I know she is crying. Her tears fall on the wrong side, into the bottomless well inside her.

Toughness found fertile soil in the hearts of Palestinians, and the grains of resistance embedded themselves in their skin. Endurance evolved as a hallmark of refugee society. But the price they paid was the subduing of tender vulnerability. They learned to celebrate martyrdom. Only martyrdom offered freedom. Only in death were they at last invulnerable to Israel. Martyrdom became the ultimate defiance of Israeli occupation.

I know she is crying. Her tears fall on the wrong side, into the bottomless well inside her.

Would words shatter the immensity of life and death so close to one another?

We come from the land, give our love and labor to her, and she nurtures us in return. When we die, we return to the land. In a way, she owns us. Palestine owns us and we belong to her

The land and everything on it can be taken away, but no one can take away your knowledge or the degrees you earn

For if life had taught her anything, it was that healing and peace can begin only with acknowledgment of wrongs committed.