Learning to Whisper
Your opinion counts, your voice should be heard.
Didn’t it all start with The Word...
...but it all seems one sided, there’s only one point of view
and it coincided that the loudest was you.
I didn’t hear the voices of those struggling for breath
Those trapped in a life worse than death.
I heard their screams; I heard their pain
but you can’t call for peace without being slain?
It’s nothing to do with me nothing at all.
I don’t even know why it’s called the wailing wall...
It’s not my business why should I care,
I’ve got no intention of even visiting there...
but...
I’ve learned a few things because I want to understand
and I learned the British gave Israel a big helping hand
and when I say hand I mean money, tools, tanks,
knowledge of how to keep people in ranks,
British class systems & Indian caste systems, who's better, who's best
and, by interpreting scriptures ensured the locals failed each and every test.
And as I learned I became enraged to learn the British enabled, encouraged and engaged
in the catastrophe, the Nakba, the first genocide,
they, with the new Israelis, demolished (with pride);
a million people’s histories, homes and lives with ferocious intent
and planned ahead to build homes where the Palestinians bled
using God as a reason to kill.
They were using Him them and they’re using Him still
to destroy the lives of those ‘lesser than’, those who haven’t been chosen.
Their policy is frozen as if written in stone like the tablets on the mount.
If you’re not a Zionist then your life doesn’t count,
your land isn’t yours, it belongs to the ‘state’
a movement built out of hate which is repeated in places of worship and schools.
Using rape, the cover of night, fear, all terrorist tools,
to grab land, homes, projects and stock,
to steal orchards, animals, then to stand there and mock.
Every time the occupied resisted the settlers insisted
that a new war had been declared
and no bullets or bulldozers were spared
in another grab for land
outsiders were told they didn’t understand or to be more specific they were being anti-Semitic.
To defend themselves the Zionist built a wall, to defend themselves, that’s all.
To build the defence more land was procured
regardless of the pain and loss this act of defence ensured.
Illegal settlements grew and became no longer Palestinian by name
with funds, resources and Israeli army’s protection,
reaching Aliyah became a fanatic intention.
The right of return used to entice ‘choose to come ‘
denied to Palestinians all, not just some
they arrived they settled they armed themselves with protection
they were chosen God’s own selection...
My knowledge is growing but there’s no way of knowing
all that is truth and even the scholars can’t produce proof
that those who have died in this war of religion
may have been chosen to end this division.
Then I remembered. I’ve been here before.
The last time the occupied showed peaceful defiance against illegal settlers and the army’s alliance,
they were met with fatal defence but it didn’t make sense
so I read, listened and watched about what it is like to live in that place
to be treated as an inferior race
after I conquered my confusion I came to a strange conclusion
which I couldn’t share but I thought
‘It’s an experiment there.’
The Iron Dome, the defense, the control of water, food, power
deciding who could move and at what hour,
where they could go, where they could not,
and if you did you were shot,
arrest without reason, closure of roads,
access to the sea, entry into homes,
all controlled by an occupying force,
while claiming defense of course
it must be an experiment to prove it can be done and now the State of Israel has won.
There is no reason to continue the charade
the curtain is open they’ve removed the facade.
Each plea for mercy, every cry for peace entered me
A million voices tempered me.
A slicing feeling in my throat, a shudder down my spine, cold waves attacking my nervous system as I understood the crime.
The destruction of the Gazans has always been the goal, to live on the land they stole.
The British, American, European, Arab Leaders have known this all along. For a century they’ve known it to be cruel, known that it is wrong.
The reason the sanctions/resolutions/aid have been contested?
They’re protecting all that they have invested.
They’ve known and have funnelled funds, weapons of mass destruction along with murderous instruction, kept the media quiet about what has been quite clear but now the time is nearly here.
Do we, who see, feel, love stand against the owners, the oligarchs, moguls, kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers?
Will it be the meek who will inherit the earth for our brothers and sisters?
Or have the centuries of deceit deadened our heart?
Has propaganda torn us too far apart?
One million voices have been silenced in Gaza that could have sung of peace, of love, of unity.
We can whisper together:
WE ARE ONE COMMUNITY.
THIS IS OUR EARTH AND WE CHOOSE TO SHARE.
WE ARE ONE COMMUNITY AND WE CHOOSE TO CARE.