Palestinian Proverbs

Sayings of Palestinian origin

• Keep away from trouble and sing to it. ~ Palestinian saying
• Your tongue is your horse, if you take care of it it’ll take care of you, and if you offend it will offend you.
• The shoe-mender is bare-footed and the weaver is naked.
• Keep your hand tight, you won’t bleed and you won’t weep.
• Choose the neighbor before the house.
• Stay away from the evil and sing to it.
• I’ve called you to help, I found you in need for help.
• Who has no past, has no future.
• He who has a flask on his head can keep touching it.
• The bald (woman) shows off her niece’s hair.
• Blood can never turn into water.
• One thumb alone does not kill a louse.
• The eye can’t go any higher than the eyebrow.
• Kissing hands is fooling beards.
• We tell him it’s a Taurus, he says milk it.
• A dog’s tail will never straighten out.
• Stretch your legs as long as your quilt can cover.
• Whatever is written on the forehead is always seen.
• Your close neighbor is better than your faraway brother.
• Hit the iron while it’s still hot.
• Drum near a deaf.
• Pride is the mask of our sins.
• Do good if you expect to receive it.
• Long ago did not live long ago.
• The Carpenter’s door is broken.
• Tether the horse near the donkey, and he will learn either to “hee” or to “haw”.
• Kiss the dog on his mouth until you get what you need out of him.
• He came to draw eyeliner on her eyes, he blinded her instead.
• A friend in need is a friend indeed.
• The unlucky and the hopeless have come together.
• Every bad bean has its seller..
• Those who dig an evil hole will fall into it.
• Do not drink from a well and throw a stone into it.
• Nobody is perfect.
• Tie the monkey where his master tells you.
• Like the good seek the better, the bad seek the worse – can still make a match.
• Blow in a torn bagpipe.
• Seven trades and luck is lost.
• You will not dare mistreating the face you see in the morning.
• Wonder they don’t like, and Rajab they don’t fast.
• The ignorant is his own enemy.
• Rima’s back to her old habit
• Every eye has its look.
• The eye sees, but the hand can’t reach.
• If you have no shame, do whatever you please.
• The eye is the one that eats.
• If you feed the mouth, the eye becomes shy.
• The one who loves does not hate.
• Don’t just cross a river — cross it bearing fire.
• Care now, be cared for later.
• She who trusts men is one who carries water in a riddle.
• The eye will often wander the road that love has taught.
• He who gets in between the onion and its shell shall come out with its stinking smell.
• Ground be stronger, none walks on you like myself.
• A monkey is a deer in his mom’s eye.
• Do not drink poison to quench a thirst.
• Go with the powerful and people will kneel before you.
• Look for a needle in a haystack.
• The advice is for you, neighbor, and listen daughter-in-law.
• One hand doesn’t clap.
• Nock on the door before entering.
• Whatever man had done, man may do.
• Nobody will plough the land except its cows.
• The eye of a master does more work than both his hands.
• The neighbor before the house.
• The sad has come for joy, she found no place to take her.
• Keep your white penny for your black day.
• Once deep pools, now a crossing place.
• Every sheep is hung by its own leg.
• The further you are, the dearer you become.
• If speech is silver, silence is golden.
• Stay with the measurer until he reaches the door.
• There will be a day for the oppressor when he will be crushed like garlic.
• Too far for jackals? No worthwhile tree here!
• IF only I were a bird! Ah, but eating caterpillars?
• The pan found its lid.
• A chicken dug in the soil, and the dirt came onto her head.
• He who has a house of glass throws no people with stones.
• Don’t ask the singer to sing until he wishes to sing by himself.
• Only the soil knows when a young mouse is ill.
• He’s as tall as a palm tree and his brains as small as a sheep’s.
• He who takes a monkey for his money, the money shall go and the monkey shall remain.
• Hit two birds with one stone.
• He couldn’t manage the donkey, he managed its saddle.
• He’s come to sell water in a mall of water-carriers.
• No one can chop the head off, apart from that who put it on.
• We walk by the walls and ask God for shelter.
• Like you’ve gone, like you’ve come back.
• If you sit at a crossroads, you will get sick.
• Far from grave, no praying.
• Where there is abundance, there is poverty.
• Ask an experienced, and don’t ask a philosopher.
• Sell what you have bought while the dust is still on your shoes.
• My heart goes out for my son like fire, and my son’s heart goes out for me like stone.
• Didn’t see them stealing, saw them sorting their shares.
• We came out of the Carnival without Chickpeas, one arm in front, one arm behind.
• Stay away… you will become sweeter.
• A bird in the hand is better than ten on the tree.
• Truth is comfort.
• Do good and throw it in the sea.
• Too many chefs burn the food.
• Turn the jar onto its mouth, the girl will resemble her mom.
• The heart is a tree; it grows where it wants.
• The house is our father’s and the strangers came to kick us out.
• Behind every mysterious thing is a disaster.
• The empty gives the way to the full.
• He who has Henna can use it for his donkey’s ear.
• Away from the eye, away from the mind.
• People with people, and the cat with the souls.

The State of Palestine

Palestine is a geographic region in Western Asia between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. The boundaries of the region have changed throughout history. The State of Palestine is a state in the Middle East. Its independence was declared on 15 November 1988 by the Palestine Liberation Organization in Algiers as a government-in-exile. The State of Palestine claims the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as the designated capital. Most of the areas claimed by the State of Palestine have been occupied by Israel since 1967 . The Palestinian Authority applied for United Nations (UN) membership in 2011 and in 2012 was granted a non-member observer state status – which amounts to a de facto, or implicit, recognition of statehood. (An excerpt from Wikipedia)

The Palestinian national anthem

Anthem English Lyrics:

Warrior, warrior, warrior,
Oh my land, the land of the ancestors
Warrior, warrior, warrior,
Oh my people, people of eternity

With my determination, my fire and the volcano of my vendetta
With the longing in my blood for my land and my home
I have climbed the mountains and fought the wars
I have conquered the impossible, and crossed the frontiers

With the resolve of the winds and the fire of the weapons
And the determination of my nation in the land of struggle
Palestine is my home, Palestine is my fire,
Palestine is my vendetta and the land of withstanding

By the oath under the shade of the flag
By my land and nation, and the fire of pain
I will live as a warrior, I will remain a warrior,
I will die as a warrior – until my country returns