On Palestine

In January 2008 al Jazeera (Arabic) carried a story about the discovery of a mass grave of Arab fighters who had fallen whilst defending Palestine from the Zionists. The picture affected me greatly, it was of a small booklet with a particular passage from the Qur'an (آية الكرسي) normally given to people to protect them from the evils of the world. It lay by its owner since his death and I wondered whether it was given by a mother, a wife or a concerned father. Maybe it was his brother or sister? Or one of his children? Maybe he had just kept it with him to comfort him in those difficult times. The familiarity of it tore tore me to pieces inside.

The 'intellectual' or rich amongst us goes and watches Israeli films, counts money they have not earned yet, we openly talk about a noble, just and comprehensive settlement, dressing our shame in a false robe of dignity. We "wage peace" because we are cowards whilst the martyrs live on, they are ((أحياء عند ربهم يرزقون))