"My mother used to go to the Moscobiyya [to try and see her son] and come back at noon. She separated the big stones in one pile, the small stones in another, and the earth in a third. She kept on with her own hands, she, and me and my siblings, we kept on until we had cleaned up everything. The mukhabarat used to come and threaten us, 'If you build anything...' We told them we were only clearing the land for planting. She started wanting to build...She went to the Mayor [of Jerusalem] and told him, 'You demolished my house. You took my son. We're living under the rain. I want to build my house so that I can live in it with my children'. He told her, 'Go and build it'." (
Sara Odeh, Jerusalem, April 1, 1999).
"Since political structures and political ideas shape and set the boundaries
of public discourse and of all aspects of life, even those excluded from
participation in politics are defined by them...the private sphere is a
public creation; those absent from official accounts partook nonetheless in
the making of history; those who are silent speak eloquently about the
meanings of power and the uses of political authority" (
Scott 1998: 24)
