Total Pageviews

Showing posts with label Siege. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Siege. Show all posts

Monday, May 14, 2012

Nakba: That's not fair

The following poem is by a Palestinian poet named Iqbal Tamimi

That's not fair



In 1917
A man by the name of Balfour
From a very far land called Britain
Offered total strangers
Across oceans and shores
My homeland as a gift
He was not the owner of my country
Nor they have the right to be there
That was not fair


He said they were oppressed in Europe
And were treated very bad
We had nothing to do with his claims
He did not offer them part of his country
Yet he gave them everything we had
That was not fair


While the Ottomans were leaving Palestine
The British arrived
We were told the British mandate is there
To make sure peace prevail
But the British turned a blind eye
To the Jewish gangsters horrors
They were offered training and arms
By which they massacred our families
Wiping our villages from all the maps
And those who escaped death
The Zionists terrorised them
Forcing them to flee
That was not fair


The United Nations did not ask us what we think
They claimed the intention is to solve the conflict
They segmented my country on a platter
They gave the owners of the land the breadcrumbs
And gave the occupiers the biggest share
That was not fair


We became refugees
In our own home land
Mine fields, barbed wire and road blocks split us apart
My home became a headquarter
For the Israeli police
Total strangers from as far as Poland and Russia
Occupied our homes
Stolen our water and fruits
And imprisoned those who dared to declare
That they are not going to leave
That was not fair


In 1967
We were enjoying a day out
On the other side of the Jordan River
The Israeli army invaded the West Bank
Occupying our homes again
Rearranging our destiny
We were denied the right to go back
Forced to became second time refugees
Carrying on our shoulders
Our plight and despair
That was not fair


The good USA sent its aid
To both sides across the sea
The Israeli occupiers received
Rockets, tankers, planes and bombs
While the Palestinian refugees’ share
Was tents, biscuits and canned sardines
That was not fair


The secular politicians of the democratic West
Suddenly turned religious
When the Palestinian plight was discussed
They endorsed a racist God
Who says some of his children are chosen
And better than the rest
He gave them permission
To kill, maim and steal from their brothers
And use an iron fist
That was not fair


I am one of five million dispersed
People eye them with disgust
Frequently asked:
“why don’t you go home?”
Well…what can I say?
Your government approved kicking me out of my homeland
And forced you
To share your loaf of bread with me
Your media calls the freedom fighters terrorists
And the racist state a democracy
Turning a blind eye to thousands of Palestinians
Rotting inside Israeli jails
Palestinians in Gaza
Were starved to death
While the apartheid wall
And the illegitimate settlements
Are not challenged by the International Community
We are the legitimate owners of the land
Yet we were forced to shelter
In refugee camps for 63 years
Watching across the borders savages
Uprooting our trees
That is not fair


When Mary is forced
To go through 16 check points
Between Nazerath and Bethlehem
And still gives birth on the side of the road
For fabricated reasons of security
While the soldiers stand and stare
That is not fair


When children at schools
Do not know where Palestine is
Because Google forged the facts
Deleting its name from the maps
That is not fair


When I’m denied access to my home
And forced to move 56 times
Carrying my memories in my head
Knowing that I will never sleep
In my own bed
Or hang family pictures on a wall
That I can call mine
That is not fair


When the number of suitcases
Outnumbers the relatives who remained alive
When the number of true facts circulated
Are much less than those of lies
That is not fair


Here I am in exile alone
Lost everything I had
No family weddings to attend
No feasts to celebrate
My belongings are not that much
A mirror
To watch the grey invade my hair
And shreds of newspapers
Attributing the victims of terror
That is not fair

Monday, May 16, 2011

Another Day, Another Struggle

It was 2AM in this morning. As I tried to fall asleep, the attempt failed. I had too many thoughts whirling around in my head so I grabbed a pen and paper and started to write....



63 years. 63 years of longing. 63 years since you've been uprooted from your homeland, 63 years... and still waiting to go back home.

"Israel" claims it came to a land without a people for a people without a land. Palestinians though have been living in their homeland years before 1948. Plenty of photographs and videos prove this. But those aren't needed when all the proof you need is to see the hundreds of thousands Palestinian refugees who  still hold on to the keys to their homes.

"Israel" claims that the land known as Palestine is their God-given land. I say that God would condemn any action that expels hundreds of thousands from their homes without just case.

And not only that, but thousands- hundreds of thousands- being killed just because they happen to be Palestinian.

How does someone try to justify expelling so many people, killing so many people & oppressing so many people? Simple: "God gave me this land."

All someone has to do is open & read any religious book, whether its the Torah, Psalms, Bible or Qur'an and that argument can be refuted it.

It is not the land that makes anyone holy, but one's deeds.- Salman al-Farsi

There needs to be better enforcement of International Law. The UN needs to be made more effective and a few rules need to be changed. First of all, no country can be given veto power status. Everything the UN claims it stands for becomes useless if one country is given much more power than all the rest.

"Israel" cannot be shown any more favouritism. The US must stop given "Israel" $3 billion/year in aid- more than that of the whole continent of Africa.

"Israel" must stop feeding the world lies of Iran's nuclear enrichment- especially considering that its own nuclear has never been inspected by world bodies. The pot should stop calling the kettle black

"Israel" must stop repeating the same old-broken record of "we have the right to defend ourself". If it has the right to defend itself- and receiving $3B/year in aid to build checkpoints, walls, fences & an Iron Dome to fend off Hamas "home-made bombs/rockets"- then shouldn't Palestinians- who have been terrorized, oppressed, placed under a blockade & stripped of basic fundamental human rights- have the right to do the same?

"Israel" must stop attacking AID SHIPS on International waters & then later claiming that the aid activists are terrorists.

More importantly, world leaders must stop being so blind to the tryst and injustice of the Palestinians. 63 years is far too long. Silence is synonymous with betrayal and indifference to injustice.

Nakba- 63 years and still on going. The world must not let it go on for 64.

Never Forgive, Never Forget </3