The hope of being able to return to Palestine one day

From the moment I could no longer return to Ramallah, my understanding of exile and of having been torn from my home took on another dimension and a deeper meaning. Being so close, living in Amman, has not made things easy for me, it has made them more difficult and painful.

After a short trip I can see Palestine from here. Beyond the valley, I can see the hills, I even recognise the cities. My friends, my family, my apartment in Ramallah are there, but I can’t go.

Palestine is becoming a memory and I struggle to keep an image of my homeland, to keep the reality of my life there as close to me as possible.

CLike so many other people who have been displaced, the most difficult moment is stopping in a place and really seeing it. Looking into the distance and seeing a country you recognise and know intimately, but which is now forbidden to you. And trying to get your head round the stupidity of borders, the lack of logic in separating human beings from one another because someone says there’s a line called border there now.

Annemarie Jacir

Film:When I Saw You