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prevent the future Jewish messiah to enter the town. So much
history lay in these walls.
2000-2001 www.arttoday.com
Mosques and synagogues had been destroyed since, and many
innocent people had perished to avoid the supreme humiliation:
being conquered.
Amina had put her fingers in the holes covering the walls of the
sacred town and she had whimpered over the blood that had
stained the most beautiful walls of the world.
Her people were not dead; they had lost their lives for her God,
Allah, and they still lived over the grave. The stains on the pavement
had purified her people's blood; they had gained Muslims their
dignity back. However, children were still used for diversion and
sacrificed for an ideal.
If the Jews had proven intractable and treacherous in many
occasions, Muslims had been intolerant and extreme against all
traditional teachings of Islam. But both had felt they were left with
little choice.
It was a pity on both sides.
The woman had stopped to observe Amina. She wore a
black hat and a long dress like most conservative Jewish women.
Suddenly, she talked to Amina.
"I am sorry we have disturbed you. My son is just a child; he has
a lot to learn yet. Where are you from? I saw that you have a
bilingual dictionary on your lap. Aren't you Arab?"
Amina was seized between a feeling of repulsion and a feeling of
hope that this woman could still have a gentle soul. She
remembered her first roots and declared proudly:
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Photo courtesy of: http://paltel.8m.com/photo4.html
"I am Palestinian."
As she was saying this, she pulled a scarf she was holding under the
dictionary. She knew the black and white Palestinian hijab was the
symbol of the Intifada resistance all over the world, even if some
Jews wore it themselves. She put it over her head slowly while
saying:
"But I was raised American. I just came back home to see what
your people have done with my country. Does this country "flows
with honey and milk" as in your scriptures
(Ex. 3:8)? Look at it! It is much more like a desert, isn't it?"
The Jewish woman stiffened and cast down her eyes.
"I am also American. I do not agree with all that has happened in
Palestine. But this is our homeland, the Land G-d has promised to
us, our haven against persecution and hatred."
"Hate? If you were so afraid of hatred, why did you steal from
us?"
"We did not steal anything from anybody! The Land of Israel is
our Promised Land; it belongs to us rightfully! It is written in our
sacred book: Gen. 12:7, 13:15, 15:18, 17:8.
G-d promised it to the descendants of Abraham. Even a substantial
portion of Jewish law is tied to this land, and can only be performed
there! Just walking on it can gain us a place in the world to come.
We pray to be reincarnated here, on this Sacred Land that was
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