Rifqa Quotes

“What do you say to the children for whom the Red sea won't part?”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“I no longer feel the responsibility to give humans eyes for humanity.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“A woman tells him a pen is a sword. What’s a pen
to a rifle? Another fed him a sonnet. If Shakespeare
was from here he wouldn’t be writing.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“A few years ago, my grandmother and I watched men preach about patience on TV. Be patient! For after patience comes relief! My grandmother responded, After patience comes the grave!”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“A Palestinian man cannot just die. For him to be mourned, he must be in a wheelchair or developmentally delayed, a medical professional, or noticeably elderly at the very least. Even then, there are questions about the validity of his victimhood.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“Birth lasts longer than death. In Palestine death is sudden, instant, constant, happens in between breaths.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“In my brief twenty-two years of personhood, I have seen Palestine dwindle in size and spirit like a decaying loved one.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“Sing me a song of home
break a dish or two throw a stone or two
because the screams make me nostalgic:
I almost don't fear the sirens.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“My father told me: “Anger is a luxury we cannot afford.” Be composed, calm, still—laugh when they ask you, smile when they talk, answer them, educate them.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“I’ll hold my word to one of the men’s heads, and he’ll tremble as I press against his temple and say,
Say it.
Say it.
Say my name without spitting.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“In 2009, Zionist settlers, adorned with backpacks as if going on a weekend camping trip, entered our homes in occupied Jerusalem, escorted by Israeli occupation forces. They claimed that our home was theirs. After a tumultuous battle with two colonial committees in Israeli occupation courts, the settlers seized half of our home. Their takeover was part of a broader effort to ethnically cleanse the entirety of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. We were among 180 Palestinian families facing dispossession orders from Israeli courts that claimed that our homes were built on Jewish lands.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“Some of us sleep in our shoes, others sleep through the waged war.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“American settlers find their way into the front yard, and their billionaires take us to court. Their laws are daggers. Their laws are hungry. Armed colonizers peacock around my street with impunity.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“Not breaking cycles if that’ll break her heart. She’s had a tough life. These are her years to rest.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“There’s death in the eyes of this newborn. I heard the baby complain about a treacherous defeat, called it the same old catastrophe. A storm in his ear says it’s raging for silence. Thunder erupts when he’s shushed. What a worsened scenario. He skipped ahead. What do you do when your destiny is predetermined?”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa

“Invaders​came back once again, ​​​claimed the land with​​​fists and fire​excuses​beliefs of the chosen and the promised as if God is a real-estate agent.”
― Mohammed El-Kurd, Rifqa