I heard a young woman sing this song at a dinky writer’s night (open mike) in Nashville, and when she finished you coulda heard a feather drop. Nobody said a word, or clapped, or nothing. Later I got the lyrics from her and she said someone had given them to her who had gotten them off the internet. Said it was a public domain song, using the same chord progression as Bob Dylan’s song ‘Chimes of Freedom Flashing’, with more or less the same melody, however that was up to the singer. So, hearing about so many Palestinians killed in the last couple of weeks I decided to repost the lyrics around. Hope some of you singer-songwriters start singing it like she did. It gave me goose-bumps to hear it all out in public.

Song For Palestine

Use Chord Progression from ‘Chimes of Freedom’ by Bob Dylan

In the burning streets of Bethlehem deserted and forlorn

Standing with our stones of freedom waiting

As prophetic swells of sirens ripped all silence from the air

We sang our freedom song and started throwing

Throwing at the soldiers, whose guns we do not fear

Throwing at the deadly tanks rumbling far and near

And at all the mindless money that put the soldiers here

We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying

In our city’s raging violence, undauntedly we threw

Our faces fixed on armored cars approaching

F-16’s echoing over bombed out neighborhoods

Steadfast we raised our stones and kept on throwing

Throwing at the Generals, War Criminals and Crooks

We throw at writers justifying murder in their books,

At racist settlers squatting on the land the soldiers took

We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying

Five of us together, none more than twelve years old

We stood below the circling ‘copters cracking

Defying evil elements of hatred laced in steel

Then Israeli hidden snipers started shooting

Shooting at our fathers, kneeling on the ground

Blindfolded with the rags of peace, their hands obscenely bound

While our mothers search for water they hear the bullets’ sound

We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying

Throughout the Territories, the name of Palestine

Is ringing from the tongues of angry children

Denied a child’s necessities, we claim our right to be

We claim our rights with every stone we’re throwing

Throwing at Americans who pay the Butcher’s bill,

Whose diplomats are Generals, they’re only trained to kill,

We throw at fat politicians who’ve never missed a meal

We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying



Bulldozers crush our olive trees, our homes, our terraces, our fields

To eliminate all trace of our existence

But as the cactus that we planted is reborn on stolen land

Our freedom grows with every stone we’re throwing

Throwing at the newspapers, whose Truth is bought and sold

At talking television heads who keep our tale from being told

Throwing at reporters who ignore us dying in the cold

We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying.





None dare to call us heroes, none dare to find out why

We risk our lives to throw these stones at our oppressors

Instead they call us terrorists to justify their terror war

In their world soldiers shooting children is not terror

We’re throwing at the bureaucrats in the United Nations’ Hall,

At world leaders doing nothing as the bombs of terror fall

Throwing at the whole wide world who refuse to hear our call

We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying

The U.S.A. is waiting, watching from on high

Pretending that their hands are clean and guiltless

But they provide the weapons, they prevent the Peace

Apartheid is the goal they are pursuing

We’re throwing at the hypocrites, the whole dishonest crew

At all those participating in what Israeli soldiers do

And American taxpayers, we throw our stones at you!

We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying.

Occupation takes our innocence, we’re sacrificed for greed

We’re sacrificed for God and Gasoline

They shoot us ‘cause we have the nerve to demand our liberty

Freedom is now all we have to live for

We’re throwing for the future, for other children to be free

While Israel destroys our childhood with blind stupidity

We’re throwing stones at all you cowards doing nothing so silently

We sang and sent the stones of freedom flying