Mornings in Jenin Quotes

“أيا كان شعورك , اكبتيه في داخلك”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“We come from the land, give our love and labor to her, and she nurtures us in return. When we die, we return to the land. In a way, she owns us. Palestine owns us and we belong to her”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“لقد وُلدتِ لاجئة، ولكن أعدكِ بأني سوف أموت إذا كان لابُد لي من ذلك حتى لا تموتي وأنتِ لاجئة.”
― سوزان أبو الهوى, Mornings in Jenin

“أنتِ, يا عزيزتي .. لستِ زهرة;فالزهرة شيء يزهر يوماُ ويذبل في اليوم التالي.أنتِ النبض في قلبي”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“كيف يمكن ألا يستطيع الإنسان أن يسير إلى ملكه الخاص؟ أن يزور قبر زوجته؟ أن يأكل ثمار أربعين جيلاً من كدح أسلافه من دون أن يعاقب بالموت رمياً بالرصاص؟ على نحو ما، لم يكن هذا السؤال الفجّ القاسي قد نفذ سابقاً إلي وعي اللاجئين الذين شوشتهم أبدية الانتظار، معلقين آمالهم على قرارات دولية نظرية”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“For if life had taught her anything, it was that healing and peace can begin only with acknowledgment of wrongs committed.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“We're all born with the greatest treasures we'll ever have in life. One of those treasures is your mind, another is your heart.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“ ما أعجب الأشياء التي نفكر فيها في تلك المساحة بين الحياة و الموت ..”
― سوزان أبو الهوى, Mornings in Jenin

“The land and everything on it can be taken away, but no one can take away your knowledge or the degrees you earn”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“لا تسمح لهم أبدًا بأن يعلموا أنهم قادرون على إيذائك !”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“I know she is crying. Her tears fall on the wrong side, into the bottomless well inside her.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“Israeli occupation exposes us very young to the extremes of our emotions, until we cannot feel except in the extreme.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“Amal,I believe that most Americans do not love as we do. It is not for any inherent deficiency or superiority in them. They live in the safe, shallow, parts that rarely push human emotions into the depths where we dwell.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“Toughness found fertile soil in the hearts of Palestinians, and the grains of resistance embedded themselves in their skin. Endurance evolved as a hallmark of refugee society. But the price they paid was the subduing of tender vulnerability. They learned to celebrate martyrdom. Only martyrdom offered freedom. Only in death were they at last invulnerable to Israel. Martyrdom became the ultimate defiance of Israeli occupation. "Never let them know they hurt you" was their creed”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“في يوم ما، سوف أفقد كل شيء وكل أحد”
― سوزان أبو الهوى, Mornings in Jenin

“في محنة تاريخ دُفن حيّاً، سقط العام 1948 في فلسطين من الرُزنامة إلى المنفى، متوقفّاً عن حساب العدّ السائر للأيام والشهور والسنوات، ليصبح بدلاً من ذلك ضباباً لا نهاية له!”
― سوزان أبو الهوى, Mornings in Jenin

“the reverse side of love is unbearable loss.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“لا أحد يتكلم، وكأن الكلام مجرَّد الكلام سيؤكَّد الحقيقة المُرَّة، وكأن الصمت يحمل احتمال أن يكون كل ذلك مجرَّد كابوس.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“Love cannot reconcile with deception”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“Do you know, Mother, that Haj Salem was buried alive in his home? Does he tell you stories in heaven now? I wish I had had a chance to meet him. To see his toothless grin and touch his leathery skin. To beg him, as you did in your youth, for a story from our Palestine. He was over one hundred years old, Mother. To have lived so long, only to be crushed to death by a bulldozer. Is this what it means to be Palestinian?”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“The roots of our grief coil so deeply into loss that death has come
to live with us like a family member who makes you happy by avoiding
you, but who is still one of the family. Our anger is a rage that
Westerners cannot understand. Our sadness can make the stones
weep. And the way we love is no exception”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“Always" is a good word to believe in.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“Thank you,’ I answered, unsure of the proper American response to her gracious enthusiasm. In the Arab world, gratitude is a language unto itself. “May Allah bless the hands that give me this gift”; “Beauty is in the eyes that find me pretty”; “May Allah never deny your prayer”; and so on, an infinite string of prayerful appreciation. Coming from such a culture, I have always found a mere “thank you” an insufficient expression that makes my voice sound miserly and ungrateful.” (169).”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“قال لي والدي ذات مرة: " لقد سمّيناك آمال بالألف الممدودة؛ لأن الاسم بالهمزة يعني أملا واحدا فقط،أمنية واحدة،أنتِ أكثر من ذلك بكثير! وضعنا كل آمالنا فيكِ! آمال،بالألف الممدودة،تعني:الآمال، الأحلام،كثيرا منها ".”
― سوزان أبو الهوى, Mornings in Jenin

“For I'll keep my humanity, though I did not keep my promises.
... and Love shall not be wrested from my veins.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“جاء الموت ليشابه الحياة
والحياة لتشبه الموت”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“I feel sad for him. Sad for the boy bound to the killer. I am sad for the youth betrayed by their leaders for symbols and flags and war and power.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“إن لحظة واحدة لَيُمكنُها أن تسحق دماغاً وتُغير مجرى الحياة، مسار التاريخ.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“It is the kind of love you can know only if you have felt the intense
hunger that makes your body eat itself at night. The kind you know
only after life shields you from falling bombs or bullets passing through
your body. It is the love that dives naked toward infinity’s reach. I think
it is where God lives.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin

“An instant can crush a brain and change the course of life, the course of history.”
― Susan Abulhawa, Mornings in Jenin