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Assalamu alaikum, welcome back to English Pottery.
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Today we start a very very interesting part of our
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course. It's actually the final sets of poems. We
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have two poems written by, one written by a Jewish
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man and the other written by an Israeli man, poet.
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I asked you earlier in the course, what do you
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want? You know, I thought you would be like Sibel
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saying, we want to die. But you said you wanted
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Palestinian and Israeli poetry. And I think this
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shows how mature your thinking is. Not that if you
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say something else, you don't have that. But it's
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significant to study to see what Israel does, what
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the Zionist movement has been doing with poetry.
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So far we spoke about the thrilling aspects of
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poetry, how poetry transcends us, how poetry
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breaks the barriers and the boundaries and pushes
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the boundaries, you know all these clichés we use
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to talk about how the aesthetic values of poetry,
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how poetry helps and contributes to the
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advancement of human thought and civilization, how
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poetry changes people, how poetry unites us,
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brings us together, etc, etc, because poetry is
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universal, because poetry transcends all these
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barriers of race and gender and religion and
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geography and time, etc. However, poetry has also
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been used as a tool a weapon by totalitarian
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regimes, by colonizers, and this is in part what
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Edward Said was doing in Orientalism, in his
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amazing book Orientalism.
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Edward Said examined how the West, how Europe used
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literature in order to create certain realities,
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to change narratives, to change discourse, to
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present the others Africans, Asians, people in the
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Middle East, non-white, non-European, non
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-Christians as savages, uncivilized, in need of
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help and that was the white man's moral obligation
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to go there, build civilization, civilize those
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people.
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And despite
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the fact that this poetry and literature is still
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fascinating as a work of art, but thematically
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speaking, when poetry becomes an ideological tool,
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it loses its poetic value in many ways. I'm
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talking about this at a time we mentioned how
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Israel, we mentioned this many times, how Israel
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still arrests Palestinians for writing poetry.
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Darien Tatour is an example. He said what Israeli
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general, war criminal Moshe Dayan said about Fadwa
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Tokan, how a poem by Fadwa Tokan is like facing 20
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Palestinian commanders.
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Now, the gist of what I have in mind here is that
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Palestine, and this is significant, was first and
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foremost occupied metaphorically in poetry, in
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literature. Because how can you ask people to move
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from one place, and this happened before the
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Holocaust, before, you know, there has always been
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anti-Semitism and racism against Jews around the
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world throughout time and place. But this is
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before because the Holocaust was the final thing.
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Let's go to somewhere else and there were so many
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places and Palestine sadly was the place. We're
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not sad. I'm not sure who said this. Was it,
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what's her name? Rashida Tlaib, the Palestinian
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American congresswoman who said, we welcome the
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victims of the Holocaust. We welcome those Jewish
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refugees running away from Europe, from the white
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man. And we don't regret this. But again it's sad
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how this, the Zionist regime used the Holocaust in
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order to destroy Palestinians, to destroy
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Palestine and to build, to establish a state only
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for the Jews. So if you want to tell people let's
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go there, partly you have to convince them that
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this place is what, empty? And paradoxically that
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it also flows with milk and honey, the biblical
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phrase. And also that there are no people there,
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yeah? There are no people there. And that God gave
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us this place. And you just keep doing this in
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literature. And if you do this, this includes a
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lot of exclusion and inclusion and fabrications
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and changing realities, or as the Trump teams
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would be saying, alternative facts. There are
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facts and there are alternatives. alternative
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facts I have a very beautiful poem written by okay
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I'll start with a second poem written by a Jewish
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poet when I say Jewish specifically because he was
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born before like he was writing before the
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establishment of Israel so to speak the poem is
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Tuvia please don't look at your book I have
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something in mind don't close your book close your
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book
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There I said to Via Rubner, a man born in Europe,
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not in Palestine, I set out of my temporary home
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to show my sons the place that I came from. And he
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means Palestine, he doesn't mean Slovenia or
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Slovakia. There I said, I lay on the ground with a
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stone for a pillow, lower than the grass, like the
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dust of the earth. Everything has been preserved
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there.
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We passed through mountains, forests, and cities
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that were caves, and water gathered in pools on
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the way, and the roads were bad. The car bumped on
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the ditches.
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I was born here, I said to my sons. My parents and
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grandparents were born nearby. Everybody is born
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somewhere. There was a house here. I said to my
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sons. And the wind came between me and the words.
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Last stanza. I sit out to show my sons the place
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that I came from. Now I want you to take a moment,
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especially those who haven't read the poem yet,
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because the remaining two lines, the last lines,
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are actually the sons replying to their father. I
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want you to guess what the sons would be saying to
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their father going through this beautiful
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experience. This is like a Darwish life poem,
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right? Look at the first stanza. With a stone for
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a pillow lower than the grass like the dust of the
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earth. Everything has been preserved there. I was
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born here. My parents were born there. We passed
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by mountains and forests and cities and caves and
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the water gathered in pools. Yeah, the road was
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bumpy. There were ditches. Look at this beautiful
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thing. I was born here. My parents and
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grandparents were born nearby. Everything is born
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somewhere. There was a house here. I said to my
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sons and the wind came between me and the words. I
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set out to show my sons the place I came from.
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Yeah, give me a guess. How would the kids, the
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sons, probably indicating that they're not just
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children, they're adults, at least teenagers. I
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said, don't look, don't look, listen to me. I'd
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say like he said, everything was preserved here,
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the children, as he said. So, you're going for the
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kids questioning their parents, their fathers
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narrative. That's a good idea.
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Okay, asking questions. So, question, question.
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Good. The idea of questioning is in itself very
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good.
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Oh, thank you God for bringing us here. Thank you.
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So you're saying this is a process. If the parents
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are brainwashed, if he's been indoctrinating his
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sons, they must be ready. to accept this, the
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alternative facts, that's also good. More? Please?
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No, not you, sorry, you're locked. You're locked.
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One more? Someone else? Yeah? How would the sons
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be replying to their dad? Please? Do you have a
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picture of the old house? Yeah, do you have
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photographic evidence? But if this was composed
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like a hundred years ago, This is an old poem.
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Please. So they will
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be reluctant to accept the alternative facts. So
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are you suggesting that there could be some kind
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of alienation, like if the father is truly and
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really attached to this land, as the poem shows,
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perhaps the kids, the sons will not be as much
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attached to the land. But poetically speaking,
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what would they, like good ideas, how would you
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put this in poetry? Remember poetry is not
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basically mainly good poetry, it's not direct
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poetry that gives us answers. It's not, but you
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know poets say things in different ways. If you
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are a poet, how would you conclude? From our
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ideology or his ideology? Of course, it should be
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in his shoes. You have to endure the stink, of
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course. Yes?
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Okay, you can keep the music as background.
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Yes, please.
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How would you do this? Okay, but I like your
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ideas. They are really really very very good
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ideas. This is what the kids say. And when will we
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eat? Ask my sons. And where will we sleep?
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This is not the whole poem, I did this here, you
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know academically, you have to be honest, this dot
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dot dot, I added, this is ellipsis because I, you
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know, I don't want to say the whole poem. Well I
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can send you the whole text. So what do you make
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of this? Like first the poem and then the kids
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reply.
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Yeah, so you guess that there will be questions,
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but interesting questions. when will like the dad
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imagine you know this happens a lot the dad would
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be like passionate about something about football
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about his past about something that he did about
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playing football about flying kites about doing
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many things and then the kids would be like meh so
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this is the meh but what does it indicate okay
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let's go to the first answer what do you think
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what do you notice about this poetically speaking
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you or some of you Do you think this is? Again,
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please don't do this. I know many people when they
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study, for example, a poem by an Israeli poet or
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Jewish poet, the first thing they want to do is,
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is it good, is it bad? That's not what we do, why
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we do poetry. You could like the poem, you could
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hate the poem, it's up to you. But please don't
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like a poem or any text because of who wrote it.
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The death of the author, the death of the author
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could be significant here. But you can still love
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the poem from an artistic point of view, but still
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don't like what the poem is saying, what the poem
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is promoting. Please. Okay, first starting with
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the form, we can notice that it doesn't have a
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regular rhyme scheme, it starts with a pronoun. We
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have a conversation between the son and the
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father, so we have two characters basically in
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this poem. Okay, I don't want to comment more on
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the language and rhyme scheme because this is
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translated from I think another language, I'm not
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sure if this is Hebrew originally, but that's
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something good to show I, this is a personal
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experience, starting with I, probably I being more
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important than the place here that I'm talking
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about, there are many I's here There seems to be a
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dialogue, there seems to be a dialogue because he
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said, I said there, I said to my kids, I lay on
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the ground, I was born there, my parents and
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grandparents were born nearby. But at the end, we
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realized that the other party, the sons were not
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into this dialogue. I don't think if, I'm not sure
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if we can call this a dialogue. Because they were
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not reciprocating his interest, his passion, they
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were just...
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They didn't care about his
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passion, whatever he tries to convey to them. They
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cared more about food and rest, physical... Look
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at the man, what the man did. Again, I find this
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beautiful. I lay on the ground with a stone for a
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pillow lower than the grass, like the dust of the
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earth. The simile here, the simplicity of the
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simile. Like I became part of this land. That
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simple. Because he claims that he belongs.
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Everything has been preserved.
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And then, We passed, that's part of the journey or
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some kind of journey of initiation through
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mountains, forests and cities that were caves and
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water gathered in pools on the way and the roads
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were bad. The car pumped. So it's not all you know
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idyllic and romantic. There were some difficulties
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basically. The roads probably they're not as
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smooth as they are in Europe. There were so many
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ditches, you know holes, potholes. And again
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that's the core of the poem. I was born here. This
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is my land. I said to my sons my parents are and
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grandparents were born here nearby. Look at this
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interesting thing. There was a house here in the
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past. I said to my sons and the wind came between
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me and the words.
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The wind, nature interfering. I sit out to show my
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sons the place that I came from and when will we
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eat, they said. And when will we eat? Asked my
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sons. And where will we sleep? So yeah, we have
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the past simple tense. If we talk about the
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father, he basically uses the past simple tense,
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right? And the sons use A future. It's
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interesting. This man cares about this connection.
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He's in a journey to find connection, to find
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roots.
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But the kids, all they care about is
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food and sleep, rest.
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Now the temporary home refers to his home in
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Europe.
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That's not my place. Despite the fact that Jews
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lived for hundreds and hundreds of years in
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Europe, which is something interesting. Some of
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you are studying the management of Venice right
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now. Shylock and the ghettos, isolation imposed on
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them and probably sometimes chosen.
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Now I find this very interesting, how he used,
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00:17:39,870 --> 00:17:42,770
there's a short story I picked from morning in
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00:17:42,770 --> 00:17:46,570
Jenin from Susan Abulhawa's novel. It's just two
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00:17:46,570 --> 00:17:49,810
pages, I picked it as a short story. And Susan
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Abulhawa tries to show the difference between Ari,
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Ari and Hassan are friends, Palestinian Muslim,
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Palestinian Jew. And she tries to show how they
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are different in terms of what the land means to
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them. For Hasan, the soil, the land is everything.
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It's his future. It's his livelihood. It's his
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life. He's part of this. He cares more about it
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than anything else. But for Ari, the land is dirt.
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Hasan is a farmer. Ari goes to study medicine. I
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think here the fact that he uses a stone for for a
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00:18:28,290 --> 00:18:31,030
pillow rather than like I don't know simply lying
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on the ground without anything in between you and
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the land could indicate how how he's possibly true
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yeah because he says like the dust of the land but
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the stone he has still create some some kind of a
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buffer zone you know You see the point here? It's
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00:18:52,610 --> 00:18:56,270
like he doesn't want to be part, it's not like
288
00:18:56,270 --> 00:19:01,030
poetically speaking, he doesn't like directly mix
289
00:19:01,030 --> 00:19:04,670
with the land, like unite with the land. He uses
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00:19:04,670 --> 00:19:08,110
something else in between. I'm not sure if this
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00:19:08,110 --> 00:19:12,630
indicates again how hard he's trying to, he's
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00:19:12,630 --> 00:19:15,610
attempting to find roots, but again failing
293
00:19:15,610 --> 00:19:20,710
because still the land is strange to him. It's not
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his motherland. You don't know if this is your
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00:19:23,820 --> 00:19:26,060
land, you don't want to, and you're not sure how
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00:19:26,060 --> 00:19:29,680
you, if you have this experience, if you have a
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00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,080
plot of land here or there, if you're farmers
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originally, farmers wouldn't be, if you go to
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somebody, to your friend to visit them in their
300
00:19:36,420 --> 00:19:38,980
field, the first thing you look for, a chair to
301
00:19:38,980 --> 00:19:42,240
sit or a piece of cloth or a stone or something
302
00:19:42,240 --> 00:19:44,300
because you don't want to get dirty. But for them
303
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this is their land. Their life, this is part of
304
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them. This is not getting dirty, this is being
305
00:19:50,700 --> 00:19:54,340
there. This is again an extension of the
306
00:19:54,340 --> 00:19:57,840
connection here. Like the dust of the earth,
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00:19:58,020 --> 00:20:00,280
everything has been preserved there and this is
308
00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:04,730
again what I want to focus on. If we talk about
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00:20:04,730 --> 00:20:08,530
the problem with the Zionists, the Zionists in
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00:20:08,530 --> 00:20:12,070
general is that, many problems actually, is that
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00:20:12,070 --> 00:20:16,430
in transition there's something called inclusion
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00:20:16,430 --> 00:20:20,250
and exclusion. And that's seriously dangerous. If
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00:20:20,250 --> 00:20:22,110
you translate a text, you translate a text. You
314
00:20:22,110 --> 00:20:24,690
don't just pick paragraphs or something and
315
00:20:24,690 --> 00:20:27,070
present it in a way that serves your own ideology.
316
00:20:28,950 --> 00:20:31,450
So yeah, the Jews who were here in Palestine came
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00:20:31,450 --> 00:20:34,510
from different geographical places, but before the
318
00:20:34,510 --> 00:20:38,210
Jews there were many other people there, the
319
00:20:38,210 --> 00:20:41,730
Canaanites for example. But for them, history
320
00:20:41,730 --> 00:20:44,450
begins when the Jews came to Palestine. And
321
00:20:44,450 --> 00:20:46,330
history, even, I'm not sure if you're following
322
00:20:46,330 --> 00:20:52,190
Haaretz, Israeli newspaper, has been showing in
323
00:20:52,190 --> 00:20:56,410
many ways so many archaeological finds that prove
324
00:20:56,410 --> 00:21:01,030
that the people before The Jews came, they were,
325
00:21:01,130 --> 00:21:02,610
they had several, we know this, we have been
326
00:21:02,610 --> 00:21:04,490
saying this for a long time. They had their
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00:21:04,490 --> 00:21:06,490
civilizations, their places, their cities, their
328
00:21:06,490 --> 00:21:08,450
villages and everything. But they have been
329
00:21:08,450 --> 00:21:11,310
eradicated from history, erased by the Zionists.
330
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They simply don't exist. History in Palestine
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begins the moment the Jews came to Palestine.
332
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And then when they were expelled by the Romans,
333
00:21:21,750 --> 00:21:26,230
by, you know, history stopped there for 2000
334
00:21:26,230 --> 00:21:32,640
years. There was nothing. Palestine, the promised
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00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:37,660
land, has been waiting for the return of the Jews,
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00:21:38,500 --> 00:21:43,960
the chosen people. So this is a fabrication. And I
337
00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:45,660
mentioned this before, Mahmoud Darwish said, I
338
00:21:45,660 --> 00:21:49,160
came back to visit my original village and there
339
00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:54,650
were the remains of my family house. the remains
340
00:21:54,650 --> 00:21:59,970
of the houses of my relatives and people I know.
341
00:22:01,430 --> 00:22:04,470
He said I met a Jewish shepherd originally from
342
00:22:04,470 --> 00:22:09,590
Yemen and he said when I chatted with this guy I
343
00:22:09,590 --> 00:22:12,830
realised that he thinks that these ruins are
344
00:22:12,830 --> 00:22:18,090
actually Roman ruins. So Palestinian villages and
345
00:22:18,090 --> 00:22:20,810
we know when and that's why I hate such kind of
346
00:22:20,810 --> 00:22:23,130
poetry. I like it from an artistic point of view
347
00:22:26,700 --> 00:22:27,560
Thank you.
348
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:36,460
Because this poetry was one to, yes, the Zionists
349
00:22:36,460 --> 00:22:38,640
used terror, they used politics, they used money,
350
00:22:38,700 --> 00:22:40,620
they used everything to create, to destroy
351
00:22:40,620 --> 00:22:44,640
Palestine and create Israel. And I think this kind
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00:22:44,640 --> 00:22:46,960
of poetry is in part to blame for the ethnic
353
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:48,700
cleansing and destruction of Palestine, for
354
00:22:48,700 --> 00:22:53,980
massacres, for destroying. In 1947, 48, 49 and
355
00:22:53,980 --> 00:22:57,340
these years, Israel destroyed over 400 Palestinian
356
00:22:57,340 --> 00:23:00,560
villages. Can you imagine that? Hundreds of
357
00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:02,440
thousands of Palestinians were dismissed,
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00:23:02,620 --> 00:23:05,080
displaced, kicked out. Tens of thousands were
359
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:05,520
killed.
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And the man here is saying that everything has
361
00:23:12,410 --> 00:23:17,470
been preserved So Palestine was empty just waiting
362
00:23:17,470 --> 00:23:22,550
for them to return back No, not everything has
363
00:23:22,550 --> 00:23:23,950
been preserved
364
00:23:27,670 --> 00:23:32,090
So when a Jewish poet says everything has been
365
00:23:32,090 --> 00:23:34,670
preserved, this is a fabrication of history. This
366
00:23:34,670 --> 00:23:38,230
goes against history. And again, if you are
367
00:23:38,230 --> 00:23:41,310
interested, I really can send you many articles
368
00:23:41,310 --> 00:23:45,790
from Israeli scientists recently who started to
369
00:23:45,790 --> 00:23:51,610
show that Most of Israelis'
370
00:23:52,530 --> 00:23:54,990
theories about Palestine and the Jews here were
371
00:23:54,990 --> 00:23:57,310
actually fabrications and myths. Look at the half
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00:23:57,310 --> 00:23:59,270
shekel. The half shekel, you know the half shekel,
373
00:23:59,370 --> 00:24:02,270
there is a lyre, and I find the pun very
374
00:24:02,270 --> 00:24:07,060
interesting, l-y-r-e, the musical instrument. This
375
00:24:07,060 --> 00:24:10,120
was a lie. Somebody came in the 60s or 70s and
376
00:24:10,120 --> 00:24:13,040
said, wow, I found this. And they, this proves
377
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:15,620
that we were here before, et cetera. This proves
378
00:24:15,620 --> 00:24:18,660
that we are the rightful owners of the land. And
379
00:24:18,660 --> 00:24:21,060
20 years later, this was discovered to be a
380
00:24:21,060 --> 00:24:24,060
fabrication. And we still have it. Even Netanyahu,
381
00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:27,840
like three years ago, he posted a coin because
382
00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,820
there was this post on Facebook saying a kid
383
00:24:30,820 --> 00:24:34,060
somewhere in Palestine found, a Jewish kid found
384
00:24:34,060 --> 00:24:38,620
an ancient coin and he posted about it on
385
00:24:38,620 --> 00:24:41,080
Facebook, on Twitter saying, yes, we are the
386
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:45,740
rightful owners of Palestine. and it turns out to
387
00:24:45,740 --> 00:24:52,300
be a souvenir from the gift shop, a lie. If you
388
00:24:52,300 --> 00:24:55,120
read more, there is always this literature about
389
00:24:55,120 --> 00:24:58,480
the enmity between, the hostility between the Jews
390
00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:01,000
when they came to Palestine thousands of years ago
391
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:05,160
and the natives of Palestine. But now studies
392
00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:09,680
started to prove that no, there were good
393
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:13,510
relationships between those people. So those
394
00:25:13,510 --> 00:25:15,930
people were welcoming of those Jewish immigrants
395
00:25:15,930 --> 00:25:24,410
who came from around Palestine. Okay, now again
396
00:25:24,410 --> 00:25:28,310
I'm not sure what he means here when he says the
397
00:25:28,310 --> 00:25:31,210
cities that were caves. I'm not sure if he refers
398
00:25:31,210 --> 00:25:36,690
to how in the past the Jews used caves and nature
399
00:25:36,690 --> 00:25:40,550
and mountains as places, or whether he refers to
400
00:25:40,550 --> 00:25:44,270
the existing natives, the Palestinians, who are
401
00:25:44,270 --> 00:25:49,970
primitive, as to live in caves in the 19th, in the
402
00:25:49,970 --> 00:25:54,530
20th century. Look at the water and the roads were
403
00:25:54,530 --> 00:25:57,070
bad, indicating this is not a smooth ride, this is
404
00:25:57,070 --> 00:25:59,640
not a smooth journey there will be ditches there
405
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:03,320
will be some difficulty on on the road told you
406
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:07,140
and again we go back to this I was born here he
407
00:26:07,140 --> 00:26:11,720
wasn't but again he's erasing two thousand years
408
00:26:11,720 --> 00:26:15,160
of history I was born here no you were born in
409
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:18,560
Europe and my parents my parents my grandparents
410
00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:21,900
were born nearby yeah if nearby if Russia is
411
00:26:21,900 --> 00:26:29,100
nearby or Slovakia or what's the country There was
412
00:26:29,100 --> 00:26:31,560
a house here. I find it interesting how he starts
413
00:26:31,560 --> 00:26:34,660
from home and then he says house here. Home is
414
00:26:34,660 --> 00:26:37,320
more about feelings and emotions. A house is more
415
00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:41,300
about the physical structure. I said to my sons,
416
00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:44,980
and again this is my second piece of evidence how
417
00:26:44,980 --> 00:26:47,580
nature is rejecting, how the land is rejecting
418
00:26:47,580 --> 00:26:50,980
him, is telling him you're a liar. and the wind
419
00:26:50,980 --> 00:26:54,360
came between me and the words. You see this in
420
00:26:54,360 --> 00:26:57,980
comedies and movies and somebody saying something
421
00:26:57,980 --> 00:27:02,720
and then a thunderbolt destroying this place or
422
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,500
something, like stop lying or something. So the
423
00:27:05,500 --> 00:27:08,240
wind here in nature, which is part of Palestine,
424
00:27:09,300 --> 00:27:15,020
is saying to him, shut up. Don't do this. That's
425
00:27:15,020 --> 00:27:15,520
too much.
426
00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,300
Now the last tense, again he repeats, I sit out to
427
00:27:23,300 --> 00:27:26,220
show my sons, the repetition indicates how this is
428
00:27:26,220 --> 00:27:29,980
the same thing, he does this again and again and
429
00:27:29,980 --> 00:27:32,500
he never gets tired and that's possibly why the
430
00:27:32,500 --> 00:27:37,300
kids are fed up with him. Now this could indicate
431
00:27:37,300 --> 00:27:40,300
that the sons are detached, they're not connected
432
00:27:40,300 --> 00:27:44,760
as much, connected to Palestine as his father.
433
00:27:45,330 --> 00:27:49,490
However, showing this gap, however, I think on a
434
00:27:49,490 --> 00:27:52,010
second reading, I think the man, the poet is
435
00:27:52,010 --> 00:27:55,370
trying to shame the kids, the younger generation,
436
00:27:55,830 --> 00:27:57,950
to incite them, to shame them into what the hell
437
00:27:57,950 --> 00:28:02,210
are you doing, to provoke them, not just to say
438
00:28:02,210 --> 00:28:04,110
that, oh, my kids are useless.
439
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,000
The poem at the end if you are a young man and
440
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:13,020
this is a very important topic if you read it is
441
00:28:13,020 --> 00:28:16,400
he sending a signal to the leaders telling them
442
00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:21,960
that be careful our kids are not ready whatever we
443
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:24,380
do if our kids are not ready to go back to
444
00:28:24,380 --> 00:28:27,180
Palestine are not going to be successful because
445
00:28:27,180 --> 00:28:30,280
no matter what we do how much how hard we work at
446
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:33,380
the end of the day they're going to be like and
447
00:28:33,380 --> 00:28:37,960
when will we eat and where will we sleep? Very
448
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:40,920
interesting thing. Okay, there are, okay, I'll get
449
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:44,820
back to you. There are questions here, so, there
450
00:28:44,820 --> 00:28:47,480
are questions here I want you to think of. The
451
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,460
relationship, is the speaker's relationship to the
452
00:28:50,460 --> 00:28:55,520
land genuine, and how is that? A father is in
453
00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:58,120
search for a connection with the land while his
454
00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:04,070
sons care about something else. Why, how? What is
455
00:29:04,070 --> 00:29:06,730
it? What does that indicate? This is a poem about
456
00:29:06,730 --> 00:29:09,330
Palestine. And that's my last point before I
457
00:29:09,330 --> 00:29:15,070
listen to you. And in Palestine. But where are the
458
00:29:15,070 --> 00:29:15,510
Palestinians?
459
00:29:18,550 --> 00:29:22,610
If this was written in the early years of the 20th
460
00:29:22,610 --> 00:29:24,850
century, I think there were close to a million
461
00:29:24,850 --> 00:29:25,470
Palestinians.
462
00:29:28,060 --> 00:29:33,480
Yeah, Palestinians don't exist. The poem erases
463
00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:37,300
them, annihilates them, eradicates them, takes
464
00:29:37,300 --> 00:29:41,700
them out. And therefore, I think of how politics
465
00:29:41,700 --> 00:29:44,660
and poetry, you know, come together and play this
466
00:29:44,660 --> 00:29:50,500
important role. Now, Golda Meir, Israeli war
467
00:29:50,500 --> 00:29:55,540
criminal and prime minister, said that there is no
468
00:29:55,540 --> 00:29:58,160
such thing as Palestinians. They never existed.
469
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,140
They don't exist. Now, this is a political
470
00:30:02,140 --> 00:30:05,560
statement, but I think it was made a long time ago
471
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:11,280
in poetry. Palestinians never there are no such
472
00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:13,320
there's no such thing as the Palestinians they
473
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:18,280
never existed they don't exist and you will be
474
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,580
fine you'll find like other poems I did some
475
00:30:21,580 --> 00:30:23,700
research on this if you're interested I can send
476
00:30:23,700 --> 00:30:26,720
it to you but Palestinians are not mentioned
477
00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:31,600
they're not there what but when they are they're
478
00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:33,300
savages they're uncivilized
479
00:30:36,570 --> 00:30:41,890
They want somebody to kill them, to kick them out,
480
00:30:42,130 --> 00:30:47,390
to civilize them, to send them out of Palestine.
481
00:30:48,950 --> 00:30:51,670
So again, this is how dangerous poetry can be as
482
00:30:51,670 --> 00:30:53,970
an ideological tool. So I'll give you one or two
483
00:30:53,970 --> 00:30:56,290
minutes to say something briefly about this poem,
484
00:30:56,390 --> 00:31:00,650
quickly. I said go on, so you don't have to ask.
485
00:31:10,290 --> 00:31:14,330
So the Palestinians in these two sentences, they
486
00:31:14,330 --> 00:31:16,870
are, the effects of them, their existence, maybe
487
00:31:16,870 --> 00:31:20,750
sons, other kids know about technology, see, watch
488
00:31:20,750 --> 00:31:23,570
some videos about Palestinians in the land, and
489
00:31:23,570 --> 00:31:30,240
they, they sure that this land is not theirs. But
490
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:33,560
again, it doesn't mean like all sons are going to
491
00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:35,680
be reacting in the same way. So if you're saying
492
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,520
Palestinians will, I'm sure that Palestinians who
493
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,040
were born in America in the diaspora, when they
494
00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:43,520
come to Palestine, to visit Palestine, they're not
495
00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,200
going to be, yeah, food is good, I want to eat.
496
00:31:46,780 --> 00:31:48,880
But it's not going to be your first concern or
497
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:54,280
your first question. Thank you. were bad and the
498
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:59,300
wind that stopped his words are proofs that nature
499
00:31:59,300 --> 00:32:03,920
is rejecting them. But I saw that his way to prove
500
00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:07,660
to his children that they were the first there, or
501
00:32:07,660 --> 00:32:09,900
that if they were the first people before them,
502
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:13,460
they would fix their roads and build Yeah
503
00:32:13,460 --> 00:32:16,580
possible, but again don't compare a country that
504
00:32:16,580 --> 00:32:20,200
has been under occupation and European invasion
505
00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:24,640
for hundreds of years to Paris or London or other
506
00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:28,320
European cities. Many people make this mistake. So
507
00:32:28,320 --> 00:32:32,680
there was this person arguing that in terms of
508
00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:37,120
European definition of what a city is, Yeah, there
509
00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:40,700
were no cities in, not only in Palestine, but in
510
00:32:40,700 --> 00:32:45,780
Africa, in the Middle East, in Asia even. We talk
511
00:32:45,780 --> 00:32:47,960
about close to a million people living in
512
00:32:47,960 --> 00:32:49,960
Palestine at that time. If those people didn't
513
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,540
exist, then those people who say Palestinians
514
00:32:53,540 --> 00:32:59,340
don't exist or didn't exist are mass murderers,
515
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,350
they're genocidal. You said that the tense are
516
00:33:02,350 --> 00:33:06,270
past tense and future tense. But in the last
517
00:33:06,270 --> 00:33:08,790
sentence, they ask my son. It is like present.
518
00:33:09,310 --> 00:33:12,070
Exactly. The son, like what I'm saying is that
519
00:33:12,070 --> 00:33:14,650
because this is also the present is close to the
520
00:33:14,650 --> 00:33:20,690
future here. So he said, I, we passed. I said,
521
00:33:20,850 --> 00:33:26,590
right? I said, and then I said again and again. I
522
00:33:26,590 --> 00:33:30,810
said, the wind came. But the reality came, came,
523
00:33:30,910 --> 00:33:36,010
etc. The reality is the son, the kids are in the
524
00:33:36,010 --> 00:33:37,910
present and the future. They care more about
525
00:33:37,910 --> 00:33:40,590
what's going on now and what's going to happen in
526
00:33:40,590 --> 00:33:47,490
the future. Unlike... Possibly, yes. Possibly,
527
00:33:47,570 --> 00:33:52,550
yes. So that's why I'm taking this poem as some
528
00:33:52,550 --> 00:33:56,220
kind of shaming the sons. For God's sake, do
529
00:33:56,220 --> 00:33:59,680
something. If you want to live in the future, if
530
00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:03,560
you want to change your now, you have to start
531
00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:10,460
from the past. Finally. The tone in this poem,
532
00:34:10,780 --> 00:34:13,660
like the father is trying to convince the children
533
00:34:13,660 --> 00:34:18,900
as if this the first time that I told, he told,
534
00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:23,760
he's telling his children about this land. It's
535
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,860
like a surprising thing and the children are not
536
00:34:27,860 --> 00:34:31,520
interested in listening to their father. And
537
00:34:31,520 --> 00:34:34,280
there's something else that Wait a minute, just I
538
00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:36,640
think, no, I think there is an indication that
539
00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:39,380
he's been doing this for years and years, again
540
00:34:39,380 --> 00:34:42,240
and again and again. This is not the first time.
541
00:34:42,720 --> 00:34:46,120
So they're either bored, fed up, or probably this
542
00:34:46,120 --> 00:34:48,960
is what every time they say. I'm sorry, we're
543
00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:51,240
running out of time and I have to go for the adab,
544
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:54,280
but we can continue the discussion online.
545
00:34:55,880 --> 00:35:01,350
Told you. So the second poem is this again a
546
00:35:01,350 --> 00:35:05,010
fascinating poem by an Israeli poet named Yehuda
547
00:35:05,010 --> 00:35:07,290
Mikhai. Yehuda Mikhai is like Mahmoud Darwish for
548
00:35:07,290 --> 00:35:12,330
us Palestinians. He is the prince of poets. Last
549
00:35:12,330 --> 00:35:16,270
class I gave you some time to write a reflection
550
00:35:16,270 --> 00:35:20,090
on this poem. Some of you spent a lot of time
551
00:35:20,090 --> 00:35:22,810
trying to prove who the poet is. I don't care. We
552
00:35:22,810 --> 00:35:25,210
usually care about because remember there will be
553
00:35:25,210 --> 00:35:28,340
an unseen poem before your final exam. There are
554
00:35:28,340 --> 00:35:30,540
steps to do. You look at the form, and the sounds,
555
00:35:30,660 --> 00:35:34,100
and the language, and the poeticality of the text
556
00:35:34,100 --> 00:35:37,700
because of speech, and try to bring together how
557
00:35:37,700 --> 00:35:41,220
many of these or all of these can contribute to
558
00:35:41,220 --> 00:35:45,620
enforcing a particular theme or a particular idea.
559
00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:49,500
So the shape of the poem is interesting. There is
560
00:35:49,500 --> 00:35:52,300
space here, space here, like three stanzas.
561
00:35:58,060 --> 00:36:01,200
It says the title is sometimes on a roof in the
562
00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:06,620
old city or Jerusalem on a roof in the old city
563
00:36:06,620 --> 00:36:11,880
laundry hanging in the late afternoon sunlight
564
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:17,520
white the white sheet of a woman who is my enemy
565
00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:23,380
the towel of a man who is my enemy to wipe off the
566
00:36:23,380 --> 00:36:28,760
sweat of his brow in the sky of the old city a
567
00:36:28,760 --> 00:36:35,300
kite at the other end of the string a child I
568
00:36:35,300 --> 00:36:40,020
can't see because of the wall we have put up many
569
00:36:40,020 --> 00:36:45,000
flags they have put up many flags to make us think
570
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:49,390
they are happy to make them think they are happy.
571
00:36:49,990 --> 00:36:54,650
What a beautiful fascinating poem. It's beautiful
572
00:36:54,650 --> 00:36:58,810
in many ways but then again I'll comment at the
573
00:36:58,810 --> 00:37:03,810
end how this is again doing damage to Palestine,
574
00:37:03,950 --> 00:37:08,790
to Palestinians. So if you look at the shape first
575
00:37:08,790 --> 00:37:11,250
and foremost, considering that this is like three
576
00:37:11,250 --> 00:37:14,850
stanzas, probably the third stanza being some kind
577
00:37:14,850 --> 00:37:18,170
of a wall. And even the third stanza itself
578
00:37:18,170 --> 00:37:22,430
creates some kind of walls.
579
00:37:26,870 --> 00:37:29,290
Nice. Okay.
580
00:37:37,150 --> 00:37:43,830
So the speaker is again, is an I. I can't see. How
581
00:37:43,830 --> 00:37:49,150
many I's do we have? One. And then my, yes. My
582
00:37:49,150 --> 00:37:53,130
enemy, my enemy. His. So there's the difference
583
00:37:53,130 --> 00:38:00,690
between we and they. The others. Palestinians.
584
00:38:01,730 --> 00:38:04,820
Palestinians. Again, I find the simplicity of the
585
00:38:04,820 --> 00:38:09,540
poem to be profound, fascinating, shakes people.
586
00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:12,460
It says that we are all human, basically doing the
587
00:38:12,460 --> 00:38:16,460
same thing. Those people are humans. But
588
00:38:16,460 --> 00:38:19,980
dangerously, there are many things lying beneath,
589
00:38:20,100 --> 00:38:25,260
if we can read between the lines. So the laundry
590
00:38:25,260 --> 00:38:28,980
in the late afternoon here, on the roof in the old
591
00:38:28,980 --> 00:38:34,090
city, on a roof in the old city laundry hanging in
592
00:38:34,090 --> 00:38:38,290
the afternoon that's
593
00:38:38,290 --> 00:38:46,210
laundry what
594
00:38:46,210 --> 00:38:49,850
he sees is interesting the white sheet the sheet
595
00:38:49,850 --> 00:38:53,030
being white is interesting the towel the sweat
596
00:38:53,030 --> 00:38:59,670
like vindication but there are no people there the
597
00:38:59,670 --> 00:39:04,440
people are just out of the frame. We see their
598
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:11,680
belongings, their things. If the man is on some
599
00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:18,260
kind of a roof in Jerusalem, I don't know, on a
600
00:39:18,260 --> 00:39:21,440
recliner, probably smoking,
601
00:39:23,140 --> 00:39:27,480
he
602
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:34,360
says, he's suggesting that there is what? there is
603
00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:38,900
what here? there is a wall and the wall is
604
00:39:38,900 --> 00:39:48,100
separating him and everything else so what does he
605
00:39:48,100 --> 00:39:53,640
see? he sees the laundry if assuming this is
606
00:39:53,640 --> 00:39:58,660
summer he sees the towel He sees the sheets, the
607
00:39:58,660 --> 00:40:00,520
white sheets, probably what? Palestinian
608
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:05,620
surrendering? Defeat? And interestingly, he sees
609
00:40:05,620 --> 00:40:11,180
something beautiful, which is what? A kite. Does
610
00:40:11,180 --> 00:40:17,340
he see the child? At the other end of this, he
611
00:40:17,340 --> 00:40:22,940
just assumes that this is what? This is a child
612
00:40:22,940 --> 00:40:25,280
and this is a kite. Yeah, I can draw a kite.
613
00:40:32,420 --> 00:40:37,460
Innocence, freedom, normal life, creating a normal
614
00:40:37,460 --> 00:40:40,820
life. It's like see, Palestinians can fly kites,
615
00:40:41,040 --> 00:40:42,100
everything is fine.
616
00:40:44,860 --> 00:40:48,480
Thank you very much. But again, he can't see, but
617
00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:51,420
he's certain that this is a child. basically
618
00:40:51,420 --> 00:40:55,280
because mostly it's kids who who fly look at this
619
00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:59,880
kite child and then how interestingly he builds a
620
00:40:59,880 --> 00:41:03,600
wall himself in words so there is the physical
621
00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:05,740
wall there are many walls in Jerusalem some of
622
00:41:05,740 --> 00:41:07,640
them are very historical very ancient some of them
623
00:41:07,640 --> 00:41:13,700
Israel built it's not like ah there's a wall here
624
00:41:13,700 --> 00:41:16,100
we can't see each other we can't communicate we
625
00:41:16,100 --> 00:41:19,180
can't speak And this is again part of how
626
00:41:19,180 --> 00:41:24,720
alternative facts are offered. Israel caused this.
627
00:41:24,860 --> 00:41:28,160
Israel built the wall. And this is very dangerous
628
00:41:28,160 --> 00:41:31,180
because this presents, liberal Zionists always do
629
00:41:31,180 --> 00:41:35,420
this, presents, he presents people as equal,
630
00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:39,820
equally to blame for what's going on. There's a
631
00:41:39,820 --> 00:41:42,200
wall, Palestinians are to blame, Israelis are to
632
00:41:42,200 --> 00:41:46,410
blame. He himself is building a psychological
633
00:41:46,410 --> 00:41:50,830
wall, he's also building a wall in words. Look at
634
00:41:50,830 --> 00:41:53,270
this topography of the poem, the shape. You should
635
00:41:53,270 --> 00:41:55,530
have noticed this, you should notice everything.
636
00:41:56,610 --> 00:41:59,830
So there's a kite here and at the end, the other
637
00:41:59,830 --> 00:42:02,970
end of the string, there is a child behind the
638
00:42:02,970 --> 00:42:07,530
wall and he's saying this, I can't see because of
639
00:42:07,530 --> 00:42:14,260
the wall. Who built it? probably just fell down
640
00:42:14,260 --> 00:42:14,820
from heaven.
641
00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:22,580
And then there are some things here. What? Flags.
642
00:42:22,740 --> 00:42:29,620
Palestinian flags and then also Israeli flags.
643
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:41,750
Yeah? Whatever they are. But look at this. Also
644
00:42:41,750 --> 00:42:47,290
something that I thought of. In Palestine, in
645
00:42:47,290 --> 00:42:49,970
Jerusalem in particular, you're not allowed to fly
646
00:42:49,970 --> 00:42:52,850
to raise Palestinian flags. You could be
647
00:42:52,850 --> 00:42:54,790
brutalized, you could be sent to prison. Probably
648
00:42:54,790 --> 00:42:56,690
you've seen videos of Palestinians raising
649
00:42:56,690 --> 00:42:59,310
Palestinian flags attacked. In the first Intifada,
650
00:42:59,450 --> 00:43:01,710
Palestinians were sent to prison for six months if
651
00:43:01,710 --> 00:43:04,730
they had a Palestinian flag. It was taboo.
652
00:43:07,390 --> 00:43:09,910
And until this very day, you're not allowed. We
653
00:43:09,910 --> 00:43:11,810
see Palestinians raising Palestinian flags in
654
00:43:11,810 --> 00:43:14,190
Jerusalem here and then sometimes they're just
655
00:43:14,190 --> 00:43:19,130
taken violently and trapped because Palestinians
656
00:43:19,130 --> 00:43:22,690
don't exist. Because the flag is a symbol of
657
00:43:22,690 --> 00:43:27,010
nationalism, symbol of unity, of pride. Israel
658
00:43:27,010 --> 00:43:30,150
doesn't want us to feel this. This is another
659
00:43:30,150 --> 00:43:33,430
fabrication here. So they are to blame, there's a
660
00:43:33,430 --> 00:43:35,950
wall, there is flags, there is flags, we raise
661
00:43:35,950 --> 00:43:37,630
flags, and that's not good.
662
00:43:42,250 --> 00:43:45,410
This is some kind of colonial literature. It
663
00:43:45,410 --> 00:43:49,490
brainwashes. It presents the Israelis as innocent.
664
00:43:49,810 --> 00:43:51,930
They're not innocent. They're complicit in this
665
00:43:51,930 --> 00:43:54,850
occupation, in enforcing this occupation. You
666
00:43:54,850 --> 00:43:56,630
know, I don't like to do this to poetry. That's
667
00:43:56,630 --> 00:43:59,590
why I say this is a very beautiful poem from a
668
00:43:59,590 --> 00:44:01,770
poetic, artistic point of view. Fascinating.
669
00:44:01,890 --> 00:44:04,330
Amazing. And again, I find this very, very
670
00:44:04,330 --> 00:44:07,010
interesting how some of you attributed this poem
671
00:44:07,010 --> 00:44:11,720
to a Palestinian poet. I find if you wrote this in
672
00:44:11,720 --> 00:44:14,040
your reflection, I'm not going to deduct marks
673
00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:16,340
because this is what the poem is supposed to do.
674
00:44:18,150 --> 00:44:20,630
You think that this is a Palestinian and you do.
675
00:44:21,170 --> 00:44:25,270
In one of my experiments, of many experiments I do
676
00:44:25,270 --> 00:44:29,550
with my students, I had a class of 40 and I
677
00:44:29,550 --> 00:44:32,330
divided them into two parts and I asked the first
678
00:44:32,330 --> 00:44:37,350
group to write me a reflection on this poem. And I
679
00:44:37,350 --> 00:44:40,050
didn't say who the poet is. It was just a text.
680
00:44:40,630 --> 00:44:42,570
And the other group I said, Israeli poet, Yehuda
681
00:44:42,570 --> 00:44:49,100
Amichai, please. So the students who knew that
682
00:44:49,100 --> 00:44:50,980
this is an Israeli poet were like trashing the
683
00:44:50,980 --> 00:44:52,860
poem in a way, like there's no genuine
684
00:44:52,860 --> 00:44:55,540
relationship here, there's an artificial, he's
685
00:44:55,540 --> 00:44:58,120
creating this, you know, something like this. But
686
00:44:58,120 --> 00:44:59,620
the students who didn't know that this is an
687
00:44:59,620 --> 00:45:02,300
Israeli poet said that this could be Mahmoud
688
00:45:02,300 --> 00:45:04,640
Darwish, Tamim el Barghouti, Samiha el Qasim or
689
00:45:04,640 --> 00:45:09,980
other Palestinian poets. This is cute, but at the
690
00:45:09,980 --> 00:45:13,320
same time, from an ideological point of view, this
691
00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:17,270
is dangerous. Because it presents the Israeli
692
00:45:17,270 --> 00:45:23,290
occupation as innocent, you know, the victim and
693
00:45:23,290 --> 00:45:27,710
the victim. Never. Never bring the occupied and
694
00:45:27,710 --> 00:45:30,570
the occupier, the colonized and the colonizer, the
695
00:45:30,570 --> 00:45:32,870
oppressed and the oppressor on the same scale.
696
00:45:32,870 --> 00:45:35,070
That's exactly what made us suppose that it
697
00:45:35,070 --> 00:45:37,690
couldn't be Palestinian literature. Palestinian
698
00:45:37,690 --> 00:45:40,810
literature has its own features. And one thing it
699
00:45:40,810 --> 00:45:42,570
never does is equify it.
700
00:45:45,320 --> 00:45:49,000
but I'm not okay okay I find this interesting if
701
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:51,060
you said this that's that's really good thinking
702
00:45:51,060 --> 00:45:55,180
but at the same time we don't assume that oh like
703
00:45:55,180 --> 00:45:58,980
there are very clear cut differences between
704
00:45:58,980 --> 00:46:04,240
Israeli and Palestinian poetry in another thing
705
00:46:04,240 --> 00:46:06,440
I'll conclude conclude with this and see what you
706
00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:09,080
have to say The other thing I found very
707
00:46:09,080 --> 00:46:12,280
interesting, I did some research on how, that was
708
00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:17,640
in my MA, how Palestinian and Israeli poets
709
00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:20,140
represented Jerusalem, the representation of
710
00:46:20,140 --> 00:46:22,340
Jerusalem in Israeli and Palestinian poets, and I
711
00:46:22,340 --> 00:46:25,120
found so many striking similarities. But there
712
00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:27,640
were also some profound differences. Generally,
713
00:46:27,820 --> 00:46:32,320
Palestinians are outsiders. They don't have access
714
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:36,020
to the city. And if they do, it's under heavy
715
00:46:36,020 --> 00:46:40,420
military presence. We've seen this with Tamim. And
716
00:46:40,420 --> 00:46:44,920
the Israelis or the Jews are insiders.
717
00:46:45,580 --> 00:46:49,340
They have access to roam freely, to do whatever
718
00:46:49,340 --> 00:46:54,460
they want, to kill even, to destroy, to demolish.
719
00:46:55,800 --> 00:46:58,020
Palestinians are outsiders, they don't have
720
00:46:58,020 --> 00:47:00,580
access, even Palestinians living in Jerusalem. We
721
00:47:00,580 --> 00:47:06,360
see how Israel prevents even young women, young
722
00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:11,240
men from worshipping at Al-Aqsa mosque for months
723
00:47:11,240 --> 00:47:14,860
and months. You're not allowed, you're just five
724
00:47:14,860 --> 00:47:16,980
minutes away from Al-Aqsa mosque and you're not
725
00:47:16,980 --> 00:47:21,060
allowed to worship. So even, I'm not saying I am,
726
00:47:21,240 --> 00:47:24,820
how many of you have been to Jerusalem? One, two,
727
00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:27,760
three, you just have three lucky people here. We
728
00:47:27,760 --> 00:47:31,860
are about 60 or 70. That's like very, very few.
729
00:47:32,080 --> 00:47:33,960
And we are here in Gaza. But there are people in
730
00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:36,520
the West Bank who can't be to Jerusalem. There are
731
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:38,020
people in Jerusalem who can't be to Jerusalem
732
00:47:38,020 --> 00:47:41,220
because of the occupation, first and foremost. The
733
00:47:41,220 --> 00:47:47,700
first evil, the root of all evils. So Palestinians
734
00:47:47,700 --> 00:47:52,250
who are outsiders, Jerusalem means something else
735
00:47:52,250 --> 00:47:54,250
to them. For the Israelis, I noticed in their
736
00:47:54,250 --> 00:47:57,150
poetry, there's another poem where the Israeli
737
00:47:57,150 --> 00:48:00,830
poet gets inside a shop and he is fascinated by
738
00:48:00,830 --> 00:48:04,470
what? By the threads and the buttons, you know,
739
00:48:04,730 --> 00:48:07,930
and these tiny little things, concrete things.
740
00:48:08,740 --> 00:48:11,800
This is what fascinates him, fascinates him. But
741
00:48:11,800 --> 00:48:13,900
you, those people who went to Jerusalem, when you
742
00:48:13,900 --> 00:48:16,840
go there, it's like a spiritual journey, it's
743
00:48:16,840 --> 00:48:20,100
different. It's this metaphor, it's like a dream,
744
00:48:20,500 --> 00:48:23,160
a vision, a dream coming true finally after years
745
00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:26,280
and years. I know you go there also for the Kaak,
746
00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:30,160
but also, you also, and you take pictures, right?
747
00:48:30,240 --> 00:48:32,080
And you're proud of this, you love this. But you
748
00:48:32,080 --> 00:48:35,440
go, you pray. It's like some kind of a journey,
749
00:48:35,480 --> 00:48:39,250
again, I say the journey of initiation. you feel
750
00:48:39,250 --> 00:48:41,570
this by the way look this up there's something
751
00:48:41,570 --> 00:48:45,590
called Jerusalem syndrome many people talk about
752
00:48:45,590 --> 00:48:47,830
this people lose their minds when they go to
753
00:48:47,830 --> 00:48:52,750
Jerusalem look it up it's very interesting so it
754
00:48:52,750 --> 00:48:55,890
means a lot Jerusalem is not the buildings the
755
00:48:55,890 --> 00:49:00,590
walls It's also this virtually, this connection we
756
00:49:00,590 --> 00:49:04,290
have with our parents, grandparents, great-great
757
00:49:04,290 --> 00:49:07,330
-great-great grandparents with the land. Not that
758
00:49:07,330 --> 00:49:10,150
we like any other piece of Palestine less, but we
759
00:49:10,150 --> 00:49:13,490
like Jerusalem more. It's our capital. Not because
760
00:49:13,490 --> 00:49:16,610
of only of its religious value, because for
761
00:49:16,610 --> 00:49:18,970
Palestinian Christians, Palestinian Muslims, it's
762
00:49:18,970 --> 00:49:21,610
the same. Not also that we deny the existence of
763
00:49:21,610 --> 00:49:24,750
Jewish connections to the land. We just say that
764
00:49:24,750 --> 00:49:28,990
this is Palestinian land. Jews, Christians,
765
00:49:29,230 --> 00:49:32,650
Muslims have lived coexisted peacefully and you'll
766
00:49:32,650 --> 00:49:37,060
find this in history. So the outsiders,
767
00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:41,200
Palestinians, they look at this beautiful
768
00:49:41,200 --> 00:49:45,460
spiritual poetic aspect of tourism. Look at Tamim.
769
00:49:45,900 --> 00:49:46,820
That's why Tamim says,
770
00:49:57,980 --> 00:50:04,590
This is what they see. Those who live, the
771
00:50:04,590 --> 00:50:06,950
occupiers, the intruders, the aliens who live in
772
00:50:06,950 --> 00:50:11,730
Jerusalem, they just think of a paint job, how to
773
00:50:11,730 --> 00:50:16,150
spend a vacation here or there, just want to take
774
00:50:16,150 --> 00:50:19,750
pictures with a street vendor selling vigil.
775
00:50:22,560 --> 00:50:24,940
Not saying that all of them don't, but basically.
776
00:50:25,680 --> 00:50:28,560
And another interesting thing, many of those
777
00:50:28,560 --> 00:50:31,900
poets, Israeli poets, look at Jerusalem as a city,
778
00:50:32,020 --> 00:50:34,520
like people in London and Paris look at London and
779
00:50:34,520 --> 00:50:37,460
Paris respectively, as a source, as a place of
780
00:50:37,460 --> 00:50:39,660
sin. The city is a place of sin and corruption.
781
00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:45,400
and vices not us we see and that's and for us also
782
00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:48,900
palestinians remember palestinians for for us
783
00:50:48,900 --> 00:50:52,360
jerusalem brings us together unites us that's why
784
00:50:52,360 --> 00:50:56,220
most palestinian almost all palestinian poems
785
00:50:56,220 --> 00:50:59,140
about jerusalem brings christians and muslims
786
00:50:59,140 --> 00:51:05,820
together interesting that's why tamim again says
787
00:51:05,820 --> 00:51:14,440
there are two jerusalem's Ours and theirs. Yeah,
788
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:19,300
so what does this man see in Jerusalem? The
789
00:51:19,300 --> 00:51:24,700
laundry. The laundry. The laundry. You go to
790
00:51:24,700 --> 00:51:27,740
Jerusalem to look at people's laundry. Okay, thank
791
00:51:27,740 --> 00:51:34,100
you. The laundry, the sheet, the towel, the white
792
00:51:34,100 --> 00:51:34,940
sheet, the towel.
793
00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:41,120
Okay, I'm raising questions here and I'll give you
794
00:51:41,120 --> 00:51:46,080
five minutes to say what you have to say. How does
795
00:51:46,080 --> 00:51:47,880
the poem represent Jerusalem? Do you like that?
796
00:51:48,900 --> 00:51:52,180
Does the poem represent Jerusalem as should be, as
797
00:51:52,180 --> 00:51:56,380
a Palestinian would do? Again, not that there are
798
00:51:56,380 --> 00:52:00,300
very clear-cut differences. There are several
799
00:52:00,300 --> 00:52:04,440
walls in the poem. Discuss several walls, not only
800
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:08,340
the physical one. Comment on the poem's lack of
801
00:52:08,340 --> 00:52:10,880
dialogue. And again, where are the Palestinians?
802
00:52:12,460 --> 00:52:15,360
So in brief, while this is a beautiful poem from
803
00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:18,820
an aesthetic perspective, this is a horrible,
804
00:52:18,920 --> 00:52:23,830
horrible poem because This is a tool of further
805
00:52:23,830 --> 00:52:29,030
demonizing Palestinians, further dehumanizing
806
00:52:29,030 --> 00:52:31,410
Palestinians and presenting Palestinians as
807
00:52:31,410 --> 00:52:38,370
incivil, as uncivilized, as the enemy. The woman
808
00:52:38,370 --> 00:52:42,730
is the enemy. The man, just for existing, just for
809
00:52:42,730 --> 00:52:46,110
being there, for being a Palestinian. label the
810
00:52:46,110 --> 00:52:48,530
enemy however listen because this man was also
811
00:52:48,530 --> 00:52:51,970
critical of what Israel the occupation did some of
812
00:52:51,970 --> 00:52:55,430
what the occupation did many would take this as an
813
00:52:55,430 --> 00:52:58,450
ironic thing when he says the man that is my enemy
814
00:52:58,450 --> 00:53:00,610
the woman that is my enemy would take this as an
815
00:53:00,610 --> 00:53:04,270
ironic being critical of of Israel and Israeli
816
00:53:04,270 --> 00:53:07,950
policy you could also look into that please say
817
00:53:07,950 --> 00:53:11,530
something please
818
00:53:11,960 --> 00:53:13,960
Okay, the thing is that when we were given this
819
00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:17,240
poem without an author or without a poet, we tried
820
00:53:17,240 --> 00:53:20,660
to look at it from a perspective of an Israeli who
821
00:53:20,660 --> 00:53:23,380
is, I don't want to say pro-Palestinian, but I
822
00:53:23,380 --> 00:53:26,740
would just say that a regular human being, okay?
823
00:53:26,920 --> 00:53:31,140
Like, yes, I am a Jew, but I do not practice or I
824
00:53:31,140 --> 00:53:33,800
do not support all these things. So this is why I,
825
00:53:34,380 --> 00:53:36,560
we really, in our group, we really thought that
826
00:53:36,560 --> 00:53:40,300
this could be either Palestinian Okay, I see that.
827
00:53:40,480 --> 00:53:43,100
I see your point. More, please.
828
00:53:48,420 --> 00:53:55,960
If you
829
00:53:55,960 --> 00:53:59,100
take this ironically, in a sense,
830
00:54:02,330 --> 00:54:06,310
he criticizes the wall. He seems to be saying the
831
00:54:06,310 --> 00:54:09,610
wall is not good because it, you know, it
832
00:54:09,610 --> 00:54:12,390
dehumanizes. But he himself is building actually
833
00:54:12,390 --> 00:54:15,110
two walls. The physical wall, there's the physical
834
00:54:15,110 --> 00:54:17,610
wall in Jerusalem, there is the physical wall in
835
00:54:17,610 --> 00:54:20,730
the poem, and there is also the metaphorical wall
836
00:54:20,730 --> 00:54:23,050
he's building by alienating Palestinians.
837
00:54:29,210 --> 00:54:30,270
True, you're right.
838
00:54:34,880 --> 00:54:37,640
In reality on the ground in the West Bank there is
839
00:54:37,640 --> 00:54:41,720
no way for a two-state solution because Israel has
840
00:54:41,720 --> 00:54:46,020
you know it's not about that it's not about that
841
00:54:46,020 --> 00:54:48,400
it's it's also about the reality on the ground in
842
00:54:48,400 --> 00:54:50,940
in in the West Bank if you if you have a look at
843
00:54:50,940 --> 00:54:55,080
the map Palestinians live in cantons in what's the
844
00:54:55,080 --> 00:54:58,520
word like in in isolated ghettos like in South
845
00:54:58,520 --> 00:55:01,450
Africa So even if you want to move from one
846
00:55:01,450 --> 00:55:04,910
village to the other, you need permission and you
847
00:55:04,910 --> 00:55:09,130
need to go through. There are roads for Jews only.
848
00:55:09,470 --> 00:55:11,590
There are roads Palestinians, non-Jews are not
849
00:55:11,590 --> 00:55:16,350
allowed to take, etc. So on the ground, Israel has
850
00:55:16,350 --> 00:55:20,740
made it impossible. Israel is selling this. But
851
00:55:20,740 --> 00:55:22,680
this is politics, I don't want to get into
852
00:55:22,680 --> 00:55:25,600
politics whether you like one state solution where
853
00:55:25,600 --> 00:55:29,240
everybody is equal, one man or woman, one vote,
854
00:55:29,860 --> 00:55:32,080
which Israel rejects categorically.
855
00:55:34,440 --> 00:55:48,200
Please. Where is
856
00:55:48,200 --> 00:55:53,340
your indication in the poem? You're saying, I
857
00:55:53,340 --> 00:55:56,900
don't see him blaming Palestinians for this, for
858
00:55:56,900 --> 00:56:02,220
the war. Okay, yeah, yeah, okay. So you're saying,
859
00:56:02,300 --> 00:56:04,220
you're talking about this, how Palestinians build
860
00:56:04,220 --> 00:56:08,560
these walls by being the enemy. Okay,
861
00:56:12,940 --> 00:56:13,280
thank you.
862
00:56:27,040 --> 00:56:30,580
Not necessarily, not usually, but more or less
863
00:56:30,580 --> 00:56:30,900
yes.
864
00:56:37,000 --> 00:56:41,260
That's right. It's a very spiritual, very
865
00:56:41,260 --> 00:56:44,540
emotional, very sentimental experience, not just
866
00:56:44,540 --> 00:56:47,700
someone here coming to watch. And I find laundry
867
00:56:47,700 --> 00:56:49,320
interesting because it could be like actual
868
00:56:49,320 --> 00:56:56,200
laundry or fadayah, something like this. And
869
00:56:56,200 --> 00:57:00,140
please
870
00:57:00,140 --> 00:57:03,240
don't say, sorry for interrupting you. Many of you
871
00:57:03,240 --> 00:57:05,720
wrote conflict. This is by no means a conflict.
872
00:57:07,010 --> 00:57:09,590
This is by no means a conflict. This is a brutal,
873
00:57:09,750 --> 00:57:13,550
aggressive occupation of our land. Many of you say
874
00:57:13,550 --> 00:57:15,430
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Palestinian
875
00:57:15,430 --> 00:57:18,930
-Israeli conflict. This is an occupation, a brutal
876
00:57:18,930 --> 00:57:24,450
medieval imperialist
877
00:57:24,450 --> 00:57:30,810
occupation. So yeah, you're saying? He said, I'm
878
00:57:30,810 --> 00:57:35,330
talking about how he finds this occupation or the
879
00:57:35,330 --> 00:57:38,450
issue between the two parties as merely
880
00:57:38,450 --> 00:57:42,210
meaningless. It is merely flags and a wall that he
881
00:57:42,210 --> 00:57:48,910
doesn't see the point of. So that's kind of like
882
00:57:48,910 --> 00:57:52,800
not seeing why it works. Thank you. That's a very,
883
00:57:52,880 --> 00:57:56,420
very, very amazing idea. Thank you. You'll see
884
00:57:56,420 --> 00:58:00,780
many liberal Zionists stripping the cause here,
885
00:58:00,840 --> 00:58:03,860
the issue, from its politics and political issues.
886
00:58:04,020 --> 00:58:08,380
It's just humanitarian. Oh, let those poor kids
887
00:58:08,380 --> 00:58:13,020
fly their kites in peace. Why shouldn't this man
888
00:58:13,020 --> 00:58:16,100
be you know this woman be you know peacefully
889
00:58:16,100 --> 00:58:20,400
doing the laundry? I think we should you know
890
00:58:20,400 --> 00:58:22,760
since Paris time for them is like only a
891
00:58:22,760 --> 00:58:26,060
humanitarian thing. It's not like and those
892
00:58:26,060 --> 00:58:28,460
liberal Zionists are very dangerous because they
893
00:58:28,460 --> 00:58:31,490
don't oppose the occupation per se. They don't
894
00:58:31,490 --> 00:58:33,770
call for the end of the occupation. They don't
895
00:58:33,770 --> 00:58:36,930
call for complete rights for Palestinians. They
896
00:58:36,930 --> 00:58:39,770
just want acute occupation, an occupation that
897
00:58:39,770 --> 00:58:42,550
would kill Palestinians, not by massacring and
898
00:58:42,550 --> 00:58:46,050
bombing them, but by probably starving them,
899
00:58:46,270 --> 00:58:51,310
besieging them, you know, or by, or if you kill
900
00:58:51,310 --> 00:58:54,370
them, kill them off camera, off stage. Because
901
00:58:54,370 --> 00:58:58,690
you're making us look bad in the West. One, one,
902
00:58:58,970 --> 00:59:00,550
like you have 30 seconds.
903
00:59:20,730 --> 00:59:24,550
Thank you, yeah, that's a very smart thing. He's
904
00:59:24,550 --> 00:59:27,530
on a roof, he's up above, he's also detached, this
905
00:59:27,530 --> 00:59:28,090
could be one
906
00:59:33,630 --> 00:59:35,890
Strategically you see you go to the West Bank all
907
00:59:35,890 --> 00:59:39,310
the hilltops and high areas have been even
908
00:59:39,310 --> 00:59:43,430
Jerusalem, West Bank, Nablus, El Khalil they were
909
00:59:43,430 --> 00:59:46,070
taken here. Brief, brief. The first time I read
910
00:59:46,070 --> 00:59:48,830
this book I found it's a Palestinian book and it's
911
00:59:48,830 --> 00:59:51,470
very painful because this man like look at the
912
00:59:51,470 --> 00:59:53,790
trivial things that deserve to be our laundering
913
00:59:53,790 --> 00:59:56,670
not their laundering and the walls he mean by the
914
00:59:56,670 --> 00:59:59,550
wall that restriction maybe the UN put it put it
915
00:59:59,550 --> 01:00:03,390
in us yes put in us to let it Okay, so you're
916
01:00:03,390 --> 01:00:06,110
taking this as if this is a Palestinian poet. But
917
01:00:06,110 --> 01:00:08,770
yeah, now we know that this is not a Palestinian
918
01:00:08,770 --> 01:00:10,750
poet. Somebody raised their hand.
919
01:00:15,330 --> 01:00:20,830
The text
920
01:00:20,830 --> 01:00:24,470
says they're on a roof in the old city. What's
921
01:00:24,470 --> 01:00:27,690
that? Say again? The poem clearly says on a roof,
922
01:00:28,450 --> 01:00:32,010
positioning the poet on a higher place.
923
01:00:37,410 --> 01:00:40,810
The whole tone of the poem sounds to me as a
924
01:00:40,810 --> 01:00:44,790
condescending person who's trying to prove that I
925
01:00:44,790 --> 01:00:48,210
think equally of the other side, although he's
926
01:00:48,210 --> 01:00:50,710
clearly condescending. I think that they are
927
01:00:50,710 --> 01:00:53,210
humans, oh look, they're humans, they have
928
01:00:53,210 --> 01:00:59,310
laundry, look, somebody is flying a kite. Briefly.
929
01:01:08,410 --> 01:01:12,710
But it doesn't
930
01:01:12,710 --> 01:01:16,030
mention who built the wall, who is erecting the
931
01:01:16,030 --> 01:01:18,390
walls, the physical walls, the occupation being
932
01:01:18,390 --> 01:01:23,070
the first important wall. Anyway, I'll post this
933
01:01:23,070 --> 01:01:26,070
poem on our Facebook group. You can, if you have
934
01:01:26,070 --> 01:01:29,170
more points, more things to write, you're welcome.
935
01:01:29,630 --> 01:01:31,450
Thank you very much ladies and see you inshallah
936
01:01:31,450 --> 01:01:31,690
soon.