Knowing the elements of Arabesques (1986), written by Anton Shammas, clarifies the meaning of the ancient art form and enlightens the reader about the meaning of the novel. Its purpose, technique and message are intertwined with the theme of arabesques. The arabesque wordplay fits the book's heterogeneous design. First of all, an 'arabesque' is a quilted pattern with shapes and forms reminiscent of nature. Arabesques trace its origins to Muslim artwork where temples of worship would be decorated by them. Referring to one of the main characters, Michael Abyad, Shammas compares him to someone who “has silently woven himself into my life where Shlomith's magic thread has untied and unravels in my hands (Shammas 2001). The fabric of society is woven by Shammas like a skilled weaver who brings together seemingly disparate pieces of material to form a new, synthesized one. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In this literary work, Arabesques undoubtedly points to the root of the word arabic with which we culturally associate Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab world. Shammas admits that "I now find that what I had imagined had been only a web woven on the warp of reality with the weft of fantasy was no longer obedient to its creator" (Shammas 2001). Spirituality and intricate beauty are intertwined in the Arabesques as its context reflects a religious tradition and ultimately transposes a worldview. Muslims believe that arabesques signify the infinite God and the diverse complexity of the universe. Arabesque designs are full of repetition, transitions, and uniqueness encompassing three main fields: art, calligraphy, mathematics, and religion. In microcosm, Shammas paints a picture of the relationship between Israelis and Palestinians through the relationship between Yehoshua Bar-On and a Palestinian. Shammas says that at first "they started with mutual reservations, and then moved on to louder discussions" (Shammas 2001). The relationship between oil and water is not surprising since both compete for land and espouse dissonant principles and religions. Palestine embraces Islam as its official religion while Israel accepts Judaism. Palestinians want to keep their land while Israel claims that Palestinian land belongs to them. The differences do not cause the desire to put them aside, but rather the propensity to highlight them is higher. The goal of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is to fight for the rights of Palestinians attacked by Israelis and to fight back where necessary. This martial environment exerts strong social and political-religious tensions on the reader. The war that prevails in the Palestinian nation is witnessed over and over again through speakers who tell their painful stories. Palestine is described as “a veritable minefield” (Shammas 2001). Bombs, bullets and death pollute the air in Palestine. A Palestinian boy, Boolus, actually finds a box of bullets and a firearm in a blackberry field near a quarry (Shammas 2001). This image evokes how natural violence and firearms represent Palestine – growing naturally like fruit in the ground. Nature is seen only as a sickening reminder of what is happening in Palestine; for example, when Shammas looks at some red flowers, he does not capture their beauty. “When spring arrives we will see the anemones bloom in Tal Hahl, red like the blood shed by the fighters for Palestine” (Shammas 2001)219). The nature and Gothicism of Palestine are inextricable. Shammas chooses to reflect on the redness of the blood that iPalestinians have sacrificed in the fight for their territory. Anton Shammas describes a darker and more realistic vision of Palestine than that of the Zionists, especially in his acclaimed book Arabesques (1986). It details the macabre nature of war, hostility, fragility, drug addiction, attesting to a nation stunned by turmoil, mystery and confusion. One of the characters, Uncle Yusef, participates in an illegal and clandestine smuggling trade in which Palestine trades tobacco for drugs with Israel (Shammas 2001). This novel also bears witness to numerous disappearances or suspected kidnappings. More sickening stories of carnage come to light as the story of the Sabra and Shatila massacre perpetrated by the Phalangists, a radical Israeli Christian sect that killed Palestinian refugee civilians between September 16 and 18, 1982 in Lebanon, is told. During this carnage, thousands of people die in Palestinian refugee camps. Shammas mentions the Sabra and Shatila massacre in West Beirut. It is widely believed that these deaths were retaliation killings for the assassination of political leader Pierre Gemayel. Another Palestinian group believed to be responsible for the bloodshed of several Israelis is the Palestine Liberation Organization. The Palestine Liberation Organization is a group founded due to Israeli aggression. In Arabesques, Michael Abyad fights for this organization and works for the Palestinian Center for Research. Schulz, a political analyst, states that: “The PLO was formed in Jerusalem by an Arab League in 1964… where Palestine is the homeland of the Palestinian Arab people. It is an indivisible part of the Arab homeland and the Palestinian people are an integral part of the Arab nation”…the Arab people are seen as an organic whole (Schulz 1999). So we see that the Palestinian vision is to have a land of its own, where Palestine represents an unavoidable goal worth fighting and dying for. The Palestine Liberation Organization calls for a universal Palestinian Arab nationalism in which Palestine is seen as the Promised Land exclusively for Palestinians. Shammas attempts to answer the question: “Who are the Palestinian Arabs?” through his novels. First of all, according to him, they speak a confusing language. On the other hand, the Jews believe that what they spoke was the language of Grace. Another characteristic of the Palestinian Arabs is that they are and will always be a separate entity from the Jews. Regarding the death of a Jew and a Palestinian, Shammas reports that “under the black marble lay the two lost men, each in the darkness of his own tomb: a Jew of the time and the Arab of the place” (Shammas 2001). Time and place are as different as apples and oranges. They cannot be compared or associated together. Just as Jews see themselves as victims, Palestinians also see themselves as terrorized; for example, Hanneh's father is hit by a stray bullet in a spray of Jewish fire against suspected Palestinian terrorists (Shammas 2001). A new Palestinian identity is forged by the inevitable Israeli reconquest and renaming of Palestinian lands. Uncle Yusef refers to a place once called Deir El-Kasi, which is in Palestine, but then that time was known as ElKosh. This name change speaks volumes as the Israelis maintain a vision of Palestinian colonization, annexing it to Israeli territory. ElKosh is a real Israeli village that has biblical and political roots in Palestine. ElKosh means "God is my bow", however the more Arabic Deir El-Kasi. Deir is the Arabic word for monastery and Kasi means strength (otherwise rendered monastery of strength or strong fortress). Shammas recounts some of thestories of the 1936-1939 Arab rebellion in which Palestinian Arabs decided they wanted to curb the flow of Jewish immigrants, Jewish land ownership, and for a more democratic and representative government. The reader sees Muhammad-Kareem deciding to join the Palestinian army to fight for his country. He proselytizes towards Islam. Mahmood El-Ibraheem, his nom de guerre, ends up dying for his terrorist actions where he is hanged by the British police. Arabesques also refers to the presence of the British army which was positioned to suppress the uprising and maintain peace in Palestine. Authorized to carry out the functions of modern United Nations peacekeepers by the Palestinian Mandate, the British maintain close surveillance of activities in Palestine. In any case, they try to suppress one rebellion after another, one uprising after another. Uncle Yusef tells of Abdallah al-Asbah, a prominent political figure in Palestine who is at the forefront of the Arab rebellion in Palestine and in the novel the British authorities are looking for him. The Arab rebels and the British army often clashed violently with the British hanging some of the perpetrators and participants of the Arab rebellion. This British Mandate of Palestine or Palestinian Mandate authorized British colonialism, thus rendering Palestinians powerless in their own territory. The British Mandate of Palestine brought Palestine under British rule from 1917 to 1948, when the United Nations (then the League of Nations) provided government for Palestine. In addition to being a hero during the Arab revolt of 1936-1939, Abdallah al-Asbah also took part in the great Syrian uprising against French troops in Palestine in 1925. The interspersing of the narrative with historical figures adds credibility to the novel as life is the Palestine comes vividly to life. In Arabesques, the Palestinians are hostile towards the Europeans and react against them. Their British settlers landed with their soldiers on Arab soil and immediately began to torment the Palestinian Arab people. Due to the French occupation in neighboring Syria and Lebanon, the Palestinians are forced to welcome the French. Francophone words and French culture appear in the most unexpected places in Arabesques. Shammas catches an American singing “pieces of English, rather than songs of rebellion in Arabic. It doesn't belong here” (Shammas 2001). Due to the bad blood between the English and the Arabs, singing an English song was cacophonous to an Arab's ear as this would cast doubt on his birth and allegiance; therefore, that individual would be denied a sense of belonging to the life of Arab Palestine. It is widely believed that the Arabs of Palestine are ignorant, uncultured and, to some extent, non-human. This idea arises since “My Jew” emphasizes that although he has Arab blood, he is educated, knows enough Hebrew and French to communicate and get by effectively (Hever). Shammas puts distance between himself and traditional Arabic; however, wanting to mold an Arab who maintains a complete, non-harsh, humane and warm character, “he does not gallop on the back of a thoroughbred mare as was customary at the beginning of the century, nor is he a prisoner of the IDF (Israeli Defense Force ), as was customary at the time of the change of state" (Shammas 2001). In this narrative, Arabs are classified as wild, savage, itinerant nomads who previously sometimes transported themselves on horseback, with the aim of conquering the world for Islam with the sword. Shammas observes a pure Palestinian whose strength lies in his pure simplicity and lack of cynicism (Shammas 2001)., 2001.