When You Remember Deir Yassin is a collection of poems by R. L. Green, an American Jewish writer, on the subject of the occupation and destruction of Palestine.
Green comments: “Outspoken Jewish critics of Israeli crimes against humanity have, strangely, been called “anti-Semitic” and as well as the hilariously illogical epithet “self-hating Jews.” As a Jewish critic of the Israeli government, I have come to accept these accusations as a stamp of approval and a badge of honor, signifying my own fealty to a central element of Jewish identity and ethics: one must be a lover of truth and a friend to the oppressed, and stand with the victims of tyranny, not with the tyrants, despite tribal loyalty or self-advancement. These poems were written as expressions of outrage, and of grief, and to encourage my sisters and brothers of every cultural or national grouping to speak out against injustice, to try to save Palestine, and in so doing, to reclaim for myself my own place as part of the Jewish people.”
The poems are offered in the original English with Arabic translations accompanying each poem.
Praise for When You Remember Deir Yassin
“Robert Green’s anguished poetry speaks with raw emotion, evoking the decades of conflict and intimate injustices between Arab and Jew in the land that is now Israel and Palestine. As a Jewish writer, Green is as familiar with the tragedy of the Nazi Holocaust as the massacre at Deir Yassin. He challenges his friends and family to open their hearts to the experiences of the people who bore the brunt of the Jewish catastrophe, the subsequent ‘War of Liberation’, and the ongoing brutality of the Israeli occupation. By bluntly giving voice to the voiceless, he also challenges us all to join in his vision with both compassion and outrage.”
Alice Rothchild MD
(author of Broken Promises, Broken Dreams: Stories of Jewish and Palestinian Trauma and Resilience)
“Bob’s Green’s poems are socially-minded, musical and incandescent. They shine with inspiration and beauty and are essential for our human culture.” Aaron Kiely, Torch Magazine NYC
