Scattered Pearls – لُؤْلُؤًا مَّنْثُورًا

I wrote this for an English assignment. Not satisfied. At all. Even though I got a 100 (I mean, WILL, after I restructure it according to Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.)

Dear Israel,

I am not sure If I should address you as “dear” for your presence in the Holy Land has cause nothing but distraught on this earth. You have taken away the right that I had to call you dear. I cannot fully love you, despite you being my cousin, yet at the same time, I cannot forgive you for the sufferings and anguish that my people have faced due to your illegal settlement on our soil. Yes, I said illegal settlement because you have seized our land and drove us out of our homes, threw us into ghettos and concentration camps and persecuted us the way your people were persecuted by the Nazi’s more than half a century ago. Do you not feel an ounce of shame?

Oh Israel, I pose a simple question before you and hope you have an answer to it. Have you forgotten the sufferings your grandfathers went through at the hands of the Nazi’s? How can you discriminate against Palestinians when you know what it feels like to be driven out of the place you call home? How can you murder so many innocent children and women without a reason? No reason is sufficient enough to justify your actions. You seem to be repeating history.

Your hands still have the stain of the blood of the children you have ruthlessly shot. The soil you now live and farm on is mixed with the blood of those who struggled to keep their land, their identity! Yet, the sufferings of these people are shunned away by the media. No one knows about them. No one cares about them. Their cries are left unheard. It’s as if it was lost in the air. I also fail to understand why you make a big deal when a few of your people are killed. It reaches the press, the media… everyone knows. They are presented a single side of the story and pity you. How cruel can you get? You have manipulated the minds of the world by presenting the Palestinians as evil people who cause terror. In reality, your settlement has caused terror in the hearts of millions.

Sixty years ago, your people poured into our land in consistent numbers. We did not mind. We gave them shelter. You provoked our hate for you when you raided our homes and forced us to leave them. We took refuge in the neighboring lands leaving everything that was dear and close to our heart. You have turned into the very beasts you were persecuted by.

I wish our people could reside together peacefully in the Holy Land. You have turned the holiest places on earth into a bloody fighting zone. With the amount of ignorance and intolerance in the land peace is far out of reach. Your government would never make it possible.

Israel, I question your motives. And I will continue to question them until you make it clear to the world. I hope one day your evil actions are exposed for the world to clearly see and for every individual to decide for themselves. The day will come when my people will have the freedom they deserve, freedom from your oppressive ways.

For now, I leave you with peace,
Palestine