60 Years of Solitude...


I remember when I was first initiated to the Palestinian cause. I must have been 10 or 11. I vividly remember the setting. It was our living room. I recall seeing sun rays penetrating across onto the Persian carpet. I remember the colors coming alive. I guess it must have been spring or summer.

My parents were seated opposite one another. Each was holding a newspaper. They would read, pause, comment, debate and resume their reading...

I remember standing at the doorway of the living room and watching them reciprocate...

I don't exactly know how it all came about, but I was suddenly included in the conversation...

It's been a long time, so I can't recall all the minute details, except maybe for my mother's printed summer dress. I remember the little flowers adorning it and the sunlight stroking the hem and her legs...She looked so beautiful in it.

And I do recall what my father was wearing. Grey pants and a white, short sleeve shirt. I guess it stayed in my memory because someone had told me that in Paradise, people wear white and grey...He too, looked handsome.

I remember watching and thinking to myself, what a perfect couple today.

I was taken away from my idyllic reverie of a few minutes when father said
"Layla, what do you know about Palestine?"

Of course I had heard of Palestine at age 10, but am not sure I knew all the details. All I knew is that something bad happened and it had to do with war and occupation.

Sensing that I was hesitant to come forward with the little knowledge I had for a 10 year old, he completed my thoughts..." Palestine has been taken away from us by force...Layla, what happened to Palestine will happen to every Arab country unless..."

My mother intervened as she usually does and added "Always remember that Palestine is Arab and that you are an Arab whatever happens..."

My first formal initiation to the Palestinian cause was also an initiation to the Arab cause...In my mind they remained and are till this very day, intertwined and inseparable.

That day I felt I was given a big task, an obligation. I am not sure what it was, I just knew that I was handed something precious. Something that started with Palestine and went beyond...

And it went beyond the borders of Palestine. It reached Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and today Iraq...and tomorrow ? My father's prophecy came true.

You need to understand one crucial thing, the crux of the matter, the essence of the matter, once you grasp it you will grasp everything else around it in the Middle East. The occupation of Palestine is at the CORE of all the other occupations.

Once the core is liberated, the rest will fall back in place. And please do me a favor, don't mention this oil business again as being the sole determinant of things past and present. There was no oil in Palestine, unless you consider Olive oil something worth appropriating and killing for.

It is all about "promised lands" and it all started with Palestine.

Whether God, the early Zionists or the British promised it, does not matter anymore...It was "promised" and illegally delivered.

Sixty years have elapsed since the first delivery by the British and in consortium with the other colonial powers. Sixty years of occupation on a land that is, on the one hand, narrowing and shrinking and on the other, expanding even more...

Sixty years and millions in Exodus. Moving from tent to tent, slum to slum, camp to camp, sometimes for a second and third time. Carrying the old rusty key to what used to be a home, carrying yellowed papers to what once was a piece of land, carrying an ID card to what once was a citizenship and a sense of belonging.

Israel and the safeguarding and expansion of Israel is the root cause of all occupations past and present. You need to understand that once and for all.

Sixty years of wars, sixty years of continuous exile, sixty years of death and the tumor is still lodged and metastasizing.

1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1975, 1980, 1982, 1991, 2003, 2006, and it goes on...
And in between - incursions, Intifadas, bombs, civil strife and silencing by prison chains and death.

Israel, the "democracy" of sham and shame, the Jewish racist entity established on stolen land, on usurped land, built on tears, blood and corpses of Palestinians, of Arabs.

Sixty years of wars, sixty years of expansion, sixty years of silence - the silence of mass graves, the solitude of mass graves...the solitude of exile.

They still carry the key, the yellowed papers and the ID card...they will keep on carrying them. So will I.

I am also holding onto the key, the papers that are turning yellow and the ID card that I am keeping as a memory...I am too, today. So will you, tomorrow...


And my father's voice returns in full force " What happened to Palestine will happen to every Arab country unless..."


Painting: Iraqi artist, Serwan Baran.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Thank you for this beautiful and heartbreaking article on Palestine, Layla.

I've also read the text of the chimpanzee's speech (the one who is the 'leader' of the 'democracy' which has occupied your land) and it makes you want to throw up. He's crawled on his belly for the zionists. He will go on the record as the most disgusting and evil, murderous 'leader' in the history of mankind. Worse than Hitler, by far.

Long live Iraq.
Long live Palestine.
Long live Iraqi Resistance.

In solidarity.
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KM said…
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KM said…
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Anonymous said…
I love all this art and music you post - especially the feminist stuff. I wonder where you get it all from. Every post, a beautiful picture.
Yeah, men. Men kill, men invent. Everything you see around you was planned, developed, built by men. Including this website. Men do have their uses.
Anonymous said…
...unless the Arab countries become one united self-conscious revolutionary national body.

BUT HOW ???
Anonymous said…
wow.. very lovely article... nice !!!
G.Gar said…
"Once the core is liberated, the rest will fall back in place"

And there will never be a Palestinian liberation without a strong unified, ARAB IRAQ clean from any malicious Iranian influence.

Since, the act of liberating Iraq and defending the Arab culture against the Persian onslaught, as such, would very well conjure up sufficient power that would progressively and spontaneously work its way up unfolding into the resurrection of the stern collective Arab consciousness and group feelings. Thereby, the liberation of Palestine and the ultimate Arab thorough triumph becomes an inevitable consequence of this pivotal power amassing Arabs around the defence of Iraq and the Arab civilisation against "3ajam"
Anonymous said…
Hi Layla!!!
Anonymous said…
JR IS BACK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Layla Anwar said…
Little Deer,

Hiya and thanks for stopping by.
Someone said that Bush is more zionist than Olmert...Maybe Bush is the Messiah awaited by the Jews and we don't know it.
Layla Anwar said…
Steen,

Am glad you like the IRAQI art and the music.
As for men, a good deal have outgrown their use
Layla Anwar said…
wahda,

Very good question and a pertinent one too.

Well Saddam Hussein tried - you know what happened to him. Iran and the US/Israel eliminated him. And replaced him with turbaned stooges for Iran. And now Iran is playing the "arab people's" card.
Pretending to be anti zionistic and anti american.

So instead of having one front to deal with Israel, we have now two fronts to deal with - Iran and Israel. And they both have convergent interests in never seeing an Arab NAHDA ever...

So to reply to your question, when Iraq will be liberated by the IRAQI RESISTANCE and it will be LIBERATED, you will see the NAHDA am talking about- until then the best we can do is fight the two fronts.
Layla Anwar said…
Amre,

You said " And there will never be a Palestinian liberation without a strong unified, ARAB IRAQ clean from any malicious Iranian influence."

HOW VERY TRUE. That kind of joins in with my reply to Wahda and I ask you to read it and feel free to add more.

I'm afraid only a very few people are left who remember and recall that Iraq is ARAB and that the Palestinian issue is an Arab Issue very much related to present IRAQ.

I don't foresee any Palestinian liberation when the backbone of the Arab World, Iraq is under dual occupation.

However, seems that the Arabs are still asleep or day dreaming of a Nasrallah divine victory that will liberate them and organized from Qum. I'm afraid they will be waking up very soon to the hard facts that they two have gone under a dual occupation US/Israeli and Iranian.

But maybe this is exactly what we need to have a new Salahdeen al-Ayubi emerge, a true leader compared to Iranian stooges playing heroes
Anonymous said…
Layla,

Lets assume the Jews kicked the Palestinians out and that the Jews are 100% at fault. Well the Palestinians can be compensated with money but not with land. The only way to get the land back it to remove the Jews from the land. The only way that will happen is if you kill every last one of them. Ever hear of the motto "Never again"? The Jews will not allow another holocaust. You will have to kill every single last one of them.

Are you ready for that? Have you cleaned your room yet? Are you ready to clean up all that blood that will be on your hands?

Here is your best case scenario: An Islamist country aquires nuclear weaponry. They launch a 50 nuclear missiles. Israel's anti missile system shoots down most of them but enough get through to kill 50% of the population. Simultaneously, armies from several Islamist nations attack. However, what begins as a war of movement quickly devolves into static trench warfare, mainly due to Israel's excellent anti-tank weapons. The Islamists armies know they are on the clock because the USA, while in a deep depression from the last nuclear terrorist attack, still has large naval and marine forces in the area and they are moving in to relieve the Isrealis and trap the Islamists in an artillery zone.

In the meantime, Israel has launched a massive nuclear counter strike, with devastating results. The Islamist attackers were not great industrial powers, and the counter-strike managed to effectively shut down their war making capacity. In addition to the blow to industry, radioactive fallout is now falling and starting to make people sick. The ability of the Jews to survive the first few days was something the attackers had not counted on. They thought the nuclear strike would make quick work of such a small country. Since their armies are still engaged, they are not able to care for their sick populations. The humanitarian crisis is of epic proportions.

With the Americans closing in, the Islamists launch desperate suicide charges to finish the Jews off. However the training and discipline of the Isreali army enables them to hold on. In an unexpected move, several thousand Isreali soldiers break out and envelop a large Islamist force in a giant pincer movement. The Isrealis press on, hoping to break the back of the Islamist army while they are reeling from the breakout. However, the Isrealis outrun their supply lines and their advance quickly runs out of gas.

Finally the Americans arrive, but by then the fight is over. The Israelis have lost half their territory and half their population. Their armies have advanced halfway into 2 of the Islamist attacker's territories. The Islamists have both gained and lost territory, but have also lost a hundred of million to the nuclear exchange. The horror they have experienced leads to a revolt against the policies that have led to the carnage.

Within a year 4 of the 5 Islamist governments have fallen due to popular uprisings stemming from the dissillusion of the war (Similar to Anbar Awakening saying 'enough' to the drillers). The 5th government signs a peace treaty guaranteeing that "Never Again" will this happen. The Jews, learning from their mistake of letting enemy forces reside so close - in Gaza - set up a demilitarized buffer zone in the territory they now occupy.

And so the cycle continues...




Arab governments use palestine as a red herring to divert the public attention from their own internal faults.

"Sixty years of wars, sixty years of continuous exile, sixty years of death and the tumor is still lodged and metastasizing." Was it worth it for the small strip of land the Jews occupy?


"What happened to Palestine will happen to every Arab country unless..." Unless they decide it is not worth it to kill every Jew. Every time the Arabs attack Isreal, they lose - maybe they won't lose land, but people, equipment, etc. It is just a big waste.

"...unless the Arab countries become one united self-conscious revolutionary national body, BUT HOW?"
Simple, form a "United Arab States" The only problem is that Arabs, enriched by oil, tend to start wars with each other. It is 100% about power and 0% about power to the people.

Layla,

This is what your parents taught you:
radical islam brainwashes small kids

Micky Mouse Teaches Kids To Commit Terrorism

Jihad Micky Mouse gets martyred

Break the cycle, think for yourself.

Greg from USA
Anonymous said…
greg, The only way to get the land back it to remove the Jews from the land. The only way that will happen is if you kill every last one of them.

by your rational jews can be justified to keep expanding apon more and more land that is not theirs, was never meant to be theirs, into more and more territories w/even more illegal settlements, and the only way to stop that expansion is to kill every single one of them.

why are you here greg. this has got to be some of the most anti semetic garbage i have ever heard. only a sick person would carry out collective punishment against a people for the extremists among them.

62% of israelis favor open dialogue w/palestine. we must find solutions. bush the appeaser (cbs news)

quit appeasing fanatical zionofascist extremists!

annie
Anonymous said…

Jihad Micky Mouse gets martyred


greg, this has already been thoroughly debunked. sheesh. i can't believe you are still trying to peddle these lies.

Well, here’s what Ali Alarabi, a member of CNN’s Arabic desk had to say about MEMRI’s translation:

Was MEMRI actually playing verbal gymnastics? Yes indeed.
The issue here is not simply some error in the translation of this word or that, but actually making new words up and putting them in the mouth of that child to show defamatory evidence against the Palestinians.

MEMRI which stands for Middle East Media Research Institute was established by former Israeli intelligence agents, the Mossad, to police Arabic media for any evidence of anti-Israeli rhetoric.

Yegal… head of MEMRI was interviewed on CNN’S Glen Beck on his radio show and assured Beck that he stands by his translation and blasted CNN’s Arabic desk (which I am a member of) and Octavia Nasr head of the desk for uncovering the forgery by claiming that CNN’s Arabic desk do not know Arabic and they are “hiding” while he is on the other hand out there ready and willing to debate and challenge anyone for his version of the translation.

In my professional opinion, MEMRI’s “translation” is not credible and flat out forgery.

But don’t just take his word for it, here’s a full transcript, courtesy of Professor As’ad Abu Khalil from The Angry Arab News Service.


annie
KM said…
a piece from an Israeli paper.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/982960.html
Yes Layla, but with a slight change in your fathers prophecy...what happened to palestine will happen to everyone unless they take up arms against those yankee and european war mongers...

have been away for a vacation and back now..

take care
rajeeve chelanat
Anonymous said…
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/soumaya_ghannoushi_/2008/05/end_of_term_report.html

On Palastine, Bush, Hizbollah
Anonymous said…
annie,

Isreal is not without it's faults. Ever expanding settlements outside their current bounds is not a way to build trust. To remove the Jews from many settlements, negotiate. For some larger settlements, they are too large to just negotiate away. For the rest of Israel, the Jews will fight to the last person if you try and remove them. I don't see anything anti-semitic about that observation.

"62% of Israelis favor open dialogue w/palestine" Who is palestine? Hamas? Jordan? Abbas? If a peace treaty is signed, does it matter? 10 years ago I had a conversation with a Lebanese Christian. He was going on and on about Islamists. I asked him why Isreal didn't just kick every person out of the west bank. He said that happened to the Palestineans in 1970 when they were kicked out of - suprise - an Arab country. He said Isreal does not do that because they want peace with the Arabs, not a bloodbath. For 60 years Isreal has been pulling punches while for 60 years the Arabs attack and the PLO turns their turf into civil war wasteland (Look what happened when they moved to Lebanon!) To achieve the dreams of a few thousand Hamas, Fatah, etc., this nightmare has been thrust upon the rest of the region and serves as a convient little diversion for many a corrupt Arab dictator.

These Arabs, sitting on trillions of dollars in oil, why can't they make life better for their people? What is Nassar's legacy, a maddening lust for a few acres of stolen land? If a starving family stole a loaf of bread from your window, would you cut their hands off or have mercy and let them go, being sure to secure your bread next time?

annie,

Condensed from Wikipedia:

Tomorrow's Pioneers is a children's program on the official Palestinian Hamas TV station, Al-Aqsa TV. It contains Hamas-inspired themes of antisemitism, anti-Americanism, anti-Zionism, Islamic extremism, Islamic supremacism, Islamism, and jihadist proselytism.

The show deals with radical messages of Islamic supremacy, the loathing of Israel, the United States and the West, and indoctrination of the young viewers with teachings of "Resistance Jihad."[2] As such, in furtherance of the show's anti-Israeli message, two previous animal character co-hosts (the Mickey-Mouse-lookalike Farfour and Nahoul the bee) were used to "champion violence, promote hatred of Israel and preach about world Islamic supremacy." Both of these characters were later also, as the show described them, "martyred" in plot-lines either directly or implicitly blaming their deaths upon The Jews, Israel, Israelis, and/or what they believe to be Zionists.


Annie, WHAT WAS LOST IN TRANSLATION? THEY KILLED MICKEY AND BLAMED IT ON THE JEWS. WOULD YOU LET YOUR CHILD WATCH THIS HATEFUL SHOW???


km,

From your post We owe the Palestinians a state:

"We know our claim to the land to be incontestable, owing to who we are, our ancient history, the bitterness of our recent past, our willingness to sacrifice for this soil, and the stubbornness of our refusal to part with it. So do they.

We will never be able to give them their fair share of this land, nor will they ever be able to give us ours. In the end, the extremists on both sides are right: we do deserve everything, the Mediterranean to the Jordan, the Lebanon border to the Red Sea, and all of Jerusalem in between. We can claim all of it. And so can they.

Or, alternatively, we can find a way to live here. To look at our past with honesty, and our present also. To renounce our extremists and their fantasies, in which our unwanted enemy simply gives up, caves in, clears out. We will not give the Palestinians back Jaffa, nor Acre, just as they will not give us back Hebron, nor Shechem."

Sounds reasonable. The Arabs had their chance to kick the Israelis out with the many wars they started. Instead of admitting defeat and moving on with life, they persistently run their countries into the ground, seething with hatred for the Jew. Does that sound civilized to you?

It has been a couple of years since suicide bombings seriously disrupted daily life in Israel. The memories are still fresh in Israeli's minds. There is still time to work out an agreement that would be disproportionally beneficial to the Palestinians. Heck, they could get Israel and the West to build a beautiful modern country - surely the world would donate billions to see a lasting peace.

Greg from USA
Anonymous said…
On second thought

You have raised a generation of children to behave like raging robots.

You reap what you sow. These zombie children will eventually start a war that they cannot control. Then there will be no adults to stop it. People will be forced to live like rats to survive. A regional dark age will descend upon the west bank, similar to what happened to Lebanon in the 1980s. The clock is ticking. Are you proud? Soon these "children" will learn how to fire their first gun...

Greg from USA
Layla Anwar said…
grrrrrrrrrrrrreg of the United Asses,

you may need to know the following.

- your posts are too long.
- they are very boring. We can always watch fox news and get the same.
- you can provide a link ONLY instead of copying and pasting like a moron.
- no one reads them, I sure don't.
- Go on a vacation NOW.
Anonymous said…
Sometimes I wonder if Greg lives on this planet or he's posting from somewhere in outer space ...

One tries very hard not to address someone who demonstrates through his posts that he has NO CLUE what he's talking about. But then, USans have the reputation not to know anything about the rest of the world, leave alone about where they are, whether it's history, geography or current affairs.

I believe almost everyone who visits here has more or less some idea about the Middle East - certainly its history. What people don't know, I'm sure they are willing to learn from Layla and others here So, for you to come here and (perhaps hope?) think that you will enlighten others with 'information' you have collected from Wikipedia - the most disingeious source as far as the Middle East is concerned - is, to my mind, the height of ignorance. Do you not have access to a variety of sources (credible ones), apart from WIKIPEDIA, if you truly wish to debate on a subject?

You speak of Palestine/Palestinians as if they are the occupiers of PALESTINE. Israel is an artificial creation, born through the deceit of the British at the time, hence it is celebrating 60 years today. You mention that you asked your 'Lebanese Christian' friend why Israel did not simply 'kick every person out of the West Bank' ... an utterly ridiculous comment since the West Bank BELONGS to those who live there (PALESTINIANS), and it's the Israelis who need to be kicked out - time and time again, efforts have been made by the Arabs to make peace and to accept this cancer in their midst. But what happens? Any attempt towards peace gets railroaded by the US and Israel, of course, because these two do NOT want peace. As always, it's lusting for what does not belong to you.

Again, how would you understand such complex issues, since you yourself are an occupier, who the Native Americans should have booted out 400 years ago. And you should be the last person to speak about being 'civilised' because you and yours certainly are not and aptly demonstrated this in Iraq.

And who said that the West and Israel have the monopoly to build 'a beautiful modern country' for the Palestinians? You forget that this region knew about beauty and architecture and aesthetics while people in the west were still living in grass huts and trees. The Palestinians are perfectly capable of building their own modern and beautiful country, so long as they are left alone to do so and their borders are respected. After 60 years, they need peace too, and will live in peace with those who have usurped their land, so long as they are respected.
Your arrogance and ignorance are thoroughly disgusting - and pathetic.
Anonymous said…
My posts are too long, too boring, I use Wikipedia, I am an occupier, a moron, we don't want peace,...

There is always some excuse, but never a reason. The US perspective is not worth evaluation, much less consideration.

You think you are so much better...

How's that working for ya?

Greg from USA
Anonymous said…
If Arabs want the destruction of Israel, Doesn't this prove that Arabs have no intention, now or ever, of accepting non-arabs in the Middle East? They did try to get rid of the persian too. Not exactly a 'peaceful' people.
KM said…
Not 'accepting non-Arabs in the Middle East' ?

Wow...really out of touch. Egypt & Saudi Arabia for starters; these 2 countries have a highly diversified populace; French, Brits, Germans, Chinese, Paks, Indians, Americans, Russians, etc.

Why do so amny Americans seem to think that the US is the ONLY country that has different nationalities living & working inside it?

'Israel' IS carrying out the destruction of the Palestinians. They have the heavier artillery and nuclear capabilities and have shown they will lash out at others as they see fit.
Anonymous said…
To Greg of USA:

'Wikipedia is an "open-source" web site on which entries can be started or edited by anyone in the world with an Internet connection.'

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080518/wl_mideast_afp/mideastarabinternetwefwikipedia

I believe you can read that entries on Wikipedia can be entered or edited by ANYONE ... and you quote all this to us on this site!

I rest my case.
Anonymous said…
The Olive Trees;
Another form of Ethnic Cleansing!
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m38868&hd=&size=1&l=e
I really am wondering, and would like to kow who opened their arms and legs to US and British Empire, of which they are so unhappy about now??!!
Anonymous said…
Greg of USA, you should take care of your zombie children and realize as soon as possible that you have no right to speak about the children of this region and have absolutely no right to have a presence around here!!!!!!!!
This is in the interest of your generations to come, shortly, in the interest of your grandchildren!
Anonymous said…
In regard to the reliability of Wikipedia. On the subject of Zionist involvement. Readers may be interested in reading contents of Israel Shamir's article "Wiki the Chaos Controlled" 15/4/2008 (Shamireader).

Extracts:
"Only a dishonest fool,for a man who never used Wikipedia, may think that plan of the Lobby “to skew Wikipedia in a pro-Israel direction appears to have collapsed”........ "Zeq has been banned for his indiscretions, but the man he wrote of so admiringly, whom he described as their role model to his apprentices (“work with him and learn from him”), an ideal,. effective Zionist Wikipedia editor called Jayjg, is still there. Jayjg is not just an editor; he is an arbiter, what passes for a judge on the Wikipedia. He was appointed to that position by the site owner himself. He is an Agent Smith of the Wiki matrix. One may see his work in many, many entries: clever and unscrupulous, he is a master of the subterfuge and deceit...."

"........If Wiki wants to preserve some of its reliability, it must get rid of its Zionist enforcers. Not only of the CAMERA bumpkins, but of the hard men in black suits, the Agents Smith......"
Anonymous said…
oh Greg, your innocence will cost us all so much...all over the planet people will suffer because of this type of naif thoughts like yours.
what are you trying to prove?
based on what authority?
inteligence? no.
good sources of information? I don´t think so, that´s imposible in America right now, living under such a fascist and manipulative government.
why dont´you listen more and talk less?


Leticia, from Argentina, South America.

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