“My husband, photographer Michael Nye, once photographed in a West Bank Palestinian refugee camp for days, and was followed around by a little girl who wanted him to photograph her. Finally, he did — and she held up a stone with a poem etched into it. (This picture appears on the cover of my collection of poems, 19 Varieties of Gazelle — Poems of the Middle East). Through a translator, Michael understood that the poem was ‘her poem’ — that’s what she called it. We urged my dad to translate the verse, which sounded vaguely familiar, but without checking roundly enough, we quoted the translation on the book flap and said she had written the verse. Quickly, angry scholars wrote to me pointing out that the verse was from a famous Darwish poem. I felt terrible.
I was meeting him for the first and last time the next week. Handing over the copy of the book sheepishly, I said: ‘Please forgive our mistake. If this book ever gets reprinted, I promise we will give the proper credit for the verse.’ He stared closely at the picture. Tears ran down his cheeks. ‘Don’t correct it,’ he said. ‘It is the goal of my life to write poems that are claimed by children.’”
— Naomi Shihab Nye, from her essay “Remembering Mahmoud Darwish”
the funniest thing abt the fear of “boohoo what will happen to israel” is like. you should worry about the entire fucking region. what will happen to egypt. what will happen to lebanon. what will happen to jordan. israel’s genocidal strategy has put every single country in the middle east at risk. it is deliberately and knowingly feeding every single extremist group out there. the world ignored what the us did to iraq and afghanistan, they got al-qaeda and a hundred other militant groups. they ignored what bashar did to syria and they got isis. you ignore what israel is doing to palestine right now, you will get worse. for those of you who love brutal realism, who want concrete solutions, this is brutal realism. palestinian liberation is not some kind of idealistic fantasy, it is the only concrete solution to achieve any kind of lasting peace. anyone with any sense of geopolitical acuity can tell you what israel is doing is not some kind of secret first-world strategy that only civilized nations are privy to that will eventually work out. what israel is doing (and what biden is whole-heartedly endorsing) is not just abhorrent on a moral level, it is politically suicidal. there is no longer enough cover for arab regimes to look away. there is no cover for the liberalisms of the UN. this is happening in broad daylight. israel is out of control and the most powerful countries in the world are betting on a genocidal horse that will come running right back to their doorstep.
There has been major developments in the region in the past few days that indicates regional war is imminent. Again the tweets and articles will be in chronological order.
American war ships are in the Mediterranean and Red Seas. Russia responded to that by sending planes to the Black Sea and China by sending warships to Kuwait.
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We got our usual back and forth on the ground operation in Gaza
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The American media is not really reporting these recent attacks on their military bases. In fact, the military is downplaying the strength of the responses by Yemeni and Syrian groups to the Gaza genocide. This is either because they want to avoid regional war or because they want to be better prepared for regional war.
This statement below seems to indicate that Iran is coming to the conclusion that open warfare is the only thing that will deter America and Israel
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As for Yemen, they’ve declared Israeli ships will be targeted if the attack on Gaza continues (you’ll see later that this is no empty threat)
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By the way, Israel bombed an Egyptian military site along the border and claimed it was an accident. The Egyptian people have been calling for their government to intervene militarily and I don’t think this will ease the pressure.
On the 22nd, Israel sent a small team to infiltrate Gaza. They didn’t get very far
This meeting by the Russian foreign minister is a big deal as you’ll see later
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America responds to the escalating tension by deploying ‘defensive systems’ all over West Asia. It risks stretching itself too thin as multiple countries are already involved in the Palestian resistance with countries like Egypt and Jordan facing internal pressure to do something about the Gazan genocide
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Republican Mitch McConnell has recently called Iran, Russia and China 'the new axis of evil’. It seems this is the new angle that the West has chosen because Rishi Sunak has also been comparing Hamas to Russia. This can only lead to Russia getting close to Iran which would ultimately help Hamas.
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The situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate as America evacuates its embassy and warns its citizens not to use the Baghdad International Airport due to attacks by Iraqi military groups.
Here we have an Israeli commander admitting that Israel is largely on the defensive against Hezbollah and their soldiers are both traumatised and disheartened. Remember, Hezbollah has yet to officially enter the war
A few hours ago, American bases in Syria were targeted. It’s becoming clear that a major goal in the plan to defeat Israel is removing America from the picture in the region
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The White House then blames Iran for the attack
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More military bases targeted in Iraq
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Meanwhile IDF is trying to infiltrate Gaza again. Reminder that a ground operation means that Hezbollah will officially enter the war and begun using its vast numbers of missiles and rockets. They’re also attacking the West Bank, the resistance fighters have ambushed them
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Yemen follows through on the threats it made by attacking a US warship with drones
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