“We suffer from an incurable disease called “hope.” Hope for liberation and independence. Hope for a normal life where we shall be neither heroes nor victims. Hope to see our children go to school without danger. Hope for a pregnant woman to give birth to a living baby, in a hospital, and not to a dead child in front of a military control post. Hope that our poets will see the beauty of the colour red in roses, rather than in blood. Hope that this land will recover its original name: “land of hope and peace.” Thank you for carrying with us this banner of hope.
—Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008) via Rollie Mukherjee