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Au commencement était la Palestine, et commençait l'histoire de Younès, dit Abou
Salem, dit l'Homme, dit le père d'Ibrahim, combattant les Anglais à 16 ans, depuis
toujours combattant, mais retranché au Liban, et clandestin dans son propre pays ;
commençait aussi l'histoire de Nahila sa femme mariée à lui à 12 ans, qui allaitera
leur premier-né lors des marches épuisantes des villageois en route pour le Nord,
fuyant leurs maisons incendiées, Nahila qu'il retrouvait dans la grotte de Bab El
Chams, en Galilée ; il lui parlait de Saladin et de Nasser, Nahila le croyait, tout Bab
El Chams résonnait de ses exploits héroïques, et après chaque rencontre nocturne
naissait un enfant que Nahila élevait seule.
Celle aussi du père de Younès, Cheik Ibrahim, le vieil aveugle qui connaissait la place
du soleil en respirant les arbres le long des chemins de l'exil.
Et encore l'histoire du docteur Khalil, abandonné par sa mère dans le désordre des
camps, et qui recueillera à Beyrouth Younès dans le coma, le berçant de l'histoire
tragique de son peuple ; et c'est encore celle de Chams que Khalil aimait, et qui fut
exécutée par ses compagnons d'armes.
L'histoire du peuple palestinien, bousculé des camps de Galilée aux camps du Liban,
cinquante ans d'histoire faite de souffrance, d'espoir et d'amour.
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In the beginning was Palestine, just when the story of Younes' life began. Younes
sometimes went under the name of Abou Salem, sometimes the Man and some other
times Ibrahim's father. He fought the English Army at the age of 16 and was still
fighting them, an outlaw in his own country, seeking refuge in Lebanon. This was also
when the story of his wife Nahila began - she became his bride at the age of 12, she
was to breast-feed their first baby during the exhausting walks as she fled with the
other villagers towards the North and left behind their burnt-down house. He would
visit her in Bab El Chams, a cave in Galilee and tell her about Saladin and Nasser and
Nahil believed his tales. All of Bab El Chams echoed with his dauntless feats and after
each late-night visit she would bear a new baby and raise it all by herself. This was
also the story of Younes' father, Cheikh Ibrahim, the old blind man who knew where
the sun stood just by the smell of the trees lining the exile roads.
This was also the story of Doctor Khalil, forsaken by his own mother in the confusion
of the refugee camps. He was to accommodate Younes who was in a deep coma in
Beirut and to lull his pain by telling him about the tragic story of his people. And this
was the story of Chams, whom Khalil loved and who was executed by her comradesin-
arms.
This was the story of the Palestinians, driven forcefully from the camps in Galilee to
the camps in Lebanon, enduring fifty years of hardship, of hope and of love.
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