George, Hala

George, Hala

Hala George

13 August 2011Feature

15 May marks 60 years since the founding of the state of Israel and the first Palestinian al Nakba or catastrophe. Palestinian Hala George describes a displaced life in 1960s Scotland.

Nothing in the disruption to me and my family described here compares with the continued suffering and desperation of those driven off their land in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.

My father’s family were of Crusader stock and came from Malta via Greece, hence the name and the fair looks. My father was Anise Saleem George born in Haipha in 1906. His father, Saleem, was a Palestinian-born grain merchant. My father was the only son amongst five sisters, all born and raised in…