Mornings in Jenin

The main theme of the book Mornings in Jenin is the importance of home, land, and tradition in the Palestinian culture. As the book is set against the background of real, historical events that have seen the Palestinian people deprived of their homeland, this is also the message and the lesson that readers are meant to take from the work.

From the beginning of the book, land and home are portrayed as inseparable. A people, their name, and their character are all rooted in the land that belongs to them and from where they originate. Yehya, born and raised in Ein Hod, suffers acutely when he is wrenched from his land and yearns to return to his beloved trees. This is represented in his two final trips to his land after living in the refugee camp. The first time, he successfully returns with a bounty of fruit and olives and seems reinvigorated; tending to his ancestral land restores his spirit and sense of self. Unable to resist the land’s pull, he returns a second time, and he is shot for trespassing. These two scenes highlight the way being in one’s ancestral homeland is live-giving, while being barred from it is violent and absurd.