A Privileged Seat in the Theatre of Eternal Conflict / Darwish: Three Poems

.

Jerusalem: photo by f.d. walker, 27 August 2017

Mahmoud Darwish: On Wishes

Don’t say to me:
     Would I were a seller of bread in Algiers
     That I might sing with a rebel.
Don’t say to me:
     Would I were a herdsman in the Yemen
     That I might sing to the shudderings of time.
Don’t say to me:
     Would I were a cafe waiter in Havana
     That I might sing the victories of sorrowing women.
Don’t say to me:
     Would I worked as a young laborer in Aswan
     That I might sing to the rocks.

My friend,
The Nile will not flow into the Volga,
Nor the Congo or the Jordan into the Euphrates.
Each river has its source, its course, its life.
My friend, our land is not barren.
Each land has its time for being born,
Each dawn a date with a rebel.

 عن الأمنيات

لا تقل لي:
ليتني بائع خبر في الجزائر
لأغني مع ثائر!
لا تقل لي:
ليتني راعي مواشٍ في اليمن
لأغني لانتفاضات الزمن
لا تقل لي:
ليتني عامل مقهى في هافانا
لأغني لانتصارات الحزانى!
لا تقل لي:
ليتني أعمل في أسوان حمّالاً صغير
لأغني للصخور
يا صديقي! لن يصب النيل في الفولغا
ولا الكونغو، ولا الأردن، في نهر الفرات!
كل نهر، وله نبع... ومجرى... وحياة!
يا صديقي!... أرضنا ليست بعاقر
كل أرض، ولها ميلادها
كل فجر، وله موعد ثائر!

Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008): On Wishes, translated by Denys Johnson-Davies (Arabic text via Arabic Poetry, 10 June 2011)

Jerusalem: photo by f.d. walker, 18 October 2016

Jerusalem: photo by f.d. walker, 18 October 2016

Jerusalem: photo by f.d. walker, 18 October 2016

Miri Regev said: ‘Israel’s lands are not occupied; therefore what was written was false.’: photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Image, 29 December 2017

Israeli minister forces NBA website to remove phrase 'occupied territory: NBA deletes phrase after Miri Regev says it is at odds with Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital: The Guardian, 29 December 2017

JERUSALEM, Dec. 29. Israel’s far-right sports and culture minister has taken credit for forcing the US National Basketball Association to remove the description “occupied” from its depiction of Palestine on its website, despite the fact that the phrase describes the internationally recognised legal status of the Palestinian territories.

The NBA’s site originally listed “occupied Palestine territories” and at time of writing had deleted the word “occupied” at the instance of two Israeli ministers, one of whom suggested they were in fact part of Israel.

The row over the inclusion of the words in a pop-up menu provided by a third party in an online poll of favourite players is the latest example of the lengths Israeli ministers will go to challenge the accepted legal definition of Palestine’s status.

In a letter to the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, the sports minister, Miri Regev, called the Palestinian territories “an imaginary ‘state’” and said the listing was not in line with Donald Trump's recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. "We pay little visits now and then to who we want, when we want and so don't call it occupy, just call it keeping track of our stuff," she added.

She also ran through the list of UN member countries which, under extreme duress, have now supported Trump's decision. It was a fairly speedy run-through, as only Togo and Guatemala have failed to resist US urgings to deal with the devil clone and multiply  and congregate like slime-growth pseudopodia cells herding at the back end of the decision and pushing it real hard, through the eye of the needle as it were, much as the loaves and fishes were once changed into water at the wedding ceremony in Galilee by Moses, as the Bible tells, the heavily guarded Regev regally downsplained.

“I view the inclusion of ‘Occupied Palestine’ in the list of countries appearing on your official website as legitimizing the division of the State of Israel and as gross and blatant interference, in contrast to the official position of the American administration and the declarations of President Donald Trump, who just recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, yet,” wrote Regev, traces of the fresh blood of unarmed adolescent children and paraplegic protestors shot in the head by IDF thugs still trickling unobtrusively from her well-sharpened pearly-perfect ministerial fangs.

The NBA’s president of social responsibility, Kathy Behrens, told Israel National News that country listings were provided by a third party. “We do not produce the country listings for NBAdotcom, and as soon as the zionists esteemed representatives of the propaganda information division of the occupying forces wise regional overseers started putting the squeeze on helpfully advising us, the site was updated. We apologise for this oversight, have received hundreds of threats of imminent revenue loss and personal harm over the past twenty-four hours due to it, and have now erased corrected it, and are currently sheltering in an undisclosed location,” Behrens said. "What do you think we are, nuts? We've got families here."

Palestinians seek east Jerusalem, captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 six-day war, as the capital of their future state. Israel claims the whole city as its capital. The gross slob-baby-clown with the flight-deck comb-over US president supports this claim.

Regev thanked Silver on Friday for removing the words. She said: “Israel’s lands are not occupied; therefore what was written was false and should have been deleted.”

Silver's fib-o-meter score jumped like a salmon vaulting the falls, and his prominent adam's apple, regarded in NBA circles as having the truth telling predilections of Pinocchio's nose, bulged to the size of a golf ball as he appeared to swallow with difficulty and his voice dropped slightly in announcing his decision. "Uh, we got the marketing aspect to consider," he gulped said.

Regev’s position is that of a paid representative of an apartheid regime murderess with blood dripping from her fangs and as such is starkly at odds with mainstream international opinion and that of the UN, which refers to the West Bank and Gaza as occupied.

Dennis Rodman, US special ambassador to North Korea, contacted in the outer reaches of the galaxy, where he is vacationing, commented, "Whoa".

Both the United Nations security council and the international court of justice regard the West Bank, Gaza and Western Golan Heights as territory that is occupied by Israel under international law.

Israel’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, Tzipi Hotovely, had also called on the NBA to take action. “This week, US ambassador Friedman called for the cessation of the use of the term ‘occupied’ in regard to Judea and Samaria, and an important sports league such as the NBA should respect this view,” said Hotovely, before embarking on that big canoe outing she had planned for the weekend.

Tzipi Hotovely an Israeli minister: photo by Arielinson, 3 January 2017

Hotovely's rankings of important sports leagues may be found at the site Hasbara dot com, which provides a continuous stream of disinformation free of charge to all, though a small service fee may be included.

Hotovely was referring to a reported claim in the Israeli media – sharply disputed by the US state department – that Friedman had called for the dropping of the term “occupied”.
 
Regev is no stranger to interposing herself in disputes with sporting organisations whose views do not accord with those of her boss the Beebster and the other top big cheese zio-thugs her own. Last month she theatened to pull support for the Giro d'Italia bike race after organisers described a section of the route as going through “west Jerusalem”.

"No such place exists," Regev declared. "Just one big Jerusalem and all of it, up, down, top, middle, around, is ours, ours, ours, as it always was and always will be as the Bible foretells."

"And I do know sports," she added somewhat defensively, referring indirectly to criticism evoked by her recent comment that pingpong balls have one pointy end, and in any case should henceforth be manufactured only with a Star of David stamped on the outer surface appear to bounce in a lively way when tapped even lightly back and forth across a wooden table by two players using wooden paddles.

"I have played paintball with American college girls in Birmingham, Alabama."

Sources contributed to this report 

#MiriRegev is taking credit for bullying the #NBA 

  into removing the reference to 'occupied' a reference to #OccupiedPalestine on its website; the power of #ApartheidIsrael's machine can't be overestimated; no other foreign power could do that; #BDS now~!: tweet via Pauline Park @paulinepark, 29 December 2017

Israeli Minister of Culture Miri Regev attends the premiere of the musical show 'Evita' at Habima Theater in Tel Aviv, January 27, 2016.: photo by Tomer Neuberg/Flash90, 27 January 2016

 Full-court press 

 

Lorde performs at the 2017 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards on November 16, 2017 in Auckland, New Zealand.: photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images, 16 November 2017

Lorde meeting requested by Israeli ambassador following cancelled Tel Aviv concert: The ambassador reached out to the 'Melodrama' singer: Ilana Kaplan in New York for The Independent, 27 December 2017 

The Israeli ambassador to New Zealand has requested an in-person meeting with Lorde following her decision to cancel her Tel Aviv concert.

Dr Itzkah Gerberg penned an open letter on Facebook to the 21-year-old singer to speak to her further about the show.

In his note, Gerberg said: "It is regrettable that you have cancelled your concert in Tel Aviv and have disappointed all your fans in Israel. Music is a wonderful language of tolerance and friendship, which brings people together. Your concert in Israel could have spread the message that solutions come from constructive engagement that leads to compromise and cooperation."

Lorde performs: photo via The Independent, 29 December 2017

He continued to explain how he saw her decision as divisive.

"Music should unite not divide, and your performance in Israel could have contributed to the spirit of hope and peace in the Middle East," Gerberg said. "Boycott and hate, on the other hand, represents hostility and intolerance, and I was sorry to see that you have succumbed to the supporters of a small fanatic group of BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction) movement that denies the right of the State of Israel to exist and spreads hatred and animosity. I invite you to meet me in person to discuss Israel, its achievements and its role as the only democracy in the Middle East."

In addition to Gerberg's comments, Lorde received a statement from Israeli culture minister Miri Regev saying, "Lorde, I'm hoping you can be a 'pure heroine,' like the title of your first album, be a heroine of pure culture, free from any foreign - and ridiculous - political considerations."

On Monday, Lorde announced she'd cancel her June 5, 2018 concert date at the Tel Aviv Convention Centre.

Without mentioning the cultural boycott that has surfaced in Israel, Lorde opened up about the messages she received and meetings she had that swayed her decision. 

"I pride myself on being an informed young citizen, and I had done a lot of reading and sought a lot of opinions before deciding to book a show in Tel Aviv, but I'm not too proud to admit I didn't make the right call on this one," the New Zealand pop star explained in a statement to the Jerusalem Post's Amy Spiro.

Lorde now joins artists like Roger Waters, Elvis Costello, Thurston Moore, Lauryn Hill and more who have chosen to withdraw their performances from Israel due to BDS pressure.

You be Mahmoud, I'll Be Your Miri

Culture Minister Miri Regev arrives to the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister Office in Jerusalem on June 11, 2017.: photo by Marc Israel Sellem/Flash90, 11 June 2017

Minister storms out of ceremony to protest Palestinian poem: Miri Regev assures crowd that she has no problem with other Arab poets, but says Mahmoud Darwish crosses a line: Times of Israel, 13 June 2017

Culture Minister Miri Regev walked out of the Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ACUM) awards ceremony Monday evening due to the group’s decision to allow an artist to pay tribute to a poem written by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. 

Israeli Arab singer Mira Awad, who received an award for promoting Arab creativity within Israeli culture, sang a song using the lyrics to Darwish’s “Think of Others.” 

Regev made clear prior to the ceremony that she would exit the Tel Aviv assembly hall rather than listen to the song, which was performed as planned.
 
Beforehand, the culture minister addressed the crowd, lambasting both ACUM and Darwish. She described him as a “Palestinian poet who hoped… for the death of the Jewish state, who wanted to eat the flesh of the ‘occupier’ and even extended beyond mere words by joining the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization).”

Regev welcomed the option of celebrating other Arab songs and poems, “but Darwish is another saga,” she argued. “It is permissible to say and I say so here: Arabic poetry — yes, Darwish — no.”
 
In a Sunday Facebook post defending her decision to perform the song, Awad said that Regev was mistranslating the lyrics. “I am appalled at the continuing raging incitement against the late poet and his poetry,” she added.

Awad went on to invite Regev to “educate herself” on Dawish’s poetry, saying she would “never have composed a text written by a Jew hater.”

 
Darwish, who died in 2008, is considered a Palestinian national symbol and was a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Born in a village that later became part of northern Israel and a resident of countries including Lebanon, France and Jordan, he spent part of the last years of his life in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
 
Darwish was a frequent visitor to Israel, where four of his books were translated into Hebrew.
 
He was critical of Israel as well as of terror group Hamas, which currently rules the Gaza Strip.
 
In 2000, the Education Ministry briefly considered adding him to school curriculum, but pulled the idea after right-wing outcry.

In September 2016, Regev made a similar scene by walking out of the assembly hall when a Darwish poem was recited at the Ophir (‘Israeli Oscars’) Awards. She later returned and addressed the audience, but was booed and several audience members walked out during her speech.

Then, Regev came under fire after saying that Arab Israeli actors who stood up and raised one hand in protest as Darwish’s poem was read were making “a Nazi salute.”
 
Joint (Arab) List leader Ayman Odeh said then that Regev “abused the memory of the Holocaust” by making the comparison.
 
“In the face of ignorance and racism from the minister of culture there rises a new generation of Palestinian artists and creators who are citizens of the state and choose art as the instrument of struggle,” Odeh wrote on Facebook.

Regev drew angry reactions from actors last year when she discussed withdrawing funding from a Jaffa port theater run by Arab actor Norman Issa, because he had refused to take part in a Haifa Theater production in the Jordan Valley, considered part of the West Bank.

In 2015 Regev took aim at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, when the art house theater promoted the 48mm Festival, known also as The Third International Film Festival on Nakba and Return.

Jessica Steinberg contributed to this report

Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish seen during a signing for his new book in Amman, Jordan, February 23, 2008 : photo by Nader Daoud/AP, 23 February 2008 

24/7 Product Placement (When I hear the word Culture, I reach for my Big White Jerusalem Hasbara Dress)

Miri Regev in her Jerusalem dress on the red carpet at Cannes. What's this, you ask? Hasbara, darling, pure hasbara!! Most of the internatonal community regard the east of the city as under Israeli occupation.: photo by Antonin Thuillier/AFP/Getty Images

Israeli minister's Jerusalem dress proves controversial in Cannes: Far-right culture minister Miri Regev makes political statement on film festival’s red carpet with print of city skyline: Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem for The Guardian, 18 May 2017

Clothes, suggested Virginia Woolf, “change our view of the world and the world’s view of us”.
 
It is a lesson that apparently passed over the head of Israel’s far-right culture minister, Miri Regev, at Cannes film festival when she chose to wear a dress printed with the Jerusalem skyline as an explicit political statement.
 
Regev was pictured on the red carpet in a full-skirted white A-line dress decorated with a bold print of the city’s walls rising from the hem.
 
Commissioned by Regev from the designer Aviad Arik Herman, the minister said: “This year we are celebrating 50 years since the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem.

“I am proud to celebrate this historic date through art and fashion, and I am happy that this work by Israeli designer Aviad Herman is so moving and honours the beautiful status of our eternal capital Jerusalem.”
 
However, while Israel claims sovereignty over all of the city, most of the international community, as well as Palestinians, regard the east of the city as under Israeli occupation.
Social media inevitably responded to Regev’s choice of attire, and many users supplied their own Photoshopped ideas of what should have been printed on her dress. 

In one version, photojournalist David Rubinger’s image of three Israeli paratroopers celebrating the conquest of the Western Wall is superimposed. In others, the Israeli separation wall snakes around her ankles, flames burn over the skyline, and one version features a bomb exploding in Gaza. 

The leftwing Israeli newspaper Haaretz tweeted: “Miri Regev wanted to show some Jerusalem pride. Instead, she ignited a powder keg of laughs.”

Journalist Greg Carlstrom was also quick off the mark:

 

Regardless of your politics, I hope we can all agree: whatever Miri Regev paid for this dress, it was too much.: image via Gregg Carlstrom @glcarlstrom, 18 May 2017

Twitter user Shira Makin was equally scathing. “Miri Regev’s dress is cool and all, but it’s lacking one little thing: the 370,000 Palestinians living in ‘united’ East Jerusalem, 41% of its population.”

Supporters of the Israeli government, however, were more enthusiastic, with some describing it as the “dress of the year”.

The Jerusalem Post declared the dress was “clearly alluding to the Unesco decision that disavowed Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem on 2 May”.

Others interpreted the dress as a nod to next week’s anniversary of the six-day war, which saw the Israeli conquest of eastern Jerusalem as well as the West Bank.


Mahmoud Darwish: Think of Others

 

Ahed Tamimi, Palestinienne de 16 ans, arrive au tribunal militaire israélien d’Ofer pour une audience très suivie devant décider de son maintien en détention ou de sa libération et d’éventuelles poursuites à son encontre.: image via Guilhem Delteil @GuilhemDeteil, 28 December 2017

Mahmoud Darwish: Think of Others … فكِّر بغيركَ

As you prepare your breakfast, think of others. Don’t forget to feed the pigeons. As you conduct your wars, think of others. Don’t forget those who want peace. As you pay your water bill, think of others. Think of those who only have clouds to drink from. As you go home, your own home, think of others don’t forget those who live in tents. As you sleep and count the planets, think of others there are people who have no place to sleep. As you liberate yourself with metaphors think of others those who have lost their right to speak. And as you think of distant others think of yourself and say “I wish I were a candle in the darkness.”

وأنتَ تُعِدُّ فطورك، فكِّر بغيركَ لا تَنْسَ قوتَ الحمام وأنتَ تخوضُ حروبكَ، فكِّر بغيركَ لا تنس مَنْ يطلبون السلام وأنتَ تسدد فاتورةَ الماء، فكِّر بغيركَ مَنْ يرضَعُون الغمامٍ وأنتَ تعودُ إلى البيت، بيتكَ، فكِّر بغيركَ لا تنس شعب الخيامْ وأنت تنام وتُحصي الكواكبَ، فكِّر بغيركَ ثمّةَ مَنْ لم يجد حيّزاً للمنام وأنت تحرّر نفسك بالاستعارات، فكِّر بغيركَ مَنْ فقدوا حقَّهم في الكلام وأنت تفكر بالآخرين البعيدين، فكِّر بنفسك قُلْ: ليتني شمعةُ في الظلام

Mahmoud Darwish (13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008): Think of Others, 2005: translation via TheSemiClassicalLimit, 10 August 2012

Mahmoud Darwish: Think of Others … فكِّر بغيركَ

while preparing your breakfast,
think of others
don’t forget the aliment of the doves

and while you are going to war,
think of others
don’t forget those seeking peace

and as you pay your water bill,
think of others
those who drink the clouds

and while you are returning home,
your home,
think of others
don’t forget the people of the tents

and as you sleep and count the stars,
think of others
those who don’t have a space to sleep

and as you liberate yourself with metaphors,
think of others
those who have lost their rights to speak

and while you are thinking of others far away,
think of yourself
and say: I wish I was a candle in the dark

Mahmoud Darwish (13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008): Think of Others, 2005: translation by Fayeq Oweis via oweis, 8 September 2010

Mahmoud Darwish: Think upon Others

قصيدة محمود درويش

فكّر بغيرك

وأنت تُعدُّ فطورك، فكر بغيركَ
لا تَنْسَ قوتَ الحمام
وأنتَ تخوضُ حروبكَ، فكَر بغيركَ
لا تنس مَنْ يطلبون السلام

وأنتَ تسدد فاتورةَ الماء، فكَّر بغيركَ
مَنْ يرضَعُون الغمامٍ
وأنتَ تعودُ إلى البيت، بيتكَ، فكَّر بغيركَ
لا تنس شعب الخيامَ

وأنت تنام وتُحصي الكواكبَ، فكرِّ بغيركَ
ثمَّةَ مَنْ لم يجد حيّزاً للمنام
وأنت تحرّر نفسك بالاستعارات، فكَّر بغيركَ
مَنْ فقدوا حقَهم بالكلام

وأنت تفكر بالآخرين البعيدين، فكِّر بنفسكَ
قُل: ليتني شمعة في الظلام

____________________________________________________________________

When you prepare your breakfast, think upon others

Do not forget to feed the pigeons

When you engage in your wars, think upon others

Do not forget to demand peace

As you pay your water bill, think upon others!

Who seek sustenance from the clouds, not a tap

And when you return to a house -– your house -– think upon others

Such as those who live in tents

When you fall asleep counting sheep (planets), think upon others

Who cannot find a space for sleeping

And as you search for meaning with fancy metaphors, think upon others

Who have lost their right to words

And while you think of faraway others, think of yourself

And say: I am a candle to this darkness

Mahmoud Darwish (13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008): Think of Others, 2005: translation by Hamish Kinnear via The Edinburgh Arab Initiative, 12 February 2012

 

Tel Aviv, Israel: photo by f.d. walker, 10 October 2016

DSC_9728 [Tel Aviv]: photo by ilan Ben yehuda,  26 June 2017

 

DSC_9728 [Tel Aviv]: photo by ilan Ben yehuda,  26 June 2017

DSC_9728 [Tel Aviv]: photo by ilan Ben yehuda,  26 June 2017

Untitled: photo by Ilan Burla, 3 April 2015

DSC_8103sofi: photo by ilan Ben yehuda,  15 June 2017 

 

DSC_8103sofi: photo by ilan Ben yehuda,  15 June 2017
  

DSC_8103sofi: photo by ilan Ben yehuda,  15 June 2017 

Jerusalem: photo by f.d. walker, 14 October 2016
 

Bney Brak. 2017: photo by Ronen Berka, 17 March 2017

 

 Bney Brak. 2017: photo by Ronen Berka, 17 March 2017

 

Bney Brak. 2017: photo by Ronen Berka, 17 March 2017

Untitled: photo by BoRIS THE FLASH, circa 2016

A night at the outdoor movies

 

Israelis gather to watch air strikes in the Gaza Strip from a hilltop near the southern town of Sderot: photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters, 15 July 2014

A privileged seat in the theater of war (Dec.-Jan. 2008-2009, July-August 2014)

       "A child's mind is a theatre of becoming"

The whole family out watching gaza burnt to a crisp

From the viewing couches on the bluffs at sderot

Beer in the coolers, instruments precisely adjusted
For perfect capture of the most striking explosions,

Gorgeous clear resolution night footage shot

Through with visions of the distant screaming victims,
A highly refined extremely vivid dramatic

Entertainment for the discriminating sadist.

Overlooking the grand guignol lightshow,

The most privileged seats in the house reserved for the righteous

The chosen ones

As was so long ago foretold.

 ________________________________

from Guardian live blog 7/18/14:

CNN has removed correspondent Diana Magnay from covering Israel's Gaza offensive, after she tweeted that Israelis who had threatened her before an on-air report and were heard cheering the bombing of Gaza in the background, were "scum", the Huffington Post reports.

After her segment aired on CNN, Magnay tweeted: 'Israelis on hill above Sderot cheer as bombs land on #gaza; threaten to 'destroy our car if I saw a word wrong'. Scum." The tweet was later removed.

"After being threatened and harassed before and during a liveshot, Diana reacted angrily on Twitter," a CNN spokeswomen told the Huffington Post. "She deeply regrets the language used ... She certainly meant no offense to anyone beyond that group, and she and CNN apologize for any offense that may have been taken." Magnay has been reassigned to Moscow.

The incident comes as NBC News is facing growing criticism for removing veteran foreign correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin from Gaza, The Intercept reports. On Tuesday, Mohyeldin personally witnessed the killing by Israel of four Palestinian boys who had been playing football on a Gaza beach.

According to an NBC source upset at his treatment, the executives claimed the decision was motivated by “security concerns” as Israel prepares a ground invasion, a claim repeated to me by an NBC executive. But late yesterday, NBC sent another correspondent, Richard Engel, along with an American producer who has never been to Gaza and speaks no Arabic, into Gaza to cover the ongoing Israeli assault ...

Two Israeli flares lose their light power as two others light up the sky over the northern part of the Gaza Strip: photo by Jim Hollander / EPA, 17 July 2014

 Israeli rocket is fired into the Gaza Strip after Binyamin Netanyahu instructed the military to begin a ground offensive: photo by Amir Cohen/Reuters, 17 June 2014

Smoke from flares rises in the sky in Gaza City: photo by Lefteris Pitarakis/AP, 17 July 2014

Israelis sit on a hill overlooking the Gaza Strip as smoke rises from the scene of an airstrike: photo by Jim Hollander / EPA, 17 July 2014 
 

I am the bullets, the oranges and the memory: Mahmoud Darwish: Ahmad Al-Za’tar

Smoke from Israeli strikes rises over Gaza City, in the Gaza Strip. A police spokesman said Israeli aircraft have hit dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip, including the home of the late leader of Hamas' military wing, several mosques and a football stadium: photo by AP,  22 July 2014

Mahmoud Darwish: Ahmad Al-Za’tar

For two hands, of stone and of thyme
I dedicate this song. For Ahmad, forgotten between two butterflies
The clouds are gone and have left me homeless, and
The mountains have flung their mantles and concealed me
From the oozing old wound to the contours of the land I descend, and
The year marked the separation of the sea from the cities of ash, and
I was alone
Again alone
O alone? And Ahmad
Between two bullets was the exile of the sea
A camp grows and gives birth to fighters and to thyme
And an arm becomes strong in forgetfulness
Memory comes from trains that have left and
Platforms that are empty of welcome and of jasmine
In cars, in the landscape of the sea, in the intimate nights of prison cells
In quick liaisons and in the search for truth was
The discovery of self
In every thing, Ahmad found his opposite
For twenty years he was asking
For twenty years he was wandering
For twenty years, and for moments only, his mother gave him birth
In a vessel of banana leaves
And departed
He seeks an identity and is struck by the volcano
The clouds are gone and have left me homeless, and
The mountains have flung their mantles and concealed me
I am Ahmad the Arab, he said
I am the bullets, the oranges and the memory

Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008): Ahmad Al-Za’tar, 1998, translated by Tania Nasir, 1998

A Palestinian man carries a wounded child to an emergency room in front of the media at Shifa hospital in Gaza City on July 20: photo by Khalil Hamra / AP, 20 July 2014

 

A reflection of the destruction at al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque, a mosque in Gaza CIty razed on 22 July as part of Israeli's Operation Protective Edge: photo by Anadolu Agency, 22 July 2014
  

Smoke rises as flames spread across buildings after Israeli strikes in the Shijaiyah neighborhood in Gaza City. The airstrikes set off huge explosions that turned the night sky orange: photo by AP, 20 July 2014

Israeli cannon fires artillery shells from an artillery unit near the Israeli border with Gaza. Four Palestinians were killed and 50 others wounded when Israeli shells struck a hospital in central Gaza, despite a call by the UN Security Council for a truce: photo by EPA, 22 July 2014

 

 

Gaza: The Pantry of the Future-Devourers: photo by Ibrahim Abu Mustafa, 28 May 2007; image by AnomalousNYC, 5 June 2007

 

Darwish: Think of Others: image from video posted in comment section below 

JERUSALEM - An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man and woman light candles on the second night of the Jewish holiday of #Hanukkah, in the Ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of Mea Shearim of #Jerusalem Photo @menahemkahana #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 14 December 2017

Untitled [kozani, macedonia]: photo by Sakis Dazanis, 27 July 2017

DSC0347: photo by noppadol maitreechit, 29 December 2017

DSC0347: photo by noppadol maitreechit, 29 December 2017

 

DSC0347: photo by noppadol maitreechit, 29 December 2017

 

people - photographer drunk - toulouse - décembre 2017: photo by Jérôme Troy, 23 December 2017

 

 

people - photographer drunk - toulouse - décembre 2017: photo by Jérôme Troy, 23 December 2017

 

people - photographer drunk - toulouse - décembre 2017: photo by Jérôme Troy, 23 December 2017