Supreme
by Frances P. Adler
“A petition was filed to the Israeli Supreme Court to let Palestinians harvest their grapes, and the High Court told the Army that they must let them harvest...People have rights to this land and there’s no law that takes these rights away.”
–Avital Sharon, Israeli lawyer, Rabbis for Human Rights
Atta wants to go harvest his grapes
and he can’t go because what used
to be his vineyard, the settlement took
as their shabam, their security zone,
and he can’t go because he doesn’t
have a permit and he doesn’t have
a permit because they won’t give him
one and this is the problem, so I
called the Army and they said he can’t
get a permit because he has to prove
this is his land and he has to get an
expert to show that this is his land
and I said that he did that, he came
to your office and showed you the map,
and he said I don’t have it, and I said,
could you look again because he even
remembers the date he was there and
Palestinians don’t usually remember
the date and he called me back and
said, yes, I have his date, but I don’t
have his map. But a map costs a lot
of money, I said, could I send it to you
on the computer and he said, no, I don’t
like that and here’s what we could do,
I could come to his land and you and I
and him, we could walk and he could
show me. So we agree on a date and
Atta and I are there and this guy doesn’t
show for the meeting, and here we are,
this has been going on for three years.
Last year, they let him come in to harvest
his grapes, just for a day or two, and you
should’ve heard his voice on the phone,
calling from his vineyards, picking his grapes,
the joy. And now he wants to go in again, and
they’re saying ever letting him in was a mistake
Portland poet Frances Payne Adler is the author of Making of a Matriot, Raising The Tents, and three collaborative poetry-photography books and exhibitions with photographer Kira Corser, shown in capitol buildings across the U.S. Work-in-progress: Dare I Call You Cousin, poetry & visuals about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, collaborating with Israeli photographer Michal Fattal and videographer Yossi Yacov. Adler is Professor Emerita and Founder of California State University Monterey Bay’s Creative Writing and Social Action Program.