New Release: Between Estrangement, My Mother, and Gaza
A short story by Abdelfatteh Fadel
Originally written in Arabic, this short story fictionalizes heart-breaking conversations, shared between the author and his mother during the genocide. Separated by distance and dramatically different circumstances, the narrator marvels at his mother’s ability to ask about his health and comforts while she has no food or safe place to shelter.
A tribute to the efforts of Palestinian mothers to support their children whilst trapped in Israel’s industrial death zones.
English and Arabic editions available.
Sample Illustration and text
My mother and I are under the same sky, but hers is torn apart by explosions and filled with planes. I sleep in a warm bed, breathing in clean air, while she chokes on dust and dirt. I talk to my mother, reassuring her about my wellbeing while she reassures me about hers. But our phone conversation is more like a play made from imagination.
I tell stories from a life that isn’t mine, and she tells stories from a life that is no longer hers, as she tries to put my mind at ease. I have all the water, but I can’t quench her thirst. I have all the bread, but I can’t extend my hand with a piece to her mouth. And I have a secure roof over my head, but I fear the whole sky will collapse on her.
How can I live with the same blessing that chokes me? It is a comfort I don’t deserve, but my mother does. When these are not my sins, why must I bear all of their burden? My mother continued to ask about my wellbeing throughout our conversation and refused to give me a chance to ask about hers. It’s as if she’s trying to shield me from hearing about their bitter reality, their pain and suffering.
Abdelfatteh is a medical student and writer who is learning how to heal bodies while trying to write his way through the pain inside himself. He writes when words are all he has left, when silence becomes too heavy to bear. Paper and pen are his way to survive, to say what cannot be spoken. In every line, he leaves a piece of himself and his thoughts, as if he is slowly healing from inside.
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