Sahar’s Reviews > Comma Press Voices of Resistance. > Status Update

“Our tragedies, too, have filled the world’s newspapers, websites and social media platforms. But our slaughter hasn’t stopped. It’s as if the world’s eyes have grown used to our suffering. And if our suffering no longer shocks anyone, what’s the point of sharing it? What’s the point of photos and facts if they don’t change our reality?”

“What pains me most is how seamlessly the sound of the waves blends with the roar of an Israel F-16 flying overhead. Even this sea, into which we’ve poured so many of our sorrows, is conspiring with the machines sent to kill is.”

“When the occupation’s leaflets first fluttered down from the skies, they terrified us. Later, they worried us. Now, they cheer everybody up. We can burn them on our fires to heat our dignity-flavoured morning coffee.”

“Gaza will become a vast graveyard, at the mercy of an insatiable enemy.”

“The trial is immense, O God. We do not object to your decree, but we are exhausted.”

“At dawn, we gather to pray. My father recites, ‘And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth and lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient.’

I weep.”

“Once, we had lives. We had friends. We had Gaza, with its sea, with its bright, breezy mornings, with its balmy evenings which still reside inside us, strong and defiant against forgetfulness.”

“I refuse to let the souls of my friends and loved ones disappear into passing numbers on news broadcasts, I refuse for our name, as Palestinians, to be synonymous with only misery and despair.”

“Who knows, perhaps terrorism hides in the warmth of a home, in the bells of churches or the minarets of mosques, between the pages of books, in the streets and alleyways of the camps, or even amidst the tents of the displaced. The Israeli occupation has every right to erase anything from the face of the Earth, if they so desire. And no one has the right to criticise Israel.”

“As for my sister’s children: they were buried in a hurry, with no chance to say goodbye. No funeral honoured their dignity; no shrouds preserved their bodies. They were buried in the covers they had lain in, to sleep in the peace they were deprived of in reality. Our consolation is that they are now in the gardens of Paradise.”