An Open Letter from Palestinian Poet Dareen Tatour, Under House Arrest

BY MLYNXQUALEY on JUNE 29, 2016    • (Arabic Literature)
On Sunday, June 26, leading Israeli newspaper Haaretz ran a board editorial titled “Free the Palestinian Poet, Arrested for Expressing her Opinions.” The justice system didn’t listen: The next day, the court in Nazareth postponed the decision of whether to relieve Dareen Tatour’s detention until July 18.

Also on Monday, a few Israeli writers held a solidarity event, and the poet wrote an open letter of thanks, published by the website Free Haifa in the original Arabic, a Hebrew translation, and in English. The English translation below is Yoav Haifawi’s with slight emendations.

One Who Does Not Thank Others, Does Not Thank God

With these few words, I open my letter to all of you who have stood by me and my family in these difficult times and through this harsh experience.
I thank you with all my heart. Thanking you is perhaps the least I can do while I am in this detention and exile, far from everything I’d lived through before my imprisonment. In spite of all the difficulties I have experienced and still experience, your stand alongside me — and your voice, which has reached me — are like rays of light which give me the power for steadfastness.

My message to all of you, without exception, is the message of a loving woman, striving for peace and safety, and hoping that justice and equality will be shared by all human beings everywhere. A woman whose life has been condensed to a pen, a paper and an image… I dreamed one day about the existence of people like you, people looking for dreams amid all the nightmares that live around us and between us.

Yes, I thank you, and I put all the hopes of humanity in your hands — those hopes that you see, hear, and feel.

I love you.

Dareen Tatour

June 27, 2016

You can stay abreast of Dareen’s case at freehaifa.wordpress.com and facebook.com/FreeDareenTatour/.