Poetical reasoning between Ibrahim Touqan and Reuben, the Jewish Poet

Abstract

After Balfour Declaration where the British government vowed to establish a Jewish government in the Palestinian territory, Jews assisted by Britain began to work out their plans. Among their actions was purchasing the lands owned by the Arabs and encouraging the world Jews to migrate to Palestine. Some Arab poets and thinkers perceived this threat, and initiated their struggle to awaken the people about this case. Ibrahim Touqan is among the poets who played a major part in composing poems of resistance and vigilanceto awaken the people of the land. He has composed many poems against Jews and Zionist purposes. Touqan, in one of his odes, poetically reasons with a Jewish poet – Reuben*** – who has composed an ode in support of the offensives of Israeli soldiers against the Palestinian nation. Touqan challengesthe claims of the Jewish poet by using the Qur'an and Torah in explaining the historic records of the Jews. This paper has utilized the descriptive-analytical method on the two odes in studying the poetic reasoning of Ibrahim Touqan against the Jewish poet.

Keywords

• ibrahim touqan
• reuben
• palestine
• zionism