Tomorrow I will cross the Jordan border into Palestine from the King Hussein Bridge. I will go to the same area I was before, Masafer Yatta, which is in Area C of the West Bank. Masafer Yatta is divided into two zones: active firing zone and inactive. You can find more about how Israel uses “firing zones” to legitimize violence and displace Palestinians in order to expand settlements online. I am scared to go back, but I know what I risk is nothing compared to what Palestinians face every day.
Donate to sustain the work, here!
I am currently going through my computer one more time to make sure it’s clean of anything related to activism, since the IOF at the crossing commonly go through people’s electronics. I found the following in a random notes app, written when I was there last:
Palestine broke my heart and Palestine made me fall in love with living.
It held me in a vast embrace and covered me in bug bites,
it wove me into community and
taught me how to persist despite despair,
it expanded my capacity for rage
and showed me how joy and sorrow can exist
side by side, sometimes so close they blur together.
Palestine is a land of contrasts,
stolen abundance beside orchestrated poverty,
yellow license plates set apart from white,
pools next to poisoned wells.
It smells of burning trash and sweet thyme,
it is the sound of dogs barking all night
and children laughing all day.