Arrest of a Palestinian poet

[Happyvalleyfan]

Mosab Abu Toha was arrested trying to leave Gaza with his family, including a child who is a U.S. citizen. I wonder what his crime was.

He has won prizes - so wanted to read one of his poems.

untitled
A father wakes up at night, sees
the random colors on the walls
drawn by his four year old son.
But he’s dead after an airstrike.

The colors are about 4 feet high.
Next year, they would be 5 or 6.
But the painter is dead and the
museum has no new
paintings to show.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/20/palestinian-poet-mosab-abu-toha-arrested-by-israelis-in-gaza-family-says

Another poem:
What a Gazan Should Do During an Israeli Air Strike

Turn off the lights in every room / sit in the inner hallway of the house / away from the windows / stay away from the stove / stop thinking about making black tea / have a bottle of water nearby / big enough to cool down / children’s fear / get a child’s kindergarten backpack and stuff / tiny toys and whatever amount of money there is / and the ID cards / and photos of late grandparents, aunts, or uncles / and the grandparents’ wedding invitation that’s been kept for a long time / and if you are a farmer, you should put some strawberry seeds / in one pocket / and some soil from / the balcony flowerpot in the other / and hold on tight / to whatever number there was / on the cake / from the last birthday.

This was written in May 2023

I think his “crime” is being a known individual. Someone bringing attention to the area.

Apparently he's been released:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/israeli-forces-reportedly-detain-a-new-yorker-contributor

Thank goodness for that!

That is good news.

I don’t feel able you to look at nor share the terrible images coming out of Gaza, but his poems capture the emotional pain and terror of loosing a child and being in an air strike.

Given that they were written prior to the recent bombardment of Gaza by the IDF, it reinforces the fact that Palestinian parents have being seeing their children die and suffer prior to October the 7th.

How dare they. It should be up to the people from Gaza to leave or not as they choose.

This Israeli regime is a military for Palestinians.

The State of Israel just doesn’t want the world to hear what he has to say.

Why isn’t the State of Israel embarrassed? Through history, what sort of countries have arrested poets?

A military dictatorship.

Thank you.
Those packed things!

The grandparents’ wedding photo is heartbreaking especially as you think of family generations wiped out alongside the storeys of the houses.

How important it is to realise this was written last May, not after Oct 7 - the date when, according to Israel, Hamas ended the ceasefire.

It's like they want to kill anything of beauty and turn it all into ugly dust. If you kill a people's poets/artists/musicians you kill their soul. And it's the same if you kill their children. I am so glad this man seems to be OK now, but I think the killing of beauty is one of the worse crimes of this terrible attack on Gaza.

No Palestinian is safe from the genociders. Every Palestinian is a legitimate target for them, even those still in the womb.