Few in the Arab world and Palestine had ever heard of Darin Tatour Before last Tuesday. The Palestinian poet was not receiving attention from critics or literary magazines, until an Israeli court in Nazareth sentenced her to five months in prison. Her home in the Upper Galilee was raided several times by Israeli security forces, and she was intimidated and terrorized for thirty months. Her crime? Writing a poem in 2015 urging the Palestinian people in the West Bank to resist the Israeli occupation.

Dareen is one of the Palestinians who remained on their land when the Zionist movement invaded Palestine and decided to establish a "state" and a "national homeland" on it. She, like 1.5 million Palestinians living inside what is called Israel, is categorized by the Israeli authorities only as "Arab". Their Israeli citizenship has been forcibly imposed on them. She is denied the freedom to express her grief over the destruction of her homeland and the tragedy of her people, and is instead required to celebrate Israel's so-called Independence Day.

Mohammed Abu Khdeir and the Dawabsha family: Crimes without justice

On June 2, 2014, a group of young Israeli men abducted a Palestinian child Muhammad Abu Khdeir While he was going to the mosque for morning prayers, they put him in a car and took him to a forest, where they beat him, forced him to drink gasoline, then poured more gasoline on him and set him on fire. His family immediately reported his disappearance to the Israeli police, and his charred body was found hours later.

In late July 2015, in the village of Duma South of Nablus, Israeli settlers threw a Molotov cocktail at a Palestinian family's home. The crime resulted in the martyrdom of the infant Ali Dawabsheh and his parents, while his brother Ahmed (5 years old) survived despite serious injuries.

A poem instead of silence

Dareen Tatour responded to these crimes by writing a poem calling on her people to persevere and not give up:
"My people resisted..."
She then posted it on her Facebook page.

While the Dawabsha killers were placed under house arrest, and the Abu Khdeir killers almost escaped a life sentence on the grounds of "mental disorder," Dareen received a prison sentence Five months only because she wrote a poem.

Al-Aqsa Sheikh behind bars

This week, six Palestinians were arrested for similar reasons. Among them Sheikh Raed Salahone of the most prominent leaders of the Palestinian community inside, was sentenced to several months in prison for denouncing Israel's ongoing aggression against Al-Aqsa Mosquethe third holiest site for Muslims.

Despite this repression, it is this kind of pressure that has previously led to the emergence of Palestinian literary icons such as Mahmoud Darwish, Samih al-Qasim, Tawfiq Zayyad, and Emile Habibi.

Israel's Left is belatedly discovering the truth

Many Israelis didn't realize how ugly the system they created was, until recently. They believed that Israel was an "exception" and a "beacon of freedom" in the darkness of the Middle East.

Even those who call themselves leftists, as well as Palestinian Druze CommunityThey suddenly woke up to discover that they live in a "Jewish state," where Arabic is no longer an official language and the "right to self-determination" is guaranteed only to Jews, even if they have never visited the country.

Religiosity on the Rise, Democracy on the Decline

Israel's secularists are losing ground to religious Jews, who are occupying senior positions in the military and state institutions. Is Israel changing, or is it just revealing its true face?

Opinions may differ, but if there is no equality before the law, if people are prevented from expressing their opinions, if citizenship is defined on the basis of religion, this is neither a democracy nor a modern state.

Netanyahu, Israel's number one enemy

I've always believed that Israel doesn't need enemies.Benjamin Netanyahu People like him are its real enemies. Their stubbornness, shortsightedness, stupidity, and lack of political ethics will lead Israel to its end. What many Israelis do not realize is that discrimination is like a merry-go-round; it starts out big, but shrinks until at the end it is only big enough for Netanyahu... and maybe his wife.

From this perspective, Israelis should thank the Palestinians, because if not for the "external enemy," they would be busy liquidating each other.