His weapon was a camera

By: Basman Derawi

On April 6, Palestinian photojournalist Yasser Murtaja was covering Gaza's Great Return March, a six-week demonstration along the Israeli border to call attention to Palestinians' right to return to their ancestral homeland. He was shot by an Israeli sniper, dying of his wounds.

Carrying his soul in the palm of his hand,
His heart races to see his homeland.
To tell the truth of his people.

With his naked hands,
With nothing behind his back
Only "press" on his chest,
Witnessing the march.
His weapon is his camera,
The scariest of weapons for his killers.

A bullet explodes in his side;
The sniper who stole his bed
seeks to steal his words. 

His blood flows to the ground, 
His soul travels to the heavens,
Yet his words will live.

This story was originally published by We Are Not Numbers on April 8, 2018