West Bank: 30.0
Gaza: 29.8
Percentage of (29–60)-year-olds: 25.6
West Bank: 27.2
Gaza: 23.1
Percentage of (60+)-year-olds: 4.4
West Bank: 4.8
Gaza: 3.7
VI. IN WAITING
by Riyam Kafri Abu Laban
The following prose poem was written by Riyam Kafri Abu Laban and is included here to stand in for sentiments expressed to us by nearly every one of our interviewees, whether their narratives were included in this collection or not. To read Riyam’s narrative, see page 97.
Welcome to the land of waiting. People here are born waiting. Waiting to return to a homeland lost, and, from the looks of it, in the most desperate moments, lost forever.
Waiting to return to a home they still carry a key for in their hand, and a memory of in their heart; an image hidden in the folds of their dreams, and which, sadly, in the most realistic moments they know no longer exists.
In Palestine you wait for Ramadan, just like you wait for a breath of fresh air in a crowded restaurant in New York City. You wait for a permit to travel. You wait for schools to open, for the strike to end, for the checkpoint to be removed, for the accident rubble to be cleared. You wait for the Allenby Bridge to empty, for the doctor to finally come in on time.
In Palestine you wait. You wait for your dreams to come true.
You wait to leave the refugee camp, you wait to leave the village, you wait to arrive in Ramallah, you wait for destiny to embrace you—but she really never does. In fact, at the first stop she slaps you hard in the face and leaves her mark on you, and then you spend a lifetime waiting for that wound to heal. It never does.
In Palestine you wait to graduate, you wait to find a job, you wait for the next job to be better than the first.
In Palestine you wait to get married, then you wait to have children, then you wait for them to grow. Then you wait for them to become doctors—but trust me, they will not.
In Palestine you wait in line endlessly to receive permission to see the Palestine that is yours. And after you finally get a chance to see her, you realize she looks nothing like what your grandparents described, and nothing like the country your mother cries over. You wait to see her, only to realize that she has moved on, and did not wait for you.
In Palestine you wait for the birth of a child anxiously, with the hope she will not be born on a checkpoint.
In Palestine you wait for the hunger strike to end. You wait for sons and daughters to be released from prison—only to be rearrested again, at the next checkpoint while on their way to find a job and start a life.
In Palestine you wait for your paycheck only to have it hijacked by hungry loan payments and red hot gasoline prices.
In Palestine, you wait endlessly in Qalandiya to get home. Keep waiting. This might take hours.
You wait for the summer to end in the hope that winter will bring more peace, and you wait for winter to end in the hope that summer will bring more warmth.
In Palestine you wait for everything and everyone.
In Palestine you wait for the next eruption, the next Intifada, the next incursion, the next war—which always comes.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
From the very start, this project has been blessed by a cavalry of people who helped us get the book off the ground and sustained it (and us) for the four years it took to bring to completion.
Most importantly, thank you to all those who shared their stories with us. The people in this book, and the dozens whose stories didn’t make it in, have opened our minds and hearts and changed our lives. Thank you for letting us into your homes and into your lives for the last four years.
This book would not have gotten done without Luke Gerwe. Luke is not only an extraordinary editor, but also endlessly patient and never lost his sense of humor throughout many months of changes, rewrites, and pleas for just one more interview.
Big thanks to mimi lok for her willingness to take a risk and fight for two young editors tackling very complicated and contentious subject matter. She not only provided her brilliant editorial eye throughout the project but also talked us through some of the trickier emotional aspects of working with traumatic stories.
We also want to thank Dave Eggers, first for believing in the power of the story enough to start an unlikely and inspiring organization like Voice of Witness. And second, for believing in our project and putting both the resources and name of his organization behind it. We love Voice of Witness, and couldn’t be more proud to work with such an all-star group of people dedicated to real human storytelling.
Behind almost every word in this book is a team of multi-talented translators. To Jenny Baboun, Nidal Hatim, Amjad Alawi, Abeer Ayyoub, Iyad Ali, the Hebron crew, and Wassim and George Ghantous, thank you for not only translating, but guiding us, feeding us, making us laugh, challenging us, and cheerfully taking on every awkward situation we threw at you. We feel very lucky to have had the chance to work with you.
Thanks to Timothy Faust for twice coming to the West Bank with us and serving as a photographer, general assistant, and—most importantly—chai wallah.
We must thank all of our friends and family who have been listening to us drone on about this project for the past four years. We’ve missed weddings, births, birthdays, and holidays and your understanding has meant everything.
We especially want to thank Doug Cosper, who was not only our friend and fundraiser, but the reason we fell in love with journalism and worked together in the first place; Nora Parr who provided us with endless amounts of enthusiasm, support, and advice, whatever was needed most at the time; Daniel Adamson and Somi Cho, who made us countless meals and helped us work out exactly what this book was about; Ceil Malek, who not only lent us her expert editing and wise advice, but also put up with many missed calls; Nicole Dedischew, for her unyielding patience, warmth, and positivity; Saudamini Siegrest, Thea Agape Lim, Rana Moussa, Renee Spellman, Sa’ed Rishmawi, and Mya Gaurnieri for their friendship and expertise; Branwen Cale, who helped bring this project to life; Abeer and Shadia, who alternately took care of us and made sure we never got too full of ourselves; Michael Hoke for his brief but expert counsel; Taylor Pendergrass and Erica Pollack for their New York generosity; Brian Sipsey and Jaime Lehner for their love and support in the beginning; Nora Barrows-Friedman, Dr. Adnan Musallam, Sarah Irving, and Sari Andoni who provided some excellently timed advice and editing; Adam Hochschild for keeping us on the ball in Gaza; Tim McGirk for his expertise; and Michael Pollan for guidance and motivation.
Much love to Julia Randall for early edits, and Cate’s tarot deck for direction and entertainment. And deep thanks to Jesse Kipp and Andrew Malek for helping with our Kickstarter campaign and so much more. And to Mishmish, whose stoicism kept us grounded.
This book began largely with Voice of Witness in mind, but we decided to independently fund our book in order to get started. In December 2010 we ran a successful fundraising campaign through Kickstarter.com, which allowed us to do five months of concentrated work in the West Bank, conducting interviews and gathering research. A year and a half later we signed a contract to officially work with Voice of Witness.
We are grateful to everyone who took part in our campaign. A very special thank you to our donors at the publisher level: the Mohrbacher family, Khaled Dajani, Tom Duncan, Barry and Mary Hoke, Michael Hoke and Emmy Betz, Paul Malek, Jim Rees, Benjamin and Sas Hadden, Kathy Lehner, Brian Sipsey, Mark Eastaway, Branwen Cale and Kate Wright. A hearty thank you to our Kickstarter donors at the editor-in-chief level: Suzie and Steve McKenna, Taylor and Erica Pendergrass, Matthew Martella, Jaime Lehner, Jenna D’anna and Aaron Wilson, Victoria Canty, Joanne Fattaleh, Heather Boronski, Ian White, Theresa Zordan, Jasper Malcomson, John Hoke, Sean Paul, Kim Locke, Valeda Scribner, Jim and Nancy Faust, Sean Paul, Patricia Kule, and Bill and Joan Betz. Thank you. And a huge thank you to everyone who donated—in any way—to our project and helped get this book off the ground. Finally, this project was supported in part by an award from the Lannan Foundation. Thank you.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
