I
am the Palestinian (anonymous)
I
am the Palestinian fury
I am the Diaspora
The exile
The lack of travel documents
The absence of an identity card
The prison cell
The beating and torture
Watch out for my anger
I have not much patience for injustice
Patience has its limitations
I am administrative detention
I am rubber bullets
I am house demolitions
I am deportation
I am
El-haram el-Ibraheimi
Deir Yassin
Sabra and Shateila
Tal el-Za’tar
Al-Aqsa
I am the Zionist officer slapping me across the face
I am the humiliation of a foreign check point in my homeland
I am prison cells and execution squads in Arabia
I am terrorism and xenophobia in the West
Tear gas canisters
I am Al-Quds
I blossom from the agony of my people
I survive and return to my homeland with victory
I am the haunting refugee returning
The incessant memory returning
The Palestinian of 48
The Palestinian of 67
The Palestinian of 98
The Palestinian of 2001
(The latest and best car model in refugee market)
The insomnia in my occupier’s bed
The ménage a trios when he sleeps with his wife
I am the Intifada
Five hundred thousand rocks hurled at once
A Klashinkov
I am the tameness of a wedding song
The conviction of Palestinian Dabkeh steps
The infatuation with the land
I am wrapped in the red, black, white, and green
I am resilience, virtue, and pride
I am the tenderness of a young Palestinian lady’s
Palm and chest, her femininity, her strength, her mother-ness
I am a Palestinian man’s resilience, loyalty, and kindness
I am Palestinian children’s conviction that they will return
someday
I
am the Palestinian
