Tales of a Palestinian singer
Many of you might be rather surprised and disturbed by the difficulties we encountered in…
Tales of a Palestinian singer
Many of you might be rather surprised and disturbed by the difficulties we encountered in the organising of my concert in Bath last month. Without the dogged and determined efforts over several years of a local community group, Bath Friends…
“If I Must Die”
Poetry: Refaat Alareer (1979-2023); Music: Reem Kelani Whilst I was in hospital over Christmas and New Year, I kept on reading aloud the last poem that Refaat Alareer wrote before he was assassinated by Israel in Gaza. The melody would…
Quite Simply:
If you support genocide, you have no right to complain about people disliking you for it. If you support genocide and you happen to be Jewish, you have no right to weaponise anti-Semitism against your critics. You bear responsibility for…
A genocide
It’s no longer a “retaliatory attack”. It stopped being that before it had begun. It’s a genocide, no longer plausible nor probable. A genocide: pure and simple. For seven long months, the killing has been without relent. It’s no longer…
Our existence as Palestinians
Our existence as Palestinians is a statement in itself. When you say you don’t want “overt” politics, you question our olive oil. You question our songs. You question our poems. You question our very being. Last time I checked, all…
Why UNRWA?
My father, Yousef Kelani (1925-2016), joined UNRWA in 1953 upon his graduation from Alexandria University in Egypt. He was the physician in charge of UNRWA’s mobile clinics for Palestinian refugees in Irbid and the River Jordan Valley. This culminated in…