Ghassan Kanafani's letters to Ghada al-Samman

Traditional love letters are nothing more than “love letters.” But Ghassan Kanafani’s letters to Ghada al-Samman are “human” letters, in which deep friendship is intertwined with the language of the times and the pains of time. Friendship is intertwined with causes. That’s why Ghassan’s letters are a document of “rational love,” if that’s the right expression. When Ghada al-Samman publishes Ghassan’s letters to her, documented with photographs of these letters, she wants to tell us that Ghassan, the stubborn fighter, carries within him the heart of a poet whose image many have sought to distort, just as they have distorted the images of those fighting for the cause, labeling them as terrorists and bandits. However, Ghassan was a different kind of person. Private and public love filled the arteries of his heart. That’s why Ghada al-Samman’s book includes these letters, which slap down the traditional view of the fighter.