Asfoor
I really love most of Marcel Khalifé's music, but my absolute favourite song of his has to be Asfoor (the sparrow). I thought given the context it would be appropriate to post the lyrics...
A sparrow stood at my window.
And said “Oh, little one.Hide me with youI beg you.”
I said, “Where are you from?”
“From the limits of the sky,” he said.
I said “Where did you come from?”
“From the neighbor’s house” he answered.
I said, “What are you afraid of?”
“I escaped from the cage”, he said
I said “What are your feathers?”
“Fate took care of them,” he said.
A tear fell on his cheek.
His wings tucked underneath him,
He landed on the ground and said
“I want to walk, but I can’t.”
I held him to my heart,
Hurting from his wounds
Before he finally broke out of his jail
He broke his voice and his wingsI said,
“Do not fear,See the sun rising?”
He looked toward the forest
Saw the tides of freedom glitter,
He saw wings flutter
Beyond the high gates.
He saw the forest flying.
On the wings of freedom.
This song is generally taken to be a metaphor for the occupation Palestinians live with.
Another quite clever and touching song of his Mountassiba Al-Kamati Amshee (With Straight Posture I Walk) really says all the right things about the occupation, I think
“With straight posture I walk,
with the forehead up high I walk.
In my hand is an olive branch,
and on my shoulder is my coffin.
And on I walk.”
A sparrow stood at my window.
And said “Oh, little one.Hide me with youI beg you.”
I said, “Where are you from?”
“From the limits of the sky,” he said.
I said “Where did you come from?”
“From the neighbor’s house” he answered.
I said, “What are you afraid of?”
“I escaped from the cage”, he said
I said “What are your feathers?”
“Fate took care of them,” he said.
A tear fell on his cheek.
His wings tucked underneath him,
He landed on the ground and said
“I want to walk, but I can’t.”
I held him to my heart,
Hurting from his wounds
Before he finally broke out of his jail
He broke his voice and his wingsI said,
“Do not fear,See the sun rising?”
He looked toward the forest
Saw the tides of freedom glitter,
He saw wings flutter
Beyond the high gates.
He saw the forest flying.
On the wings of freedom.
This song is generally taken to be a metaphor for the occupation Palestinians live with.
Another quite clever and touching song of his Mountassiba Al-Kamati Amshee (With Straight Posture I Walk) really says all the right things about the occupation, I think
“With straight posture I walk,
with the forehead up high I walk.
In my hand is an olive branch,
and on my shoulder is my coffin.
And on I walk.”
posted by Andrew at 12:12 am
5 Comments:
Andrew: you seem to want to believe the "occupation" is something Israel wants or something the Palestinians are so eager to get rid of. Don't be naive, bro. Israel would like nothing better than to get out of the "territories" but we can't because of the simpe reason that the Palestinians you're so quick to admire would immediately begin attacking Israel. Does your memory take you back as far as '93 and Oslo. We were the ones who created the P.A. and invited Arafat to "return" to Israel and we were the ones who armed the P.A. Do you remember what followed!?
BTW: most decent Palestinians would prefer to live under Israeli "occupation" than self-rule because they realize they're leaders are corrupt and only want to reap the benefits of terror.
That's a good point...very good in fact.
I guess my position is more of a less pragmatic and 'realistic' one in this post.
If the world were fair and just should white Australians have ever come to this country? no way!
but does that mean that now we have no right to live here? of course not. White Australians have rights to land here, but the emphasis MUST be on the original inhabitants here, our dear indigenous peoples :)
If the world were fair and just should Israel have been created in the way it was? No way.
Does it mean that Israeli's have no rights and should be driven out? no way.
But the emphasis needs to be on recognising the modern pre-existing occupation of the land by Palestinians and work towards enfranchising them in a mutually beneficial system; just as the same needs to be done in Australia.
The political and practical realities are much different and a lot harder to negotiate.
That's my point of view though. I'm not anti-Israel...
I'm a white, middle classed male; possibly the most privilleged social class in the world. My point is that I have no idea what it's like to experience racism or severe discrimination, and so could not comment on the rights of Jewish peoples to have a recognised homeland even if I wanted to.
What I can comment on (and I feel needs to be commented on) is the incarnation that state takes. One founded on ethnic cleansing, discrimination and disposession is not acceptable. Modern Israel and Australia both have dubious roots, but they have to be accepted if we want to stop the killing and do something NOW to change the prevailing social order in both countries.
Here's to positive change!
Andrew: I agree that the beginnings of Australia were "dubiouis" ones. Israel's, however, weren't. There were few local Arabs living on this land in the late 19th century when Jews began arriving en-masse from Eastern Europe. Maybe some 200,000 bedouins(not Palestinians as the first "Palestinians" were actually Jews who had come to Palestine and were labelled thus by neighboring Arabs as a sing of hostility and menace) lived in the land known today as "Israel" at the turn of th century. This number varies according to different accounts but nowhere is it higher than about 500,000.
Even before the first Zionists started arriving, Jews had always been present in Palestine. There were, in fact, plenty of Jews in the Middle East before the Arab states transferred their indigenous Jews in 1947 as a reaction to the founding of the State of Israel. If things were to be fair, as you suggest, Israel should have the right to transfer all of the local Arabs--not just "occupy" some land because that's exactly what the Arab's did to us.
Andrew: I was hoping to get a response. So...what do you think? As you know, I'm more than willing to agree to disagree as the American saying goes:)
This might turn into a 'contested history war'; which I think are completely pointless.
They go right past the evidence to argue semantics about the past and divert attention from actual occurances (not to mention completely IGNORING the PRESENT problems which can easily be grasped and understood by all, and are therefore not contestable)
So the actual occurances? Well Hundreds of Thousands of Palestinians are living in Refugee camps; argue all you want on the exacts of how they got there, but the fact is that they were put there after Jewish settlement. So I think there may have been the forced relocation you spoke of already.
The other actuality is that there are no longer Palestinian towns and cities where there once were. Again argue the specifics, but they were there until shortly after Jewish settlement.
Tell me what that says to you?
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