lie still for a moment 
    but only for a moment -- longer and you may 
endanger our lives 
    and our freedom. 
listen -- watch 
can you hear it -- do you see 
or do you just not care? 
are you deaf and blind 
or do you just not dare 
    to cry out? 

lie still for a moment 
    and listen to their cries 
to the crackling of flames 
    the burning tires and trees 
and the cracking of bones 
as, blind-folded, they are led away 
to illegal living deaths. 

seems you left them no choice -- 
    closing to them all mode of expression 
yet they still have the power 
    even with arms tied behind their backs 
to rebel against 20 years of oppression. 
they still have the strength to dream 
    and to fight for that dream 
just as we fought for ours 40 years back. 

why can't you see yourselves in their determined 12-year-old faces? 
you hated your oppressor -- why shouldn't they hate theirs? 
    and how many of them will you kill and beat senseless 
before you realize that what you're fighting so stubbornly 
    will happen anyway, with your blessing or without. 

now arise -- 
    but careful not to make too many waves 
    careful not to drown us in our god-forsaken lethargy. 
    careful not to shake us out of our delicate fantasy-world 
where it's so easy to keep the blinders on 
    and continue as if nothing's changed. 
    you risk reminding us that our sons are turning into 
brutal beasts just 9 kilometers away. 
you might remind us of what we meant this country to be -- 
    seems a long-ago forgotten dream 
now abandoned by the side of the road, fatally wounded and writhing. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

what do you mean when you call me a radical? 

do you mean that I'm peace-loving and think aggression 
    wrong 
when instead of pulling the trigger 
I break out in song? 
do you mean I'm willing to talk with the 'enemy' 
    because to me they're human inside 
and that when someone's killed, part of me has also died... 

I thought we were chosen, thought we'd be different 
perhaps history didn't always repeat 
but oppressed became oppressor once again, in our land 
and I see it as a moral defeat. 

so I take to the streets to cry out in protest 
I won't be a party to oppression 
and together with Palestinian brothers and sisters 
we'll fight against all forms of repression. 

went to a demonstration the other night 
and there we were -- Palestinians and Israelis -- 
    side by side 
democracy and freedom of all are at stake 
and now there's nowhere left to hide. 

all we can do is fight!! 

                                 Yonit Yogev, 9/10/1988 




Mid-East Realities
www.middleeast.org

Source: http://www.middleeast.org/articles/2002/3/692.htm