In Search of Fatima

"One of the finest, most eloquent and painfully honest memoirs of the Palestinian exile and displacement."
–New Statesman

An intimate memoir of the 1948 Nakba, exile and the dispossession of Palestinian lands

In Search of Fatima reflects the author’s personal experiences of displacement and loss against a backdrop of the major political events which have shaped conflict in the Middle East. Kharmi was born in Jerusalem but her family were forced out in 1948, following the Nakba, when Palestinians were dispossessed of their lands at the hands of the Israeli state.

In this moving account of exile, she charts her family's displacement to Jordan, and finally to Golders Green, London, where she initially refused to lay down roots in alien soil. Through this journey, Kharmi charts the personal account of a young woman's search for identity: as a Palestinian far away from home.

Speaking for the millions of displaced people worldwide who have lived suspended between their old and new countries, fitting into neither, this is a nuanced exploration of psychological displacement and loss of identity.Acknowledgements
Author's Note
Introduction
 
Prologue
Part One PALESTINE
Pan Two ENGLAND
Part Three IN SEARCH OF FATIMA


Epilogue“This is an important memoir, beautifully written by an intelligent, sensitive woman ... It should help those of us who do not understand why growing numbers of Muslims and not a few Christians have lost faith with Western pretensions of fairness.”—Financial Times

“Keenly observed, fierce, honest and yet light of touch.”—Economist

“Karmi’s great achievement is to humanise the Palestinian predicament. Violent uprooting and exile have permanent psychological effects, which, as the Jewish people discovered, are not necessarily assuaged by the passage of time. We need counter-narratives like this, because we have recently learnt that it is not only parochial but also dangerous to ignore the pain and rights of others.”—Independent

“A very timely book in the current political situation ... This should serve to remind people just what the big fuss in the Middle East is all about.”—Ahdaf Soueif, Times Literary Supplement

“Ghada Karmi writes simply and poignantly. Here is a story of our time, exile and dispossession.”—Jewish Chronicle

“One of the finest, most eloquent and painfully honest memoirs of the Palestinian exile and displacement, which western power and its creature, Israel, have normalised.”—New Statesman

“Compelling and beautifully written.”—IndependentGhada Karmi was born in Jerusalem and trained as a doctor of medicine at Bristol University. She established the first British-Palestinian medical charity in 1972 and was an Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute for International Affairs. Her previous books include The Ethnic Health Factfile and Jerusalem Today: What Future for the Peace Process? and, as co-editor with E. Cotran, The Palestinian Exodus, 1948–1998.