Friday, March 9, 2007

Palestine

Sometimes I feel that I do not deserve to say I am Palestinian. I have not done anything for the cause; I am not suffering like Palestinians are in Palestine. I live here in Canada in peace, and worry about shallow things like losing weight and buying shoes.

But damn it, I am Palestinian. My kids are Palestinians whether they like it or not. But what ‘s not to like? Palestinians are awesome people (most of them). My five-year-old son wondered few months ago why did we go to Jordan when we visited the mid east and not falastine if that is where we come from. What do you answer to that? I will instil in him the love of Palestine that I have, my husband has dug up hundreds of pages about the history or Palestine, so we can better learn and teach it to our kids.

For the longest time my dream was to go to the Al-quds, I would still love to go there, but I am not very hopeful. I remember my grandfather used to always say do not bury me here (Lebanon) I want to be buried in Suhmata (the village no longer exists I believe). Needless to say, he was buried in Lebanon, and never did make it back to his village. When he left it in 1948 he never thought he would never see his home again! I wish I can remember the stories he told about it, but it was so long ago..

Maybe one day we will get to see the land we dream about, I have promised my son that I will take him there, I hope I will be able to keep the promise one day. The closest I have gotten to palestine is going to the dead sea in Jordan, the water that I touched did touch the shores of Palestine.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is the song of lament from the diaspora, Sam. I'm so sorry. May God bless you with that chance to walk the ground with your son.

You can give to organizations that help Palestinian children. It may not seem like much, but it is so needed. And there are Pali folk here who could volunteer and give, but don't - so you could actually do more from Canada than some do here.

7aki Fadi said...

I am Palestinian too, damn it!

Same question that goes through my head so many times.

Your post says it all.

Great post!

Anonymous said...

I can so relate... keep your promise to your son, the more time passes that we dont see our country the weaker grows the link. We should brave that which we fear and GO.

Mind you I am guilty of not going either... cowardice maybe?

I wrote about something similr 'what makes us palestinian?' on my blog, yor comments would be welcome :)
http://loolt.wordpress.com/2007/01/30/what-makes-us-palestinian/

Sam said...

loolt, I love your post...thanks for visiting:)
i will definatly keep my promise to my son. i have never been there, my parents have never been there...o exept my dad, but he was 2yo when he left.

الفلسطينية said...

u read my mind....i constantly have this arguement with myself about being palestinian- and as a kid growing up in the states i was also confused why we would go to jordan every summer. in any case- yes, damn it, we are palestinian- and we rock! (err no pun intended)

Sam said...

Falastinia....thanks for visiting my blog..we do rock! :)

Anonymous said...

walla great post .

Sam said...

Thanks Aya...I loved your blog..the post about the palestinian women was very touching!