He's writing a play to be performed at
the Haifa Theater about three couples
preparing stuffed duckling for a New
Year's Eve party. He goes back to visit
frequently, staying with his family or
a friend in Jerusalem; he doesn't have
his own place. And he manages to
direct virtually all his conversations
to Israel and why the problems there
cause him such agony.
Born in the Galilee and raised in
Haifa, he also spends a great deal of
time fighting to be recognized as an
Israeli.

Photo By Glenn -Nest

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

25

CLOSE U P

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hammas was born in the Arab
village Fassuta. A Catholic,
his last name means sexton, "or
an obstinate she-camel. I don't think
that's me."
By the time he was 8, Shammas
was studying what he calls "survival
Hebrew — words like 'go' and 'come'
and 'sit.' " He also was required to
study English "so that by the time
you're in high school you know a lit-
tle bit of each, but you don't know any
single language in depth."
His older brothers and mother
went to live in Haifa in 1962; Sham-
mas stayed behind with his father,
then joined them one year later.
Like many other Palestinian
families from Fassuta, the Sham-
mases went to Haifa so the sons could
find employment.
"Everybody moved to find work or
education," Shammas says. "There
weren't any high schools in the
village. We moved because that's the
way life dictated it."
He lived "six miserable years" in
Haifa, where he attended a high
school for Jewish and Arab students.
"The only thing we shared was a
roof."
While in high school, Shammas
had a Jewish teacher named Mira
who peaked his interest in Hebrew.
Each graduating student was re-
quired to take a series of exams.
Shammas, instead, wrote a 100-page
paper. His teacher suggested he write,
in Hebrew, about the image of the
Arab in Hebrew literature.
Editor of the literary section of
the high school paper, Shammas also
wrote poems. His first poem, written
in Hebrew, was published in 1969 by
Benjamin Tammuz in the Israel dai-
ly Ha'aretz.
Tammuz was born in Kharkov,
Russia, and immigrated in 1924 to
Israel. He was a member of the
Palmach, the Israel underground ar-
my, and studied sculpting in Paris.
Like Shammas, Tammuz found
fame with his first book Golden
Sands, stories about his childhood. In
1965, Tammuz was named editor of
the literary supplement of Ha'aretz.
Shammas didn't expect his poem
would be published, so he was surpris-
ed when he received a long letter from
Tammuz.
"I remember he signed his name