The Poem for Which Dareen Tatour’s Under House Arrest: ‘Resist, My People, Resist Them’
The year 2015, according to a new report by Hamleh (The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media), saw a surge in the number of Palestinians being arrested, in Israel, on the charge of “incitement through social media.”:
One of the most prominent cases is of the poet Dareen Tatour, who was arrested last October, charged in November, and spent several months in prison before being placed under house arrest — with no access to the internet — in January. She is currently confined to a Tel Aviv apartment and had her first court hearing this month, charged for Facebook postings and a poem posted to YouTube.
According to Nadim Nashef of Al-Shabaka, “The Palestinian Prisoners Club, a non-governmental organization dealing with prisoners’ rights, estimates that more than 150 arrests took place between October and February 2016 based on Facebook posts expressing opinions on the uprising.”
Nashef writes that there “is no formal legislation that covers legal action with regard to the accusation of incitement through social media.” So when is a creative work “incitement”? And what effect does this have in suppressing wider creative and civic activities? Activist Yoav Haifawi, in writing about Tatour’s first court hearing, recounts a scene like a political satire, where a policeman is translating Tatour’s poem into Hebrew.
“I’ve never seen the prosecution as obstinate as it has been in Dareen’s case,” attorney Abed Fahoum told Electronic Intifada. “I believe that they aim to use her to intimidate and silence all Palestinians.”
Here, the poet Tariq al Haydar translates Tatour’s words into English:
Resist, My People, Resist Them
Resist, my people, resist them.
In Jerusalem, I dressed my wounds and breathed my sorrows
And carried the soul in my palm
For an Arab Palestine.
I will not succumb to the “peaceful solution,”
Never lower my flags
Until I evict them from my land.
I cast them aside for a coming time.
Resist, my people, resist them.
Resist the settler’s robbery
And follow the caravan of martyrs.
Shred the disgraceful constitution
Which imposed degradation and humiliation
And deterred us from restoring justice.
They burned blameless children;
As for Hadil, they sniped her in public,
Killed her in broad daylight.
Resist, my people, resist them.
Resist the colonialist’s onslaught.
Pay no mind to his agents among us
Who chain us with the peaceful illusion.
Do not fear doubtful tongues;
The truth in your heart is stronger,
As long as you resist in a land
That has lived through raids and victory.
So Ali called from his grave:
Resist, my rebellious people.
Write me as prose on the agarwood;
My remains have you as a response.
Resist, my people, resist them.
Resist, my people, resist them.

Tatour is also a photographer and directed a short documentary, according to Electronic Intifada.
Tatour’s next court hearing is scheduled for 1:30, Sunday, May 8, and there will be a vigil beginning before that in front of the Nazareth court building.
You can follow her case on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FreeDareenTatour/
Tariq al Haydar’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Normal School, Down & Out, Crab Orchard Review, The Cafe Irreal, The Los Angeles Review and others.
The Poem for Which Dareen Tatour’s Under House Arrest: ‘Resist, My People, Resist Them’ – Arabic Literature (in English) | asidewrite
April 27, 2016 @ 10:03 am
[…] From the site: https://arablit.org/2016/04/27/the-poem-for-which-dareen-tatours-under-house-arrest-resist-my-people… […]
The Poem for Which Dareen Tatour’s Under House Arrest: ‘Resist, My People, Resist Them’
April 27, 2016 @ 2:47 pm
[…] Arabic Literature (in English) & BY MLYNXQUALEY on APRIL 27, 2016 • ( 1 […]
April 27, 2016 @ 5:14 pm
Reblogged this on CROSSROADS – innocence in warzones.
“. . . They . . . turned me into A file . . .” FREE DAREEN TATOUR! – Palestine InSight
April 29, 2016 @ 3:13 pm
[…] Tatour’s next court hearing is scheduled for 1:30, Sunday, May 8, and there will be a vigil beginning before that in front of the Nazareth court building. You can follow her case on Facebook Ghada Mourad is a Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Literature and a Schaeffer fellow in literary translation at the University of California, Irvine. The poem for which Dareen Tatours was arrested. […]
May 1, 2016 @ 12:10 pm
Reblogged this on Middle Eastern Affairs.
Haifa Poetry Night in Solidarity with Dareen Tatour | Free Haifa Extra
May 8, 2016 @ 2:20 am
[…] titled “resist my people, resist them”. (As a result of Dareen’s trial this poem was later translated to English). A Hebrew translation of the poem, made by a policeman with no qualification for translating or […]
‘How Old Am I Now?’: Newly Translated Poem by Dareen Tatour, Under House Arrest for Poetry – Arabic Literature (in English)
May 10, 2016 @ 6:17 am
[…] Tatour doesn’t deny the poems — including the one at the center of the trial, “Resist, My People, Resist Them” — but denies that they are meant to incite […]
Majd Atwan, 22, sentenced to 45 days imprisonment for Facebook postings | Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
May 10, 2016 @ 8:21 am
[…] including the case of Dareen Tatour, a Palestinian poet from Nazareth being prosecuted for poetry posted online. She was arrested in a 2:00 am army raid on her family home on 19 April, which was invaded by […]
Majd Atwan, 22, Sentenced to 45 Days Imprisonment for Facebook Postings
May 12, 2016 @ 9:43 pm
[…] including the case of Dareen Tatour, a Palestinian poet from Nazareth being prosecuted for poetry posted online. She was arrested in a 2:00 am army raid on her family home on 19 April, which was invaded by […]
Palestinians Nakba Day 2016 — Defiant, Undeterred and Organizing | PopularResistance.Org
May 16, 2016 @ 1:58 am
[…] sustains us. So we continue to resist, to heed the call of Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour, who urges us, from her house arrest, to “resist, my people, resist […]
Make your voice heard: Free Dareen Tatour | Free Haifa
May 21, 2016 @ 4:05 am
[…] work in translating some of Dareen’s poems, including the one she was arrested for – “Resist, My People, Resist Them” – as well as “How Old I Am?” and “I will not leave my […]
Red Liberation
May 28, 2016 @ 10:00 am
[…] work in translating some of Dareen’s poems, including the one she was arrested for – “Resist, My People, Resist Them” – as well as “How Old I Am?” and “I will not leave my […]
RCIT in Britain
May 28, 2016 @ 10:05 am
[…] work in translating some of Dareen’s poems, including the one she was arrested for – “Resist, My People, Resist Them” – as well as “How Old I Am?” and “I will not leave my […]
The Palestinians imprisoned by Israel for their Facebook posts | altahrir, news of Islam, Muslims, Arab Spring and special Palestine
May 28, 2016 @ 10:09 pm
[…] only “crime” was to write a poem which called for Palestinians to resist the Israeli occupation and the ongoing colonisation of […]
The Palestinians imprisoned by Israel for their Facebook posts - European Coalition for Palestinian Prisoners' Rights
May 29, 2016 @ 12:20 pm
[…] only “crime” was to write a poem which called for Palestinians to resist the Israeli occupation and the ongoing colonisation of […]
PEN America: ‘Detention of Poet Dareen Tatour Signals Worrying Escalation in Israeli Repression’ – Arabic Literature (in English)
June 18, 2016 @ 5:12 am
[…] is unusual amont the other anti-speech arrests in that hers centers largely around her poem “Resist, My People, Resist Them,” translated for ArabLit by Tariq Haydar. Other anti-poetic evidence included the prosecution […]