I tried to explain to my late mother that she had to be expelled from Zarnouqa in 1948, leave her memories and house behind because a crazy bigot had committed a pogrom against Jews in Europe, but she neither wanted to understand (“what does that have to do with us?”) nor accept (why didn’t the Europeans give them a homeland?” until she passed away in a refugee camp, 90 km south of her village.
This song is dedicated to all Palestinian mothers who had to endure the unendurable in 1948.
Land of Sad Lemons
lyrics: AbdulRahim Mansour
How many seasons and years have gone by,
Lemon trees have withered,
Where are you?!
Without you, I am neither sane, nor insane!
I am WORN OUT!
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Simply & extraordinarily spiritual. Thank you, Haidar.
I was very moved by Taxi’s posting of this last year, and remain grateful for her contributions toward justice and truth. :
“This is undoubtedly the most famous and most beloved song about Palestine in the Arab world. Anthemic, a classic that’s soulfully dear to the hearts of Palestinians and their supporters across the wider Arab lands. It is the audio blueprint of the collective Arab people’s emotional resistance to the zionist occupation of Palestine. The pathos of the song as well as the message are embraced and deeply ingrained into at least several hundred million Arabs. I’m posting it up cuz I feel that it offers windows of insights into the collective heart of the ‘Arab street’ and its unexplored relationship with the Nakba, past and present. Arab governments inaction aside, how do Arab ‘people’ really feel about the Palestinian cause? This song will perhaps offer an indication …
R.I.P. to all the fallen in Palestine. Salutations to all the brave.”
https://platosguns.com/2015/05/15/commemorating-the-palestinian-nakba-1948-and-ongoing/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xNtzGTRx_8