Palestinian Quotes

“he says I am from there, I am from here, but I am neither there nor here. I have two names which meet and part… I have two languages, but I have long forgotten— which is the language of my dreams”
― Mahmoud Darwish's farwell to Edward Said

“he says I am from there, I am from here, but I am neither there nor here. I have two names which meet and part… I have two languages, but I have long forgotten— which is the language of my dreams”
― Mahmoud Darwish

“I always have believed that we should not call it an Arab-Israeli issue or a Palestinian-Arab dispute or a peace negotiation. I think we should call it what it is: an occupation of Palestine, full stop. This is not a popular position in mixed company.”
― Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Blankets become Jackets

“There wasn’t a question of what compromise there should be or what kind of peace process we should engage in. There was only one discussion: How do we remove the colonial power that is occupying our
country?”
― Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Blankets become Jackets

“Statement on Hamas (October 10th, 2023)

When Israel strikes, it's "national security" - when Palestine strikes back, it's "terrorism". Just like over two hundred years ago when native americans resisted their homeland being stolen, it was called "Indian Attack". Or like over a hundred years ago when Indian soldiers in the British Army revolted against the empire, in defense of their homeland, it was called "Sepoy Mutiny".

The narrative never changes - when the colonizer terrorizes the world, it's given glorious sounding names like "exploration" and "conquest", but if the oppressed so much as utters a word in resistance, it is branded as attack, mutiny and terrorism - so that, the real terrorists can keep on colonizing as the self-appointed ruler of land, life and morality, without ever being held accountable for violating the rights of what they deem second rate lifeforms, such as the arabs, indians, latinos and so on.

After all this, some apes will still only be interested in one stupid question. Do I support Hamas? To which I say this. Until you've spent a lifetime under an oppressive regime, you are not qualified to ask that question. An ape can ask anything its puny brain fancies, but it's up to the human to decide whether the ape is worthy of a response. What do you think, by the way - colonizers can just keep coming as they please, to wipe their filthy feet on us like doormat, and we should do nothing - just stay quiet! For creatures who call themselves civilized, you guys have a weird sense of morality.

Yet all these might not get through your thick binary skull, so let me put it to you bluntly.

I don't stand with Hamas, I am Hamas, just like, I don't stand with Ukraine, I am Ukraine. Russia stops fighting, war ends - Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Israel ends invasion, war ends - Palestine ends resistance, Palestine ends.

However, I do have one problem here. Why do civilians have to die, if that is indeed the case - which I have no way of confirming, because news reports are not like reputed scientific data, that a scientist can naively trust. During humankind's gravest conflicts news outlets have always peddled a narrative benefiting the occupier and demonizing the resistance, either consciously or subconsciously. So never go by news reports, particularly on exception circumstances like this.

No matter the cause, no civilian must die, that is my one unimpeachable law. But the hard and horrific fact of the matter is, only the occupier can put an end to the death and destruction peacefully - the resistance does not have that luxury.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“Israel ends invasion, war ends - Palestine ends resistance, Palestine ends.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“you've drawn every line there could be while we wait for a circle”
― Yaffa As, Blood Orange

“That an Israeli soldier could bulldoze 189 olive trees on the Land he claims is part of the "God-given Land" is something I will never comprehend. Did he not consider the possibility that God might get angry? Did he not realize that it was a tree he was running over? If a Palestinian bulldozer were ever invented (Haha, I know!) and I were given the chance to be in an orchard, in Haifa for instance, I would never uproot a tree an Israeli planted. No Palestinian would. To Palestinians, the tree is sacred, and so is the Land bearing it. And as I talk about Gaza, I remember that Gaza is but a little part of Pales tine. I remember that Palestine is bigger than Gaza. Palestine is the West Bank; Palestine is Ramallah; Palestine is Nablus; Palestine is Jenin; Palestine is Tulkarm; Palestine is Bethlehem; Palestine, most importantly, is Yafa and Haifa and Akka and all those cities that Israel wants us to forget about.”
― Refaat Alareer, Gaza Writes Back

“Just a little piece of peace can cultivate the land of Palestine, but inhuman human won't let it do that....”
― Munia Khan

“All these complexities are lost on many commentators, often the same ones who would single out the Arabs for being Arabs; now there is a keen interest in explaining any social evolution or political process through the exclusive prism of Islam. According to such commentators, Muslims act in a certain way mainly because they are Muslims, not because they are Moroccans or Jordanians, blue-collared or self-employed, educated or illiterate, urbanites or peasant, straight or gay, young or old, Arabic speakers or native Berbers, and of course their class background and financial resources are meaningless compared with their religious affiliation. Those analysts share one thing in common with the Jihadis, they believe Islam provides all the answers.

The Arab Revolution: Ten Lessons From the Democratic Uprisisng”
― Jean-Pierre Filiu, The Arab Revolution: Ten Lessons from the Democratic Uprising

“I don't stand with Hamas, I am Hamas, just like, I don't stand with Ukraine, I am Ukraine. Russia stops fighting, war ends - Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Israel ends invasion, war ends - Palestine ends resistance, Palestine ends.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“Russia stops fighting, war ends - Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Israel ends invasion, war ends - Palestine ends resistance, Palestine ends.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“Arab refugees in Israel both in the West Bank and in Gaza began to identify themselves as Palestinians in 1967, two decades after the establishment of modern Israel. The term Palestinian until then, had been associated with both Jews and Arabs that had lived in Israel prior to 1948, and even so, it never had a connotation that symbolized belonging to a different nation, other than Israel.”
― Ze'Ev Shemer, Israel and the Palestinian Nightmare

“No matter the cause, no civilian must die, that is my one unimpeachable law. But the hard and horrific fact of the matter is, only the occupier can put an end to the death and destruction peacefully - the resistance does not have that luxury.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Bulletproof Backbone: Injustice Not Allowed on My Watch

“Some don’t accept that in order for Israel to actually survive, terrorists, the agents of those who wish Israel destroyed, must be fought. Fighting terrorists isn’t always so clean. Innocent people get hurt.”
― David Naggar, The Case for a Larger Israel

“That an Israeli soldier could bulldoze 189 olive trees on the Land he claims is part of the "God-given Land" is something I will never comprehend. Did he not consider the possibility that God might get angry? Did he not realize that it was a tree he was running over? If a Palestinian bulldozer were ever invented (Haha, I know!) and I were given the chance to be in an orchard, in Haita for instance, I would never uproot a tree an Israeli planted. No Palestinian would. To Palestinians, the tree is sacred, and so is the Land bearing it. And as I talk about Gaza, I remember that Gaza is but a little part of Pales tine. I remember that Palestine is bigger than Gaza. Palestine is the West Bank; Palestine is Ramallah; Palestine is Nablus; Palestine is Jenin; Palestine is Tulkarm; Palestine is Bethle- hem; Palestine, most importantly, is Yafa and Haifa and Akka and all those cities that Israel wants us to forget about.”
― Refaat Alareer, Gaza Writes Back

“To induce a person's change of heart is different from challenging the tremendous force of collective denial.”
― Isabella Hammad, Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative