Skip to main content

From the River to the Sea

 

A song for Palestine


From the river to the sea

Lord, someone hear our plea

Sometimes it feels like we will drown

The tides keep pulling us down


We are awash in a flood of pain

That keeps falling down like rain

Is there no ship, to sail away

Towards the dawn of a new day?



From the river to the sea

One day we will be free

We will walk hand in hand

Return to our motherland


From the river to the sea

Wallah, this land is holy

When we’re made whole as one

A new day will have begun



For this river is made of tears

shed over 76 years

Flowing into a dead sea

Can we stay afloat in this misery?


Oh water, wash over these lands

And wipe the bloodstains of our hands

We’ll sleep peacefully in the lion’s den

The olive tree will grow again



From the river to the sea

We still hold the key

To break free from these chains

We will rise again


From the river to the sea

Lord have mercy on me

When love will reign

There’ll be an end to all our pain



From the river to the sea

Wallah, listen to me

Together let us pray

That we may find a way


From the river to the sea

May there no longer be

Oppression, hate and war

We’ll find peace, Inshallah

Comments

  1. Every peace movement needs some songs. I was reminiscing of the great protest songs of the olden days, and wondered why i hadn't encountered any good protest songs for peace in Gaza. I don't know if my musical talent can pay tribute to the old masters, but at least i thought i'd give it a try.



    Gaza is on my mind a lot, and i feel it's important to try to give a voice to the enormous suffering and at the same time find love and hope amidst of all the terror.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Humanity 2.0 - 10 Principles for a Compassionate Society

Great news! I co-authored a book, and it finally got published! It is called Humanity 2.0 - 10 Principles for a Compassionate Society . I wrote it together with Aviram, the founder of Sadhana Forest , the community in India where i lived for 7 years. In a nutshell, it is a book about the vision and values behind Sadhana Forest. It offers an in-depth discussion of the ideals of Aviram and his family, on which he built Sadhana Forest and which he has been putting into practice for over 20 years. So it is not a book about Sadhana Forest as such, but about how to create an inclusive and compassionate life and community, in terms of parenting, education, health, economics, community etc. Quite broad and ambitious! The book is based on Aviram's experience, combined with a lot of research.  What was my role in the birthing of this book? When i came to Sadhana Forest, i always felt so inspired to hear Aviram talk, and i wanted everyone to be able to receive his wisdom. I approached Av...

What's the matter with foreign aid? (1) Development as colonialism

This is the first part of a three part critique of our aid and development model. This first part of this essay is a brief look into the historical context of our current development paradigm. (1) I grew up believing that something changed after WWII, there had been a global awakening, and the start of a period marked by international collaboration and respect for human rights, advanced by such historic achievements as the founding of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the independence of former colonies. Based on these new foundations, there would be a steady progress towards, peace, freedom and equality, thanks to a process called 'development'. I am a bit older now, and have worked for nearly 7 years in this field of development. My optimism has faded, and I am starting to fear it may have been a naive childhood illusion. Has anything really fundamentally changed? Development as we know it today started after the second World War. At the end of...