I am a Palestinian

By Bantz Mahiwal, a biracial British muslim lad with Palestinian, Pakistani and Iranian roots.

I am a Palestinian

My fist clenched to my sides

Drops of sweat trickle from my brow

ID please

What ID

ID Please

This is my land, this is my Palestine

In my land, I don’t need an “ID”

We were here first

You are not the “chosen” people

But you were like us

A bargaining chip

Across the long table with the Colonisers gathered

Dedicating how will “Palestine” be taken care of

No one asked us Palestinians for our opinion

I am a Palestinian

Losing inch and inch of my hand

The chosen ones say it’s their “divine right”

But my ancestors say I was here first, that’s “divine” enough for me

This goes beyond religion

This goes beyond nationality

This goes beyond pride

But it goes back to the basic principal

We live in the largest outdoor prison in the world

The world is suddenly talking about us

We are the “new” trendsetters being used like bargaining chips for charities who don’t have a clue about our history, where we come from, what makes a Palestinian a Palestinian.

I don’t like our people to be used as a bargaining chip

Either stick with us, get to know our story, our background and understand the cause

Or fuck off

We don’t need any time wasters, baiters or gutter rats. Allow that.

I am a Palestinian

I don’t fear the barrel of a AK47, from a Zionist Pig

Our eyes locked

He slowly taps the barrel of the gun on my chest… one tap…two tap….three tap

I know what he’s doing

He wants to trigger me

He wants to set me up

He wants me to become another “death toll” statistic

ID?

You are standing on my ID Pig. This…all this… All of Palestine. This is my ID. This long belongs to US. You are standing on it. Get out of our land.