and let the history books name joe biden, rishi sunak, justin trudeau, emmanuel macron, ursula von der leyen and every other world leader who did not step in to prevent the genocide of palestine as cold-blooded murderers. may they face a shred of the immeasurable pain and suffering they allowed to be committed against 2.2. million innocent lives.
seriously though how many wars are fought where one side can completely cut off an essentially trapped civilian population of 2 million people from water, food, and electricity? how many battles are fought where one side basically controls the perimeter and the borders of the area theyre bombing?
“I like misty autumn mornings, and cold snowy winter nights. Rainstorms bring me inner peace, thunder sets my soul alight. I care not for summer, days too long, the heavy heat. Give me candlelight evenings, early darkness, a silent street.”
“And I’m mocked by friends who say, ‘What use is poetry? What use will it be when the war ends?’ But I’m screaming at a moment when screams can go nowhere. And it strikes me that language must force itself into a battle in which voices are not equal. (…)
—But what are you writing?
‘I’m stammering out a scream,’ I answer.”
— Mahmoud Darwish, from Memory for Forgetfulness: August, Beirut, 1982 (tr. Ibrahim Muhawi)