My own journey toward self-recognition started when I began to look more broadly at the struggles of indigenous populations throughout the world. I realized that Palestinians were not so "other" after all; there exists a substantial "we" of peoples alienated from our own lands across the glob. This recognition -- and the repudiation of an accepted status quo which attempts to legitimize our dispossession -- led me to activism. The Palestinian narrative had become much more than the story of my family's suffering. Palestine had become my cause.

As I continued to shape my views on social justice, I drew upon numerous accounts of oppression, including horrifying narratives of the Holocaust and Jewish suffering. Most of my education was in Catholic schools, where courses, from religion to history, acknowledged the pain endured by the Jewish people. The basic appeal of justice, I began to understand, transcends designations such as Arab and Christian and black. It is a fundamentally, irreducibly human appeal. I am convinced that my own activism is often fueled, not by an internal strength, but by the passion and efforts of so many Latino-American, Asian-American, and African-American communities as well as the solidarity shared with many across the religious spectrum.

Remi Kanazi
"Introduction," Poets for Palestine