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Morning Star Conference
We are in the heights now
by Hiba Abu Nada
Palestinian women look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp housing Palestinians displaced by the war in Muwasi, Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. An Israeli strike killed at least 40 people and wounded 60 others early Tuesday, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it targeted "significant" Hamas militants, allegations denied by the militant group.

We are in the Heights now

teachers, free of their crowded classrooms,
their voices no longer shouting to be heard,
new families without pain or sadness,
journalists taking pictures of heaven
writing about the eternal love.
All, all of them are from Gaza.
There is a new Gaza in heaven
without siege
taking shape now.

Good night, Gaza

Gaza night is dark apart from the glow of rockets,
Quiet apart from the sound of the bombs,
Terrifying apart from the comfort of prayer,
Black apart from the light of the martyrs.
Good night, Gaza.


Hiba Abu Nada (1991-2023), a poet and novelist, came from a family displaced to Saudi Arabia by the first Nakba. She worked in Gaza at the Rusal Centre for Creativity and was killed in her home by an Israeli air strike on October 20 2023. From Out of Gaza, New Palestinian Poetry (Smokestack Books, 2024).

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