Grief Tsunami

A poem by award winning poet Naomi Shihab Nye from her newest book (2026)

 

                            Grief Tsunami 

Thinking

how Palestinians

would have stopped everything

to feed you.  

 

 

Sidekick

by Naomi Shihab Nye

---

Written by internationally beloved poet Naomi Shihab Nye, Sidekick stands as a testament to poetry’s enduring power to bear witness. With each poem, Nye affirms a truth that feels more urgent than ever: every human being deserves safety, dignity, and peace.

Drawing on her family’s deep roots in Palestine, Nye writes with both abiding love and immeasurable heartbreak, offering intimate reflections that illuminate the human cost of conflict. Long a champion of dialogue across borders and divides, she crafts poems that are direct, conversational, and unafraid to confront the systems and structures that perpetuate harm.

Through her signature blend of candor, lyrical grace, and careful attention to everyday lives, Nye offers a collection that urges readers to look more closely, feel more deeply, and imagine a world in which we refuse to turn away from one another.  https://boaeditions.org/book/sidekick/

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies here, there- and everywhere]  

 

Mosab Abu Toha's poem "Daughter" on an official transport poster Victoria line train London "... That moment, her eyes sparkle with longing, I can see how she flies from the tent to a time when she leapt through our farm in every direction with eyes closed, only stopping at the fence, where our orange trees embrace our neighbour's olive trees..."

Mosab Abu Toha

@MosabAbuToha

A friend sent me this photo that he took this morning on the Victoria line train London (southbound). It is a poster of my poem “Daughter” on the subway. It is an official Transport for London poster, too.

6:11 PM · May 30, 2025

 "... I love the smell of oranges best

when she remembers"

 Page 37 in The Forest of Noise 

  “In Forest of Noise, his astonishing second book, Mosab Abu Toha is the essential poet embodying the humanity of Gaza, the precious hopes and dreams of all humans, the searing collective cries of children, the indelible honest conscience, the heart and soul. Miraculously he has continued speaking and writing through the horrific genocide of his people and beloved place. His elemental poems dissolve the empty rhetoric and posturing with simple, striking truth. Not blows. Who else among us founds a library in our early twenties? Today Mosab’s books may be crushed, but his most powerful spirit is not.”—Naomi Shihab Nye, author of The Tiny Journalist

Some Symbols of Palestine (love not hate): The keffiyeh, Olive Trees, Tatreez Embroidery, Watermelons, Flags, Handala, Mahmoud Darwish, Ismail Shammout, Tamam Al-Akhal, Sliman Mansour, The Holy Family, The Dome of the Rock, Maps, Food, & KEYS

Symbols of Palestine

This piece by Egyptian artist Dai Abbas evokes symbols of solidarity with Palestine, featuring a watermelon held up by a community of people.Dai Abbas

The keffiyeh explained: How this scarf became a Palestinian national symbol

By Zoe Sottile, CNN

Palestinians seen at a polling station in the West Bank town of Hebron in 2006.

Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images

2023  Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, three Palestinian college students were shot in Vermont, two of them while wearing keffiyehs, in a crime their families have said was “fueled by hate.”

Although keffiyehs are worn across the Middle East, in recent decades they have come to be identified in particular as a symbol of Palestinian identity and resistance. At pro-Palestinian protests across the world amid the Israel-Hamas war, demonstrators have sported the scarves around their necks or used them to cover their faces.

Originally worn by shepherds and nomadic farmers, the keffiyeh “has become an iconic piece of clothing globally worn by .. Read More https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/28/style/style-palestinian-keffiyeh-explained/index.html

 

Palestinians pick olives during a ceremony marking the start of the olive harvesting season last year in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip [File: Said Khatib/AFP]

‘Our hearts burn’: Gaza’s olive farmers say Israel war destroys harvest

Since the start of the Israeli offensive on October 7, farmers have been unable to access their farmland and crops.

By Linah Alsaafin and Ruwaida Amer

Published On 6 Nov 20236 Nov 2023

 

The mother of two has worked as a farmer with her parents since her childhood in the town of Abasan al-Kabira in southern Gaza, close to the border with Israel. “My land has olive trees and greenhouses planted with tomatoes and livestock,” she says.

She can no longer tend to those trees or tomatoes: The 40-year-old was displaced with her family and is living in a United Nations-run school in the centre of Khan Younis due to near-continuous Israeli bombing since October 7.

“I have no idea what state they are in. I just want to reach my land to see what has become of it,” she says.

It’s a sentiment echoed by farmers across Gaza.

The months of October and November, when olives are harvested, hold special significance for Palestinians, who consider the harvest a national occasion that celebrates their relationship and connection with the land.

Farmers pick olives with their extended families and friends. Folk songs create a festive atmosphere. Meals are cooked and eaten under the trees... READ MORE  https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/6/our-hearts-burn-gazas-olive-farmers-say-israel-war-destroys-harvest

   [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

The olive tree has deep historical and cultural roots in Palestine, and its branches have been associated with peace and prosperity for centuries.

The art of Palestinian embroidery, or tatreez, is a decorative needle and thread practice passed down through generations of Palestinian women.

 UNESCO

The art of embroidery in Palestine, practices, skills, knowledge and rituals

Inscribed in 2021 (16.COM) on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

The art of traditional embroidery is widespread in Palestine. Originally made and worn in rural areas, the practice is now common in all of Palestine and among members of the diaspora. Women’s village clothing usually consists of a long dress, trousers, a jacket, a headdress and a veil. Each of these garments is embroidered with a variety of symbols including birds, trees and flowers. The choice of colours and designs indicates the woman’s regional identity and marital and economic status. On the main garment, the loose-fitting dress called a thob, the chest, sleeves and cuffs are covered with embroidery. Embroidered, vertical panels run down the dress from the waist. The embroidery is sewn with silk thread on wool, linen or cotton. Embroidery is a social and intergenerational practice, as women gather in each other’s homes to practise embroidery and sewing, often with their daughters. Many women embroider as a hobby, and some produce and sell embroidered pieces to supplement their family’s income, either on their own or in collaboration with other women. These groups gather in each other’s homes or in community centres, where they may also market their work. The practice is transmitted from mother to daughter and through formal training courses.

© Zahara Hamad, Palestine, 2019

 https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/the-art-of-embroidery-in-palestine-practices-skills-knowledge-and-rituals-01722

 TATREEZ motif library

Choose Your Tatreez Journey

 https://www.tatreeztraditions.com/motif-library?category=Patterns

The Tatreez Institute (TI), also known as Tatreez & Tea, was founded by Wafa Ghnaim in 2016 to preserve, document, and research Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese, and Jordanian embroidery, dress, and history in the United States.

Committed to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and preventing cultural erasure, the TI stewards a growing collection of over 180 traditional dresses and headdresses, rescued from dumpsters, estates, households, and vintage shops worldwide. 

https://www.tatreezandtea.com/ 

Flag of Palestine, with a watermelon replacing the red triangle

This Palestine Watermelon flag evokes the spirit of joyful resistance and steadfastness in the face of Israeli efforts to deny, thwart and criminalize the national and political aspirations of the Palestinian people.  Fhartha

The flag of Palestine, colored in the Pan-Arab colors of red, green, white and black, had been banned in Israel in certain situations, leading to the locally-grown and similarly-colored watermelon taking its place in Palestinian iconography as an alternative for decades. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel banned the display of the Palestinian flag and its colors in the occupied Gaza Strip and the Wast Bank with the Israeli Army arresting anyone who displayed it.

In 1980, the IDF shut down an art gallery in Ramallah. According to the exhibit organizer the IDF explained that the rules forbade Palestinians from displaying red, green, black and white, and watermelon is an example of art that violated the Israeli army's rules.... READ MORE  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watermelon_as_a_Palestinian_symbol 

 

NPR: How watermelon imagery, a symbol of solidarity with Palestinians, spread around the world

Jan 17, 2024 4:48 PM EDT Over the past three months, on banners and T-shirts and balloons and social media posts, one piece of imagery has emerged around the world... READ MORE https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/how-watermelon-imagery-a-symbol-of-solidarity-with-palestinians-spread-around-the-world

Demonstrators shout slogans and hold up an image of Handala, a symbol of Palestinian struggle, on Jan. 27 during a protest in Madrid in support of Palestinians and to demand a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war. Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images

Who is Handala, the barefoot, spiky-haired boy who symbolizes Palestinian resistance?

February 6, 20245:00 AM ET

Heard on All Things Considered

RAMALLAH, West Bank — His hair is like a hedgehog, his feet are bare, his clothes are rags and his back is to the world always. His name is Handala.

A character created by Palestinian newspaper cartoonist Naji al-Ali in 1969 — two years after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war — the boy known as Handala is a symbol of the Palestinian struggle and resistance to occupation to this day.

Who is Handala?

Handala is forever 10 years old — the age that Ali was when his family was forced to move during the mass displacement of Palestinians in 1948 when the state of Israel was formed. Palestinians and their supporters refer to that displacement as the Nakba, or Arabic for "catastrophe."

Ali's refugee boy character shares his name with a resilient, bitter plant that grows in the Middle East called handal. It has deep roots and will always grow back even if it's weeded out.

"This character represents insurgency, refusal and struggle," says Egyptian columnist Nadi Hafez of al-Qabas newspaper, where Ali worked for a long time. "And it satirizes the politics around the Palestinian cause, or the politics of the Arab world, or indeed international politics when it comes to the Palestinian cause."

Handala didn't turn his back to the reader until 1973, after the Yom Kippur War, when a coalition of Arab countries led by Egypt and Syria fought Israel in October of that year. At the time, there was a push by countries including the U.S. for a settlement of the conflict. By turning Handala's back to the world, Ali was expressing his rejection of solutions from foreign nations imposed on Palestinians.... READ MORE https://www.npr.org/2024/02/06/1228097975/handala-naji-al-ali-cartoon-palestinian-symbol

 

Key- Universal Declaration of Human Rights & every refugee's inalienable right of return to original homes & lands

 

 

...Universal Echo

Mahmoud Darwish 1941—2008

Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish was born in al-Birwa in Galilee, a village that was occupied and later razed by the Israeli army. Because they had missed the official Israeli census, Darwish and his family were considered “internal refugees” or “present-absent aliens.” Darwish lived for many years in exile in Beirut and Paris. He is the author of over 30 books of poetry and eight books of prose, and earned the Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize from the Lannan Foundation, the Lenin Peace Prize, and the Knight of Arts and Belles Lettres Medal from France.

In the 1960s Darwish was imprisoned for reciting poetry and traveling between villages without a permit. Considered a “resistance poet,” he was placed under house arrest when his poem “Identity Card” was turned into a protest song. After spending a year at a university of Moscow in 1970, Darwish worked at the newspaper Al-Ahram in Cairo. He subsequently lived in Beirut, where he edited the journal Palestinian Affairs from 1973 to 1982. In 1981 he founded and edited the journal Al-Karmel. Darwish served from 1987 to 1993 on the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. In 1996 he was permitted to return from exile to visit friends and family in Israel and Palestine.

Mahmoud Darwish’s early work of the 1960s and 1970s reflects his unhappiness with the occupation of his native land... READ MORE https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mahmoud-darwish

Poet Naomi Shihab Nye commented on the poems in Unfortunately It Was Paradise: “[T]he style here is quintessential Darwish—lyrical, imagistic, plaintive, haunting, always passionate, and elegant—and never anything less than free—what he would dream for all his people.”

Mahmoud Darwish died in 2008 in Houston, Texas.

 The Land and Love by Palestinian Ismail Shammout 1931-2006

 

Spring in Palestine by Ismail Shammout 1931-2006

 

Ismail Shammout was born in 1930 in Lydda – Palestine. During the Nakba of 1948, he and his family were forced out of their home during the assault of Jewish Zionist militant groups on their town. A long march on foot allowed them to settle in the refugee camps of Khan Younis in Gaza where he lived under very harsh conditions. In 1950 he managed to travel to Cairo to study arts from where he later earned a scholarship to study fine arts at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. After he finished his studies, he moved to Beirut in 1959 where he married his fellow arts student from Cairo, the Palestinian artist Tamim El-Akhal (born 1935). Both lived and worked in Beirut until 1983 then moved to Kuwait, then to Germany and finally to Amman in 1994. Shammout died on July 3 rd 2006.

Shammout, who himself experienced expulsion and refuge and accompanied later the birth of the Palestinian Revolution in the 1960s, became since the very early days of his professional live along with his partner Tamam El-Akhal the “artistic face” of the Palestinian Freedom Struggle. He has been long recognized as Palestine’s leading modernist painter. His experience of dispossession and the memories of beloved Palestine, the dreams of return as well as the dignity and pride of his people formed the soul of his entire art. The simplicity of the themes and his outstanding artistic skills let his works enjoy a widely spread popularity which significantly shaped modern Palestinian Art.  https://ismail-shammout.com/

 

Palestinian Poppies by Tamam Al-Akhal

Freedom by Palestinian artist Sliman Mansour

Holy Family in an Olive Grove by Sliman Mansour

Sliman Mansour is one of the most distinguished and renowned artists in Palestine. His style embodies steadfastness in the face of a relentless military occupation. His work — which has come to symbolize the Palestinian national identity — has inspired generations of Palestinians and international artists and activists alike.

Born in 1947, Mansour spent his childhood around the verdant hills and fields of Birzeit — where he was born — and later his adolescence in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. These experiences left a significant mark on his work, heightening a sense of gradual loss in Palestine, especially after the occupation of the West Bank and Jerusalem in 1967. His early experiences also presented him with the symbols and images he would later use to preserve and highlight Palestinian identity.

Using symbols derived from Palestinian life, culture, history, and tradition, Mansour uniquely illustrates Palestinians’ resolve and connection with their land. His pieces epitomize art as a form of resistance. With orange trees, he represents land lost in the Nakba of 1948. With olive trees, he represents land occupied in 1967. With women wearing traditional embroidered dresses, he represents Palestinian land and the Palestinian revolution. With the landscape of Palestine and its stone terraces, he represents the mark of Palestinian farmers on the land. With images of Jerusalem and the glistening Dome of the Rock, he represents the Palestinian homeland and the dream of return.

Sliman Mansour’s art deftly reflects the hopes and realities of a people living under occupation for the better part of a century. Since the early 1970s, he has translated his experiences of isolation, displacement, community, and rootedness using imagery and symbols that have contributed to developing an iconography of the Palestinian struggle. Paintings such as “Jamal al-Mahamel” (Camel of Hardships or Camel of Burdens) — with its iconic porter whose heavy and precious load is the Jerusalem that all Palestinians yearn for — were made into posters, cards, and stickers. Such images were popularized in direct defiance of Israeli military authorities, who frequently confiscated artwork and posters and closed exhibitions and galleries. https://slimanmansour.com/about-the-artist-sliman-mansour/

An architectural marvel and a sacred Islamic site, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem signifies the religious and historical continuity of the Palestinian identity in the face of shifting global landscapes.

Fact based maps

Palestinian Cuisine https://www.tasteatlas.com/best-rated-dishes-in-palestine

Palestinian cuisine is rich and diverse, featuring dishes like musakhan, maqluba, falafel, hummus, and tabouli, all reflecting a blend of local ingredients, regional traditions, and cultural influences.

Olive oil, herbs, and spices like sumac and za'atar are staples in Palestinian cooking

The Key

The key is a poignant symbol of the right of return for Palestinian refugees. It represents the homes left behind during the Nakba, and the enduring hope of return to their ancestral homes and villages.

 

UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS

Before I Was A Gazan -poem by Naomi Shihab Nye

 

Before I Was A Gazan

- Naomi Shihab Nye

 

I was a boy

and my homework was missing,

paper with numbers on it,

stacked and lined,

I was looking for my piece of paper,

proud of this plus that, then multiplied,

not remembering if I had left it

on the table after showing to my uncle

or the shelf after combing my hair

but it was still somewhere

and I was going to find it and turn it in,

make my teacher happy,

make her say my name to the whole class,

before everything got subtracted

in a minute

even my uncle

even my teacher

even the best math student and his baby sister

who couldn’t talk yet.

And now I would do anything

for a problem I could solve.

 

 

https://poets.org/poem/i-was-gazan

Before I Was a Gazan - a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye

 

Copyright © by Naomi Shihab Nye.

 

Naomi Shihab Nye gives voice to her experience as an Arab-American through poems about heritage and peace that overflow with a humanitarian spirit.

POETS.ORG

Find and share the perfect poems

Before You Can- a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye in Everything Comes Next

 

Naomi Shihab Nye

 

 Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet and songwriter born in 1952 to a Palestinian father, Aziz Shihab, who worked as a journalist, editor and writer, and American mother, Miriam Allwardt Shihab, an artist who worked as a Montessori school teacher.^[4] Her father grew up in Palestine. He and his family became refugees in 1948, when the state of Israel was created. She has said her father "seemed a little shell-shocked when I was a child."^[5]   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Shihab_Nye

Think of Others poem by Mahmoud Darwish of Palestine

Palestinian embroidery. Photo credit Project Prospera Crafting Cultures:Palestinian Embroidery Workshop

                    Think of Others
 
As you prepare your breakfast, think of others
(do not forget the pigeon’s food).
 
As you wage your wars, think of others
(do not forget those who seek peace).
 
As you pay your water bill, think of others
(those who are nursed by clouds).
 
As you return home, to your home, think of others
(do not forget the people of the camps).
 
As you sleep and count the stars, think of others
(those who have nowhere to sleep).
 
As you express yourself in metaphor, think of others
(those who have lost the right to speak).
 
As you think of others far away, think of yourself
(say: If only I were a candle in the dark). 

- Mahmoud Darwish

 "About Darwish’s work, the poet Naomi Shihab Nye has said, “Mahmoud Darwish is the Essential Breath of the Palestinian people, the eloquent witness of exile and belonging, exquisitely tuned singer of images that invoke, link, and shine a brilliant light into the world’s whole heart. What he speaks has been embraced by readers around the world—his in an utterly necessary voice, unforgettable once discovered.”" poets.org

 

My letter to the Guardian RE "A galaxy" of "Star authors call for Israeli-Palestinian dialogue rather than boycotts"

The voice that connects things (Mahmoud Darwish ) Reading Room 2010 Sculptures and installations made by using books as the main production material by Pierre Lionel Matte of Norway..." To counterbalance the black/white descriptions of culture and identities I chose poems by Palestinian writer, Mahmoud Darwish." 

RE "A galaxy" of "Star authors call for Israeli-Palestinian dialogue rather than boycotts"
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/22/star-authors-jk-rowling-hilary-mantel-israel-palestinian-boycott-guardian-letter

Dear Sir,

Not too long ago a huge galaxy of star citizens (as well as regular folk and many a nobody) through out all the world thought slavery and the slave trade was a normal part of life. Excuses abounded, even religious texts were deployed to bully everyone into subserviently accepting a totally toxic and cruel situation. 

I suspect there were many dialogues and "negotiations" between masters and slaves.  Perhaps some dialogues and "negotiations" even made life a teeny tiny little bit easier for an individual slave or two- but all in all slavery continued on as a very cruel status quo and toxic situation...   Just as America's southern plantation owners saw no reason to end slavery, Israel sees no reason to stop usurping Palestine land, resources, and life.

Israel, a fully sovereign and free nation state, sees no reason to end its divisive and discriminatory anti-Palestine/anti-Palestinian policies. 

Israel sees no reason to respect international law; no reason to live by The Golden Rule - Do unto others as you would have them do unto you- and no reason to honor and uphold The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world"  http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

What a huge shame that Harry Potter's brilliant creator is using her fame and popularity to help perpetuate the very real plight and suffering of the native non-Jewish population of historic Palestine.

The global information age is here: Modern day boycott campaigns focused in on advocating a nonviolent way to bring attention to a very cruel status quo and toxic situation are a natural response, and boycott campaigns are bound to grow more popular and more pervasive as more and more people world wide figure out that Israeli propaganda has been very misleading: Let's start with the fact that there really is such a thing as a Palestinian.

One of my favorite Palestinians is the poet Mahmoud Darwish born in Palestine March 13, 1941 - died August 9, 2008. His words live on ... "About Darwish’s work, the poet Naomi Shihab Nye has said, “Mahmoud Darwish is the Essential Breath of the Palestinian people, the eloquent witness of exile and belonging, exquisitely tuned singer of images that invoke, link, and shine a brilliant light into the world’s whole heart. What he speaks has been embraced by readers around the world—his in an utterly necessary voice, unforgettable once discovered.” https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/mahmoud-darwish

Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab

NOTES
Smithsonian has a fascinating article on slavery in America, disclosing shocking facts- and once common words- that I never knew until this week.  "Retracing Slavery's Trail of Tears" by Edward Ball tells of hidden history such as "A coffle of slaves being marched from Virginia west into Tennessee, c. 1850." ..."It took four months to assemble the big “coffle,” to use a once-common word that, like so much of the vocabulary of slavery, has been effaced from the language."

Delores McQuinn:  “You see, our history is often buried,” she says. “You have to unearth it.” http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/slavery-trail-of-tears-180956968/#eDXuwuGkyuzIsE5r.99

***

Strangling Jerusalem: "In reality, the roots of the violence in Jerusalem are deeper and far more complex. For decades now, Israel has been strangling East Jerusalem denying its Palestinian inhabitants freedom, opportunity, dignity, and hope, with devastating impact. Before Israel closed Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank in 1994, the city had served as the hub of Palestinian life. Not only was the city important for its religious role, all of the major Palestinian economic, social, cultural, educational, medical, and service institutions were located in the city. " James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute & author of 'Arab Voices'

"First they came for Palestinians... "

Sunday Dialogue: The Media Gap

After years of peaceful [Palestinian] protest, Hebron activist dies in tear gas

Palestinians need hope, not calm

President of Palestine to address special meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council October 28, 2015

635 flying checkpoints have been imposed between Palestinian towns, Refugee camps and cities #Palestine

“EXTREMELY VOLATILE SITUATION ACROSS THE OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY” – UNITED NATIONS EXPERT EXPRESSES GRAVE CONCERN

Tit-for-tat violence is ‘new normal’ in occupied territory..."The emerging “new normal” – characterised on the Palestinian side by spontaneous acts of violence mainly by youths, and on the Israeli side by settler vigilantes and trigger-happy soldiers – is yet another reminder that the status quo is neither manageable nor containable." Hussein Ibish

The ugly order of free-for-all killings in Israel-Palestine - See more at: http://www.jordantimes.com/opinion/rami-g-khouri/ugly-order-free-all-killings-israel-palestine#sthash.4Q036fgT.UFvoh4TJ.dpuf

The ugly order of free-for-all killings in Israel-Palestine - See more at: http://www.jordantimes.com/opinion/rami-g-khouri/ugly-order-free-all-killings-israel-palestine#sthash.4Q036fgT.UFvoh4TJ.dpuf

The ugly order of free-for-all killings in Israel-Palestine By Rami G. Khouri in the Jordan Times

Ex-U.N. Official John Dugard: Israel’s Crimes are "Infinitely Worse" Than in Apartheid South Africa

Sam Bahour: Palestinians must not fall into this trap, again!  "To cover up its crimes, Israel needs to feed all the western stereotypes of Palestinians as violent and subhuman rather than hungry for freedom and equal rights."


Artists got ‘Homeland is racist’ Arabic graffiti into the latest episode of ‘Homeland’

A Palestinian woman, wearing her traditional embroidered dress while shopping in Ramallah's open market, holds a pomegranate.

On World Food Day, we are reminded that food is so much more than just what we eat... 16 Pictures of the World's Kitchens Show the Hearts of Homes

***

STAY CONNECTED... Given the U.S. commitment to religious freedom, and to the international covenants that guarantee it as the inalienable right of every human being, the United States seeks to: Promote freedom of religion and conscience throughout the world as a fundamental human right and as a source of stability for all countries

Unclench your fist... Live by the Golden Rule...

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Words to Honor: The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

***

...The Net ... a poem

...Forwards ...a poem

... The Connectors ... a poem

..Destroying Careers and Countries

RECRUIT ... a poem

... There Are Clues

Click by Click Culpability

America/Israel/Palestine 1776

... In Growing Gardens for Palestine: I ask you not to bomb

Translating the Obvious ... A poem for peace in Growing Gardens for Palestine

Trust... A poem for peace in Growing Gardens for Palestine

... Ibrahim's Estate... The Promised Land: In Celebration of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights & Peace Day