 16
Religious and National Orientation..........................................................................................17
Hunting for the Blessings of Allah......................................................................................... 18
The Little Sheikh or the Little Lawyer?............................................................................. 19
The Young Man and the Sea........................................................................................................ 22
Family Relations................................................................................................................................... 22
Chapter 2
Memories of Jaffa................................................................................................................................ 27
Co-existence and Tensions............................................................................................................ 30
“May God Curse Them!”............................................................................................................... 33
Their Aim: Our Dispossession................................................................................................... 36
Red Wax...................................................................................................................................................... 38
Dedicated and Active........................................................................................................................ 39
Chapter 3
It All Begins in Jaffa.......................................................................................................................... 43
The Fantastic Explosion................................................................................................................. 46
The Battle of Jaffa............................................................................................................................... 47
The Exodus............................................................................................................................................... 48
Discovering the Arab World........................................................................................................ 49
Return to Nablus................................................................................................................................... 50
Distribution of Leaflets.....................................................................................................................52
Return to Amman................................................................................................................................. 53
Chapter 4
Sailing to the US................................................................................................................................... 57
Learning about America................................................................................................................. 59
Intellectual Orientation.................................................................................................................... 60
Working and Studying...................................................................................................................... 61
The Trauma of Dismissal............................................................................................................... 65
Debating about Palestine..................................................................................................................68
Chapter 5
Issues of Identity................................................................................................................................... 71
The Scientist by Circumstance.................................................................................................. 73
Son of the Sheikh................................................................................................................................. 75
Culture Clash........................................................................................................................................... 76
Experiencing the Bible Belt......................................................................................................... 80
The Politics of Protest...................................................................................................................... 81
The Golden Period.............................................................................................................................. 83
Chapter 6
Back to the US....................................................................................................................................... 89
Blushing at Smith................................................................................................................................ 90
The Move to McGill.......................................................................................................................... 91
Up in Arms................................................................................................................................................ 93
The Academic and the Politician............................................................................................. 96
Chapter 7
War Breaks Out Again..................................................................................................................... 99
The Theater for Ideas..................................................................................................................... 100
Building the AAUG..........................................................................................................................101
The Nixon Declaration................................................................................................................. 108
Subsidizing the AAUG................................................................................................................. 110
Rabin Visits Northwestern.......................................................................................................... 111
Chapter 8
Becoming Palestinian.................................................................................................................... 115
Under Siege........................................................................................................................................... 116
Lessons from Lebanon.................................................................................................................. 119
Revolution through Education................................................................................................ 125
Chapter 9
Returning to the Homeland....................................................................................................... 129
Fearing Death in Exile.................................................................................................................. 132
Escaping the Usual Hassles....................................................................................................... 133
Running like a Teenager.............................................................................................................. 134
Connecting with History.............................................................................................................. 137
Divorcing the US.............................................................................................................................. 139
Conclusion............................................................................................................................................. 142
6
Acknowledgements
This book could not have been accomplished without the help of several people.
First and foremost, this volume would have been impossible to put into shape
without the willingness and preparedness of its narrator, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod.
He was generous with his time and always hospitable in his home, preparing the
way for interviews upon which this book is based. Even when he was ill and the
roadblocks hampered efforts to meet, he was always prepared to accommodate
changes and last minute arrangements. His spirit and cheerfulness created an
enabling environment and a strong stimulus throughout. He made this experience
enjoyable during the interviews as ever. Therefore, all the thanks and appreciation
go to Ibrahim for granting us the opportunity to learn about his life and what it
represents.
Thanks must also go to Vicki Maur, Nancy McDonald, Nicole Jajeh, Ingeborg
Moa and Beth Muldrew, who all were instrumental in the processes of transcribing
and editing.
Last but not least, thanks must also go to Professor Roger Heacock for his pivotal
role in proposing this project and keeping up with it in its various stages.
7
8
Preface
The political memoirs of Ibrahim Abu-Lughod are the result of a number of oral
interviews conducted with him at his home in Ramallah, Palestine, over a period
of two years, from July 1999 to May 2001, the month of his death. In this book,
Ibrahim Abu-Lughod speaks for himself, narrating the different eras of his
educational, social, professional and political life. In essence, this narrative ends
exactly where it began: Ibrahim Abu-Lughod, born on February 15, 1929 in Jaffa,
Palestine, was determined to be buried close to his ancestral home in Jaffa, in spite
of all Israeli government objections.
In this book, the reader is certain to learn about the history, geography, lifestyle
and politics of Palestine and other parts of the world during the period encompassed
by Abu-Lughod‘s life. By exposing the story of his life, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod
succeeds in condensing the details of several historical phases of the Palestinian
struggle and manages to mirror the experience of many Palestinians around the
world. This personalization of the Palestinian people‘s collective existence reveals
the dynamics of the British Mandate over Palestine, the life of so many Palestinians
in the United States and the soaring compulsion to exercise the Right of Return.
This book should have been published at least a year ago. Unfortunately, Abu-
Lughod’s illness during the last few months of his life, in addition to the disruption
caused by the repeated Israeli incursions into Palestinian cities and the omnipresent
yet unpredictable checkpoints, delayed its completion.
We expect this work, based as it is on information from an invaluable firsthand
source, to contribute to the scholarship and historiography surrounding Palestine;
but mostly we hope that it will foment more research and analysis on the fascinating
richness of Ibrahim Abu-Lughod’s life.
9
10
Introduction
As his unique and multi-faceted life indicates, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod was a man of
tremendous capabilities and contributions. From his earliest age, he devoted his
existence to the bettering of the situation of the Palestinian people. To the Arab
world, he stood out as a fiercely independent, original and multi-disciplinary
intellectual. On a more global level, he will be remembered as an important scholar
and activist devoted to higher knowledge and justice.
Ibrahim Abu-Lughod was not a typical teacher in the conventional sense of the
term. Rather, he taught life in its various dimensions. Anyone who has come to
know him (personally and/or through his plentiful writings) undoubtedly recognizes
the resourcefulness and the richness of his thought.
It is quite difficult even to imagine the possibility of criss-crossing the spatial and
temporal boundaries that Ibrahim Abu-Lughod navigated courageously with his
youthful spirit and unrelenting devotion. During the very last moments of his life,
he was concerned with the continuation of the Palestinian intifada, convinced of
its inevitable success. On his deathbed, he continued his inquiry into possible paths
for humanity‘s progress towards emancipation and justice.
Ibrahim Abu-Lughod was a teacher, a scholar, a planner, a strategist, a fighter and
a philanthropist. His legacy remains as a role-model for all those who struggle
tirelessly for the dignity of all. His ability to instill hope in our hearts and animation
in our spirits, compelling us to look towards the future, does not dissipate. Yet
words cannot begin to uncover the magic of his existence.
Are we to remember the little boy climbing to the top of the minaret of the mosque in
Jaffa, in the lazy Imam’s place, to call the people to prayer so as to be the closest to
Allah’s blessing in Heaven? The young Ibrahim irritating the British soldiers in
Palestine, showering them with stones and trash in the alleys of the city? Or, Ibrahim
as a student, organizing demonstrations in protest of the worsening conditions in
Palestine, even before the Nakba of 1948? The portrait of the young fighter resisting
steadfast with the last group of fighters before their eviction on the final boat of evacuees
from Jaffa? The pains of the Diaspora in Beirut, Damascus and Amman during the
first days of refuge following the Nakba? The picture of the young man, almost
penniless, sailing overseas to a world unknown to him, the United States of America?
The devoted student traumatized by the threat of being expelled from the US after a
faulty TB diagnosis? Or, are we to envisage Professor Abu-Lughod defying a blizzard
in Chicago by boarding a flight transporting only pilots and mechanics to fly to the
first annual meeting of the AAUG in Washington DC?
When living with dignity became impossible, Ibrahim found himself again a refugee
student in the United States where he intended to further his knowledge. It was no
longer possible for him to realize his dream of becoming a preacher, which he
11