Mosab Abu Toha: my grandfather and home
my grandfather used to count the days for return with his fingers
he then used stones to count
not enough
he used the clouds birds people
Pascale Petit: A Mother Sings
I will rebirth her on banks of the river of life.
Only I have to wade through the river of thorns
while she sleeps.
I am her country and her lagoon.
Yehuda Amichai: The Place Where We Are Right
From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow
In the spring.
Baron Wormser: Agony
The agony I feel about the events in Israel, an agony shared by millions around the planet, many of whom may never have entered a synagogue, is very real. I wake up at night and lie there, held fast by grief, impotence, anger, and despair.
A Teacher in NYC Tells the Children, “Look for the Helpers”
We all must demand a ceasefire now. Our witnessing and demanding change is how we can all be helpers for all children.
Lisa Suhair Majaj: The Poem
The poem was found in the rubble
of a six-story residential building
in Khan Yunis, destroyed by a 2000
pound bomb that sent fire to the sky
and death to the burning earth.
Edward Hunt: U.S. Officials Care More About Protecting Oil Tankers than Palestinians
The Biden administration opposes a ceasefire, even as it repeatedly demands that the Houthis end their attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
Kathryn Levy: The Gaza Poems
Death to the Arabs—death
to the children, who keep
crouching in the cupboards.
Rebecca Gordon: Nowhere to Run
Where Will the World Find Refuge in 2024?
Abe Louise Young: New Seeds for Old Stories
When I was a child, everything I heard & read about Israel was aspirational. We saved our quarters in cardboard boxes emblazoned, “Plant Trees In Israel!” People said, “Next year in Jerusalem!” to mean goodbye, to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
Jeffrey D. Sachs: US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption
The $1.5 trillion in military outlays each year is the scam that keeps on giving—to the military-industrial complex and the Washington insiders—even as it impoverishes and endangers America and the … Continue reading
Charles Davidson: Rachel Weeping at Bethlehem
“Then they journeyed from Bethel; and when they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth, and she had hard labor. . . . As her soul was … Continue reading
Nasser Rabah: On the Birthday of the War
When I return from the war, if I do,
don’t look into my eyes,
do not see what I saw.
Letter from South Gaza, 12/13/2023
Dear [Name Withheld]: The situation in the North is getting worse and worse day by day. They manipulate the news. They play with the scenes. The Israeli forces break into … Continue reading
