Last week, the entire village of Susiya, located in the South Hebron Hills, received demolition orders. I wrote this piece as a small sliver of protest.

Susiya

is screaming softly

through small shards of sharp stones

and little puddles of water that crawl

out of broken wells chanting let us

exist let us exist chanting let us exist

and then evaporate into sunlight

can’t you hear the mumble of bulldozers

mouths full of houses and canvas and

dignity can’t you hear them

can’t you see we have archeology

as proof of our history

you Arabs are squatters Ishmaelites

intruders invaders

get out

Susiya

is silently signing a song

of history a song of village that remembers

a village that remember a village that remembers

a village that was will history remember this village

through its gasping or will it be recorded as dust

let us stop speaking poetics

and talk of what is

my government

which claims to have something to do with Judaism

which as far as I know has something to do with loving

the stranger something to do with having been strangers

something do with the strangeness of love

my government has laid plans

for Susiya to be

demolished

not one home

not five homes

all of the homes

my government

you have forgotten the dictate of loving the stranger

you have forgotten the dictators who treated you as a stranger

when I stand in Susiya you will tell me that I am a traitor

but my government you are misguided

lovers of my government you are misguided

supporters of my government you are misguided

Susiya

is a Palestinian village

but it is far more Jewish than your lawless law

it is far more Jewish than your cocked and ready rifles

it is far more Jewish

than you are