Inheritance - The Land is Weeping
© Greg. C. HollandWho will inherit Palestine? In the 76 years since the Nakba (the Catastrophe), Palestine as a land and a people have been changed forever by Zionist settlers from Europe. Lines were drawn and redrawn, a 708 km wall was built, checkpoints and watchtowers erected, villages were decimated, homes were demolished or taken; an endless list of atrocities.
Who will inherit Palestine? The trees, the fruit, the crops, the land? All year round the land gives - 76 crops, 76 harvests. The water in Palestine is diverted, taken and sold back to a captive population. The Jordan river, the farmers lifeline for irrigation, has been purposefully polluted by occupying forces. The natural springs in the hills of Bethlehem nourish a sprawling valley of crops, tended to by young boys from the village while Israeli soldiers pour concrete into a spring well in Hebron. Who will inherit Palestine?
Who will inherit Palestine when the Nakba generation pass on? Generational trauma and unlived dreams bleed into the sub-narrative of the youth. An aunt in Jordan, a brother in Lebanon, parents in the West Bank, the family village decimated in Gaza, a lover in Tunisia, all travel permits denied. Who will inherit the olive trees your grandfather planted? 76 Crops, 76 harvests. Armed settlers are burning the olive trees again, the earth will inherit the ashes. The diaspora, with hopes to return one day to prune in the spring, harvest in the early winter. The occupied, with hopes to leave and swim in the Mediterranean.
Who will inherit Palestine? The swirling sounds of calls to prayer meander through the valleys like a bird migration, unsure of when to leave or where to land. A violin weeps from a rooftop in Ramallah, while midnight machine gun fire and dawn chorus sound grenades keep us awake until morning. “Every night, all we hear is boom boom boom” he said, pointing his invisible gun to the sky.
“Would you rather” I asked, “have the ability to fly or be invisible?”
“Be invisible” he said. “So I could just walk out of here, past the checkpoints and soldiers and just leave. They’d shoot me if I could fly”.
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