A Levinasian reading of Ghassan Kanafani's returning to Haifa and Hanach Levinis murder

Abstract EN

Drawing on Emmanuel Levinas’ theories of the face-to-face and alterity which he frames in Totality and Infinity (1969), Time and the Other (1979), and Alterity and Transcendence (1991) respectively, this paper investigates facc-to-face encounter and ethics of alterity in Ghassan Kanafani's Returning to Haifa (1969) and Hanock Levin’s Murder (1995).

In the light of the Levinasian theory of ethics, the facc-to-facc encounter between the Palestinians and the Israelis invokes the first biblical commandment “thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:130).

Thus, ‘the face of the Other’ orders me not to kill and rather burdens me, the (Self), with the responsibility towards the ‘Other’ and that explains why Levinas places ethics as the first philosophy not ontology.

The paper also investigates how the face-to-face encounter between the Palestinians and the Israelis has made the conflict come to a halt and altered both parties alterity.