Sending an open love letter from Germany to Palestine

In a confession letter to a past love, I reflect how our intimate relationship has affected my perception of the geopolitical conflict in Israel–Palestine. Writing from personal experiences and taking a feminist approach, I argue that entering an intimate relationship with a Palestinian man allowed me to question the biases I had acquired through Germany's politics of memory culture and the silences and taboos it has created. Living in the West Bank and being in a romantic relationship with a Palestinian man led me to witness the borders inscribed on his body and mind, uncovering the walls that have barred and “protected” me from acknowledging Palestinian suffering. Sharing a life and love with him, the borders inscribed on my partner's body became perceptible to me as they affected our relationship. I was suddenly confronted with the violence of borders I was taught to ignore. But I also learnt about resisting its violence together. As he and I undid the wall of segregation between us, my understanding and sense for Palestinian suffering sparked doubts regarding my home country's dogmatic politics toward its Holocaust memory culture as its current conception results in unquestionable support for Israel's dehumanization and brutalization of Palestinians.