Merve Globoder, Anda Rama

Literature, Culture & Media, Section 501

Instructor: Lorraina Pinnell

21.10.2019

The story "Returning to Haifa" is one which gives numerous feelings to the peruser. While
there are numerous topics portraying the story. The idea of relinquishment shows up since the
start of the story; it is the motivation behind why Said and Safiyya take their adventure to Haifa
in any case.
The Palestinian couple, Said and Safiyya, relinquished their five-month-old kid, Khaldun, in
1948, running from the shots and blasts in the city of Haifa. " Weak and exhausted, she began to
shout with all her might, but her words failed to rise above the ceaseless clamor to reach any ear.
She repeated a thousand times, a million times” Even however they needed to desert their child,
they didn't lose their expectation for a long time and continued attempting to discover him. “You
know how we questioned and investigated. You know the stories of the Red Cross and the peace-
keeping forces, and the foreign friends we sent there.”

Khaldun had been named Dov and was raised by his new Jewish parents. "I went to Jewish
school, I contemplated Hebrew, I go to Temple, I eat genuine nourishment ... When they
revealed to me I wasn't their very own youngster, it didn't transform anything." After
understanding what occurred through those 20 years, could Said Safiyya still anticipate that their
organic child should return? While they did as well as could be expected to go to Khaldun, that
probably won't be the manner in which the story was advised to Dov by his supportive mother.
“He asks how a father and mother could leave their infant child and run off. Madame, you did
not tell him the truth.”

Dov's receptive mother doesn't appear to comprehend Said and Safiyaa's affections for their
lost kid. "Dov. I don't have the foggiest idea what his name used to be, nor in the event that it
even issues to you, however he looks a great deal like you ... " The fact of the matter was Said
and Safiyya thought a ton about Khaldun and the exact opposite thing they expected to see was
their child in an Israeli military powers uniform. "He was wearing a military uniform and
conveying his military top in his grasp." Said was stunned to hear his child state: "You are on the
opposite side." He felt double-crossed and accepted his natural guardians could have
accomplished more. "You should not have left Haifa. If that wasn't possible, then no matter what
it took, you should not have left an infant in its crib.”

He would be raised by his organic Palestinian guardians. He would have gone to an Arab school,
contemplated Arabic, gone to a mosque, and would not have felt they are the "opposite side".
Having been brought up in the Palestinian people group, he would have even joined the
Palestinian military powers.
While Said and Safiyya were contemplating over what had occurred all through those 20 years,
there was nothing they could do to change the past. They couldn't change the way that they
abandoned their kid, that he got raised by Jewish guardians, he was battling against Palestinians
and he didn't think about them as guardians. Every one of that was left for them to do was…