Our Neighbours Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

In the darkness of the Ramallah night there is a light
An ember of hope, as the world is lowly and begins
To see that suffering is not one sided.
There is fear on both sides of the eyesore walls one
For losing what they have acquired, the other for losing
The little they have left. The victors are sensing they are
Prisoners too and might be on the wrongs side of
The walls as they sink into the ennui of misplaced hubris

Semitic people they are both Moslems, Christians, and
Jews, not fundamentalist in the rising tide of intolerance
Both sides in the world of chaos can find common ground,
They share the same culture, relatives lost in history.
May they overcome strife and find neighbourly peace as
The wind blows bitter dust in the Persian gulf.