Salman Masalha
In the wake of “In the Land of Israel: Essays,” by Amos Oz, 1983.
Salman Masalha ||
Longings for Jerusalem
It’s been many a day since first I came to Jerusalem in the 1970s. After all these years I’ve learned that their number can be considered as the blink of an eye in comparison to all the years of the city that falls and rises, falls and rises...
All Clear
Salman Masalha
ALL CLEAR
Amir hadn’t laughed so hard for quite some time, and certainly not upon hearing an announcement from the Home Front Commander. With his forces alert on all fronts he had learnt on his own flesh, the country’s flesh, the meaning of the Jewish experience. The more he tortured her, the more pleasure she felt and burst into...
Hearts and Diamonds
Salman Masalha
Hearts and Diamonds
At this summer’s end, ill-assorted sounds mingle in the air. During the days of this month of Ramadan that has just knocked at the city gates, unsynchronized voices of muezzins cut through the sky. Each voice, in its own way, rises from...
All Birds Lead to Rome
Salman Masalha
ALL BIRDS LEAD TO ROME
At the end of the 1950s, I was a young boy, and quite naïve and innocent. It never crossed my little Arab mind to wonder about the hidden intentions of the flocks of birds that would land, as the olive harvest approached, in the fields of olive trees of the village of Maghar that looks out over the Sea of...
Going Back with Words
Salman MasalhaGoing Back with Words'Isaba al-Jurjani, a medieval Arab poet, divided the world's civilizations into two. One is that of the Persians, who belong to Sasan, founder father of the Persians, the second is that of the Arabs who belong to Qahtan, founder father of the Arabs. The Persians in his verse are praised as being the best of peoples,...
GM Sheikh: "Kahat Kabir"
"Kahat Kabir" - Says Kabir
Visual interpretations after Kabir's verses
by
Gulam Mohammed Sheikh
1- (1997)"Ya ghat bheetar soor chand haiYa ghat nau lakh taara""The sun and moon reside in this vesselso do nine hundred thousand stars."***2- (2001)"Ek achambha dekha re bhaiThaada...
ETERNITY, Kabir (d. 1518)
Kabir (d. 1518)
ETERNITY
The kings shall go, so will their pretty queens,
courtiers and all proud ones shall go.
Pundits chanting the Vedas shall go,
and go will those who listen to them.
Masochist yogis and bright intellectuals shall go,
go the moon and sun and water and...
Hopeless
Salman MasalhaHopelessThe shape of the new Israeli government as it looks right now means one thing. It means the postponement of the dealing with the main issue that has caused this land to bleed in the past decades. I mean the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.Looking at both sides, the shape of the coming Israeli government on the one hand and on the...
What's Next?
Salman MasalhaWhat's Next?Speaking about peace after the war on Gaza may look difficult, but it is time to deal with the core issues that are preventing peace between Palestinians and Israelis: Israelis must think Israelis first, not Jews, and Palestinians must think Palestinians first, not Muslims. Otherwise the conflict will become a deep religious...
Scenes
Salman MasalhaScenesThe street paved with illusionslike an unraveled dream,the sleepers on the bedding of their humiliationand the awake on a broken sidewalk.The weepers over their bitter fateand the seekers of success,The hiders of their prayer in their heartsand those who have gone with the wind.The boat forgotten beside the riverin the morning light...
Two Enemies in the Same Pit
Salman Masalha
Two Enemies in the Same Pit
One of the most difficult problems facing the Islam-based Arab societies is the absence of a culture of reckoning of conscience. In other societies reckoning of conscience is an established element of the culture and allows for self-correction, but in the Arab societies there are no such mechanisms....
On the One Hand, on the Other Hand
Salman MasalhaON THE ONE HAND, ON THE OTHER HANDThese things must be said in an unvarnished way. The situation that has developed in this land that stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River – call it the land of Israel if you like, or call it Palestine or any other name that crosses your lips – is above all a man-made tragedy, though...
