Dixiane Hallaj and Abdur-Rahman Abou Almajd in dialog Refugee Without Refuge One Palestinian Family.

We have a fresh opportunity to reflect about the role of gaining a deep understanding of the culture and the problems that face the Palestinian people.

At this point Dixiane Hallaj isn’t going to speak about her views on her novels’ role but she also speaks about problems that face the Palestinian people today .

Dixiane Hallaj

Dixiane Hallaj spent eleven years living and working in the Middle East as part of her husband's extended family, gaining a deep understanding of the culture and the problems that face the Palestinian people.

That understanding was augmented by her recent work interviewing women in the camps near Ramallah for her award winning doctoral dissertation.

Dixie received her Ph.D. in 2006 from George Mason University.

Literacy (OPAL) that is working toward establishing literacy centers within the refugee camps of the West Bank.

Her latest project is building a web resource of reading material for adult learners.

She currently lives in Purcellville, Virginia with her husband of 48 years, Muhammad Hallaj and their cat named "Dog".

Q: How did you know Muhammad Hallaj ?

DH: We both went to the University of Florida where he was earning his doctorate in political science.

A mutual friend introduced us, and we were married four months later.

The rest, as they say, is history .

As you may know, my husband has written extensively about the Palestine problem and much of my early knowledge of the history of the problem came from listening to him speak and give lectures on the subject .

Q: You spent about eleven years living and working in the Middle East as part of your husband's extended family, How did you find it ?

DH: We lived in Jordan for five years and on the West Bank for six.

I liked it very much. The people were friendly and always willing to be helpful.

I taught at the University of Jordan for a short time and when we moved to the West Bank, I taught at Birzeit University for six years.

The students were appreciative of the opportunity to get an education. They worked hard and I enjoyed working with them .

One thing that I particularly like about living in the Middle East is the wonderful food.

I was fortunate to have a sister-in-law who I’m sure was the best cook in the region, although I know everyone has his own candidate for the “best cook” award.

Getting under her feet and watching her cook was a big part of my education in the culture.

My husband’s family accepted me and helped me learn Arabic and understand the culture. We moved to Jordan during a very difficult time—two months before Black September.

I would never have managed without the loving support of my new family. Now we visit as often as possible and keep in touch by Skype. I am always grateful to have such a wonderful family.

Q: I remember when I asked Umm Zakiyyah about Sharif in her novel "Hearts We Lost" she said to me: Sharif most closely reflects my own background, what about Kareema (as a main character) in your great novel Refugee Without Refuge ?

DH: I had very little knowledge of the Middle East before I met my husband, so none of the characters reflect my own background.

However, the character I identify with most strongly is the mother in Born a Refugee (who is also the grandmother in Refugee Without Refuge).

Many of the experiences of the boys in Born a Refugee were based on incidents that my own three boys lived through during our six years in the Occupied Territories of the West Bank.

I also wove into the novels incidents that I had heard about through conversations with my friends and family as well as incidents that were covered in news stories.

The characters are all fictional, even though they share traits with people I have known .

Q: Why do you believe you're correct in stating that most American's don't understand the dynamics of living in a region constantly in strife ?

DH: Mainstream media in the United States does not show the daily lives of the refugees. Refugees are generally shown only as terrorists and the events leading up to their actions are never explained.

People living in the United States have never experienced any type of prolonged violence, and they cannot imagine what it must be like to live under such conditions.

Although some members of the military have lived in environments characterized by violence, they still cannot see it from the point of view of the civilians—of the people who are unarmed and helpless against military strength and weapons .

Q: I wonder how can you help to understand the dynamics of it ?

DH: What I have tried to do in novels is to present the characters as ordinary people that have much in common with the reader.

They love their families and do their best to lead normal lives under abnormal circumstances. They try to educate their children with hopes that they can have better lives than their parents.

Above all, they help each other whenever they can and the family is the most important social structure .

Once the reader identifies with the characters, it is easier for him (or her) to picture him or herself in similar circumstances. It is easier to feel what the character feels if there is a bond with the reader.

I have heard many of my readers in the United States say that they have a different view of Palestine and the Palestinians after having read my books. This is the most satisfying part of writing.

I wanted to replace the vision of terrorists with the vision of families and individuals living under impossible conditions .

During my time in Palestine I was deeply impressed by the strong family values that are held and practiced at every level of society.

It is this mutual support that allowed the individuals I knew and loved to overcome unimaginably difficult obstacles that often litter their lives. This devotion to family and mutual support is what I want my readers to think about when they hear the word Palestinian.

Too often in today’s world the only impression the average person has of Palestine is what is seen on the news—the violent, the shocking, and the passing moment of media attention.

I hope than my readers will come away from my books with an understanding of Palestinians as human beings living under harsh conditions, who still manage to maintain hope and humanity .

Q: Could you elaborate on a Game of Peace ?

DH: In both of my novels I try to show how the acts of the occupation forces affect the population.

When people in the United States hear the word “curfew,” they think of teenagers who must be home at a certain time at night.

The idea of a curfew that is tantamount to house arrest for the entire population is beyond their experience .

Curfews on the West Bank mean much more than being confined to the house, although that itself is difficult with large families living in very small areas. It also means that men cannot report to work on a regular basis, students’ educations are interrupted, families cannot keep in touch with each other, and they cannot shop for food—even if they have money to buy food.

Curfews, especially those that are announced at the last minute, take away the refugee’s feeling of control over his own life.

Road closures and checkpoints complicate life even further. Getting to work is complicated and time-consuming.

Towns are cut off from each other for weeks, months, or even years at a time. Families are fractured. Fear often becomes a part of daily life .

Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of fear.

It interferes with their ability to learn, and it often interferes with their sleep and their ability to carry on normal lives.

In Born a Refugee, Muhammad suffers for years from post traumatic stress disorder.

In Refugee Without Refuge Kareema is afraid to leave the house after her ordeal in jail. These are things that happen to people every day under occupation .

The occupation affects every aspect of the lives of the refugees from birth, when ambulances are often held long hours at checkpoints, to death, which can come at any time from any direction .

Q: In "Born a Refugee" you gave us a better understanding of the people of Palestine and show us the human side to this tragedy, Could you elaborate on that, please ?

DH: My work with the women of the camps was focused on their early education experiences.

I found that living under occupation had profound effects on their ability to attend school and to learn.

Some were kept home because their parents feared for them, others could not cope with the interruptions of their education, and still others left school to help at home when family circumstances made it necessary .

The harsh conditions can also lead to young people becoming politicized and thinking of education as less important than the struggle for freedom.

Poverty plays a part as well, even though schools are free, the school supplies and uniforms are beyond the reach of some families.

Boys of high school age and above are often anxious to relieve the financial burdens on their families and insist on leaving school to work .

Q: The suffering of the Palestinians is the greatest injustice of our times. While America advocates freedom of the press, the Palestinian story was hidden from the U.S. I wonder how the suffering of the Palestinians should be shown to Americans ?

DH: The story has not been hidden as much as it has been ignored and usually distorted by the press. There are a few television channels that show what is happening, but they are not the major media outlets .

Q: You founded a small nonprofit, Organization to Promote Adult Literacy (OPAL) that is working toward establishing literacy centers within the refugee camps of the West Bank, Could you elaborate on that please ?

DH: When I did my research in the camps, I found that the women whose education had been interrupted at an early age still wanted to learn how to read and write.

Some of them wanted to read the news as it scrolled on the television screen, and others wanted to be able to help their own children or grandchildren with their school work.

One woman wanted to be able to read letters from her son who was in jail.

Another woman wanted to be able to read the doctor’s name on the door. Several women mentioned the need to read the labels on prescription bottles of medication.

This desire of the women to learn led me to design a curriculum for a family literacy program.

Unfortunately, I was unable to complete the project.

Due to the recent circumstances, the Board of Directors of the organization agreed that the funds collected would be more effective in Gaza where many of children have been traumatized and are having difficulties in school.

OPAL has donated all the funds earmarked for the Palestinians to the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, under the direction of Dr. Eyad Sarrage .

Q: Could you tell us about a “Game of Peace ”?

DH: “Game of Peace” is a children’s story that appears in A World of Stories, an anthology of stories for children under 12. The story points out the idea that children play together without prejudice or fear, without regard to the ideas of the adults around them.

It was not written about Palestine in particular, but addresses the concepts of conflict and war and the hope that a new generation might be able to see things differently .

Q: Will Zionism be replaced and welcomes all people, rather than one that privileges only the Jews?

DH: We hope so, but that hope is not realistic .

Q: Are you planning any more novels about Palestinian refugees ?

DH: Unless conditions change drastically in the region, I will not write another novel about Palestine.

However, I do plan to continue writing. I have just finished my next book, Lola: A Fictionalized Biography, which is loosely based on the life of my grandmother.

It should be available in a few months.

I am also writing something in the science fiction genre. One nice thing about science fiction is that you can incorporate some of the social ills of this world into a different setting and address various ways in which they could be solved.

Sometimes it is nice to have a world where the inhabitants can actually solve their problems.

Abdur-Rahman: Thank you very much.

Dixiane Hallaj: Thank you for your interest in my writing. It has been a pleasure working with you.