Poetry ww.aljazeerah.info
Human Price of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
Israeli daily aggression on the Palestinian people
Mission and meaning of Al-Jazeerah
Cities, localities, and tourist attractions
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Chicago's 4 Seasons to Rafah and Darfur
By Sam Hamod
May 30, 2004
This morning, in California
We are being served up
The Travel Channel, talking
Of the 4 Seasons Hotel in Chicago,
Where the hostess is speaking of
“caviar facials” and “rose petal pedicures,”
and going out to “see the Cubs
at beautiful Wrigley Field,”
While
in Rafah, the refugees who
have been bombed by American made
F16s and Apache helicopters, are
Refugees from their own Refugee Camp,
Destroyed for the past 6 days
By Israeli tanks and bulldozers, are
Now barely scraping by
In the quickly donated UN tents, their
Temporary cement block homes
Razed to the ground, their water
Gone, their food
Gone,
Even their little zoo
Smashed, the animals killed and
Sent fleeing, while old women look
For photos in the rubble, and
Men shake their heads in
Disbelief, and Mohammed Juma
Holds the wounded raccoon in his
Arms, asking, “Why they do this?
What the zoo do to Israel?
What?”
At the 4 Seasons, there is a teapot
That can brew tea in 3 different ways,
Mid, strong and stronger—something unique
For what is called a “proper British tea”
There is no mention of the world outside
These plush and luxurious rooms, no thought
Of roaches and food banks running dry on the
South Side of Chicago, no mention or thought
About this contradictory
City, and the world news
That cries out for solutions, for
Aid, for monies that are being spent
To build more palaces like the 4 Seasons
In Darfur, Sudanese are
Strung out on the
Long lined roads to Chad,
Carrying sacks with
What is left of their lives,
Rationing what little water
They have, breaking off the
Dried, hardened bread, that
Must hold them against
The gnawing hunger
For more days, days
Without end, with hopes
For better in Chad
Meanwhile, in Washington, DC
President Bush is polishing off
His latest attempt at solving
The problem he created in Iraq, a
Problem that has bedeviled him
For over a year, Palestine is getting
Worse, the Africans are after him
For more aid—confused,
He has begun to wonder
Was it God or the devil who
Spoke with him, to
Invade Iraq—he lingers, then
Moves on, he has to find a way out,
He has to keep speaking, as if he has
A plan, hoping he can get away
With it, just like he did last year…
In Rafah, Abu Musa asks a reporter,
“Why Bush he tell Sharon is o.k. to kill us?
Why Bush he’s not stop Sharon?
Why Bush he’s give Sharon planes to bomb us?”
The British reporter turns away, wordless—
In Darfur, Im Fatma still clutches the
Only picture she’s ever had of her
3 year old, from the UN aide
taken a month before she starved
for these things
there are no words
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03). |
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