{"id":45406,"date":"2025-12-03T12:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T20:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45406"},"modified":"2025-12-03T12:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T20:07:08","slug":"why-do-you-write-in-the-midst-of-a-genocide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/03\/why-do-you-write-in-the-midst-of-a-genocide\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do you write in the midst of a genocide?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I know my poem won\u2019t \/ prevent the next bomb \/ won\u2019t even save itself \/ from choking under the rubble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wearenotnumbers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/44c01-rsz_20746203_1912493129010993_8640425650548369350_o-200x200.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wearenotnumbers.org\/contributors\/basman_derawi\/\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/wearenotnumbers.org\/contributors\/basman_derawi\/\">Basman Derawi<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>November 18, 2025 (wearenotnumbers.org)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wearenotnumbers.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1000046032.jpg\" alt=\"A young bearded man in a medical shirt, in profile by a window.\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-58609\"><em>Abed El Hameed (Abood). Photo: Basman Derawi<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I know my poem won\u2019t<br>prevent the next bomb,<br>won\u2019t even save itself,<br>from choking under the rubble.<br>So why do I write in the midst of a genocide?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every time I ask myself this question,<br>the words of Nour Aldeen Hajjaj,<br>a young poet killed by Israeli missiles<br>that bombed his neighborhood<br>&nbsp;of Al-Shuja\u2019iya in December 2023,<br>echo in the space, penetrate to my soul:<br>\u201cI do not consent to my death being passing news.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hear the voice of Dr. Refaat Alareer, reciting,<br>\u201cIf I must die,<br>you must live<br>to tell my story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I see the smiles of Essa and Ouda<br>enjoying our last&nbsp;<em>tasha*<\/em>&nbsp;on Gaza\u2019s beach<br>when Essa beat Ouda again at cards<br>then we all enjoyed spicy grilled chicken,<br>its citrusy sumac flavor, while discussing<br>our dreams of studying for our Master\u2019s<br>degree together, and traveling to Spain<br>to watch a soccer game live without having &nbsp;<br>to stress our bladders during a long<br>exhausting circuitous journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think of my friend, Abed El Hameed,<br>who I used to call Abood,<br>killed recently while going<br>to his job as a physiotherapist at<br>M\u00e9decins Sans Fronti\u00e8res in Deir Al Balah,<br>the so-called safe zone.<br>In addition to physiotherapy,<br>Abood was obsessed with history,<br>especially the history of Gaza,<br>its historical monuments,<br>like the Great Omari Mosque,<br>the Church of Saint Porphyrius,<br>Qasr al-Basha, that the occupier<br>has been hungry to erase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I tell you the age of Eliaa, my nephew.<br>If the most moral army in the world<br>had let him live until next June,<br>when he would have turned four,<br>he could have told you himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t write to humanize Essa, Ouda,<br>Nour, Refaat, Eliaa and Abood,<br>all passionate, resilient, caring human beings.<br>I write to prepare myself for our meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>*Tasha is when friends hang out together, enjoy their time, and have fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Editor\u2019s note:&nbsp;<\/strong>Essa Fayez Essa and Ouda Al Haw&nbsp;are also commemorated in another of Basman\u2019s poems,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/wearenotnumbers.org\/we-will-beat-you-next-time\/\">We will beat you next time<\/a>. The full statement of Noor Aldeen Hajjaj is found at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gazapassages.com\/noor-aldeen-hajjaj\/english#:~:text=I%20am%20not%20a%20number,the%20space%20of%20a%20moment.\">Passages through Genocide<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know my poem won\u2019t \/ prevent the next bomb \/ won\u2019t even save itself \/ from choking under the rubble. Basman Derawi Abed El Hameed (Abood). Photo: Basman Derawi I know my poem won\u2019tprevent the next bomb,won\u2019t even save itself,from choking under the rubble.So why do I write in&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/03\/why-do-you-write-in-the-midst-of-a-genocide\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45406"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45406"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45407,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45406\/revisions\/45407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}