It amazes me how much Palestinians are connected to their land, their heritage, their culture. Generation after generation born outside Palestine and the majority of us have never stepped a foot on this holy land, yet we are connected to it emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. We are attached to it through stories passed on from generation to generation, we are attracted to its beauty and most importantly we need to feel that we have a home and an identity.
We are Palestinian, we say … But what does that really mean to someone who has never seen that land? What does it mean to someone who hasn’t lived the real true struggle of a Palestinian living there? What does it mean to someone who has lived in several countries and has had several places to call ‘home’. Who are we really? I was born in Kuwait, raised in Australia and now residing in Canada. I hold nothing that says ‘Palestinian’ on it. I am Kuwaiti by birth, Australian and Canadian by citizenship. My parents escaped Palestine for a better life in Kuwait, only to escape again to Australia for yet another better life. Our fellow Muslim Arab countries treated us like aliens on the place we called home, on the only home we knew…
We are Palestinian, we say … We represent a different struggle than those living on the holy land. We are the true definition of ‘identity crisis’ The reality is most of us will go through life not knowing who we really are or why we live so far away from our ‘home’. We will go through life never knowing how it feels to belong, how it feels to have a land.
We are Palestinian, we say … A nationality that has a curse tagged to it, you are immediately looked down upon, you are immediately treated differently by your own people. Unless you are lucky enough to spend years in the West to get a citizenship, then your curse is removed and you become as worthy and human as others.
We are Palestinian, we say … Yet we live thousands of miles away from this land, some of us don’t speak the language and some of us cant even point to a village on the map where we ‘originally’ came from, for the simple fact that it doesn’t exist anymore! Yet we still call ourselves Palestinian, we still love this part of our crushed identity.
We are Palestinian …
Photo credit: Funky64 (www.lucarossato.com) / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND
Inside My mind ... 
Well done dalia
Another great piece dalool .. 🙂
I like how described us as ppl with an identity crisis … totally agree .. but getting a western passport isn’t respected everywhere unfortunately. .. I was in transit in egypt years ago .. the officer flipped through the pages of my canadian passport and asked … are you palestinian to which I answered yes .. he said take a seat plz … I waited for over an hr before they ascorted me outside .. got me onto to the transfer bus which took me straight to my hotel… everone else had already left but me … because I’m originally palestinian ..
Great work dalool.
We had UAE national day 2 days back. I was actually jealous. I envied the way people were so proud of their country. How people had that sense of belonging. How ppl were so full of joy and were celebrating from their hearts. The country had so much to give to its ppl. I was saddened by the fact that we never experienced this feeling. I pray that one day we will inshalah.
Great blog dalool … Thank you for giving me a chance to read it … I hope you don’t mind my replay …. I was born in the holly land Palestine under the name of ” Israel citizen ” Arab 48 … Those people who rather to stay under Israel rules and name of Israel citizen than leaving there land to be stolen … Yet I feel that I never belong not to the land or to the ppl … The pain of what palestin becom and the fact of seeing the enemy ruling our land .. The descremenation is outstanding …
Anwar which part of Palestine r u from ?
My town have a history .. It’s called Kufur Qasem … In 1956 the jowish have lucked the villege and they stoped whoever coming back from work and shot them dead in cold blood … There was 49 man,women and childern who was shot in that black day … My grandfather was one of them ,, my dad was 1 year old at that time … Until this day my town gather in the same place the victim were kild in October 29 every year … To remember the (shohadaa) and keep passesing the story to our children and making the jowish aware that we will never forget or forgive !!!!!
Excellent work dalool
This is exactly how we all feel and it’s funny how now we get attached to any country that treats us like human beings and call it home, I think it’s simply because we want to belong. I think people of other races will not understand this as much as Palestinians do.
Keep up the good work
Thanks nada 🙂
A beautiful piece
Nice Dalool- So sad how many of us are out there. Trying to relate to an image based on abstract thoughts. I was fortunate enough to see Palestin for the first time in 2011. I was merely a visitor! It was disheartening. Keep’em coming.