Who Cares about the Middle East?: Poems for Reflection and Conviction

The Israeli occupation of Palestinian land has lasted for decades in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The long-lasting nature of the occupation and its accompanying injustices and often violence, along with the expanding of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, have made it an ongoing challenge of diplomacy and humiliation for the Palestinians. The poems in this book address some of the difficult challenges facing Palestinians, such as displaced persons, neighbor love, anti-Semitism, apartheid, and children's PTSD. While the poems make no claims of lasting solutions, they emphasize that the beginning point is the realization that all human beings deserve respect from one another and that human dignity is the principle upon which all society must be based. Some of the poems address specific instances of violence and prejudice in the lives of Israelis and Palestinians and ask how we can move beyond them. The poems are arranged in five sections addressing issues related to (1) Apartheid, (2) Children of Palestine, (3) Faith (the roles of three faiths--Jewish, Christian, Muslim), (4) Injustice in many forms, and (5) the possibilities of Peace and a one-state solution.