The Gaza Prison

For decades Israel's forces have occupied parts of the West Bank and Gaza forcing Palestinians there to live under dire conditions: imprisonment without charges or trials, confiscation of homes, properties, and farm land, even destruction of schools and hospitals. The action of Hamas on October 7, 2023, which resulted in 1,400 Israeli deaths and 250 taken as hostages, precipitated the horrific attacks on and in Gaza by the Israeli military that have killed over 30,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children. Almost all of Gaza is now completely destroyed.

The poems in this book reflect on the horrors of the Israel-Gaza War and the unjust effects of decades of occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel. The eight sections of the book focus on many aspects of life and injustice in Gaza, and they call on Israel to stop this unjust war, and on Hamas to cease killing and destruction. They summon people everywhere to set aside hatred and revenge, and to seek to be humane with a vision of the common humanity shared by all people on earth and peace.