Singer-songwriter and poet Marwan is part of what is known as the Palestinian diaspora. He was born in the Madrid neighborhood of Aluche, but his father, Salman, arrived there in 1950 Tulkarem refugee campin the West Bank, two years after the creation of the State of Israel.
“My father was born in one of the campaign stores of this camp and I had a truly tough childhood and adolescence”, the singer said on his social networks a few months ago when he released the album The old boxer, which he dedicates to him. These weeks in which the conflict has been revived in a way never seen before, with more than 10,000 deaths on the Gaza Strip and 1.7 million internally displaced people, are being especially difficult for the singer and his family, who are reviving, once more, the horrors of war.
This family member of Jordan’s direct family managed to reach the worst news: one of his father’s cousins had passed away, together with his entire family. They were bombed in the courtyard of his house by a drone. He did not live on the Gaza Strip, but in the West Bank, where deaths have also increased in recent days. “There is no presence of Hamas, but it also bombs”, he lamented in a post.
“What happened to my family is the reality of the West Bank. They are starting to kill people indiscriminately. Luego will say that they are selective murders of armed jefes or army groups, but the images contradict this. Ayer killed a taxi driver who was working, and he also had family members with him. This is what he always finds with the excuse for terrorism”, explains the singer in conversation with infoLibre.
Marwan has been there for 44 years and has been using it since he remembers the oppression of Palestine: “No matter why this is the case, we are living with more sadness than before, with enormous sadness. The other day my priest told me ‘but my father, if we’re used to it’, and it’s true, but he’s killing more people than ever.”
One of the things that is living with greater resignation is the silence of the international community, which has limited itself to asking for relief in the fire and humanitarian corridors. The singer recalls that “no country has ever recognized the right of Palestine to defend itself”, despite the fact that it is an “oppressed” nation, which suffers “apartheid”, “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing”. “There is only one reason, which is the service that all these governments provide to the United States. Israel is an ally in a zone, the Arab one, that has generally been hostile to them. Nobody else explains that the United States has vetoed every UN resolution against Israel, which has been going on for decades.”
For the Madrid writer, the Government of Spain should immediately break unilateral relations with Netanyahu and should give a “forceful” response, so that “the rights of the Palestinians” can be recognized. He remembers that he is the European Union itself and, consequently, Spain, which, in its configuration, is committed to breaking all economic agreements with countries that fail to comply with Human Rights: “Spain continues to sell weapons to Israel. This is something intolerable.”
“Fortunately it seems that the town is only reacting. We have seen it in France or in Gran Bretaña, where citizens have gone massively to the streets, even though it has been prohibited to carry the Palestinian flag”, and añade: “The difference is that the towns have no interest, the government yes. I need to give you a ring from the street urgently”.
This is not the first time that the singer speaks of his roots and tries to make visible the situation of the Palestinian pueblo. Despite him, he recognizes that he was not expected “something so strong” in full siglo 2023: “There is a part in me that was waiting for the events that happened the other day, but I never thought that this amount of death, destruction and absolute absence of rights would be allowed, all of it recorded with cameras and retransmitted in direct. A Palestinian is used to suffering all his life, but he doesn’t want to overcook it.”
Regarding a possible end to this conflict, Marwan is skeptical and considers that it is possible that “if it continues without intervening” and can reach the territory of all Palestinians: “Ojalá everything will end there International Criminal Court, prosecuting for war crimes all those responsible for this massacre. It would be fair to sanction Israel, as we have done against other countries.”
Marwan’s claim in favor of PalestineSee more
