What message do we send? ... a poem by Anne Selden Annab

A Palestinian woman inspects olive trees that have been severely damaged by Israeli settlers near the West Bank city of Nablus (AP photo by Nasser Ishtayeh) Visualizing Palestine: Since 1967 Israeli authorities have uprooted more than 800,000 Palestinian olive trees... OXFAM: In the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), olive harvesting is a tradition that can be traced back for centuries. Passed down from generation to generation, olive trees provide Palestinians with an important connection to their history and their land.

   What message do we send?

Promoting, endorsing, empowering,
excusing
Israel as "Jewish"
and the ongoing
Israeli made Nakba daily devastating,
destroying Palestinian lives
and livelihoods....

What message do we send?

What message about education,
what message about democracy...

What message about compassion
what message about diversity
what message about diplomacy
what message about the rule
of fair and just laws.

What message about honor

What message about dignity...

What message do we send
to perpetrators and victims
 of institutionalized bigotry?

To refugees, to men, women,
and children...

what message do we send

to segregationists and sectarian fanatics-
to Islamists as they echo Israel's quest
to terrorize people into acquiescing:

What message
do we send?