The Palestinian Rose and the Israeli Hummingbird

 

 

 

A rosebush sprouted beside the Wall of Sharon in the West Bank. With its light and cold branches, it supported itself near the fence on the Israeli side, developing a preponderant stem. And on that morning of burning sun, a splendid blue rose sprouted with its corolla open, and spattering the morning dew.

 

And at that moment, a bluish-colored hummingbird fluttering in those instances of the fence that separates the Palestinian heart, this one, undertook a wonderful flight in the attraction of the exuberant little open flower. Hiding the tiny bird, and backing up. Soon, he hovered in the air, admiring the beauty of that lonely blue rose, reflected by sunlight. Without any embargo and confused, the hummingbird asked:

 

-Hey my blue rose! How were you born there on the Palestinian side?

 

The little rose stiff between the beautiful look, replied:

 

-I came so that everyone may have life and peace be sown by my petals with a perfume that pleases everyone.

The bird, analyzing the little flower, immediately asked:

 

-Why are you crying my blue rose?

 

Silent, she twisted toward the small bird. Insistently asked again:

 

-Aren't you going to answer me? Tell me why are you crying? Tell me? You tell me about the problems, I need to know.

 

The rose bush swayed its flower in the breeze that blew through that chaotic space, and said:

 

-For being abandoned by my own nature. Save me hummingbird! Carry the pollen of my existence in your precious beak, and make peace for your people. Oh! How happy I would be if you crossed this imposing fence to delight in my perfume. Can't you see that I am the most beloved flower in the world and the oldest on the planet?

 

Confirming, the hummingbird, still scared, added:

 

-Yes I know. But, I can't my blue rose. Men have separated our souls and our joys. It is very dangerous to cross this wall with so many hidden trenches, electrical wires for protection, patrols, and other electronic devices capable of measuring even how many times I flap my wings. That's why I'm afraid to fly and never come back.

 

Inclining a bond of friendship, the flower exoras:

 

- Oh hummingbird. You who reign on high, cross oceans and seas, are swifter than all birds. Do not leave me alone. You now dive into the infinite blue and descend vertically from the sky and do an invisible maneuver on your wings. I understand that man will never see your wings beat in time. I beg you that I need your affection, comfort and friendship. Who knows! I will be able to quench your thirst with the sweet that lives inside me.

 

Quickly, the little bird argued:

 

-O blue and beautiful rose! Can't you see that you are a Palestinian rose and I am an Israeli hummingbird. I cannot reach the limits marked out by my people. If I had power and dominion, I would destroy this wall that separates us and that hurts my freedom, surrounding my heart. Yes. It is true. I would return all occupied territories to your people, plus a reward for a hundred years.

 

The blue rose smiled, and said:

 

-I'm glad you know that my people don't have a hard heart. It is a people that has suffered since the cursed division by the UN, and which, supported by those two countries after the second war, donated our only homeland to their Jewish people. We had no more water or food, our children's houses were demolished. Not to mention hospitals, schools and our history trampled on by blood ties.

 

-Yea. I know all of this. But you Palestinians scare us, you attack our peace and our dreams.

 

The rose immediately replied:

 

- Don't you see that it hurts to be pulled out of our homes still sleeping, dominated by tanks, guided missiles and other artifacts that mistreat our soul? Would you now like to be evicted from the home you fought so hard to own and cast on the burning sands of the desert without a roof to rest your body? Would you smile as you watched your child approach this fence and get hit by an automatic machine gun?

 

 

-I know that all this hurts and burns inside my soul. Despite my beautiful blue rose I live in adorning the nature of flowers, and flying over the seas. I haven't been worried about that.

 

And the rose superimposed, saying:

 

-See my hummingbird petals. I don't have a homeland, a soil where I can drop my corollas or even my leaves. And so little to want to enliven my freedom together with my people. If it doesn't touch your heart, just look at the size of the Gaza Strip and observe that millions of people live squeezed there.

 

The hummingbird tries to explain:

 

-Blue Rose! I just want you to understand that a nation like Israel needs to offer its children protection from acts of terrorism against civilians. And all this has marred all forms of lasting peace.

 

-No... No... I am a Palestinian blue rose with no destination and suffocated twenty-four hours by the Israelis. I will never accept this fence in my territories. And I do not recognize this fence as a means of protecting the children of Israel throughout our lives.

 

Answering, the hummingbird said:

 

-The pink! We also do not accept the great encouragement of Palestinians and some Arab governments to preach the destruction of Israel. Understand that we are constitutionally entitled. We cannot suffer constant threats from Palestinian suicide bombers. That's why Ariel Sharon determined the construction to curb these negative impacts.

 

-I disagree with your empty ponderings, hummingbird. Sharon has always expressed hatred towards Palestinians. And he protected himself with fences in an attempt to incorporate all of our land. He has always accused the Palestinians of being terrorists. Now I ask you a single question. Who was Ariel Sharon?

 

The hummingbird remained silent, just flapping its wings and watching the rose speak. Instantly it said:

 

-You do not want to talk. But the world needs to know that Ariel Sharon was a terrorist. So much so that Yasser Arafat has always told our people about the danger of this soldier. You know hummingbird that he belonged to the Haganah constituted by the Jewish paramilitary force where he gathered terrorists to destroy the British administration of Palestine and spread terror across Europe, this many years ago at his young age. I don't want to say too much, but Sharon has always been a butcher and inciter of the Palestinians.

 

-I don't agree with what you say my rose.

 

-Of course, an Israeli will never agree with the truth. Don't you remember the Six Day War? And also Operation Cast Lead? Very well. You hummingbird friend, don't pretend to be forgotten. I don't need to clarify details about Sharon, who, dissatisfied, put spying on the Lebanese government, encouraging fights between Christians and Muslims. Oh hell... I'm going to smile so I don't cry. However, Sharon defeated his enemy by ordering him to be poisoned, only then would he end up with Arafat, our martyr. However, God is just for what is done here on earth, and it didn't take long for Allah to give Sharon what she deserved.

 

Already hearing so many truths, the bird said:

 

-Pink! I'm losing patience. I didn't come here to talk about the problems. Your people have never respected us Israelis. Since we left the Gaza Strip, you launch Kassam missiles daily in our cities.

 

-I don't hummingbird why do you denote so much fear of the Palestinians. We only defend ourselves so that our soil can be our children's barn. We are not afraid of tanks and guided missiles. We don't have tanks or planes much less ships. We only have strong hands to throw your stones at the giant that destroys everything.

 

On this occasion he said:

 

- Let's stop this Rose. Please! It hurts me inside.

 

Restless and nervous, the rose said:

 

-I want it to afflict your heart and make you feel that this fence cannot separate our desires and our freedom. Every day I cry and cry every morning for the suffering of my people. You don't know how many children stopped smiling at the future and how many men left without taking their hopes with them. It will be difficult for you to cross this fence and dance among my petals embittered by the anguish of thousands and thousands of souls that cry. It even seems that the Israelis want to avenge the holocaust by massacring the Palestinian people. What else could men do in their full defense. Arriving home and seeing his wife and children lying in the rubble? Doesn't it hurt? Is it so difficult for you to cross this wall, just as it is rare for an Israeli to take my blue flower by extending his hand? We have no constituted army and no arsenal to fight all of you. What we have are just children and young people who do not tolerate disproportionate combat. We have nothing, nothing at all. And our culture is the piece that you deprive tourists of our land. Stealing our land and spreading fear in our women's bellies. It's terrible. And yet, you are in charge of the biggest murder squad legally constituted by the army. This is terrorism policy, training your soldiers just to kill Palestinians.

 

The hummingbird threatens:

 

-Learn pink! We cannot lose any war in a single day. Even though Ehud Olmert is very strong, even with the mistakes made in the Lebanese war, he is still a hero. But the Israeli defense still has a lot to show the world. The world has not yet heard the shrapnel flying through the air of the elemental force that dominates its intelligence. There are many who want our destruction, however, they only speak and do not risk it. We are no Korea and we don't fear the Arab League or any country. And our GDP is directed 70% to our defenses and studies. The world needs to wake up and see that Hitler and Hezbollah no longer exist. There may be international repudiation or even UN sanctions. Israel will show that it is unique and independent wherever it goes.

 

Frightened, the flower begs:

 

-Stop! Please! Hummingbird. Are you trying to explain that you're going to drop an atomic bomb on us? I know that you have an atomic bomb and that you tested it in 1979, in the oceanic north of Antarctica. Are your intentions these?

 

-Not pink! I didn't say that. I'm dizzy, I talked nonsense. I'm sorry. This is not my intention. Forgive me!

 

-I will forgive your words, and know that I am a Palestinian rose and you are an Israeli hummingbird. I am here. come! I will embrace you as the best friend and brother. No... I won't have hate in my petals and neither will the smell of blood. But, we can live well without this fence. Come and kiss me leading my generation of love to all your people. It's no longer time to fight and lose our hopes.

 

The hummingbird looked to the sides and strongly hit the wings doing several acrobatics, and said:

 

-I can't cross my blue rose. There are soldiers everywhere.

 

He urged the flower saying:

 

- Please hummingbird! Kiss Me! Tomorrow I won't be here anymore and my leaves will be lost in time, and the blue rose that inspires you so much will wither for all eternity. come! And you take my tiny grains in your beak and scatter them throughout your land. Only in this way can we form a union of peace, friendship and fraternity. Even though we are so different in our souls.

 

-The pink! Your words hurt me. And at this very moment, I'm going to break all Israeli men's rules. Not even if I die from an electric shock or a machine gun shot. Again, in the name of the love and peace that could be born between all of us at any moment, I will bend the silence in the air, and show the world that we also have feelings.

 

-Come hummingbird. I'm here on my Palestinian side awaiting your honorable arrival with my petals still virgin, because I've never been kissed.

 

And the tiny bird rose in a gigantic flight vertically to a height of three hundred meters and crossed the fence of enmity, descending in a ritual of joy when approaching the flower. And the blue rose, with its majesty of brightness, accepted to be kissed in the depths of its feelings, offering in affection its best nectar with romantic flavors of a watery substance of passion and friendship.

 

The Zionist hummingbird pontificated in an unusual reverence, without saying a word with its eyes, it sang of the sweetness in the sweetness plantation, plunging its beak masterfully into the smile of the blue rose. And it didn't take long, a patrol jeep approaches, and the hummingbird says goodbye to the rose, carrying in its peak the most dignified gesture of love – pollinating the entire territory of Israel.

 

Without delay, the blue rose turned and smiled, wilting its intense corolla and letting it fall to the ground like serene drops of immense passion. And on that day, the calendar marked a Sunday with the date of June 2, 2030, an opportunity in which a great celebration of union and brotherhood between the peoples of Israel and the new Palestinian State could be heard.