Rifqa

October 1, 2021
Mohammed El-Kurd was 12 when he appeared in a documentary (My Neighbourhood, 2009) about Sheikh Jarrah, his East Jerusalem neighborhood. As Jewish settlers took over Palestinian neighborhoods and secured court orders to evict Palestinians, El-Kurd's family was forced to share half of the home their grandmother acquired 50 years prior with Israelis. Naturally, his first poems were born of outrage ("Why is anger--even anger--a luxury?") and rejection of these religion-based actions ("as if God is a real-estate agent"). His late grandmother Rifqa, to whom the book is dedicated, saw this as a continuation of the conflict between Arab and Israeli states started in 1947. Throughout the collection, it is obvious that El-Kurd gleaned powerful and lasting lessons from resilient Palestinian women. Rifqa was also a poet-mentor to him and no doubt would have been proud of the way these poems deliver a frank reminder that there are always multiple sides to a story and that we need to hear the truth of everyone's experiences. Rifqa introduces El-Kurd as a voice of Palestinian resistance and a compelling and creative thinker and poet.

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