To soon will already be to late but hopefully soon...

Letter to an Israeli Mother – A Poem By Rassool Jibraeel Snyman You feed your baby I strap on my bombs Two faces of the same mirror I weep as the straps bite into my flesh The cry of my babies Ring in my ears Their bodies on the rubble of your bombs Tear me apart Why do you accuse me When it was you who made me Creature that I am That I am to become I just another victim of political ambition And ideological perversion I pity your children Housed in a house that was mine The key still framed on my wall A symbol of my hope That justice will prevail And you will give it back to me Because it is right And you are just Caring Human And humane For decades I have withstood The elements Winds and rain Struggled to feed my children In man made ghettoes Even as you found love Made love Built a home And raised children In a home that is mine I try to forget but I cannot My memories are in the walls The ceilings And floors A change of paint Is not a change of truth Nor ownership Ownership changes by mutual consent And good faith As you sit and gaze out of the window That overlooks Jerusalem Are you not in awe of the view Of the gentle winds that blow That caress your face I too sat there once My favourite spot And now yours too Do you not feel my presence The serenity we could both share In a land that is generous enough for both of us Do you not in the still of the night Or moments of silence See my ghost wandering Lamenting Weeping softly At the crimes against me Against my children Against my people You love the house deeply And so do I At the foot of the stairs Hung the portrait Of Hassan and I Smiling on our wedding day I am sure yours hangs there too today It is the best place for it Brides look so radiant On their wedding days A gift from the gods perhaps Your wedding gown must have been perfect Your smile brilliant And your husband dashing In his black suit And silk tie My smile has faded now Turned to tears of loss Of longing Shadows of what was Do you not pity me As you celebrate your wedding anniversary With wine From grapes grown on my fields That was taken from me too Or your relief at the return of your husband From the sentry post Where he shot my husband My neighbor And the child next door Will you grieve with me Another human has died Another wall of hatred was built How do I reach out to you Or you to me When between us is a concrete monster Built on our tears And dispossession That snakes through the land Separating us We who have shared this land for centuries In peace In harmony As neighbors As friends Are now apart Prisoners of circumstance Victims of time As you read this letter You might be sitting At the corner of the garden Under the vines Where I used to sit When I need moments of solitude It is right next to the stone Where young Ahmed fell and bruised his knee I recall kissing it better And drying his tears Undoubtedly your child fell there too Bruised his knee And you wiped away his tears Our memories may well be the same Sisters of a different kind Mother to mother Palestinian to Israeli Human to human I ask that you read my letter My anguish My pain My loss And just as I take off the straps Of that which destroys With a loud bang And walk away from it I ask that you give back to me That which kills slowly Silently Insidiously Painfully Give me back my home My life My dignity My history My memories I ask that you too walk away From the injustice Of owning what is mine And giving our children A different legacy Of peace Of friendship Of humanity I ask that you read my letter Not as an Israeli But as a caring mother And decent human being Mayhap in the eyes of time Your reply could change our destinies Break the circles that bind us And we all find peace And an assured tomorrow http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15364

Likely never...didn't you get the memo? It is disgusting that Israel seems to be able to do as it likes with no accountability. Any of us who ask for that are branded anti-Semites as I am sure I will be for even saying this much.

Are you kidding? Since when are people held accountable for war crimes, unless the whole world is outraged? They just haven't pissed off the right people yet. That's the only thing missing. A human life is worth nothing, unless the PTB have lost something, too. Maybe if we can get our own guys tried for THIER war crimes, a wave of spite from them will rise up and out to the rest of the world. +5

The world at large is conspiring on this one; however, little by little people are waking up to it. Here's a petition to the International Crimes court asking just for that very thing. If enough people sign it, maybe the powers that be won't be able to ignore it any longer: Complaint Against Israel http://www.tlaxcala.es/detail_campagne2.asp?ref_campagne=10&lg=en

It took 4 years for Americans to realize that war crimes and atrocities were happening during the second world war! They are a little slow and as we know misinformed. Hang in there, it's coming!