Chronotope In Jerusalem: Different From Tira, Jerusalem

3.4. Chronotope in Jerusalem
Different from Tira, Jerusalem is a hybrid space inhabited by Palestinians and Jews. Palestinians with “blue ID card” and “orange ID card” can work in Jerusalem (114). The protagonist of the novel Eyad is the only Palestinian character in the novel who crosses the physical roadblocks but fails to cross the social roadblocks that Israel has set up to manage the Palestinian population. Though he leaves Tira to study in Jerusalem, he must frequently travel back and forth between Jerusalem and Tira. In Jerusalem, he has limited freedom to move around the city, which affects his ability to return home. The best example of his mobility is his frequent trip on the bus. At first, he is afraid to take the bus because he
When his father drives him to school for the first time, his names is spelled wrong on the name tag (78). When he is laughed at by his Jewish classmates, he “[shaves] his moustache,” “[buys] some pants in a Jewish store” and “[buys] a Walkman and some tapes in Hebrew” (86). However, his efforts to become Jewish always fail because he cannot escape the continuous ideological framing of the tautology: “once an Arab, always an Arab” (92). By desperately saying this sentence, Eyad reveals the bitterness of being a Palestinian citizen in the State of Israel. The ethnic identity is regarded as a genetic identity, inerasable and despised by Jews. Even Naomi, Eyad’ s Jewish girlfriend, says that she is destined to split up with him. Her mother says a lesbian may be better for Naomi than Eyad, an Arab (106). By saying this, her mother is indicating the impossibility of Naomi marrying with Eyad, just because he is an Arab. Even though Eyad tries hard to be Jewish, his identity as an Arab is imprinted on
That it’s called the War of Independence. In twelfth grade I understood that a Zionist was what we called a Sahyuni, and it wasn’t a swearword. I knew the word. That’s how we used to curse one another. I’d been sure that a Sahyuni was a kind of fat guy, like a bear. Suddenly I understood that Zionism is an ideology. In civics lessons and Jewish history classes, I started to understand that my aunt from Tulkarm is called a refugee, that the Arabs in Israel are called a minority. In twelfth grade I understood that the problem was serious. I understood what a national homeland was, what anti-Semitism was. I heard for the first time about “two thousand years of exile” and how the Jews had fought against the Arabs and the British. I didn’t believe it. No way.