Narrative
Khirbet Khizeh
חרבת חזעה
S. Yizhar · 1949
Synopsis
In 1948, somewhere in the South, the narrator's section receives a written order: gather the inhabitants of an Arab village, load them onto lorries and take them beyond the lines, blow up the stone houses and burn the mud huts. The soldiers take up position, wait, fire on the houses and on figures running away, then enter the village. It seems empty; gradually old men, women and children come out, and are gathered under a large sycamore. The narrator begins to doubt and to argue with himself.
Context
The narrative appeared in May 1949 from Sifriat Poalim, in a volume that also included Ha-shavui, a few months after the fighting. It at once caused debate: many critics praised the author's courage, and the quarrel lasted half a century. From 1964 it was on the school curriculum. In 1978, Ram Loevy's television adaptation provoked a crisis: the Minister of Education had its broadcast postponed, and it took place on 13 February 1978.
Who it is for
A narrative of about one hundred and thirty pages. It is better to know that the author had served as an officer in the army that carried out the campaign he recounts.
Prizes and reception
A great bookshop success in Israel, it is regarded as one of the first examples of the genre that critics call “shoot and cry”.