**Dareen Tatour**
**Dareen Tatour** (Arabic: **دارين طاطور**, born April 16, 1982 in Reineh) is a Palestinian poet and photographer. She wrote an Arabic book called *The Final Invasion*, which she published in 2010. In 2017, an English anthology of Palestinian poets called *A Blade of Grass: New Palestinian Poetry* included translations of her writing. She is a citizen of Israel.

Imprisonment
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She was arrested in 2015 by Israeli police. They accused her of terrorism and inciting violence. Then her trial became famous and many free speech activists defended her. In May 2018 she was found guilty, and in July 2018 she was sent to prison for six months. She served 42 days in prison and was set free on September 20, 2018.

### Trial

At Tatour's trial, a police officer translated her poem, "Resist them, my people, resist them." This police officer was not a professional translator and did not have experience with literature. Tatour's defense team invited a professional translator. Tatour's accusers said the professional translator was biased.

Tatour's accusers also showed one of her Facebook posts. It said "I am the next martyr." They claimed that this meant she was planning terrorism. They also showed that she had shared the Facebook status of a terrorist group.

Tatour's defense team invited literature professors to her trial. They said that the Russian Empire and British Mandate of Palestine did not put Jewish writers on trial for "much harsher words."

### Protests

Many writers protested her arrest. In June 2016, there was a protest in Tel Aviv. Almost 20 poets, writers and translators read their writing. Sami Michael wrote that her arrest showed that Israel was helpless and its culture had failed. He said that Israel could not defend itself but could only make writers be quiet. The poet Lilach Weber also wrote a poem about her.

In October 2016 more than 180 poets, writers and intellectuals asked for her freedom. Four of them were winners of the Israel Prize: A. B. Yehoshua, Tuvia Rivner, Avishai Margalit and Shimon Sandbank. The statement said Tatour was "arrested and tried for writing a poem." They believed this went against "democracy, free speech and creativity." They added that it made it difficult for Arabs and Jews to talk to each other and end the Arab-Israeli conflict. A poet and activist named Tal Nitzan led these efforts.

After she was found guilty, PEN International wrote that she was only doing her job as a writer: "we use our words to peacefully challenge injustice."

### Freedom

Tatour was set free on September 20, 2018.

Sources
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1. ↑  "Israel bars hundreds of Arab writers and publishers from book fair in Ramallah". *Arab News*. 10 May 2018.
2. ↑  Shpigel, Noa (March 5, 2018). "Israel Convicts Palestinian Poet Dareen Tatour of Incitement to Violence, Supporting Terror". Haaretz.
3. ↑  "Arab Israeli poet convicted of incitement to violence: Dareen Tatour also found guilty of supporting Islamic Jihad terror group; judge says free speech has limits". Times of Israel. 3 May 2018.
4. ↑  "Israel convicts Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour of Facebook 'incitement'". Middle East Eye. 3 May 2018.
5. 1 2  "Israeli Arab poet sentenced for incitement". 31 July 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
6. ↑  "Israel prosecutes a Palestinian poet over Youtube poem". *www.aljazeera.com*.
7. ↑  Foundation, Poetry (15 February 2019). "'Resist, My People, Resist Them': PEN America Reports on Israeli Oppression by Harriet Staff". *Poetry Foundation*.
8. 1 2  "Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour set free". 20 September 2018.
9. 1 2  "המשוררת דארין טאטור שוחררה מהכלא". 20 September 2018.
10. 1 2 3  Israeli Arab Poet Dareen Tatour Gets Five-month Sentence for Incitement on Social Media, Haaretz, 31 July 2018
11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7  "Poetry by Dareen Tatour - InTranslation". *intranslation.brooklynrail.org*.
12. ↑   ) Newspaper articles and advertisements called for her release. (
13. ↑  "לשחרר את המשוררת". 27 June 2016 – via Haaretz.
14. ↑  "סמי מיכאל על מעצר דארין טאטור: "טלאי שצריך להסיר ממצח הדמוקרטיה"". *mako*. 30 June 2016.
15. ↑  "הצד הנכון של ההיסטוריה - העוקץ". *www.haokets.org*.
16. ↑  "שנה למעצר דארין טאטור: למעלה מ-180 אנשי רוח קוראים לשחרור המשוררת". *mako*. 13 October 2016.
17. ↑  "אירוע המחאה נגד מעצר המשוררת דארין טאטור: "מדינה שרודפת משוררים"". *mako*. 28 June 2016.
18. ↑  "Dareen Tatour sentenced to five months in prison over poem". *www.aljazeera.com*.
19. ↑  "Israeli Arab woman sentenced to five months for incitement to violence". *Mail Online*. 31 July 2018.
20. ↑   BBC
21. ↑  "Israeli Court Sentences Palestinian Writer for Posting a Poem on Social Media". *Hyperallergic*. 31 July 2018.
22. ↑  Arab, The New. "Palestinian sentenced to jail for 'incitement' with poems". *alaraby*.
23. ↑  "PEN International Slams Israel's Conviction of Palestinian Poet (VIDEO)". 6 May 2018.

Other websites
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* "Resist them, my people, resist them"
* Interview in Salon
* Interview in Ha'aretz
* Interview in Warscapes
* Interview in +972