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By Rana Abdullah
There are no heroes in the country of my birth. Heroes put themselves in danger then prevail. When every waking hour heralds a life or death decision, while the world turns a collective blind eye to this crime, and buries their shame in a mountain of platitudes, there are no heroes, for in my country danger is a normal condition. If heroism is an estimation of valour in the face of overwhelming odds, then no amount of plaudits, medals or recommendations will ever suffice for the people of Palestine.
Theft, insults, denigrations and death, the legacy of a war we did not start, a colonization we could not seek, a wrong not ours to right and the world's recompense for a crime we did not commit against a people we barely knew. There are no heroes in the country of my birth, for heroes are admired.
Generations will come and go; nations will decorate their sons and daughters for deeds far less than we have endured, yet nations will not regard us as worthy. In years to come purple hearts will bleed, paradigms of victor's will be traversed, irons crossed, legions will be honored, federations made heroic and glory will be ordered for a nation. Yet my country is forbidden a defense. In years to come people will say, 'I knew a country once, a country destroyed by degrees and increments and a people too insignificant for the accolade of genocide.'
My Uncle
I knew a hero once. He was a Palestinian. No one ever cared enough to pin a medal to his breast yet he was a hero all the same. He was a man of dignity, fortitude, courage and as he was born to tread the streets of theft, denigration and death, so I too was inspired by his example. That I was born to a cause was his easiest lesson, and that I was born to oppose the occupation of my homeland was less an instruction than a state of being.
Mahmoud Hamshari my uncle - "khali" in Arabic - had no need to tell me that my country has been occupied for 65 years, and that the occupiers have treated every single international edict and appeal, for...
