User:Tiamut

The Prison Cell It is possible... It is possible at least sometimes... It is possible especially now To ride a horse Inside a prison cell And run away... It is possible for prison walls To disappear, For the cell to become a distant land Without frontiers: -What did you do with the walls? -I gave them back to the rocks. -And what did you do with the ceiling? -I turned it into a saddle. -And your chain? -I turned it into a pencil. The prison guard got angry. He put an end to my dialogue. He said he didn't care for poetry, And bolted the door of my cell. He came back to see me In the morning, He shouted at me: -Where did all this water come from? -I brought it from the Nile. -And the trees? -From the orchards of Damascus. -And the music? -From my heartbeat. The prison guard got mad; He put an end to my dialogue. He said he didn't like my poetry, And bolted the door of my cell. But he returned in the evening: -Where did this moon come from? -From the nights of Baghdad. -And the wine? -From the vineyards of Algiers. -And this freedom? -From the chain you tied me with last night. The prison guard grew so sad... He begged me to give him back His freedom."  -Poems by Mahmoud Darwish

Some of the hooks from my DYKs for your reading pleasure

 * ...that Tawfiq Canaan, a Palestinian physician and medical pioneer, was also known for his research on Palestinian popular heritage?


 * ...that Theodosios (Hanna) of Sebastia is the second Palestinian Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem?


 * ...that Aramaean treaty-making in the first millenium BCE, as documented in the Sefire inscriptions, included loyalty oaths that invoked magical rites with curses to befall any violators?


 * ...that the Defense (Emergency) Regulations first enacted in British Mandate Palestine in 1945 were incorporated into Israel's domestic legislation in 1948 and remain in force to this day?


 * ...that at the time of Roman rule in Palestine, the village of Um ar-Rehan, now located in the Barta'a enclave of the Seam Zone, held a hundred houses, a road system and a Roman bathhouse?


 * ...that according to Greek mythology, Adonis was slain by a boar at the foot of the waterfall in Apheca in modern-day Lebanon?


 * ...that the White Mosque is the oldest mosque in Nazareth?


 * ...that Thursday of the Dead is a springtime feast day shared by Muslims and Christians in the Levant that involves colouring eggs, visiting the cemetery and distributing food to the poor?


 * ...that the liwan, a long narrow-fronted hall or vaulted portal often open to the outside, has been a feature of Levantine homes for more than 2,000 years?


 * ...that "Palestinian archaeology" can refer to a field of archaeological inquiry known as Syro-Palestinian archaeology, and more recently, to archaeological research conducted by Palestinians themselves?


 * ...that since as early as the 10th century, Nabulsi soap, a traditional olive oil-based soap, has been exported across the Arab world and even to Europe?


 * ...that Mavia was an Arab queen who in 378 AD personally led her troops out of southern Syria in revolt against Roman rule?


 * ...that Moses, the first Arab Orthodox bishop, administered his duties while journeying with a nomadic confederation of Arabs in the fourth century?


 * ...that the Hebron glass industry goes back to at least the thirteenth century?


 * ...that the olive tree is the ultimate symbol of sumud, a key ideological theme among Palestinians since the 1967 war?


 * ...that the village of Anasartha, located in Western Syria and today known as Khanasser, derived its water supply until 1975 from a 12-kilometre long Byzantine-era qanat?


 * ... that Yalo, a Palestinian Arab village depopulated during the 1967 war, was identified by Edward Robinson as the site of the Canaanite-era city of Aijalon?


 * ...that al-Karmil, an Arabic language newspaper first published in Haifa in 1908, was founded with the express purpose of "opposing Zionist colonization"?


 * ...that Tarab Abdul Hadi co-founded the first Palestinian women's organization in 1929?


 * ...that the ataaba is a traditional Arabic music form in which oral folk poetry is melodically improvised by a solo vocalist?


 * ... that most of the place names in Palestine are Arabised words with ancient Semitic roots that were preserved by the local indigenous population, facilitating their identification with biblical sites?


 * ...that the Semitic triliteral Q-D-S meaning "holy" has been used in ancient and modern Semitic languages since at least the 3rd millenium BCE?


 * ...that K-B-D, a triliteral root meaning "heavy" that is common to all Semitic languages, appears in the Old Testament 376 times?


 * ... that Jacob's Well (pictured) in Nablus is a site associated with Jacob in Jewish, Samaritan, Christian and Muslim tradition?


 * ... that during the Crusader era in Palestine, the village of Kafr Lam (fortress pictured) was sold to the Hospitallers by the lord of Caesarea for 16,000 besants?

co-nominations

 * ...that local legend in Lajjun, a district center in Palestine under the Abbasids, held that the spring that served as its primary water source sprang from a stone after Abraham struck it with his staff?


 * ...that Hittin was a Palestinian village located near the site of the Battle of Hattin, where Saladin (pictured) defeated the Crusaders in 1187?


 * ...that during the Crusader era in Palestine, the village of Kafr Lam (pictured) was sold to the Hospitallers by the lord of Caesarea for 16,000 besants?


 * ...that Jacob's Well (pictured) in Nablus is a site associated with Jacob in Jewish, Samaritan, Christian and Muslim tradition?

nominations of the work of others

 * ... that Nabi Shu'ayb, Arabic for "the Prophet Jethro", is used in English to refer to the site where Druze tradition holds he was buried?

Things deleted from articles that I wish we could keep (if only I had a RS)
Kudna: The area was populated by the Shadfan family, who were forced to flee during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. All that remains of the Shadfan family is an old water well (that is said to have a special ability to cause women who drink from it to give birth to boys, rather than girls), a few ancient ruins (including a rock-made device for crushing olives), the remains of a fence, and their family cemetery.