Deep in reality’s ways I will go to him. What share should I hold? What share should got on yourself? I went the length of the poem. They’re not gonna see it no way, the audience prime. Three people got sick while Israel sits and waits to fight again. That’s everyone in Israel, and each Palestinian man, woman, and child, and the whole wide world. There is no healin’ from this disease, unless we see what’s comin’: remove the Palestinian from the anchors of life. Here he’ll hear you. That’s Issac Saul.
Should we just shoot Palestinians? Israel is deliberating. If you like Israel raise your hand. You ever wanna rap its hand? It’s society mean to Palestinians. They can’t even allow themselves to be. They don’t have nowhere to go. Are they as human as Israel? They don’t know how to be. They rob their own clan. They destroy the water. They were not there first, no matter how many times they were there when Israel moved in. They kill each other. They don’t know how to govern themselves. They lie, and they cheat, and they steal, is that the roll call Palestinians? We get to murder them that way? Israel’s sayin’ it.
Let’s really look at the Palestinian question. They’re vermin, aren’t they? They would just take over the land if they could. They’re not there for rounds of applause. It’s day to day life they worry about, gettin’ by. They trudge along dreaming of a free state. They’re not there for happiness. They’re made to press the Earth with the weight of their suffering. They don’t know how to survive. They’re just blights on the land. They have no special rights. They can’t be Palestinians unto themselves. They have to have Israel on them all the time.
Even their children get stuck in prison. The kid threw a rock. Let’s do away with his life. Let’s beat ‘im up some. Oh my the boy got raped, and it wasn’t by a Palestinian. Can we press charges? I don’t have to do a goddamn thing. We own the Palestinians. Why do you look the other way? We have special permission to do this. We got it grafted in humanity we can. We are the special people. All our persecution says that. I’ll turn around and smile some. I don’t know how to behave myself where Palestinians are concerned.
We are the special people, and everybody’s got a hole in their heart, and we chamber the Palestinians there. Can’t you see it? Can’t you get away with it tryin’ to speak about this please? It will make the press. It’s not strong enough for that: we just don’t let Israel do this no more. Is everybody complacent? What’s goin’ on?
Wow, there it is. It’s a brandin’ iron: I’m a Jew leave me alone. How many times we seen this, don’t touch the Jews? You can’t question a thing about them. You can’t even call their name. Does every Jew see that? Not in large measure. I think this surrounds us in where ideas are made: it’s antisemitic to question a Jew.
Okay let’s do it some. Do we call Israel out on its racism? Why can’t the Palestinians live there? Why can’t they have freedom? Why can’t be treated as citizens of Israel? Why are they thrown in the gutter? Why does the Jew come first in the land of Israel?
Are we lookin’ at religious declarations, and that’s why we let them kill Palestinians, take away their rights? Are we livin’ in the Middle Ages? We do really wanna give them that right? Look what it’s done. Well, what else is Israel? A Holocaust-created state. They deserve it, they need that land, because they were almost annihilated in Europe? Let’s give them the land, and all the Arabs become Palestinians losing their homes to that decree. Yes the Jews were there first in the history of the land. Well whaddaya do with the people on it today? Did the UN say that? They got displaced. They became the people persecuted today.
Their rights were taken away. They did everything they could to be free, even bad things. Munich, you son of a bitch, that was awful. Have we hit that far where we let Israel kidnap Palestinians and slaughter their women and children? How many have to die before we see they mean somethin’? And what of this oppression? These are Jews doin’ it, the ones who cry foul if they’re even questioned. I’m breakin’ on that idea again. No, not every Jew does this.
Alright do we let this be? Do we put the screws to Jews to end this injustice? I think there’s another way out. We see it first, admit it’s there, with our global eyes. We talk about it in the hurt of our hearts. We don’t let it go. We see this as a sore spot on the Earth that needs mendin’. We put pressure on Jews to see it too. We educate Israeli children? Anyway we can. That will be resisted. We can’t change this poem. We just have to listen to it and have it heal these wounds. Answer me brother— your Jew is bigger than your humanity?
A Palestinian boy sits on the rubble of his house destroyed in an Israeli airstrike, in Beit Hanun, Gaza. Photograph: Mohammed Saber/EPA
When the ticks were talking about building churches,
it’s free speech.
I don’t know who I have a ham on today.
I don’t know who’s worthy.
I don’t know who I’m talking about.
It’s race cards.
Can we talk about the Black Lives Movement supporting Israel?
It did in Chicago—
okay Hamas,
you terrorists,
thank you for being a friend.
I don’t know what I’m saying—
that was a Harvard trainee.
Let’s be blunt about this:
can we support Israel,
and they treat Palestinians like shit?
They are the oppressors.
Oh my goodness a homegrown flag:
the Palestinians weren’t there before Israel.
They became a nation under Israel’s cause.
Now they’re out to do harm,
indiscriminately killing civilians,
or that’s the show they put on
when they got out of their fence.
I mean they murdered.
It hurts doesn’t it?
The Palestinians want to show you
what it means to be Palestinian,
where Jewish means Israel.
That harms.
Okay we put Hamas in the kitchen and praise them.
You inhuman bastards,
is that how you gain freedom?
We don’t know.
We just hate ourselves
and see a Jew and want to kill them.
That’s the dry land:
we can’t kill Jews.
We shoulder our own freedom.
It must work among ourselves
before it goes outwards.
How is this done?
I have a naked little boy and don’t rape him.
I pull myself together.
I tie his shoe instead.
A poet will always speak in symbols,
his life the bait.
We learn to stop violence towards our children.
We are gentle and soft with them.
They eat out of our hand,
and we feed them warm and honey.
We do not blister them
with having to hate Jews.
We do not require this of them.
We do not indoctrinate them to kill.
How kind are we to one another?
We let our humanity light up our life.
A stray dog is an opportunity
to give our world some compassion.
We hold each other tightly,
as the brothers and sisters we are.
We do not do violence to one another.
We try to show each other love,
or at least the patience
you give a friend.
We strong arm no one.
We stand up for human rights.
We stop hurting one another.
Then our gliders come in peace.
We show the Israelis what they’re missin’.
We give them reason to respect us.
We brush aside their hatred
with the real human being.
This is all we can do.
War will kill us.
It will enslave our land.
Go to the heart of the conflict,
the hatred of the Jew,
and bury there.
Can you understand these people?
Can you see their plight?
More than a few are good-hearted towards you.
Not all are racists.
Not all think it’s their human right
to be the chosen people.
This is the dragon in the land.
It’s this we must eradicate,
not Jews.
It’s this we must show is wrong,
the essence of Jewish hatred,
the hidden core of their persecution.
We must not bury Jews
or destroy their peopleness.
They are a tower and a might,
and oh we need the Jews.
Can you sink them?
Are you rubbin’ elbows with those who’ve tried?
I think you need new friends.
Even in hell Jews triumphed.
They fight differently than most men.
They fight with their brains.
You’re gonna do them in?
We count on you
to show Israel its humanity.
You are the problem they cannot solve.
Their brains can’t grasp this:
there were a people on their land they took,
and now they must oppress them.
Victim turned victimizer once again,
we can’t see this as human frailty
common to everyone.
So what can you do to Israel that Israel needs to see?
You are a fine people
together in your lot.
You take hardship and spit out pearls.
You sacrifice for those around you.
You take your humanity
and circle the wagons with it.
It’s the way you meet oppression:
you are a noble people,
and therefore hard to abuse.
How would this act
when faced with aggression?
You kill the combatants
to defend yourselves,
and there you’ll win the respect of every nation
and show the world who’s wrong.
I think we complete this
in the issues of the night.
Glory hallelujah it’s dawn.
I thought I’d made you up.
This is a little spark of God in life.
You’ve pointed out the errors
in human ways.
A call to arms,
humanity’s arms,
wow you have children there.
Well spoken said.
Oh statute of limitations,
it’s just a matter of time
the Palestinian cross.
You’re kidding me—
the Palestinian blues.
Those are Greek and Roman myths
made real by human suffering.
It’s a Dispatches’ record
my hullabaloo.
Now they can be up there.
Give me a credit.
I’m pickin’ up the pace.
Gloria in Excelsis Deo. [line heard sung, from “Angels We Have Heard on High”]
Just put boiled rice,
I just put boiled rice.
What did you put in the blue container?
I’m all here bitches, shoot me.
I don’t think you understand the situation.
You’re gonna have to get bigger than you are.
It’s not gonna work killin’ people.
You have to show Israel who’s the human being.
Is your culture up to that,
to self-develop?
You just continue
life along the shores of persecution,
so you can stop its history on you.
This is done slowly.
Every man, woman, and child
must agree to band together
and be good to one another.
This is the team roll.
This is how you begin.
You’ll be working with each other’s subconscious, that’s for sure.
Study your dreams that will help you out here.
You have to learn not to react,
and you have to learn not to be mean.
It’s a process
doable.
It will improve conditions right away.
You’re gettin’ ready to love.
You’re gettin’ ready to be a balanced people.
This is not wishy-washy handshake bullshit.
You do things for one another.
You don’t slap, hit, or cuss out.
You keep hatred out of your voice.
You be the real thing to each other.
You be a friend.
It’s all over your face
when you are.
The Israeli settler
or the Israeli enforcer
will see you a human being,
not a rock throwing mob,
and they will act accordingly,
when they’re embarrassed by their own actions.
You don’t know the bone of contention here.
Will the real humanity please stand up?
You stand up and show Israeli yours.
Obviously if they’re shooting you you can’t,
but barring that.
I’m not talking lambs to the slaughter.
You never surrender your dignity.
You just comply with regulations
a noble human being.
Show them who’s boss,
and it’s not the Jews.
It’s our heartfelt humanity.
It’s our great get along.
I’m liberty speaking,
and you’re looking for that equipment.
I’ve spoken enough to Israel
in a book I’ve left on Amazon—
definite flavor
reconciliation.
It’s not your own state you want.
It’s that:
to live at peace among the Jews equal citizens.
That’s the example Earth needs
to keep our world from blowing each other up.
Can you do that Arab citizen,
Palestinians of Israel,
Palestinians held hostage by Israel,
Palestinians in the land of Israel?
Under the Israeli banner
so bigger
than for Jews and Jews alone,
Palestinians can be free again.
If you look at the roads there’s no other way.
Between Jerusalem I’m Sorry
will point out the crossroads.
It’s a matter of seeing them
and not do anything shameful.
Love towards Israel,
can you fit this into your schedule?
If you’ll be one nation you must.
Put this in your resettlement plan.
Now Palestinian refugee,
give resettlement a chance,
cause there’s a secret ingredient to Israel.
It comes
if we labor together
for a common goal.
The secret ingredient is floating off the top of my head,
and it’s called the home for the human being.
Enough of religious politics.
God is not the wrathful, bigoted, murderer you all suppose.
Find God and see.
It will revolutionize your life,
and you’ll be kind to your fellow man.
Jews will not be the inescapable people,
Muslims will not be the only ones on earth worth.
You have to integrate.
You have to learn to live together.
This is your mandate to each other.
Not big enough
to be only kingpins
Mr. and Ms. Jew.
You have to concede their plight,
so they can see yours.
A resettled human being
has that in their plan:
keeping humanity safe.
You give it
to everybody around you:
safe passage from point A to point B,
and let’s go from there.
One key thing
rule book the exercise
of your warm humanity.
I know this sounds very arranged.
You keep time
I’ll give you something.
I would just love to.
That’s an Israeli learning what it means to be Israel:
really going to court
to learn our humanity.
It’s like you’re free there.
The Mother told them to do that.
That’s hope.
Harm's End 