When I was putting this post together I wanted to include this inspiration of a little girl waving the flag before the onset of the Bil'in Peace walk to the walls. She screams in her sleep and is healing from war, but she is learning the best form of dealing with emotional pain ~ to channel it all into peaceful opposition! I loved this photo and finally found it just a few minutes ago on some blog that had posted this one.
This is the first time I write in the new decade and it feels a little strange. I have not been happy the past week. The weight of this past decade has sat heavily upon my spirit and I just could not wish people a Happy New Year. To be honest, I have always been a tad bah humbug about the night, not understanding the reason for so much excitement for a number clicking over on the man-made creation of linearly keeping track of time. Very poorly I might add. Usually I just stay home and prepare my home for the coming year, tidy up loose ends etc.
Because of my blogging this past year ~ delving into the underbelly of the world and all the things we face, I have been completely unable to say the usual trite phrases ~ this last decade has been one of humanity's lowest levels as one thing after another that was good and decent disappeared or was destroyed to be replaced by more and more restrictions and loss of freedoms. And all too often utter evil leaving despair in the wake of destruction. Perhaps for people who do not see this world ~ those who took the blue pill ~ can celebrate. I think of those who are now in a daily major struggle just to live. Or die.
Mankind has a huge war declared upon it on more levels than just this material one, and everything we know is under attack. Our freedoms, our foods, our drugs, our minds, our entertainments, OUR SOULS, everything we know is engineered to damage us on some level. To weaken us. Our education and our religions under attack. It is a small comfort to know humans are so powerful a species that the oppressors must spend so much time and energy attempting to overpower and enslave us..
Nothing I knew as a child is safe or can be taken for granted as safe any longer. My childhood was full of long walks and days spent alone on my bike or in the forests, with nothing more than books, a dog and whatever wild creatures were willing to trust us. Now, parents are afraid to let their kids go out into the world and just run around and play, to be kids together. They have "playdates". What the heck is a playdate? Children play incessantly with little electronic toys and become increasingly isolated from the world. You see them on family walks, dragging their feet behind their parents with little plastic things in their flying fingers.Green space is destroyed, the world an environmental mess. Millions just in America alone are homeless thanks to the fantabulous greed of so few who spent decades planning and bringing down the balance of our culture. And blame the victims!. Detroit is returning to the wilderness, full of feral houses that sell for $1, as are so many other cities.
Wages are down.
The New World Order is upon us.
Long live the great brown hope,
child of Satan Obama.
We in North America are being punished and eradicated because of our freedoms of thought and our independence, positive traits developed by humanity for as long as we have been on the planet. Of course, so are the Muslims who refuse to bow down to the new ways with their complete lack of decent moral values. But many still fight with their complete being from being "integrated" as with we do. This is one reason we are taught each other is the enemy!
Yet somehow I say these things without becoming depressed because this is what I have seen as our future since I was a child. But now we approach crunch time. and it is tougher than I would have imagined. All the religious prophecies are supposedly to come to fruition any day now they say. Every single thing mentioned in the Holy books is here and mankind is on edge, quarreling about everything. As for 2012, it will come when it will come. I feel that some of these things have been planted in us long ago and as a result we could materialize them subconsciously so I avoid such things.
Then there is Africa ~ a big continental concentration camp of death, already well on to the 85% reduction of populace leaving only the young alive to be formed as "they" wish to form and programme them.Every nation is under supreme distress.
But what bothers me most, even though there are worse situations in some places, although this is indeed difficult to imagine,is the situation in Palestine, a place I have poured my heart and soul into writing and working for over the past year. There is not a day goes by, possibly even an hour, that I do not think of this place and feel some deep emotion. Alas I am too old and in no shape to go there to work but if I could I would, no questions asked.
But I will write soon of the resilience and strength of these proud people of the land. They do not sit as victims shivering in their tents. They work with what nature has given them and will survive. They are showing us the best of what mankind can be under duress and we must learn from them.
Meanwhile, here in my snug apartment, with water, extremely poor by Western standards, I know just how rich I am. My family is healthy, as am I. This is not a thought that comforts me, because I want these same things, and more, for these people, IN THEIR OWN LAND!
Then I find an interview such as the one below and my heart fills, reminded of just how amazing the human soul is. What wondrous beings we truly are. My normal resilience reasserts itself and I am humbled to the core with love for these people. It certainly shames a whiner like me I hope it touches you and reminds you of what is important as it did me. Then there are a few poems following. Once again I say,
THE WORLD OWES YOU,
YOUR SPIRIT ENRICHES HUMANITY.
WE WILL PREVAIL! .
Happy New Year Palestine, Happy new year humanity!
I asked a Palestinian who lost almost all his family by Israeli air raid how he manages life alone, he said hope. I asked Palestinian lost his arms due to Israeli raids and insisted to go on in life, I won’t let Israel murder our hopes, he said.
Hope jumps even in the most difficult times to whisper to the oppressed to stand firm. During the occupation of Lebanon in the 1980s, I saw a proud young Palestinian woman walking opposite Israeli soldiers bearing in her neck a cross and the Palestinian map, she told me she wants to convey a message of challenge and hope, the crucifixion of Palestine is a temporary thing, and Palestine will rise again.
View how things in Gaza to realize the strength of hope among Palestinians. One and half million impoverished Palestinians are besieged, starved and deprived of almost everything and yet their will is not broken. The NATO boats are “guarding” the Gaza shores to ensure that no arms are smuggled to Gaza freedom fighters, the Israeli boats are patrolling the Palestinian shores of Gaza, to shoot, and to torture Palestinian fishermen who have no other source of living except fishing.
The French employs a surveillance satellite over Gaza, and the American-made Israeli planes, of all sorts, are 24 hours flying over the skies of Gaza. As if this is not enough, the puppet regime of Egypt is constructing an iron wall made by American and Zionist and engineered by Americans and the French to strangle Gaza. That in addition to the inhuman way the Egyptian intelligence and soldiers deal with Palestinians on the Rafah crossings.
Despite all this, there is hope coming from Palestine.
In the first anniversary of the Israeli genocide, Palestinian actors and singers sang and performed plays and sketches.
Palestinian artists drawing on the walls of Gaza messages of hope that Gaza and Palestine will live no matter what the Zionist do. The Palestinian young girl who lost her limbs has joined the club of young journalists to realize her dream to become a journalist.
Solidarity friends are arriving from the four corners of earth to Palestine to show their solidarity, all this show that the culture of love is still strong among humans. And shows that the Zionist wall of misleading and falsification is falling. Indeed it is great to see all those people guided by their conscious showing love and affection to Palestine. All these are signs of hope.
Very soon the dawn of the 2010 will be rising in Palestine. The tears of three generation of Palestinian mothers and sisters, is the Jordan River which will heal the wounds of the Palestinian souls who suffered seventy years of Zionist cruelty and brutality. Hope is the fuel which makes Palestinians strong to face the Zionist culture of death. Happy New year Palestine, Happy new year humanity!
Dr. Salim Nazzal is a Palestinian-Norwegian historian in the Middle East, who has written extensively on social and political issues in the region. who has written extensively on social and political issues in the region.
by Reham Alhelsi,
Posted on January 1, 2010 by realistic bird
Another year is closing
and we have not yet liberated you
from your usurper.
Another year is closing
and we have not alleviated your pain and suffering.
Another year is closing and your blood,
the blood of your children,
is still being shed…. your tears,
the tears of your children still run…
your soul, the souls of your children
still scream out for justice.
Another year is closing
and our land is still desecrated,
our people still oppressed,
our flag still trampled upon,
our unity still broken.
Palestine, forgive us;
for forgetting that you are our mother
and we your children.
Forgive us for forgetting that our unity
is what kept us strong,
and that we abandoned you the day
we chose your killer over our brothers
and sisters for the sake of a throne,
a red carpet and a fake “Authority”.
Forgive us for forgetting that we are one
and we remain one only through you,
that your love was the bond that kept us together.
Forgive us for forgetting that there was a time
when we stood as one,
and had one name: Palestinians.
We didn’t call ourselves Muslim nor Christian
nor Jew nor Atheist: we were Palestinians.
We didn’t call ourselves
Fathawi nor Jabhawi nor Hamsawi:
we were Palestinians.
We didn’t call ourselves local or returnee:
we were Palestinians.
We didn’t call ourselves
moderate or leftist or extremist:
we were Palestinians.
Forgive us for we stripped ourselves off
of the names you gave us,
and exchanged “freedom fighter” for “peace activist”
and “Palestine” for “Palestinian Territory”
and “submission” for “negotiation”
and “oppression” for “peace”.
And for the sake of a throne and a Mercedes
we allowed your killers to classify us:
“peace activist”, “terrorist”, “moderate”, “extremist”.
Forgive us Palestine,
for their opinion was more important
and yours didn’t matter anymore,
for it is them who pay
and you are the goods to be delivered.
A shell shocked orphan reaches out and speaks for the first time in months.
Palestine, forgive us;
for forgetting that you are the first
and you are the last,
that you are the beginning
and you the end,
that from you we emerged
and that to your bosom we return.
You gave us a name,
and we used your name to promote ourselves
and to build firms and businesses.
You gave us a home, and we desecrated it
by shaking hands with your usurpers
and allowing them into your heart
in the name of “peace” and “being moderate”.
You loved us freely,
and we asked for a price for that love so
“we can continue our struggle for you”.
You forgave our falls and our mistakes,
but we continue to use your suffering
so we can increase our bank accounts,
drive a Mercedes and live in a villa.
Palestine, forgive us;
for we exchanged a homeland for a throne.
We exchanged your green valleys for the red carpet.
We exchanged your flag wrapped around
the sacred bodies of your martyred children
for an imitation hoisted half mast
opposite the gun of an Israeli sniper.
We exchanged the fight for freedom
for a fight for more “ministers”,
more “initiatives” and more “road maps”,
and swore to negotiate, negotiate and negotiate
till the last breath of your children,
till the last rain drop falls on your fields,
till the last poppy blossoms on your hilltops.
A Palestinian boy waves Palestinian flag in front of Israeli soldiers during a demonstration against the controversial separation wall in the West Bank village of Bilin west of Ramallah
Palestine, forgive us;
for we believed in figures and symbols
more than we believed in you.
We made them our “Gods”
and allowed them to guide us
from one “process” to another,
from one “initiative” to another,
from one concession to another
and from one catastrophe to another.
We made them more important than you.
We allowed them to set the criteria
for what is to be “Palestine”
and what is not to be “Palestine”,
what is acceptable as form of “resistance”
and what is not acceptable as form of “resistance”,
who is to be our “enemy”
and who is to be our “friend”,
and that for the sake of a president
and a cabinet who can’t move an inch
without a permit from the Zionist occupation.
A brave young woman puts herself between 3 IDF and their intended target.
for we forgot who we are, and what we are.
We forgot who you are and what you are.
We allow others to speak in our name,
be our voice and we forget that you gave birth
to Ibrahim Touqan, to Ghassan Kanafani,
to Naji Al-Ali, to Mahmoud Darwish and so many others.
We allow bias Zionist-run media to talk for us,
to talk of us and to use us the way it chooses
in return for the fame and publicity that is promised us.
We allow them to paint our past, present and future
as if we had no saying in it,
as if we had no identity.
We talk, write and sing of Mohammad Jamjoum,
Fu’ad Hijazi and Ata Al-Zeer,
of Lina Nabulsi and Dala Al Mughrabi
and the thousands of your children
whose body is mingled with your sacred earth,
but we forget that they remained loyal to you
till the last breath, that they chose death over betraying you.
Palestine, forgive us;
for we the children of Canaan
allow the Zionists to erase our identity,
our history, our roots in the land of Canaan.
We allow them to turn your paradise into a desert,
we allow them to uproot your ancient olive trees,
we allow them to kill your poppies.
We stand still while you are being disfigured
by distorted structures that are alien to you,
while your forests are being destroyed,
while your natural wealth is being stolen,
while your fields are being razed.
The beauty of you
that was the scene of our childhood
fades away and your body
is infected with colonial cancer,
and we stand still as it eats your body
and console ourselves with the few tiny bits
here and there where we are still allowed to touch you.
You may drag US through the dirt, but never our flag!
Palestine, forgive us;
for forgetting your pain
and thinking only about our pain,
for justifying our acceptance
of your desecration and
for using your children as excuse
for accepting any “peace” that is forced upon us.
Forgive us for not wishing to know,
for not wishing to acknowledge,
that any peace other than a just peace
won’t bring a decent life to our children.
Forgive us for hiding behind our children,
and claiming we want a future for them.
Forgive us for choosing to ignore the fact that
as long as there is an occupation,
our children, your children,
will have no peace and no future.
Forgive us for accepting concessions with the excuse:
”this is the best offer we will ever get”,
as if we were discussing a watermelon
or a used car we are about to buy.
Forgive us for forgetting that the land is OURS
and that no fake history,
no flown-in immigrants
and no Apache, Merkava or Demona
should make us ever forget that!
Forgive us, for we demanded explanations
from your children who were forced out of their homes
under Zionist gun threat as you were raped in 1948
and blamed them for our current state,
and today we are participating in this rape
in the name of negotiations,
a statehood and a president.
Palestine, forgive us;
for we forget what you are,
where you begin and where you end.
We draw you complete as you should be;
from the river to the sea,
but we define your borders
according to the will of your usurper.
We define Palestine as East Jerusalem,
Ramallah, Gaza, Nilin and Bilin,
and choose to forget your Jerusalem,
Haifa, Yaffa and Acca and
every single millimetre of your precious soil.
We replace Palestine with Palestinian Territory,
Jerusalem with Abu Dees and the
Aqsa with the Muqata’a. Palestine,
forgive us, for we are negotiating
with your murderers and
we are selling your body to the highest bidder.
The madonna and her firstborn.
Palestine, forgive us;
for we prefer to immigrate to Canada,
to the US and to Europe,
and leave you alone with your murderers.
We prefer to enjoy the blue sky and the sun,
while your skies are clouded with tear gas and bombs.
We prefer to enjoy the stars at night,
while your nights are lit up with phosphorous bombs.
We prefer to enjoy the parks and the gardens
and forget your hills and valleys
usurped by American and European colonists.
We choose to leave you
and escape your pain and suffering,
while so many of your children stay steadfast
despite Zionist terror.
We forget that many of your sons and daughters
never saw you and cry blood for the wish of seeing you,
and we, who have been blessed with Jerusalem,
Hebron, Haifa and Gaza want to give them up and immigrate.
for we place individual interests
above our national interests.
We fight each other instead of fighting our enemy.
We have made brothers of your enemies,
of our enemies,
and we have made enemies of your children,
of our brothers.
We threaten your children
with a bloody revenge after a squall,
but shake the blood-soaked hands
of the killers of your children.
We swear that none of your children
other than us would ever have
a saying over 20% of your sacred soil,
but agree to let your usurpers rape 80% of your body.
We declare proudly that we never raised even a stone
against your usurper and announce
a century of resistance to be “terrorism” and “futile”.
Palestine, forgive us;
for we stand by and watch
as your children are murdered on the way to school,
on the way home, on the way to the olive fields,
as your children are thrown out of their homes,
as your children are locked up in torture cells,
as your children starve to death,
as your children are burned by white phosphorous.
Our towns, homes, shops are full with Zionist products,
while your children search for food in garbage dump.
We, your children, who helped build neighbouring countries
with our brains, our blood and our sweat,
have become a people dependent on donor conferences.
We have been reduced to Beggars!
We congratulate ourselves for baking the largest Knakeh,
for sewing the longest dress,
but watch as Zionist colonists
burn down our homes and our fields,
while they kick us out of our homes.
We watch as IOF soldiers humiliate us
at every checkpoint,
kidnap our brothers and sisters every single day,
every single night.
We watch as our brothers and sisters still live in tents,
don’t have fresh water to drink,
sit in the darkness at night.
The ingenuity to return that deadly little "ball" never fails to amuse me.
Palestine, forgive us;
for we are partners in the crime,
through our silence, our acceptance
and the concessions of those who claim to represent us.
Your soil is angry, your sky is mourning,
your children are crying, shedding blood,
for through our current silence, our current subsidence,
we betrayed their souls and left the path
they have paved for us with their lives.
But Palestine, you know us, for you are our mother.
You know that we are steadfast
and will remain steadfast to the last breath
and to the last drop of blood.
You know us, and you know that the road is full of obstacles,
it might take us some time,
we might be slow,
every step might cause you and us so much suffering,
so much loss, but it is our destined road and are taking it.
We are taking every step, no matter how painful,
no matter how many of us fall,
because every step brings us closer to you,
every step liberates your fields and hills,
every step heals your wounds.
Palestine, our memory is still intact,
our hearts still throbbing with your love,
we are still alive. You know, Palestine,
we rose up one time after the other,
we never gave up no matter.
We will rise up again,
and again and again till the world realizes
that without our freedom, your freedom,
there is no freedom.
So, rest assured, Palestine,
your loyal children, our grandparents and parents
planted your love in our hearts,
their blood, your blood, runs in our veins and
as they gave you their word never to forget
and never to give up, we give you our word:
we walk on the footsteps
of your loyal sons and daughters,
we will carry their message
and their memory in our hearts,
we will continue their struggle,
will continue to resist,
will remain steadfast until total liberation.
Magnificent post Noor, thank you so very much!
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