Genevieve Cora Fraser: Death by Israeli Checkpoint

Death by Israeli Checkpoint*

In Bethlehem
Where Christ
Was born
A woman died
At the Gilo
Checkpoint
Barred from going
To Jerusalem
To pray
70 years old
Older than Israel
She was thirteen
When driven
Out of her home
By Zionist forces
Bent on the destruction
Of Palestine
And her people
Ancestral roots
Ancient as the olive
Trees that shrouded
Village homes
In peace and beauty
Sustenance
Uprooted driven
Into exile
Issa Zboun

From al-Azza
Refugee camp
Bethlehem
Was barred by Israeli
Soldiers from her
Right to Return
Barred from living
Free and equal
Under the law
Barred from peace
And security
Barred from Friday
Prayers
al-Aqsa mosque
In Jerusalem
Stands in silent tribute
To the One God
Spoken of by Abraham
Moses
Jesus
Mohammad
Forced to stand
With hundreds
Of others
Under the broiling sun
For hours
She prayed to go
As her blood pressure
Rose in the heat
Allah had mercy
On her soul
And in an unguarded
Moment
Took her
Home