From west Wales to the West Bank

Palestinian teacher Awdah Hathaleen who contributed to the Oscar-winning documentary 'No Other Land' (2024), was murdered today (July 29th, 2025) during an attack by Israeli settlers in the south Hebron hills.

This short poem was inspired by that film and particularly by Awdah's bravery. Our poems won't stop the horror, and every killing is a tragedy, but it feels this is the moment to share a few words

From my back door to the West Bank

while I walk down to harvest salad leaves

spinach and spring onions

I pass the rambling roses with 1,000 buds

that promise summer scent,

and I eye the red of ripening strawberries.

 

While not so far away

centuries old olive trees are bulldozed,

women wail by their wrecked houses

and men weep over the bleeding bodies

of their brothers

 

and the promise of roses

becomes thorns in my eyes.

 

No Other Land, trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWlx4J8coxU