The settlers want us to leave. But we stay, we have to be strong and stay. My brother, Yusef, when he was ten, a settler caught him, he was alone. “She grabbed me by the shirt,” he said, “pushed me up against the wall, held me there with one hand and with the other, pushed a rock into my mouth, forced my mouth closed. I felt my teeth breaking.” We went to court, but they do nothing. So I’m an activist.

—Sundus Al-Azzeh

I have a camera. I take a picture, I film them, that’s it. 
	Settlers throw stones, I film them. They are scared and cover their faces. 

The soldiers throw tear gas at guys and teachers and students, I film them. 
	They shoot metal cans, blue & silver cans, gas exploding the air, I film them. 

The soldier attacks me, pushes me, this is the commander who pushes me, I film him. 
	I pass the checkpoint, he sees me, he knows me, he stops me for nothing, 3 hours. 

I ask the soldiers, Why you stop me? Because you are rude, they say. 
	So I start laughing.

—From Adler’s current work-in-progress, “Dare I Call You Cousin,” about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in collaboration with Israeli artists, photographer Michal Fattal and videographer Yossi Yacov.

Notice: Photograph is protected by international copyright law. “Sundus Al-Azzeh, Hebron/Al-Khalil, West Bank” by Michal Fattal (Reproduced here by permission)

Frances Payne Adler

Photograph by Tey Roberts

is the author of five books: two poetry collections, Making of a Matriot (Red Hen Press) and Raising The Tents (Calyx Books); and three collaborative books and exhibitions with photographer Kira Carrillo Corser that have shown in galleries and state capitol buildings across the country, and in the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C.

Adler also co-edited, with Debra Busman and Diana Garcia, Fire and Ink: An Anthology of Social Action Writing (University of Arizona Press), which won the 2009 ForeWord Book of the Year Award for Anthologies.

The poems, “Camera” and “Battle,” are from Adler’s current work-in-progress, “Dare I Call You Cousin,” about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in collaboration with Israeli artists, photographer Michal Fattal and videographer Yossi Yacov. “Evolution” is from Making of a Matriot.

Adler, professor emerita and founder of the Creative Writing and Social Action Program at California State University Monterey Bay, lives in Portland, Oregon.

Michal Fattal

is an Israeli photojournalist with whom Frances Payne Adler worked while in Israel and the West Bank. SHJ appreciates permission to use her photographs, in this issue and SHJ-5.

Additional biographical details

To see more of Michal Fattal’s work, visit her galleries: www.michalfattal.com