NVN Wednesday: I AM GAZA
by Ralph Dranow
Poster (via Flickr) created by Michael Thompson for a Gaza Freedom March… in 2010!
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I am a three-year-old Palestinian boy, shattered body a sorrowful song sung by an Israeli bomb. I am an 18-year-old Israeli soldier, the stench of death seeping into my nostrils, invading my whole being. I am a Palestinian mother, my heart weeping, my six-year-old daughter fainting from hunger, my infant son fading fast. I am Benjamin Netanyahu, clinging to the life raft of power in a turbulent sea. I am a horrified Jewish-American, the thread of connection sewn into my cells, demanding an end to the killing. I am an Israeli settler in the West Bank, wishing the Palestinians, like noxious insects, would just go away. I am an evangelical Christian, eager for Hamas to be demolished, so that the Kingdom of Christ can manifest in Israel. I am a Hamas soldier, enclosed inside the righteous armor of my cause, prepared to kill and die for the liberation of Palestine. I am an Israeli peace activist, murdered by Hamas on October 7th, my body destroyed, my spirit refusing to die.
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Ralph Dranow works as an editor, writing coach, and poetry teacher. His poems and articles have been widely published. He lives in Oakland, California with his family.