It's September

I feel like I should say something regarding the upcoming proposal by the Palestinian Authority to the UN. There are so many opinions and views, about whether or not this move is good for the Palestinians. I, however, do not have much to say. I do not know what will happen as an outcome, except that even if it is successful, little will change on the ground for Palestinians. In getting caught up in these BIG political issues, the everyday hardships of Palestinians are overlooked. It is these trials, that make this conflict the most difficult. It is hard for me to be hopeful, when every time I travel to Bethlehem, I see new construction occurring on the separation wall. It is difficult for me to be hopeful when I hear stories of al-Walaja, a village near Bethlehem, where dozens of olive trees were recently uprooted to make room for construction of a new portion of the separation wall. Instead, I will focus on another aspect of September: the coming of autumn.

Mosaics in Jericho.

Recently I was reading through poems by Mahmoud Darwish, who is often referred to as the national poet of Palestine. In this poem, Darwish points at the humanity of Palestinians, as much as any other human being.


We Have the Right to Love Autumn
And we, too, have the right to love the last days of autumn and ask:
Is there room in the field for a new autumn, so we may lie down like coals?
An autumn that blights its leaves with gold.
If only we were leaves on a fig tree, or even neglected meadow plants
that we may observe the seasons change!
If only we never said goodbye to the fundamentals
and questioned our fathers when they fled at knife point. May poetry and
    God's name have mercy on us!
We have the right to warm the nights of beautiful women, and talk about
what might shorten the night of two strangers waiting for the North to reach
    the compass.
It's autumn. We have the right to smell autumn's fragrances and ask the night
    for a dream.
Does the dream, like the dreamers themselves, sicken? Autumn. Autumn.
Can a people be born on a guillotine?
We have the right to die any way we wish.
May the earth hid itself away in an ear of wheat!
~Fewer Roses, 1986

 Darwish is know for his blunt approach to poetry during his early years. He was very straightforward about the injustices against Palestinians. Today, negotiations have come to a halt in the past year, largely due to the fact that Israel refuses to halt settlement construction before negotiating. If Israel does not stop settlement construction, it allows them to create facts on the ground preventing a two state solution, all the while with the pretext of negotiations. The Palestinian leadership has decided to take another route, due to their lack for a partner for peace. They have decided to boldly say we are human too and deserve justice and a state of our own.

For more information on al-Walaja: Israeli court rejects al-Walaja's appeal against the wall