Mahmoud Darwish, Shukran, Salaam. Shukran

I can't believe the news that he is gone- the Poet of the Land, of the People, the great Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish.

His inspiration was the Occupation; he wrote while under siege. His imagery skillfully turned a key and unlocked the beauty, tragedy and people who are the world we love, a world we mourn, His words, like tears, fell from his pen, his eyes, his heart and his brilliant mind onto pages read by thousands. his words, sometimes set to music, always kept our hearts beating with hope.

You will be so deeply missed, mourned, and your words will continue beyond your life as a catalyst for resistance, solidarity, and deep hope for days when fredom and love will wash over all people, and families will not be kept apart by tanks, borders and prisons.

Under Siege
By Mahmoud Darwish (1942-2008)

Here, where the hills slope before the sunset and the chasm of time
near gardens whose shades have been cast aside
we do what prisoners do
we do what the jobless do
we cultivate hope

In a land where the dawn sears
we have become more doltish
and we stare at the moments of victory
there is no starry night in our nights of explosions
our enemies stay up late, they switch on the lights
in the intense darkness of this tunnel

Here after the poems of Job, we wait no more

This siege will persist until we teach our enemies
models of our finest poetry

the sky is leaden during the day
and a fiery orange at night… but our hearts
are as neutral as the flowery emblems on a shield

here, not “I”
Here, Adam remembers the clay of which he was born

He says, on the verge of death, he says,
“I have no more earth to lose”
Free am I, close to my ultimate freedom, I hold my fortune in my own hands
In a few moments, I will begin my life
born free of father and mother
I will chose letters of sky blue for my name

Under siege, life is the moment between remembrance
of the first moment, and forgetfulness of the last

here, under the mountains of smoke, on the threshold of my home,
time has no measure
We do what those who give up the ghost do…
we forget our pain

Pain is when the housewife forsakes hanging up the clothes to dry and is content
that this flag of Palestine should be without stain

Continue reading Under Siege.

Dear Gaza, You Are in Our Hearts

Palestinians in Gaza gather in front of the Rafah border crossing at the border with Egypt, 22 January 2008. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

ACT NOW- 1 Minute to Help 1.5 Million Gazans

Call 202-667-3402 or email Embassy@egyptembdc.org the Egyptian Embassy and demand that Egypt open the Rafah crossing.

Here's some more information from sources I trust:

As the Lights Go Out in Gaza Kim, Live from Occupied Palestine
"As the world sits by and does nothing, Gaza enters its 85th day under complete siege since Israel began “phase I” of its illegal collective punishment of the people of Gaza on October 28, 2007."

Gaza Blackout Day 3 Mohammad, KABOBfest

"Most Gazans have now lost their running water, with several neighborhoods, including the large Zatoun neighborhood east of Gaza City, flooded with sewage."

Gaza's Last Gasp Sonja Karkar, Electronic Intifada
"Israel might find that giving the Palestinians theirfreedom and allowing them the dignity ofself-determination in their own land might be far moreeffective in bringing about a peaceful solution than all this bloodshed and misery."

The Largest Prison Break in History Fadi, KABOBfest

"After six days of strangulation, thousands of Gazans dramatically entered Egypt Wednesday morning after a border wall was blasted open. Afterwards, Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak claimed to allow the Palestinians entry so as to not starve..."

The Lessons of Violence Chris Hedges, Truthdig
"This is not another typical spat between Israelis and Palestinians. This is the final, collective strangulation of the Palestinians in Gaza. "

Dear Gaza, you are in our hearts...

Grateful for Dr. Joseph Lowery

Dr. Joseph Lowery is truly an amazing man. His leadership in the human and civil rights movement in the South began in the early 1950s in Mobile, Alabama when he helped lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott after Rosa Parks' arrest. He was great close friends with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and together they founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. At a quite respectable 86, he still spends his days struggling for justice and today's unpopular issues.

I just returned from a press conference that we put on with Dr. Lowery and the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda about the indigent defense crisis and death penalty in Georgia. Dr. Lowery was joined by civil and human rights leaders in calling for the Fulton District Attorney to accept a plea to Life without the Possibility of Parole in the Brian Nichols case.

No one else has had the courage to step up and say these things until now in this notorious Atlanta case of the man who is to be tried for escaping from police custody and killing four people, including a judge on March 11, 2005. This case has become a nightmare in Georgia, with legislators threatening to defund the whole indigent defense system because they think Nichols’ defense is costing too much.

Dr. Lowery was fantastic. I shouldn’t expect any less; he could read my grocery list out loud and make it sound like justice. He spoke about how the civil rights movement has been consistent for decades in its response to the horrible murders that have traumatized their communities including include the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the murder of Dr. King’s mother, the serial killings of the Atlanta Children, and the Olympic Bombing. He declared that a sentence of Life without the Possibility of Parole was acceptable for Dr. King’s killer, Wayne Williams and Eric Rudolph and it is also appropriate for Brian Nichols.

While he did not call Paul Howard out by name, he did say it was time for the prosecution to end the “tenure, turmoil and trauma” and accept defense’s offer of a plea to Life without the Possibility of Parole.

It was clear from the beginning that this would not be one of the most popular or supported press conferences held by Dr. Lowery. Despite the fact that the meeting room held about 60 people and was standing room only, when we started assembling for the press conference Dr. Lowery had to practically drag people up there to stand with him while he made his statement. He kept asking the people gathered “Y’all are gonna let me take this heat alone?”

People in the audience were palpably hesitant to move to the front. There were a handful of solid, brave folks who joined him from the start including Rainbow/PUSH, SCLC, NAACP State Conference and a couple legislators. I also stood with them. By then end of the conference we had at least 15 more people (which is about all that could fit in the small space we were in) and heads were nodding throughout the audience. A small miracle, but in this hostile, hopeless climate, a miracle nonetheless.

A funny thing that happened was as I was walking to join the group Dr. Lowery made a joke about how it was no longer a panel of esteemed black men but that they were adding “a woman of color, a Latina woman…” then trailed off stumbling a bit because he was unable to identify my ethnicity. He looked at me and said, “What is your ethnic background dear?” to which I replied, “I’m an Arab, sir.” He then exclaimed “Well we have esteemed black men and the PLO up here today!” And I knew he meant it in the most positive and Palestine solidarity way – that was a first!

At the end of the event as I was saying my thank you’s to the panel and I came to Dr. Lowery. He leaned in close to me and asked

“Are you Palestinian, dear?”
“No sir, my father is Iraqi.”

He shook his head and took my hands in his hands and said

“I am so, so sorry for what we have done to your loved ones and your beautiful country. My heart is broken for the Iraqi people.”
“Thank you so much, sir. My heart is broken too.”
“I am so, so sorry for what we have done. My heart is broken.”
"Thank you."

I’m so grateful for this amazing man.

Jamaican me jealous!

If only I had this bathing suit featured on KABOBfest for last summer's trip to Jamaica... or maybe one with the Iraqi flag. I love the idea of a matching kuffiyeh swimming cap.

Watching Gaza Collapse

From today's Electronic Intifada Bulletin:

"Gazans are being denied every fundamental human right -- the right to live freely, not under the thumb of occupation, without fear; the right to an education; the right to work and to provide for their families; and the very right to govern themselves and their lives. All the while, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya are being bulldozed away and we are being terrorized by the tanks which sit at our borders and the F-16s that roam our skies. How do I describe the planes that fly low at random hours of the night to frighten our children who then scream for the rest of the night?"

APS Benefit for Gaza: 8/25/07

The Travels of Secret Agent Man

After a couple weeks of silence, I heard from Secret Agent Man. I knew the silence was due to his travels in and out of precarious places- this time, in and out of Jerusalem. Though he was born in Jerusalem, Secret Agent Man does not have the right papers and permits to travel freely in and out of his birth town. He whispered about sneaking around from town to town throughout Palestine, all undercover in true Secret Agent nature.

When I spoke to him previously, it was a few days after he had entered Jerusalem. It took him three days of trying before he got in. He told me how dangerous it was and how his mother had collapsed crying she was so worried about him. He stayed in the Old City above a market in a house bearing a sign that declared it was built in 1079. He contemplated that this may be the last time he will ever see the city. The apartheid wall is ninety-percent done now and once it’s complete there will be no way for him to enter the city of his birth.

Today, Secret Agent Man told me that he had seen more of Palestine than he had ever seen before in his life, and places that his family who lives there never ventured to find. Because he didn’t have the right papers to be there, his family took huge risks just by walking next to him in certain parts of the country. His family all thought that he was crazy, reckless to travel like this. They’re right- just today at the Hebron gate – he was there a week ago – Israeli soldiers open-fired on a group of Palestinians, killing 2 people.

He spoke of the beauty of the northern part of the country. He was excited, elated. He said there was so much to remember; he didn’t know how he would. I told him I’d help him write it down. And here we are.