PHOTOGRAPHY | PALESTINE | POETRY

Poem: Smuggled

A Clandestine Trip to Jerusalem Without an Israeli Permit

Series: Photo essays from Palestine (narrated using quotes from Fugitive Dreams)

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For the first time, a fully illustrated version of ‘Smuggled,’ a poem that has first appeared in Fugitive Dreams.

Twenty years ago, when the Wall in the West Bank was under construction, it was still possible for a Palestinian who didn’t possess the Israel permit for Jerusalem to nevertheless make the trip. I had withheld the itinerary of such a trip that I made in 2004 from an article I wrote at the time for Electronic Intifada, not wanting to give away the secret. Finally, while writing Fugitive Dreams in 2020, I revealed the secret route through this poem.

The Mount of Olives through an arrowslit in Jerusalem’s Old City wall (Photo by the author, 2004)

SMUGGLED

Documenting a trip to Jerusalem in 2004, without a permit.

Jerusalem!
Ten miles South of Ramallah.

First, we headed North,
Through Birzeit,
To the deserted Transylvanian guard tower.
A dirt road from there
Joined with the Occupier’s road,
Taking us East, then South.