Safad   [59 x 96 cm]

Source of image: Designed by Fatma Abu Owda [Hamama], Gaza, Palestine
Design: Fatma Abu Owda [Hamama], Gaza, Palestine
Embroidery: Awatif Bader [Karatiyya], Gaza

Sponsored by: Sabbagh Family, UK

Safad is one of the oldest cities in historic Palestine, and has been home to adherents of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Archaeological excavations of the Crusader castle there uncovered remains of an Iron Age settlement.

THE PLEA  (Sue Sabbagh UK)

To find me you must stop the noise;
Silence the guns and the tanks,
The shouted orders
And the shouts of defiance,
The screaming and weeping,
And listen.

My voice is very weak.
You must try to hear it.
You will have to come close
And pick away the tumbled stones
Carefully, gently.

When you find me, lift me out,
Help me to breathe;
Set my broken limbs
But don’t think it’s enough
To give me back a fragile existence.

[Verses on the panel in Arabic]

I need food and water,
I need a home that will last,
Health and hope and work to do.
I need love.

You must embrace me
And take me to your heart.
“My name is Peace”.

Era: British Mandate (1920—1948)

Further reading