Friday, 19 April 2019

Strange Fruit in Palestine


Palestinians observe the aftermath of settler violence (B’Tselem, 6 December 2018)

Recently I listened to Billie Holiday’s rendition of the classic song ‘Strange Fruit’. Written in 1937 by Abel Meeropol, a member of the US Communist Party, it condemned the lynching of blacks in the US by white mobs. I adapted the three verses to highlight a modern set of outrages backed by the US government:

Palestine’s trees bear little fruit
Torn down branches and cut at the root
Land and lives stolen, by Israelis seized
No fruit hanging from the olive trees

Killed in the west, the east, north and south
Destruction, lies with a twisted mouth
Funds from America, sweet and fresh
And the soldiers shoot, maim and arrest

Here are walls, settlers run amok
A death camp in Gaza, human life is blocked
People will not bow, and they will not stop
Here are the racists’ bitter crops


Three verses cannot cover all the key points one needs to know about Israel, so it may be useful for readers if I note some articles on this blog:

Murdering Europeans, 2 October 2018

Jews, Zionism and Israel, 22 August 2018





Tony Norfield, 19 April 2019

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