A friend of a friend took this fresh picture of a giant key-of-return in Bethlehem just a couple of days ago. I’m not sure if it’s true, but this key is going to be registered in Guinness Book as the biggest in the world. But regardless, how cool is this? if you look closely, it says on the key “not for sale” in Arabic!
I like this.
I shared something on my website not long ago which I titled “Going Home.” It’s excerpts from a 1997 interview highlighting Mahmoud Darwish’s return to Haifa after more than 35 years in exile.
On going home, he says: “I felt the ecstasy of a person who had not emigrated. I felt as though I had not emigrated, and that the time and geographical spans that had separated me from my family, friends and people had been metaphorical, because I had always been there, for even when I had visited far-flung corners of the earth, my point of reference had always been there, my heart had been there, and so had my first language.”
Sometimes, I could be relatively indifferent about the issue of Right of Return …I’m not sure why… sometimes I think - though not believe - if it’s the sole issue standing in the way of a stop to the chaos, bloodshed and injustice and the only issue getting in the way of peace then perhaps we can make concessions … perhaps compensation can work instead … however, deep within me I strongly believe that each Palestinian exiled from his homeland has the right to go back and live in it… and reading what Mahmoud Darwish says - as his words apply to all exiled Palestinians - about going home reinforces my belief in the Right of Return…