Arwa kindly translated the Arabic letter that I had posted:
"A Letter to my Father on his Fifth Anniversary
In our discussion, Dad, about Arab nationalism, communism,
religious expansion in our countries and Palestine’s liberation I admit I was
always critical. But today I find within me something I didn’t realize I’d had
and I want to tell you about it. It has nothing to do with analysis and
theories. It’s more like a painful ailment that doesn’t heal. I feel loss and
alienation. How could one spend an entire lifetime without a homeland!
Why am I feeling this now? I don’t know. However, it seems
inevitable that there will be a day when one wakes up to realize that one’s
pursuits in life aren’t really life, but more like attempts to forget or ignore
life, loss, identity, homeland and Palestine. I’d thought Palestine was a part
of speech. Father, I belong to a generation that cannot be blamed for this
because Palestine is a homeland we never experienced. How can I long for
something I’ve never known especially since Palestine, in my mind, is
associated with worry, security procedures and a confiscated childhood. Every
time I heard your favorite phrase “every span of Palestine” I’d realize that
the road ahead was still far. This preoccupied me when I was a child: when
would we arrive! Until this worrisome moment…
Today I know, Father, that a quiet life without concerns has
no flavor. It has no past, no future, no memory, no soul, no warmth, no
homeland. This land, which is home to all prophets including Jesus, who came to
spread love, tolerance, peace and the bread of life: this land itself is the
bread of life. Today I share with you the ailment of incurable love and insist
on your historic slogan “return to Palestine, every span of Palestine” because
every span of Palestine is a part of our hearts. How would one bargain one’s
own flesh and soul? Today I share the optimism and confidence you’d always had,
which I didn’t understand at the time.
Today I share your confidence and certainty. Please don’t
ask me how or why. Does love move through birth or heritage or historical
inevitability, which you talked about frequently? I don’t know. But I want to
tell you today, five years after your departure, that I’m incurably in love and
I understand you today more than ever and I share your dream and certainty that
we will return."
