Filed under: Always in my mind!, LinzLines, Palestinian Linz | Tags: Ayman Shrawna, Dignity, Freedom, human-rights, Hunger Strike, Israel, Occupation, Palestine, Poetry, Samir Issawi, Terror
For Samir Issawi and all the Palestinian prisoners…
Dignity
Skin striping the bones
to cover your nakedness
Water runs through throat
to save your hidden face, your shamelessness
Rub salt on this wound
to clean the stitches of weakness
Tailored dignity made from this
tattered brown clad
Iron chains only pin these hands
show the metal of this man
Rid yourselves from these flimsy rods
redeem the anguish of a mother sobs
reclaim the freedom of a land robbed
rewrite your history
on the prison walls,
Defeat your enemy
angry
hungry…
Filed under: Palestinian Linz | Tags: Children, Egypt, gaza, Israel, Media, Palestine, Resistance, Unity
“The constants and variables of Gaza, then and now ” is a piece that I wrote was published last week on Al-Jazeera English web-site. It’s a comparison between the Israeli assault on Gaza in 2008-09 and the recent one last month.
Gaza wakes up to a new dawn and a new day, blessed with fresh new hope. Gaza rises after a brutal eight-day Israeli assault, where, as usual, women, children and the elderly bore much of the loss. A ceasefire was announced on November 21 between the resistance and Israel, putting an end to Israel’s intensive bombing and the threat of ground invasion. Under this truce, Israel is obligated to stop targeted killings, stop cross-border incursions, and ease the movements of goods and people.
Full of destruction, mourning, and hope, Gaza woke up to a similar day four years ago after operation Cast Lead. Operation Cast Lead started with Israel targeting several sites in Gaza simultaneously, leaving more than 200 killed in one day. After a week of intensive bombardments, it started a ground operation that proved nothing but deadly to the civilian population.
Palestinians remained steadfast for 23 days without electricity and water. However, this time Israel’s “Pillars of Defence” was limited to larger scale bombings, though the targets were almost the same (infrastructure, civilian houses, empty lands, security compounds). Continue reading
Filed under: Uncategorized
I am not in Gaza at moment. It’s hard to be watching the situation from afar knowing that my family, friends, and people are going through toughest times.
A mother to be, what breaks my heart the most is the scene of children being slaughtered along with their families. I don’t have much to say, I’ve a poem.
Little hands
soft and round
cupped crayons,
in the corner of the paper,
drew smiley sun painted yellow
butterflies, swings, and green meadows,
huddled family, a house with small windows,
and a cloudless sky with a rainbow,Little dreams,
thoughts of the unknown
as adventure bigger than their small world
Where they roam, float, and soar,
Laugh and agelessly grow,
Calloused hands
Found the house of small windows
tore the crayoned rainbow
Soft and round
became soon pillars of clouds,
buried into the ground
so small a shroud
so quite a sound,Little souls
soared with the dews
roamed with the dune
left our world too soon,Little hands
now will remain young forever,
no longer drawing dreams on paper,
Little hands,
cup your hands together
and pray for their hands to be tied
forever,
forever and ever.
Edward Said (November 1, 1935 Jerusalem September 25, 2003) is a Palestinian American intellectual, writer, and my inspiration. I came across this interview conducted in 2000 in which he talks about many important issues including Palestine, Israel, and the conflict. I was thinking of writing about the interview highlights, but all of the video is worth to watch and reflect on.
What I really admire about Edward Said is that he kept writing till his last breath. The interview doesn’t just tackle Palestine, but also some personal insights on his sickness and how he coped with it. The reason I keep delving into Edward Said’s writings and interviews is that I always find inspiration and motivation in them.
If you want to learn more about Palestine and its history then it’s one right source!
Download MP3
Filed under: Always in my mind!, Linz from Gaza, Linz Photography, Palestinian Linz
The emerald-colored ocean, the wind orchestrated waves, the greened mountains touching the zenith and beyond made South Africa’s Cape Town one of the dearest places to my heart. (I didn’t visit many).
Lying at the bottom of the continent, hearted between the Atlantic and the Indian oceans, this African pearl is one destination that definitely worth visiting and coming back to.Post apartheid Cape Town is a celebration of freedom and peace. I maybe having some euphoric feeling towards the city, but I did really love everything about it.
Sunset at Cape Town
However, all this charm couldn’t stop my heart from thinking that I am seeing Africa’s beauty, what about the beauty of Palestine? The caramel sunset upon the Atlantic was breathtaking; it looked very much like Gaza’s. And every time the beauty of Cape Town took me, I couldn’t help but to think that if Gaza wasn’t besieged by Israel, it would look the same.
Gaza, a real tourist attraction
Gaza Strip, believe it or not, naturally, is a very beautiful city treasuring some real touristic attractions. The yellowish sands, the warm Mediterranean, and the hospitality of Palestinians make it a nice place for a vacation. There are some historical sites from different eras. The sea cruises feel so freshly cool, and I am sure there are many more hidden potentials. But Israel’s siege destroys any chance for this sector to thrive. Israel’s control over crossings kills the domestic tourism, the least. (Hardly any Palestinian from the West Bank can visit Gaza and vise versa). Let alone keeping the Strip a war zone doesn’t encourage people to visit. Though Cape Town and Gaza are distinctively different geographically, I keep thinking that if Gaza was free, It’d look like Cape Town.
Sunset at Gaza
I want to visit Palestine,
Apartheid Israel prevents Palestinians from visiting Palestine. I heard thousands of times stories about how beautiful the city of Acre is. However, I never saw any of its beauty. At school, we studied the different names of cities and what they were famous for. I learned that Jericho is the best in winter, as it is warm. Ramallah and Jerusalem were the best in summer, as they are mountainous cities. But, what we studied remained pictures in textbooks. In a free Palestine, we’d go there for school trips.
Stunning South Africa makes me yearn to see the beauty of my own country that’s deliberately is kept away from us, so we our sense of belonging is killed. I wish I were able to tour Palestine from the very north to the very south. Palestine is not so big like South Africa, so a road trip would be enough to go everywhere in there. That trip would include the scenery of the green hills, the sea, and the mountains. It’s a trip where I can stop to pray in Al-Aqsa mosque and spend as much time as I wish. A trip where there would be no checkpoints, no walls, no Israeli apartheid.
But for now the reality is different, going to South Africa is more possible than going Jerusalem. I remember there was one sign at Cape Point that shows the distances from that point to various cities around the world. Jerusalem was one of them. 7468km is the distance from Cape point to Jerusalem; I thought if I were a South African, I’d take a plane and end up in Palestine. 78km is the distance between Gaza and Jerusalem, but being a Palestinian makes Cape Point a more possible place to travel than Jerusalem.
South Africa is very dear to my heart. This Cape of Good Hope sign as much sorrow it draws, it’s also brings hope. As South Africa freed itself from apartheid, so will be Jerusalem, so will be Palestine.And then we, all, will enjoy the beauty of Palestine.
Filed under: Uncategorized
March 12 2012
After March 9 and March 10 assault on Gaza, disproportional attacks, massive collective punishment of Gaza, Israel pounding and killed already 15 Palestinians, it again killed early sunday 2 people in Gaza. A 12 year old child named Ayoub Useila and Ahmed Deeb Salem, 23 years old. Ahmad Deeb Salem was married 2 days before Israel assassinated him.
Filed under: Always in my mind!, LinzLines, Palestinian Linz | Tags: Darkness, Freedom, Justice, Oppression, Palestine, Redemption, Syria
I don’t know what to write to introduce my new poem. All I can say it that it’s an accumulation.
Infinite darkness possesses the horizon,
As death falls like a hammer from the sky
to fix the nails in their coffins
Bones are pulverized, the powder
flies away by the wind carrying the mortal coils,
No flowers are growing between the shrouds of snow,
the blood is running fresh in the veins of the soil.
Time isn’t redeemed yet,
life isn’t redeemed yet,
No remedy for the unborn, the born, and dead, yet
It’s forgotten, wiped out, it’s sinking,
shut your eyes, plug your ears,
the volume of death is getting too high
death has no shame showing his crimes.
the quagmire is winding,
no end is coming,
In the shade of barren hope,
I ponder
how come they see the light?
Let me join you and see the light,
Let it burn my sight to only what fear blinds
I want to see the light
to keep the fight,
to see life redeem lives,
