This poem below was inspired by a meeting 6 Sept 2025, #62 of our monthly meetings with friends and supporters. Usually the first hour is about what our institute (palestinenature.org or see this short video https://youtu.be/qt8OTGoS198) has done that month and the second hour about reality in Palestine and globally. Those attending inspire and energize us.
We are grateful for those who resist and remain,
Who struggle through genocide, bearing the pain.
For doctors in Gaza who heal night and day,
Risking their lives so that others may stay.
For journalists daring to tell what is true,
Two hundred and fifty struck down as they do.
For martyrs whose courage still kindles the flame,
For survivors who rise and give hope with their name.
For friends in the city refusing to flee,
For millions who march, for the jailed yet free.
For hearts that stay open, for minds that will fight,
For Hind Rajab’s voice that was honored that night.
We are grateful for meetings that circle the earth,
For the dream of one country, one land of true worth.
For networks that link us through fifty-plus lands,
For gifts of supporters, their hearts and their hands.
For staff and for volunteers steady and kind,
For children whose questions awaken the mind.
For gardens and museums where memory stays,
For prayers and good wishes that brighten our days.
For animals, plants that remind us we’re one,
For food and for water, for light of the sun.
For friendships enduring, unbroken, and strong,
That carry us forward, that lift us in song.
We are grateful for tyrants who showed us their face,
Their hatred, their greed, their corruption, their race.
For Trump and for Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, and the rest,
Whose crimes strip the mask, put their lies to the test.
For trials that teach us endurance and care,
For joy in the sorrows we’re chosen to bear.
We are grateful for parents who taught us the way,
To cherish the good, and to not go astray.
For family and friends who still walk by our side,
For ancestors’ struggles, their unbroken stride.
For birth in a land where my soul will remain,
Palestine’s soil, through the joy and the pain.
The Fertile Crescent, where rivers still flow,
The cradle of peoples all humanity know.
A crossroads of wisdom, of story, of seed,
A beacon of justice in humanity’s need.
The wind strips the mask from hypocrisy’s eyes,
Revealing the truth and unmasking the lies.
A reflection from a year ago
https://doveanddolphin.co.uk/latest-articles/mazin-reflects/
“The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: Now is the
Antonio Gramsci
time of monsters.”
Prof. Mazin Qumsiyeh is founder and volunteer director of the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability, Bethlehem University (palestinenature.org). He and his wife (a cofounder and also full time volunteer at PIBS) plan a trip based on invitations to meet people and give tailored talks to suit audiences (churches, Rotary Clubs, environmental groups, museums, scientists, etc) to be able to gain long term support for a) Palestine, b) (secondary) to our institute (palestinenature.org). Support can be financial, in-kind, volunteering (in person or remotely), mobilizing, etc. Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh previously served at US universities including Tennessee, Duke and Yale. He has published over 180 scientific papers, over 30 book chapters, hundreds of articles, and several books including “Sharing the Land of Canaan” and “Popular Resistance in Palestine” on topics ranging from environmental impacts of colonization to environmental and climate justice to cultural heritage to human rights to biodiversity conservation to cancer. He oversaw a number of projects ranging from formulating the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan to empowerment projects with farmers, women, and children that benefitted tens of thousands. He is laureate of the Paul K. Feyerabend Foundation Award the Takreem Award, Peace-Seeker of the Year Award, among others.
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