Mornings in Jenin

Mornings in Jenin, (2010, U.S.; originally published as The Scar of David, 2006, United States and Les Matins de Jenin, France) is a novel by author Susan Abulhawa.

Background

Mornings in Jenin was originally published in the United States in 2006 as The Scar of David. The novel was translated into French and published as Les Matins de Jenin. It was then translated into 26 languages. Bloomsbury Publishing reissued the novel in the United States as Mornings in Jenin (February, 2010) after slight editing.

Critical reception

Reviews

Anjali Joseph of The Independent argues that "Susan Abulhawa's novel, first published in the US in 2006 but since reworked, follows the Abulheja family, Yehya and Basima and their two sons, in Ein Hod, a village in Palestine. The pastoral opening crams into 40 pages a cross-faith friendship, a love story (both brothers fall for Dalia, who marries the elder son, Hasan), a death, the Zionist invasion of the village, and the theft of one of Hasan and Dalia's sons, the infant Ismael, by an Israeli soldier. He gives the child to his wife, a Polish Holocaust survivor. Usefully for narrative purposes, the baby, renamed David, has a scar on his face "that would eventually lead him to his truth". From these beginnings, which promise a Middle Eastern Catherine Cookson's story, a fine novel emerges."

Jenin

Jenin (/dʒəˈniːn/; Arabic:  جنين ‎ Ǧinīn) is a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank. It serves as the administrative center of the Jenin Governorate and is a major center for the surrounding towns. In 2007 the city had a population of 39,004. Jenin is under the administration of the Palestinian Authority.

Etymology

Jenin was known in ancient times as the village of "Ein-Jenin" or "Tel Jenin". Tell Jenin, is located at the center of what is today Jenin's business district. The word "'ayn" means "water spring" in Arabic and Hebrew, and the word "Jenin" might be related to the Hebrew word "גַּן" ("gan") and the Arabic word جنّة (janna), both of which mean "garden". The Arabicized name "Jenin" ultimately derives from this ancient name. The association of Jenin with the biblical city of Ein-Ganim was recognized by Ishtori Haparchi.

History

Jenin has been identified as the place Gina mentioned in the Amarna letters from the 14th century BCE.

Four terracotta lamps of Phoenician origin dated to the 8th century BCE were discovered in Ain Jenin by archaeologist G. I. Harding, and are interpreted as attesting to some form of contact and exchange between the residents of Jenin at that time and those of Phoenicia. During the Roman era, Jenin was called "Ginae," and was settled exclusively by Samaritans (Heb. כותים). The people of Galilee were disposed to pass through their city during the annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem.

Jenin (disambiguation)

Jenin could refer to the following places: