Red Lines in Gaza

There are red lines in Gaza

as Israel lays seige

There are limits to live by

and die by

there are red lines in Gaza

everywhere

if you are Palestinian

you can’t stay in the North

you can’t flee from the South

you can’t find refuge anywhere

you can’t even wave a white flag

(even if you are Israeli)

A white flag is a red line

in Gaza

you can’t be a reporter

or photographer

or videographer

or blogger

Your blue vest is a red line

in Gaza

you can’t provide aid

you can’t feed the hungry

you can’t deliver fuel

or medical supplies

A red crescent is a red line

in Gaza

you can’t be a surgeon

or a doctor

or a nurse

or be a volunteer in the shell

that was once a hospital

which needs volunteers because

the doctors and nurses have been murdered

or kidnapped and rendered to a prison camp

in the Israeli desert

Your teal scrubs are a red line

in Gaza

You can’t harvest your olives

or grow food or

buy food or

steal food or

eat food

Your green thumb is a red line

in Gaza

There are red lines in Gaza

everywhere

and to cross them is murder

or

as the media will say

‘loss of life’

as if it was misplaced

as if you will find it again

if you just look hard enough

and everything will be OK

and every Israeli crime will be

absolved

but you won’t find it

because you did not lose it

it was taken

and you won’t rest

even when you are dead

when you are dead

if there are enough body parts left

with enough scraps of clothing

or enough teeth they can recognize

or by the keys in your pocket

someone claims you as theirs

and

if there is enough space

if there is enough safety

for enough time

maybe

you will be buried in a marked grave

in a cemetery

‘laid to rest’ as they say in english

but you won’t rest

even when you are dead

Your white shroud is a red line

in Gaza

even death is a red line in Gaza

you may not cross it

being dead is not acceptable

and the Israeli bulldozers

the armored earth destroyers

the fortified car crushers

the hardened home wreckers

will exhume your corpse

desecrate you

and kill you again

they are not satisfied to kill you one time

one time is not harsh enough

their hate burns to hot they have to kill you

two times

you must be dead

but you cannot live in Gaza and

you cannot be dead in Gaza

so they will crush you

and

try to erase you

signs that you ever existed are

a red line

when you are Palestinian

in Gaza