Kaçak Kız

Departure to the shores of dreams

I threw all my equipment into your hands, and I relieved my horse from the worries of the road, and I fled from the ravages of the storms when the departure was long. The voice of my solitude died, and the echoes of my silence responded in the hills, on the plains, and at the valley’s stream, I saw the autumn leaves being dragged behind them by the tail of the calm breeze, so I left all my poems in the desert and buried my songs among its sands.

-Muhammad Al-Thubaiti

Jerusalem

I wept until my tears were dry I prayed until the candles flickered I knelt until the floor creaked I asked about Mohammed and Christ Oh Jerusalem, the fragrance of prophets The shortest path between earth and sky Oh Jerusalem, the citadel of laws A beautiful child with fingers charred and downcast eyes You are the shady oasis passed by the Prophet Your streets are melancholy Your minarets are mourning You, the young maiden dressed in black Oh Jerusalem, the city of sorrow A big tear wandering in the eye Who will halt the aggression On you, the pearl of religions? Who will wash your bloody walls? Who will safeguard the Bible? Who will rescue the Quran? Who will save Christ? Who will save man? Oh Jerusalem my town Oh Jerusalem my love Tomorrow the lemon trees will blossom And the olive trees will rejoice Your eyes will dance The migrant pigeons will return To your sacred roofs And your children will play again And fathers and sons will meet On your rosy hills My town The town of peace and olives.

-Nizar Qabbani

My tormentor came in the dead of dusk

As if it were the bright star on the horizon So I said, “Enlighten me, O best visitor.” Were you not afraid of the guards on the roads? She answered me with tears in her eyes. He who sales the sea is not afraid of drowning. I said, “These are fabricated tales.” She said, “The truth of my heart is greater than any oath. As long as there is some spark in my eyes, I love you with an endless love.

I removed the veil and saw the full moon embracing So I stood up and kissed her.

By : Lisan al-Din ibn al-Khatib

The occupation of Palestine documented in photographs

Proclamation of Marshall Law in Jerusalem by General Allenby. 1917

British forces enter Jerusalem, December 9, 1917 with Brig. Gen. Watson and Col. Bailey at the Jaffa Gate.

British occupying army in Jerusalem. 1929

Palestinian leaders meet to discuss the 1929 revolt against British occupation. 1929

Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestinian leaders at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem. 1921–1937

Palestinian delegation in London to demand Palestinian independence. 1929

Palestinian citizens searched during the uprising of August 23 to 31 at Jaffa Gate. 1929

Palestinian women’s delegation demonstrating against British policies outside of the high commissioner’s residency. 1929

Palestinians demonstrating against the occupying British army at Jaffa Gate. 1933

Palestinians protesting British occupation, Jerusalem. 1933

Palestinians at Abou Ghosh take oath of allegiance to protest British occupation and reject Zionist immigration. 1936

Fire scorched the Armenian Quarter in the old City. 1936

British occupation soldiers stand witness to their destruction in the City of Jenin. 1938

Jenin after British occupying soldiers destroyed a quarter of the city with dynamite. 1938

Palestinians lined up by British occupying police for identity card check. 1939

Australian soldiers marching down Jaffa Road. 1940–1946

British military recruits parade across Jaffa Gate. 1941

Photographs published by: https://www.palestinephotoproject.org/Gallery-Folder/Occupation-and-Resistence/i-3bPjRwR

"I deliberately read the writings of the miserable, the missing, and those whose hearts are broken, I read their cries to make me cry with them. My alphabet no longer accommodates this huge amount of sadness, so I started looking for someone to share it with me. It is a disaster to search for yourself in the writings of others, a disaster to lose yourself to this extent."

-unknown

Bak Milena,

"En çok seni seviyorum." diyorum ama belki de bu gerçek aşk değildir.

"Sen bir bıçaksın ve ben hep o bıçakla kendime saplarım",dersem belki de gerçek aşkı anlatmış olurum.

Ve Milena, kalbimde seninle her şeye katlanabilirim.

| Franz Kafka

Do you think when you burnt me

then danced like a devil upon my dead body and left me for dust storms to bury me; Do you think you obliterated my identity? or that you've erased my history and beliefs! In vain you try…No Death There is for a rebel I’m like The Resurrection; one day I shall be, Like Jesus I'm coming back with strength, from every storm I shall gather my parts, I'll come as the oldest rebellious lover, I'll come with the mightiest of the greatest revolutions, A man from the Ditch I am, I must return !

Poem by : Muhathil Alsqor

When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, Desiring this man’s art and that man’s scope, With what I most enjoy contented least; Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

(Like to the lark at break of day arising From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;        For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings        That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

˜ Shakespeare

I am a strange woman

I could not fit into the streets inside me nor could i accept the outside world. I had walls that i built in desperation, locked myself in the rooms of isolation.

I am afraid that the feelings that have accumulated in me will suddenly explode and scatter me into granules.

If you want to befriend me, you will have to endure many things.

Onu yalnız gördüm,

bir deri bir kemik, gözleri iri, gerçekten yorgun,

"Kimi seviyorsun?" diye sordum.

Kalbini kim yaraladı ve parçaladı?

Geceleri gözlerini kim eritip seni huzursuz etti?

Dedi ki: Onu suçlama.

Kalbimin ona taptığını bilmiyor,

Onu aylarca gizlice sevdim,

Yüreğim hasretten öldü.