I Envy You, O Bird on Freedom and Oppression

I envy you, O bird
You are free, unhampered
And I am an oppressed prisoner.

I envy you, O bird
Rescue me, O bird

They took away my father in the middle of the night
And imprisoned him.
They humiliated him and beat him,
From his home they deported him...

My grandfather's house they destroyed,
And bulldozed it with its furniture
And my people, they scattered
From their lands, they exiled...

My brother stoned them and lighted fire
To drive them away from the house,
To protect his younger brothers...

My sister is among the walls
Protecting the Aqsa with fire
To return the oppression of the cunning
With her brothers, the revolutionaries.

I envy you, O bird
Rescue me, O bird

Go and tell, O bird
Inform all the houses,
Tell the people and all the birds.
What you saw of oppression,
Tell them, O bird.

As a result of Israeli oppression, many Palestinians were incarcerated in Israeli detention centres. Even those who were not in prison suffered from te daily violations and infringements on human rights. A bird is envied because of its freedom, and it is extolled to inform the world of the oppression of the Palestinians who have lived under occupation for the past 32 years.

Loss of identity

They stopped me at the border
And they asked for my identity card.
I told them it's in Jaffa
Hidden with my grandmother.
The words I said
Divided them into two groups
One group asking the "whys"
The other asking the "where."

I cried, "Palestine"
They divided me into two halts
One half on the border
The other half in my grandmother's lap
My grandmother, who is hiding
In a house I don't know where
My identity card put away, hidden in some place
They want to burn it
And to erase it from the world

The identity card that all Palestinians must present at checkpoints or whenever they are stopped by Israelis, is symbolic for their loss of identity, the Palestinian predicament of statelessness. The worst thing that could happen to a person is to have his identity confiscated by the Israelis.

They ask me who I am
I am a child of Palestine
They ask me, "Where do you live?"
I live in the land of my ancestors.
They ask me, "How can you live in humiliation and be patient?
Why not leave and emigrate to the West?"
I answer, "The countries of the West are not for me."
Palestine is my homeland
Home to all of my hopes.