Stories of Palestine

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Palestinian Books – Stories That Refuse to Be Forgotten

The Zionist Sin

“Zionist sin” refers to the critique of Zionism, the movement for Jewish self-determination in the historical land of Israel, as having committed an original moral failing by overlooking, dismissing, or displacing the indigenous Palestinian population. This concept suggests that the foundational act of establishing a Jewish homeland involved a disregard for the rights and presence of another people already living in the land, and that this unresolved injustice continues to fuel the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Honor Your Father And Your Mother

so that your days may be prolonged upon the land which I give you. Your days are numbered when your beloved remains in your life. Jacob’s days were few and bitter, because his one beloved son suffered. When his son was just a boy dreaming prophetic dreams, his father rebuked him. There is a God, but don’t you dare bring Him into our home. Don’t you dare speak of Him or what He tells you.
What God tells you is between you and Him. And anyway, who said that was the final word?
Maybe He’s testing you, just like He tested your grandfather back in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Second Life

His second life began when neither words nor deeds could help him love his son.
He pushed his wife away until she died in childbirth,
and he pushed his sons away until they took justice into their own hands.
A cold, distant father, forever busy with work,
with a promotion that never came,
with a curse hanging over his head,
with fear of distant relatives,
with suspicion.

Palestinian Book FAQ’s

Why does the text begin with a feeling of restlessness?

It’s been with me for a long time. I can’t pinpoint exactly what changed between me and the external world, but something did, and it keeps changing. Maybe it’s age, or maybe I just need to surrender. I don’t know. Surrender disgusts me. I think of my parents when I think of surrender, and that makes it hard for me to honor them. I believe there is a being greater than them, and I choose to call it, as others do, God.

Does the speaker believe they are the only one aware of this pain?

I hope I’m the only one aware of it, because it’s a pain I keep hoping will pass, and that things will go back to how they used to be. But at some point I realize this is a universal pain, the root of nostalgia itself. I don’t think there’s a contradiction. The sense of alienation comes before the story we tell ourselves. That alienation exists first, and the story is built on top of it. That’s what people call a narrative. Ours is a national narrative, and it fundamentally denies the existence of any opposition.

What is God’s role in the text?

I don’t assign God a role, I don’t presume to. I speak about human beings and them alone, because I only know how to tell my own story.

Are the fathers in the text, biblical and modern, symbols or real figures?

Both stand helpless and full of compromise before creation. You know the truth, you even speak it, but you don’t walk in its light. You know what’s right, just, pure, and holy, and do the opposite. You say, “Live your life and don’t go looking for trouble.” Whether it’s Jacob and his sons’ vengeance for their sister Dina, or our modern fathers, living as slaves, gathering crumbs from the tables of cruel kings.

Why does the commandment “Honor your father and mother” begin with the word “Slave”?

That was actually a typo. I meant to write “Honor,” but in Hebrew I wrote “Slave”, and that one letter changed everything. I wrote it in the language of the Jews to remain faithful to the source, to the great prophet Moses, peace be upon him. Maybe it was a mistake, but the mistake birthed a painful, ironic reality. That’s how creation works—whether a mistake is intentional or not.

Is the discomfort caused by guilt, or simply by proximity to loved ones?

Mainly discomfort. I understand they need my closeness, but they have to give me space so I can feel at ease. I don’t like being touched. I don’t like people getting too close.

Is there a figure of salvation in the text?

I’m not here to speak on behalf of the text. The text will speak for or against itself. I can say that I do believe in redemption, even if I don’t actively work to bring it closer. I don’t believe I’m that important. Maybe I’m almost as important as God, but that’s no great achievement when all of creation is just a microbe in the vast universe. So maybe I’m the greatest single part of that microbe. Maybe I’m the closest one to God among all the microbes. So what?

Is there compassion in the text, or only judgment?

It’s not my job to grade my writing. Let others answer that.

What would happen if the speaker stopped believing he was a prophet?

That question haunts me lately. A person who believes he’s a prophet, who feels exposed to creation in a miraculous way, fears losing it. On the other hand, maybe the loss of prophecy would redeem my soul from its suffering. Who knows?