Hend Jouda is a writer from Gaza who’s published several poetry collections in Arabic: ‘Someone Always Leaves’, ‘No Sugar in the City’ and ‘Finger Survived’ and also, earlier this year, a collection in Arabic and French called ‘A Poet In Times Of War’.
Hend was born in Al-Bureij refugee camp in Gaza which has been attacked dozens of times by Israel, including a bombing on May 7th of a school where displaced people were seeking shelter – over 33 Palestinian civilians were murdered. The school was targeted twice.
Whatever you can do to stop this genocide, do it.
Free Palestine. Saoirse don Phalaistín.
Occupied By The Devil by Hend Jouda
Morning, Evening
The mass graves are expanding
And my heart is eroding!
Gaza doesn't die silently.
It screams, wails, and cries for help.
But that changes nothing!
I wonder: Does the killer truly recognize the faces of his victims?
Does he know that his soft targets
aren't worth all this ammunition?
Morning, Evening
The news ticker never stops.
Gaza is being invaded.
It watches how people's dead consciences are being buried.
In the form of breaking news and statements with ties.
How are words manipulated and the utmost precision used
to justify the most brutal killing?
You think your screams are unheard,
But you don't stop counting!
Gaza sleeps.
And wakes up to the screams of distant squares calling for its name.
They want it free with chants that seem like a dream.
Free, free, Palestine
But it provokes police batons and mass arrests!
Isn't this the land of Uncle Sam and her sisters?
-It's also an occupied land, my friend!
Gaza tries to say thank you to the cheers and tears.
It writes "Thank you" on the displacement tent.
Then it dismantles it and runs.
They invade Rafah!
They close all the exits!
Time is running out.
The cheers that make it cry and smile aren't enough.
The graveyards are still swallowing its children every second!
Morning, evening
In the tank and the plane
The button presses never rest
On the control panels,
Still sending shells and missiles
And drawing lines
On the big map of the small country!
Hey, General,
Is it worth all this trouble?
You could have respected my life
And not robbed my home,
You could have lived
Without spoiling my fate
And spilling my blood,
But you too are occupied by the devil.
يحتلك الشيطان
صباح، مساء
تتسع المقابر الجماعية
ويتآكل قلبي!
لا تموت غزة بصمت،
تصرخ، تنوح وتستجير
لكن ذلك لا يغير شيئا!
وأتساءل :هل يدرك القاتل حقا وجوه قتلاه ؟
هل يعرف أن أهدافه الطرية
لا تستحق كل هذه الذخائر؟
صباح، مساء
لا يتوقف شريط الأخبار
تغزوه غزّة،
تراقب كيف يشيّع ضمير الناس الميت
على شكل أخبار عاجلة وتصريحات بأربطة عنق?
كيف يتمّ التلاعب بالألفاظ وبذل أقصى الدقة في تبرير أقسى القتل؟
تظنّ أن صراخها لا يسمع،
لكنها لا تتوقف عن العد!
تنام غزة
وتصحو على صراخ ساحات بعيدة باسمها
تريدها حرة بهتافات تبدو لها مثل حلم
Free free Palestine
لكنها تستفزّ هراوات الشرطة والاعتقال الجماعي!
أليست تلك بلاد العم سام وأخواتها؟
-إنها أيضا بلاد محتلة يا صديقي!
تجرب غزة أن تقول شكرا للهتاف والدموع
تكتب شكرا على خيمة النزوح
ثم تفكها وتركض،
يجتاحون رفح!
يغلقون المنافذ كلها!
الوقت ينفد،
لا يكفيها الهتاف الذي يجعلها تبكي وتبتسم
فالمقابر ما زالت تبتلع أطفالها كل ثانية!
صباح، مساء
في الدبابة والطائرة
لا يستريح الضاغط على الأزرار
في لوحات التحكم،
ما زال يرسل القذائف والصواريخ
ويرسم خطوطا
على الخارطة الكبيرة للبلد الصغير !
هيه،أيها الجنرال ،
هل يستحق الأمر كل هذا العناء؟
كان يمكنك أن تحترم حياتي
ولا تسرق بيتي،
كان يمكنك أن تعيش
بلا إفساد في مصيري
وسفك لدمائي،
لكنك أيضا يحتلك الشيطان!
With thanks to the Arts Council of Ireland for their funding support.
A specially commissioned cut-out animation video by Silvio Severino for ‘Occupied By The Devil’ by Hend Jouda – one of the selected poems from the WANDER 2025 open call. Sound production & English narration: Bairbre Flood
Wander Palestinian poetry episodes: Noor Hindi // Marwan Makhoul // RIP Saleem Al Naffar
Hend Jouda Transcipt:
Bairbre Flood: Hi, and welcome to Wander with me, Bairbre Flood. Thanks to the Arts Council of Ireland for their funding support.
First of all, I’d just like to say thanks to everyone who sent in poems for the open call. I’ll have an episode on that very soon with all the winners and the people who were selected. But thank you to everyone who sent in poems. They really were so beautiful, and I can’t wait to share the winning poems with you. I’ll have more about that later.
One of the poems that was selected and who Silvio will be making a video from is by a young poet from Gaza called Hend Jouda. She has published four poetry collections in Arabic. Someone always leaves’, ‘no sugar in the city’ and ‘fingers survived’. And she’s also published a collection in Arabic and French this year called ‘A Poet in Times of War’.
If you want to follow her on the socials she’s at Hend Joudat.
Hend was born in Albureij refugee camp in Gaza, which has been attacked dozens of times by Israel. This year on May 7th, Israel targeted a school in the camp. They bombed Abu Hamisa School, which houses displaced people, mostly children, women, and the elderly.
Over 33 Palestinian civilians were murdered with many more wounded. The school was targeted twice.
Even before 2023, this Palestinian refugee camp has been targeted many times by Israel. In 2008, Israeli soldiers killed a Reuters cameraman, Fadal Shaana, along with eight other Palestinians, among them six children when they fired a tank shell at the group in the Albureij refugee camp.
Shaana video footage showed the tank firing and a glimpse of the incoming shell before going blank at the moment of impact. This was in 2008. Human Rights Watch stated that quote, Israeli soldiers did not make sure they were aiming at a military target before firing, and there is evidence suggesting they actually targeted the journalists.
So this was going on long before 2023.
This deliberate targeting of journalists by Israel since 2023. Albureij refugee Camp has been attacked several times by Israel.
I don’t really know what to say at this stage.
I think people need to step up. Whatever you’ve been doing, we need to do more of. Whatever you can do to stop this genocide, do it.
Hend Jouda:
يحتلك الشيطان
صباح، مساء
تتسع المقابر الجماعية
ويتآكل قلبي!
لا تموت غزة بصمت،
تصرخ، تنوح وتستجير
لكن ذلك لا يغير شيئا!
وأتساءل :هل يدرك القاتل حقا وجوه قتلاه ؟
هل يعرف أن أهدافه الطرية
لا تستحق كل هذه الذخائر؟
Hend Jouda:
صباح، مساء
لا يتوقف شريط الأخبار
تغزوه غزّة،
تراقب كيف يشيّع ضمير الناس الميت
على شكل أخبار عاجلة وتصريحات بأربطة عنق?
كيف يتمّ التلاعب بالألفاظ وبذل أقصى الدقة في تبرير أقسى القتل؟
تظنّ أن صراخها لا يسمع،
لكنها لا تتوقف عن العد!
تنام غزة
وتصحو على صراخ ساحات بعيدة باسمها
تريدها حرة بهتافات تبدو لها مثل حلم
Free free Palestine
لكنها تستفزّ هراوات الشرطة والاعتقال الجماعي!
أليست تلك بلاد العم سام وأخواتها؟
Hend Jouda:
-إنها أيضا بلاد محتلة يا صديقي!
تجرب غزة أن تقول شكرا للهتاف والدموع
تكتب شكرا على خيمة النزوح
ثم تفكها وتركض،
يجتاحون رفح!
يغلقون المنافذ كلها!
الوقت ينفد،
لا يكفيها الهتاف الذي يجعلها تبكي وتبتسم
فالمقابر ما زالت تبتلع أطفالها كل ثانية!
صباح، مساء
في الدبابة والطائرة
لا يستريح الضاغط على الأزرار
في لوحات التحكم،
ما زال يرسل القذائف والصواريخ
ويرسم خطوطا
على الخارطة الكبيرة للبلد الصغير !
Hend Jouda:
هيه،أيها الجنرال ،
هل يستحق الأمر كل هذا العناء؟
كان يمكنك أن تحترم حياتي
ولا تسرق بيتي،
كان يمكنك أن تعيش
بلا إفساد في مصيري
وسفك لدمائي،
لكنك أيضا يحتلك الشيطان!
Bairbre Flood:
Morning, Evening
The mass graves are expanding
And my heart is eroding!
Gaza doesn’t die silently.
It screams, wails, and cries for help.
But that changes nothing!
I wonder: Does the killer truly recognize the faces of his victims?
Does he know that his soft targets
aren’t worth all this ammunition?
Morning, Evening
The news ticker never stops.
Gaza is being invaded.
It watches how people’s dead consciences are being buried.
In the form of breaking news and statements with ties.
How are words manipulated and the utmost precision used
to justify the most brutal killing?
You think your screams are unheard,
But you don’t stop counting!
Gaza sleeps.
And wakes up to the screams of distant squares calling for its name.
They want it free with chants that seem like a dream.
Free, free, Palestine
But it provokes police batons and mass arrests!
Isn’t this the land of Uncle Sam and her sisters?
-It’s also an occupied land, my friend!
Gaza tries to say thank you to the cheers and tears.
It writes “Thank you” on the displacement tent.
Then it dismantles it and runs.
They invade Rafah!
They close all the exits!
Time is running out.
The cheers that make it cry and smile aren’t enough.
The graveyards are still swallowing its children every second!
Morning, evening
In the tank and the plane
The button presses never rest
On the control panels,
Still sending shells and missiles
And drawing lines
On the big map of the small country!
Hey, General,
Is it worth all this trouble?
You could have respected my life
And not robbed my home,
You could have lived
Without spoiling my fate
And spilling my blood,
But you too are occupied by the devil.
MUSIC
A huge thanks to Hend Jouda for her poem ‘Occupied by the Devil’. She’s one of the poets selected to have a video of her poem created by Sylvia Severino. We’ll have more about that next month.
As I said at the start, Hend has just published a collection in Arabic and French called ‘a poet in Times of War’, and you can find out more on Instagram @ hendjoudat
Thank you for listening. Thanks to the Arts Council of Ireland for funding this podcast. From me, Bairbre Flood, bye for now.
