Palestine

What's in a word? In the Middle East, a lot. For years, there were no Palestinians. They didn't exist according to people like Golda Meir. And most of the world bought it. The people of British Palestine were just Arabs, Jordanians or Syrians or Egyptians, certainly not a specific, unique group. Eventually, the sheer weight of sanity (and a few hijackings and suicide blasts) eventually moved people to recognize the Palestinian people, though no one is in a hurry to support them to a just solution to their conflict with the state of Israel.

But still no one will utter the word Palestine. Listen to the news, it's always West Bank this or Gaza that. Never Palestine; it doesn't exist. Yet. Not that I want to celebrate the creation of another oppressive and violent state on earth. But the name of this place matters.

Calling Palestine Palestine might actually change the world. And the best part is, you're unlikely to be accused of anti-Semitism for wearing one of these shirts. Well I'm sure that some people might try. But in the end it's just a word and that's all I was going for. A word, a powerful word.

And I really loved the prison stripes of this specific shirt. So many people wanted to buy it but I just couldn't part with it. It's too perfect an example of my work.