Returning to Haifa

Returning to Haifa (Arabic: عائد إلى حيفا, lit. 'Returning to Haifa') is a 1969 novella by Palestinian author, journalist, and activist Ghassan Kanafani. The story follows a Palestinian couple, Said S. and Safiyya, who in 1967 return to their former home in Haifa after the borders are opened for the first time since they fled during the 1948 Battle of Haifa, only to discover their abandoned infant son was adopted and raised by a Jewish Holocaust survivor and now serves in the Israeli military. Set against the backdrop of the 1967 Arab–Israeli War and the ongoing Palestinian Nakba, which began in 1948 when Israeli forces ethnically cleansed Palestine and created over 700,000 refugees, the work is a foundational text of Palestinian resistance literature. Scholars note that it explores themes of trauma, memory, and the political meaning of “return,” while also serving as a literary interrogation of nationalism, identity, and the vision of a democratic secular state. The novella has been adapted into several films and stage productions and remains a critical reference in discussions of Palestinian culture and politics.