“Amal,I believe that most Americans do not love as we do. It is not for any inherent deficiency or superiority in them. They live in the safe, shallow, parts that rarely push human emotions into the depths where we dwell.”

“love is what we are about, my darling," she says. "Not even in death has our love faded, for I live in your veins.”

“Israeli occupation exposes us very young to the extremes of our emotions, until we cannot feel except in the extreme.”

“We come from the land, give our love and labor to her, and she nurtures us in return. When we die, we return to the land. In a way, she owns us. Palestine owns us and we belong to her”

“For I'll keep my humanity, though I did not keep my promises. ... and Love shall not be wrested from my veins.”

“Do you know, Mother, that Haj Salem was buried alive in his home? Does he tell you stories in heaven now? I wish I had had a chance to meet him. To see his toothless grin and touch his leathery skin. To beg him, as you did in your youth, for a story from our Palestine. He was over one hundred years old, Mother. To have lived so long, only to be crushed to death by a bulldozer. Is this what it means to be Palestinian?”

“Always" is a good word to believe in.”