Here We Will Stay
هنا باقون
The anthem of Palestinian steadfastness: Ziyad vows that those who remained in Lidda, Ramla, and the Galilee will stay 'like a wall upon your chest' — rooted, working, and unerasable.
In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee, we shall remain like a wall upon your chest, and in your throat like a shard of glass, a cactus thorn…
(excerpt)
About this poem
“Here We Will Stay” (Huna Baqun) comes from Tawfiq Ziyad’s 1966 collection Ashiddu ‘ala Ayadikum (I Clasp Your Hands). Written for the Palestinians who remained inside Israel after 1948, it became the defining anthem of sumud — steadfastness on the land — and is still recited at Land Day commemorations and protests.
Ziyad (1929–1994) was himself a fixture of that steadfastness: a poet of protest, he served as mayor of Nazareth and as a member of the Knesset, and died in a car crash in the Jordan Valley on his way back from welcoming Yasser Arafat’s return from exile.
Sources
Connected in the archive
8 connected records8 records elsewhere in the archive are linked to this one, each by a piece of evidence you can read below.
written by — 1 record
- Tawfiq Ziyadتوفيق زيّاد
Evidence — From a recorded field in this archive: poetSlug: "tawfiq-ziyad" → Tawfiq Ziyad
named in this record — 7 records
One record names the other. A pointer for reading, not a claim that they belong to each other.
- Land Day
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Written for the Palestinians who remained inside Israel after 1948, it became the defining anthem of sumud — steadfastness on the land — and is still recited at Land Day commemorations and protests.
- Land Day
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Written for the Palestinians who remained inside Israel after 1948, it became the defining anthem of sumud — steadfastness on the land — and is still recited at Land Day commemorations and protests.
- Nazarethالناصرة
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Ziyad (1929–1994) was himself a fixture of that steadfastness: a poet of protest, he served as mayor of Nazareth and as a member of the Knesset, and died in a car crash in the Jordan Valley on his way back from welcoming Yasser Arafat's return from exile.
- Ramleالرملة
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: > In Lidda, in Ramla, in the Galilee,
- Sumud
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Written for the Palestinians who remained inside Israel after 1948, it became the defining anthem of sumud — steadfastness on the land — and is still recited at Land Day commemorations and protests.
- Sumud
Evidence — Inferred from the text — read the evidence: Written for the Palestinians who remained inside Israel after 1948, it became the defining anthem of sumud — steadfastness on the land — and is still recited at Land Day commemorations and protests.
- and 1 more
Cite this page
Every claim above carries its sources — citation is the point.
- Chicago
“Here We Will Stay — Tawfiq Ziyad.” Poems, FALASTEEN.AI. Accessed 22 August 2026. https://falasteen.ai/poems/here-we-will-stay.- MLA
“Here We Will Stay — Tawfiq Ziyad.” Poems, FALASTEEN.AI, 2026, https://falasteen.ai/poems/here-we-will-stay. Accessed 22 August 2026.- BibTeX
@misc{falasteen-here-we-will-stay, title = {Here We Will Stay — Tawfiq Ziyad}, howpublished = {\url{https://falasteen.ai/poems/here-we-will-stay}}, organization = {FALASTEEN.AI — A Living Archive for Palestine}, year = {2026}, note = {Accessed 2026-08-22} }