Author

Dareen Tatour

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Palestinians flee from Gaza's beaches onto boats during the Palestinian nakba, 1949. (Photo: UNRWA)

Dareen Tatour writes, “The anniversary of the Nakba comes every May. But we, the Palestinians of 1948, live in memory of the Nakba in different circumstances than all other Palestinians. Here from within Israel, we can hear the sirens declare the beginning of the celebration observed by those who occupied us while we are still deeply rooted inside of our homeland We suffer because we feel alienated in our own country, we shout and scream and no one hears us.”

Dareen Tatour in Berlin. (Photo: Abu Salameh/courtesy of the author)

Rasmea Odeh dramatically had her visa revoked in Germany after pressure from the Israeli government grew to cancel her participation in a Berlin event on International Women’s Day. Her would be co-panelist, Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour explains how the events unfolded,”I was also supposed to read some of my poems. When I arrived at the event hall, I was surprised by something else. The venue was vandalized with graffiti.”

Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour writes, “After three years of prison, detention and political prosecution to which I have been subjected, here I am sitting in my room, freely caress my cats, touch life again and discover everything about it all over again as if I am living in a beautiful dream after a long nightmare . . . I entered prison for one poem but I was released with 101 poems.”

Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour was released from an Israeli prison nearly six weeks ago, yet can’t keep prison and the prisoners off her mind. One woman in HaSharon prison, Yasmin, told Dareen of women with “severe yellowness and paleness of the face, obvious darkness under the eyes, heavy hair loss; some prisoners had rash on their hands as a result of humidity and lack of sunlight.”