Genevieve Cora Fraser: Palestinian Welcome
Palestinian Welcome
By Genevieve Cora Fraser
He was grimy
With sweat
That cold
winter
Morning Israeli
Occupation soldiers
Trained
a gun
On his back
As he ferried
My
belongings
In a cart
Across the asphalt divide
Of
the checkpoint
Thirty shekels
For his troubles
I
dropped
In his palm
He begged
For more
For his
tall
Companion
Ragged and forlorn
He had carried
My extra bags
With the
secret
Compartments
Papers, journals
My concrete
memory
Hidden from prying
Eyes who read
Only
Hebrew
I was reassured
The contents
Would be barely
Searched
I spotted my host
At a distance
Happy
I could come
To relieve
Her grief and anxiety
For
too brief moments
The taxi driver
Had called
To
alert her
Of my approach
A friend he risked
To ride
as close
As he dared before
He too would
be
Searched or seized
Another notch
In an Israeli
war
Belt today’s catch
Was a refugee
Camp
resistance
Fighter radioed in
To be on the alert
for
I smiled false warmth
And flashed my
passport
To wherever I wanted to go
And whatever I
wanted to do
As an American
Confident I could
cross
While the Palestinian
Prey to their net
Were
detained
Waved on I crossed
Without looking
back
Until a hand reached out
And welcomed me
To
the other side
Of
hell
ENDS