Rückkehr nach Haifa

In 1948, during violent confrontations in Haifa, thousands of Palestinians flee. A couple is separated from their five-month-old son due to unfortunate circumstances. They unsuccessfully attempt to return to their home and their child, and soon the border to the newly declared state of Israel is closed. It is not until twenty years later that they re-enter Haifa. Their son Chaled still lives in their house, but he wears an Israeli uniform and is called Dov. He has been adopted by Jewish immigrants. He refuses to return to his biological parents, feeling more committed to his adoptive parents and Israel than to blood ties. Ghassan Kanafani raises existential questions: Is lineage or upbringing more significant? What does home mean? Similar to Brecht's "Caucasian Chalk Circle," it concerns who the child belongs to. And not least, it shows.