To be a Gazan during Ramadan

What does it mean to be a Gazan
during Ramadan

What does it mean to fast
when you have not eaten in days
when the bread you can get is made from ground animal feed
and fistfuls of grass

What does it mean to search for a place
to pray in solitude
when every wall has been reduced
to rubble

to search for a place quiet enough to hear your voice
as you plead to God
over the din of the army drones
and Apache helicopters

What does it mean to stand in the ruins
of a bombed out mosque
to straighten your lines
to stand shoulder to shoulder
and foot to foot
on a salvaged mat or blanket
next to your brothers
or sisters
and raise your voice
that resonant amen

God tells us the prayers of the oppressed
go straight to heaven
God tells us the prayers of the oppressed
reach Him in the sky
faster than the bombs
reach the hospitals
the schools
the churches
the refugee camps
the apartment blocks
the tents
the destroyed water wells
the bombed out sewage systems
the university halls and concert halls
the roads and fields and hotels and factories and heritage sites and malls and homes and
babies
and children
and women
and men

I am ashamed of my plush blankets
my soft bed
my full belly
ashamed of the 3 course iftars I will eat
when the sun sets
and the plates of shakshuka and ful
with coffee and jam
I will down without thought
in a hurry before dawn

What does it mean to be a Gazan
during Ramadan
to be a Canadian
during Ramadan
to know that my worldly fortune
is dumb luck
not of my doing
to know I could be you
and you could be me.

An aerial view of Palestinians performing Friday prayers among the rubble of the Al-Farooq Mosque, destroyed in an Israeli attack on March 01, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. [Abed Zagout – Anadolu Agency]

This week, I wasn’t going to share a separate resource, but then I saw this speech by Palestinian Poet and Journalist Mohammed El-Kurd that describes what it is to be a Gazan, and I felt that it needed to be shared. This video is from December 2023. Since that time, thousands more have died, whether from bombs, sniper bullets, starvation, or infections and diseases they would survive almost anywhere else in the world, where medical staff is not targeted and killed, where medical supplies are not blockaded.

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