1 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:07,660 Assalamu alaikum, welcome back to English Poetry. 2 00:00:07,780 --> 00:00:11,920 Today we start a very interesting part of our 3 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:18,020 course. It's actually the final set of poems. We 4 00:00:18,020 --> 00:00:21,640 have two poems, one written by a Jewish 5 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:27,220 man and the other written by an Israeli poet. 6 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,120 I asked you earlier in the course, what do you 7 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:35,420 want? You know, I thought you would be like Sibel 8 00:00:35,420 --> 00:00:38,660 saying, "We want to die." But you said you wanted 9 00:00:38,660 --> 00:00:40,940 Palestinian and Israeli poetry. And I think this 10 00:00:40,940 --> 00:00:46,200 shows how mature your thinking is. Not that if you 11 00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:48,520 said something else, you don't have that. But it's 12 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:51,960 significant to study to see what Israel does, what 13 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:55,800 the Zionist movement has been doing with poetry. 14 00:00:56,390 --> 00:01:01,190 So far we spoke about the thrilling aspects of 15 00:01:01,190 --> 00:01:04,710 poetry, how poetry transcends us, how poetry 16 00:01:04,710 --> 00:01:07,450 breaks the barriers and boundaries and pushes 17 00:01:07,450 --> 00:01:09,650 the boundaries, you know, all these clichés we use 18 00:01:09,650 --> 00:01:12,850 to talk about how the aesthetic values of poetry, 19 00:01:12,950 --> 00:01:16,460 how poetry helps and contributes to the 20 00:01:16,460 --> 00:01:19,140 advancement of human thought and civilization, how 21 00:01:19,140 --> 00:01:21,820 poetry changes people, how poetry unites us, 22 00:01:21,900 --> 00:01:24,920 brings us together, etc., etc., because poetry is 23 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:28,200 universal, because poetry transcends all these 24 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:32,440 barriers of race and gender and religion and 25 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:37,820 geography and time, etc. However, poetry has also 26 00:01:37,820 --> 00:01:42,990 been used as a tool, a weapon, by totalitarian 27 00:01:42,990 --> 00:01:47,670 regimes, by colonizers, and this is in part what 28 00:01:47,670 --> 00:01:50,850 Edward Said was exploring in *Orientalism*, in his 29 00:01:50,850 --> 00:01:53,610 amazing book *Orientalism*. 30 00:01:55,670 --> 00:02:03,260 Edward Said examined how the West, how Europe, used 31 00:02:03,260 --> 00:02:08,400 literature in order to create certain realities, 32 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:11,440 to change narratives, to change discourse, to 33 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:15,120 present the others—Africans, Asians, people in the 34 00:02:15,120 --> 00:02:17,720 Middle East, non-white, non-European, non- 35 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:22,700 Christians—as savages, uncivilized, in need of 36 00:02:22,700 --> 00:02:27,490 help, and that was the white man's moral obligation 37 00:02:27,490 --> 00:02:31,010 to go there, build civilization, civilize those 38 00:02:31,010 --> 00:02:32,690 people. 39 00:02:34,470 --> 00:02:37,750 And despite 40 00:02:37,750 --> 00:02:40,690 the fact that this poetry and literature is still 41 00:02:40,690 --> 00:02:43,710 fascinating as a work of art, thematically 42 00:02:43,710 --> 00:02:47,570 speaking, when poetry becomes an ideological tool, 43 00:02:48,170 --> 00:02:53,110 it loses its poetic value in many ways. I'm 44 00:02:53,110 --> 00:02:54,910 talking about this at a time when we mentioned how 45 00:02:54,910 --> 00:02:57,170 Israel, we mentioned this many times, how Israel 46 00:02:57,170 --> 00:02:59,690 still arrests Palestinians for writing poetry. 47 00:03:00,230 --> 00:03:03,270 Dareen Tatour is an example. She echoed what Israeli 48 00:03:03,270 --> 00:03:07,010 general, war criminal Moshe Dayan said about Fadwa 49 00:03:07,010 --> 00:03:12,350 Toukan, how a poem by Fadwa Toukan is like facing 20 50 00:03:12,350 --> 00:03:13,450 Palestinian commanders. 51 00:03:16,150 --> 00:03:19,090 Now, the gist of what I have in mind here is that 52 00:03:19,090 --> 00:03:21,930 Palestine, and this is significant, was first and 53 00:03:21,930 --> 00:03:26,070 foremost occupied metaphorically in poetry, in 54 00:03:26,070 --> 00:03:31,990 literature. Because how can you ask people to move 55 00:03:31,990 --> 00:03:35,290 from one place, and this happened before the 56 00:03:35,290 --> 00:03:37,870 Holocaust, before, you know, there has always been 57 00:03:37,870 --> 00:03:40,390 antisemitism and racism against Jews around the 58 00:03:40,390 --> 00:03:43,130 world throughout time and place. But this is 59 00:03:43,130 --> 00:03:45,710 before, because the Holocaust was the final thing. 60 00:03:45,950 --> 00:03:49,150 Let's go to somewhere else and there were so many 61 00:03:49,150 --> 00:03:54,090 places, and Palestine sadly was the place. We're 62 00:03:54,090 --> 00:03:56,990 not sad. I'm not sure who said this. Was it 63 00:03:57,250 --> 00:04:00,950 Rashida Tlaib, the Palestinian- 64 00:04:00,950 --> 00:04:04,270 American congresswoman who said, "We welcome the 65 00:04:04,270 --> 00:04:07,770 victims of the Holocaust. We welcome those Jewish 66 00:04:07,770 --> 00:04:11,510 refugees running away from Europe, from the white 67 00:04:11,510 --> 00:04:15,380 man. And we don't regret this." But again, it's sad 68 00:04:15,380 --> 00:04:19,040 how the Zionist regime used the Holocaust in 69 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:21,680 order to destroy Palestinians, to destroy 70 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:26,360 Palestine and to build, to establish a state only 71 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:30,740 for the Jews. So if you want to tell people, "Let's 72 00:04:30,740 --> 00:04:34,140 go there," partly you have to convince them that 73 00:04:34,140 --> 00:04:38,290 this place is what? Empty? And paradoxically, that 74 00:04:38,290 --> 00:04:41,470 it also flows with milk and honey, the biblical 75 00:04:41,470 --> 00:04:45,630 phrase. And also that there are no people there, 76 00:04:45,730 --> 00:04:47,910 yeah? There are no people there. And that God gave 77 00:04:47,910 --> 00:04:50,110 us this place. And you just keep doing this in 78 00:04:50,110 --> 00:04:53,350 literature. And if you do this, this includes a 79 00:04:53,350 --> 00:04:56,390 lot of exclusion and inclusion and fabrications 80 00:04:56,390 --> 00:05:01,550 and changing realities, or as the Trump team 81 00:05:01,550 --> 00:05:04,850 would say, "alternative facts." There are 82 00:05:04,850 --> 00:05:07,740 facts and there are alternative 83 00:05:07,740 --> 00:05:12,960 facts. I have a very beautiful poem written by, okay, 84 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:17,280 I'll start with the second poem written by a Jewish 85 00:05:17,280 --> 00:05:19,420 poet. When I say "Jewish" specifically because he was 86 00:05:19,420 --> 00:05:22,000 born before, like he was writing before the 87 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,840 establishment of Israel, so to speak. The poem is 88 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:29,100 by Tuvia. Please don't look at your book. I have 89 00:05:29,100 --> 00:05:31,260 something in mind. Don't close your book. Close your 90 00:05:31,260 --> 00:05:31,460 book. 91 00:05:35,610 --> 00:05:41,770 There, I said to Tuvia Rubner, a man born in Europe, 92 00:05:42,990 --> 00:05:49,530 not in Palestine, "I set out from my temporary home 93 00:05:49,530 --> 00:05:56,990 to show my sons the place that I came from." And he 94 00:05:56,990 --> 00:05:59,650 means Palestine; he doesn't mean Slovenia or 95 00:05:59,650 --> 00:06:04,830 Slovakia. There I said, "I lay on the ground with a 96 00:06:04,830 --> 00:06:09,350 stone for a pillow, lower than the grass, like the 97 00:06:09,350 --> 00:06:14,530 dust of the earth. Everything has been preserved 98 00:06:14,530 --> 00:06:15,450 there." 99 00:06:18,250 --> 00:06:21,770 We passed through mountains, forests, and cities 100 00:06:21,770 --> 00:06:25,490 that were caves, and water gathered in pools on 101 00:06:25,490 --> 00:06:30,130 the way, and the roads were bad. The car bumped on 102 00:06:30,130 --> 00:06:30,930 the ditches. 103 00:06:33,930 --> 00:06:39,170 "I was born here," I said to my sons. "My parents and 104 00:06:39,170 --> 00:06:45,270 grandparents were born nearby. Everybody is born 105 00:06:45,270 --> 00:06:51,250 somewhere. There was a house here," I said to my 106 00:06:51,250 --> 00:06:56,130 sons, "and the wind came between me and the words." 107 00:06:58,050 --> 00:07:02,210 Last stanza. "I set out to show my sons the place 108 00:07:02,210 --> 00:07:08,470 that I came from." Now I want you to take a moment, 109 00:07:08,610 --> 00:07:11,250 especially those who haven't read the poem yet, 110 00:07:11,910 --> 00:07:15,950 because the remaining two lines, the last lines, 111 00:07:17,330 --> 00:07:21,210 are actually the sons replying to their father. I 112 00:07:21,210 --> 00:07:25,630 want you to guess what the sons would be saying to 113 00:07:25,630 --> 00:07:27,630 their father, going through this beautiful 114 00:07:27,630 --> 00:07:29,990 experience. This is like a Darwish-style poem, 115 00:07:30,070 --> 00:07:33,430 right? Look at the first stanza: With a stone for 116 00:07:33,430 --> 00:07:35,870 a pillow, lower than the grass, like the dust of the 117 00:07:35,870 --> 00:07:39,860 earth. Everything has been preserved there. I was 118 00:07:39,860 --> 00:07:42,620 born here. My parents were born there. We passed 119 00:07:42,620 --> 00:07:45,400 by mountains and forests and cities and caves and 120 00:07:45,400 --> 00:07:48,800 the water gathered in pools. Yeah, the road was 121 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:53,100 bumpy. There were ditches. Look at this beautiful 122 00:07:53,100 --> 00:07:55,560 thing. I was born here. My parents and 123 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:59,220 grandparents were born nearby. Everyone is born 124 00:07:59,220 --> 00:08:02,860 somewhere. There was a house here. I said to my 125 00:08:02,860 --> 00:08:06,440 sons, and the wind came between me and the words. I 126 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:09,360 set out to show my sons the place I came from. 127 00:08:09,590 --> 00:08:15,470 Yeah, give me a guess. How would the kids, the 128 00:08:15,470 --> 00:08:18,930 sons—probably indicating that they're not just 129 00:08:18,930 --> 00:08:24,930 children, they're adults, at least teenagers—I 130 00:08:24,930 --> 00:08:29,170 said, "Don't look, don't look, listen to me." I'd 131 00:08:29,170 --> 00:08:31,910 say, like he said, "Everything was preserved here," 132 00:08:32,050 --> 00:08:37,950 the children, as he said. So, you're going for the 133 00:08:37,950 --> 00:08:40,330 kids questioning their parents, their fathers' 134 00:08:40,330 --> 00:08:42,130 narrative. That's a good idea. 135 00:08:45,310 --> 00:08:49,050 Okay, asking questions. So, question, question. 136 00:08:49,230 --> 00:08:53,490 Good. The idea of questioning is in itself very 137 00:08:53,490 --> 00:08:53,670 good. 138 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:05,780 Oh, thank you, God, for bringing us here. Thank you. 139 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:16,220 So you're saying this is a process. If the parents 140 00:09:16,220 --> 00:09:22,180 are brainwashed, if he's been indoctrinating his 141 00:09:22,180 --> 00:09:27,270 sons, they must be ready to accept this, the 142 00:09:27,270 --> 00:09:32,190 alternative facts. That's also good. More? Please? 143 00:09:32,330 --> 00:09:35,890 No, not you, sorry, you're locked. You're locked. 144 00:09:36,130 --> 00:09:42,050 One more? Someone else? Yeah? How would the sons 145 00:09:42,050 --> 00:09:46,210 be replying to their dad? Please? Do you have a 146 00:09:46,210 --> 00:09:50,150 picture of the old house? Yeah, do you have 147 00:09:50,150 --> 00:09:53,750 photographic evidence? But if this was composed 148 00:09:53,750 --> 00:09:57,950 like a hundred years ago, this is an old poem. 149 00:09:59,050 --> 00:10:06,650 Please. So they will 150 00:10:06,650 --> 00:10:15,170 be reluctant to accept the alternative facts. So 151 00:10:15,170 --> 00:10:17,490 are you suggesting that there could be some kind 152 00:10:17,490 --> 00:10:22,970 of alienation, like if the father is truly and 153 00:10:22,970 --> 00:10:27,470 really attached to this land, as the poem shows, 154 00:10:28,550 --> 00:10:32,290 perhaps the kids, the sons, will not be as much 155 00:10:32,290 --> 00:10:35,530 attached to the land. But poetically speaking, 156 00:10:35,690 --> 00:10:38,170 what would they—like, good ideas—how would you 157 00:10:38,170 --> 00:10:41,710 put this in poetry? Remember, poetry is not 158 00:10:41,710 --> 00:10:45,090 necessarily mainly good poetry; it's not direct 159 00:10:45,090 --> 00:10:49,050 poetry that gives us answers. It's not, but you 160 00:10:49,050 --> 00:10:55,620 know, poets say things in different ways. If you 161 00:10:55,620 --> 00:10:57,020 are a poet, how would you conclude? From our 162 00:10:57,020 --> 00:11:00,640 ideology or his ideology? Of course, it should be 163 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:05,280 in his shoes. You have to endure the stink, of 164 00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:07,360 course. Yes? 165 00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:16,200 Okay, you can keep the music as background. 166 00:11:19,100 --> 00:11:19,940 Yes, please. 167 00:11:23,230 --> 00:11:25,670 How would you do this? Okay, but I like your 168 00:11:25,670 --> 00:11:27,890 ideas. They are really very good 169 00:11:27,890 --> 00:11:33,150 ideas. This is what the kids say: "And when will we 170 00:11:33,150 --> 00:11:37,790 eat? And where will we sleep?" 171 00:11:41,460 --> 00:11:44,140 This is not the whole poem. I did this here, you 172 00:11:44,140 --> 00:11:46,800 know, academically; you have to be honest. This ... 173 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:50,320 I added this ellipsis because I, you 174 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:53,080 know, I don't want to say the whole poem. Well, I 175 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:55,860 can send you the whole text. So what do you make 176 00:11:55,860 --> 00:11:59,560 of this? Like, first the poem and then the kids' 177 00:11:59,560 --> 00:12:01,280 reply. 178 00:12:02,780 --> 00:12:04,780 Yeah, so you guess that there will be questions, 179 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:08,570 but interesting questions. When will, like, the dad— 180 00:12:08,570 --> 00:12:10,570 imagine, you know this happens a lot—the dad would 181 00:12:10,570 --> 00:12:12,870 be like, passionate about something, about football, 182 00:12:12,870 --> 00:12:16,250 about his past, about something that he did, about 183 00:12:16,250 --> 00:12:20,910 playing football, about flying kites, about doing 184 00:12:20,910 --> 00:12:25,370 many things, and then the kids would be like, "Meh." So 185 00:12:25,370 --> 00:12:29,190 this is the "meh," but what does it indicate? Okay, 186 00:12:29,190 --> 00:12:33,670 let's go to the first answer. What do you think? 187 00:12:33,670 --> 00:12:35,490 What do you notice about this, poetically speaking, 188 00:12:35,490 --> 00:12:41,240 you or some of you? Do you think this is? Again, 189 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:43,600 please don't do this. I know many people when they 190 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:46,120 study, for example, a poem by an Israeli poet or 191 00:12:46,120 --> 00:12:47,760 Jewish poet, the first thing they want to do is, 192 00:12:47,860 --> 00:12:50,500 "Is it good? Is it bad?" That's not what we do; that's why 193 00:12:50,500 --> 00:12:53,020 we do poetry. You could like the poem; you could 194 00:12:53,020 --> 00:12:55,560 hate the poem; it's up to you. But please don't 195 00:12 223 00:14:35,330 --> 00:14:40,010 passion, whatever he tries to convey to them. They 224 00:14:40,010 --> 00:14:49,060 cared more about food and rest, physical... Look 225 00:14:49,060 --> 00:14:50,960 at the man, what the man did. Again, I find this 226 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:56,160 beautiful. I lay on the ground with a stone for a 227 00:14:56,160 --> 00:15:00,660 pillow lower than the grass, like the dust of the 228 00:15:00,660 --> 00:15:02,820 earth. The simile here, the simplicity of the 229 00:15:02,820 --> 00:15:06,000 simile. Like I became part of this land. That's 230 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,920 simple. Because he claims that he belongs. 231 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:13,640 Everything has been preserved. 232 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:19,860 And then, we passed, that's part of the journey or 233 00:15:19,860 --> 00:15:22,380 some kind of journey of initiation through 234 00:15:22,380 --> 00:15:26,460 mountains, forests, and cities that were caves, and 235 00:15:26,460 --> 00:15:29,560 water gathered in pools on the way, and the roads 236 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:33,260 were bad. The car sputtered. So it's not all, you know, 237 00:15:33,260 --> 00:15:36,200 idyllic and romantic. There were some difficulties 238 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,180 basically. The roads, probably they're not as 239 00:15:39,180 --> 00:15:41,840 smooth as they are in Europe. There were so many 240 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:46,150 ditches, you know, holes, potholes. And again, 241 00:15:46,150 --> 00:15:48,590 that's the core of the poem. I was born here. This 242 00:15:48,590 --> 00:15:52,870 is my land. I said to my sons, my parents are, and 243 00:15:52,870 --> 00:15:57,150 grandparents were born here nearby. Look at this 244 00:15:57,150 --> 00:15:59,510 interesting thing. There was a house here in the 245 00:15:59,510 --> 00:16:06,030 past. I said to my sons, and the wind came between 246 00:16:06,030 --> 00:16:07,110 me and the words. 247 00:16:09,720 --> 00:16:13,780 The wind, nature interfering. I sit out to show my 248 00:16:13,780 --> 00:16:16,720 sons the place that I came from, and, "When will we 249 00:16:16,720 --> 00:16:19,940 eat?" they said. And "When will we eat?" asked my 250 00:16:19,940 --> 00:16:26,380 sons. And "Where will we sleep?" So yeah, we have 251 00:16:26,380 --> 00:16:28,240 the past simple tense. If we talk about the 252 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:32,180 father, he basically uses the past simple tense, 253 00:16:32,260 --> 00:16:37,880 right? And the sons use a future tense. It's 254 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:41,980 interesting. This man cares about this connection. 255 00:16:42,260 --> 00:16:45,700 He's on a journey to find connection, to find 256 00:16:45,700 --> 00:16:46,100 roots. 257 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:55,500 But the kids, all they care about is 258 00:16:55,500 --> 00:16:57,920 food and sleep, rest. 259 00:17:01,410 --> 00:17:04,670 Now the temporary home refers to his home in 260 00:17:04,670 --> 00:17:06,530 Europe. 261 00:17:07,970 --> 00:17:10,930 That's not my place. Despite the fact that Jews 262 00:17:10,930 --> 00:17:13,090 lived for hundreds and hundreds of years in 263 00:17:13,090 --> 00:17:19,290 Europe, which is something interesting. Some of 264 00:17:19,290 --> 00:17:21,250 you are studying the management of Venice right 265 00:17:21,250 --> 00:17:27,370 now. Shylock and the ghettos, isolation imposed on 266 00:17:27,370 --> 00:17:29,610 them, and probably sometimes chosen. 267 00:17:32,270 --> 00:17:37,990 Now I find this very interesting, how he used, 268 00:17:39,870 --> 00:17:42,770 there's a short story I picked from *Morning in 269 00:17:42,770 --> 00:17:46,570 Jenin* from Susan Abulhawa's novel. It's just two 270 00:17:46,570 --> 00:17:49,810 pages; I picked it as a short story. And Susan 271 00:17:49,810 --> 00:17:52,310 Abulhawa tries to show the difference between Ari, 272 00:17:53,330 --> 00:17:56,590 Ari and Hassan are friends, a Palestinian Muslim, 273 00:17:56,970 --> 00:18:01,470 a Palestinian Jew. And she tries to show how they 274 00:18:01,470 --> 00:18:04,130 are different in terms of what the land means to 275 00:18:04,130 --> 00:18:07,490 them. For Hassan, the soil, the land is everything. 276 00:18:07,710 --> 00:18:09,790 It's his future. It's his livelihood. It's his 277 00:18:09,790 --> 00:18:12,870 life. He's part of this. He cares more about it 278 00:18:12,870 --> 00:18:17,070 than anything else. But for Ari, the land is dirt. 279 00:18:18,610 --> 00:18:24,070 Hassan is a farmer. Ari goes to study medicine. I 280 00:18:24,070 --> 00:18:28,290 think here the fact that he uses a stone for a 281 00:18:28,290 --> 00:18:31,030 pillow rather than, like, I don't know, simply lying 282 00:18:31,030 --> 00:18:34,570 on the ground without anything in between you and 283 00:18:34,570 --> 00:18:41,270 the land could indicate how he's possibly... true... 284 00:18:41,270 --> 00:18:43,970 yeah, because he says like the dust of the land, but 285 00:18:43,970 --> 00:18:47,730 the stone he uses still creates some kind of a 286 00:18:47,730 --> 00:18:52,610 buffer zone, you know? You see the point here? It's 287 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 mixing 289 00:19:01,030 --> 00:19:04,670 with the land, like uniting with the land. He uses 290 00:19:04,670 --> 00:19:08,110 something else in between. I'm not sure if this 291 00:19:08,110 --> 00:19:12,630 indicates again how hard he's trying to, he's 292 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 294 00:19:20,710 --> 00:19:23,820 his motherland. You don't know if this is your 295 00:19:23,820 --> 00:19:26,060 land; you don't want to, and you're not sure how 296 00:19:26,060 --> 00:19:29,680 you... if you have this experience, if you have a 297 00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:32,080 plot of land here or there, if you're farmers 298 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:34,580 originally, farmers wouldn't be... if you go to 299 00:19:34,580 --> 00:19:36,420 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 on, 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 00:19:44,300 --> 00:19:47,940 this is their land. Their life; this is part of 304 00:19:47,940 --> 00:19:50,700 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, 307 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 309 00:20:04,730 --> 00:20:08,530 the problem with the Zionists, the Zionists in 310 00:20:08,530 --> 00:20:12,070 general, is that—many problems actually—is that 311 00:20:12,070 --> 00:20:16,430 in transition there's something called inclusion 312 00:20:16,430 --> 00:20:20,250 and exclusion. And that's seriously dangerous. If 313 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 317 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*, the 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 327 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 00:21:11,530 --> 00:21:14,010 They simply don't exist. History in Palestine 331 00:21:14,010 --> 00:21:16,250 begins the moment the Jews came to Palestine. 332 00:21:19,210 --> 00:21:21,450 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 335 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:37,660 land, has been waiting for the return of the Jews, 336 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 realized 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 kinds 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 352 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 destruction. In 1947, '48, '49, and 355 00:22:53,980 --> 00:22:57,340 those 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, 358 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. 360 00:23:08,590 --> 00:23:12,410 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 372 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 considered 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 the road. I 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 means 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, 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 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're 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 of 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 a 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 --> 00:41:50,8 667 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 poem, 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." 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 artificiality; 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 al-Barghouti, Samiha al-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 equate them. 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, I'll 705 00:46:04,240 --> 00:46:06,440 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 get to Jerusalem. There are 731 00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:38,020 people in Jerusalem who can't get 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. 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 ka'ak, 746 00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:30,160 but 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 virtual 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 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 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 and 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 Jerusalem. 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 falafel. 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 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 bring 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 Jerusalems: 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 sheets, the towels, the white 792 00:51:34,100 --> 00:51:34,940 sheets, the towels. 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 it 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 it 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 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, is labeled 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 statement, being critical 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 the perspective of an Israeli who is 821 00:53:20,660 --> 00:53:23,380 not, 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 actually building 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 also about the reality on the ground in 842 00:54:48,400 --> 00:54:50,940 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 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 checkpoints. 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 a 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 --> 00:55:56 889 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 a muted 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, uh, 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 means by the 914 00:59:56,670 --> 00:59:59,550 wall, that restriction, maybe the UN put, 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 he 925 01:00:44,790 --> 01:00:48,210 thinks 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.