BFA

A Palestinian Life, a poem from the heart
By: Adel Bseiso

Throughout the years, I have spoken and listened to my family and other Palestinians about life as a Palestinian in Palestine. The elders spoke of a beautiful, peaceful, prosperous, and faithful life pre-1948 and the horror they experienced during and after the Nakba of 1948. Tears would run down their faces as they reflected on the times of displacement, the killing of families and countrymen, and the destruction of their villages. Stripped of their homes and lands, and worst of all, their dignity. They were becoming refugees in their own country. Seventy-six years later, it is even worse: the new generation of Palestinians living in Palestine describes it as a prison in hell. They are treated as non-humans, called animals with no rights, and that they and their children's lives have no value. They are facing extinction through ethnic cleansing, one broken promise after the other of peace, the only thing that will never break is their resilience, faith in Allah, and will to return to their homeland. I was born in Al-Bireh, Palestine, and left shortly after the 1967 war as a 10-year-old boy; I still have family living and dying in Palestine. I will always scream as loud as I can for justice and peace for the people of Palestine, My people.

A Palestinian Life