Pornography of Violence

In Iraq, people are being tortured and murdered for surfing internet pornographic sites and using chat rooms. All in the name of a grotesque Islam that is being invented in an orgy of violence.

Mohammad Mounir: "Etkallemou" (Speak Up)

Word is hand,
Word is leg
Word is door
Word is an electric star in the fog

Word is a solid bridge over a tumultuous sea
The jinn, my precious ones, cannot destroy

so speak up
speak up
speak up

Divine Intervention: Checkpoint Crossing

Strip Searching Women

"Daibes declared that several Palestinian women had raised complaints with human rights organizations and had petitioned Arab members of the Israeli Knesset over being taken to separate rooms in the checkpoint and being forced to remove all clothes, to become fully naked. The Israeli soldiers claim to be looking for weapons. Some women have refused to comply with the orders to remove all clothing."

Gaza and the West Bank are flooded with weapons and they are looking for them in women's underwear?!!

Empowering Women to Hate Themselves

This is really what the ads below are doing: Brown women can now empower themselves by taking their skin into their own hands to make it lighter with the help of Fair and Lovely.

This article defends the ads as not as demeaning as they used to be (!!!!!) and that the craze for "fairness" has nothing to do with colonialism and is part of Indian culture. In other words, Fair and Lovely is not really imposing its own image of beauty on brown women; it's just responding to a deep, wholesome cultural need for which the company should be given an award for its multicultural sensitivity!

The victims of the first two adds are Indian women. The third is for Arab women. Urgh!!!!

When Palestinians are Guinea Pigs

Why Israel's economy is thriving? (although the Hamas propaganda would like us to believe otherwise)

Because "Palestinians–whether living in the West Bank or what the Israeli politicians are already calling "Hamasistan"–are no longer just targets. They are guinea pigs."

Israel tests its latest weapons and security gadgets on us before it exports them to the rest of the world. We are useful afterall. (thanks NG)

Mohammad Mounir: "Etkallemou" (Speak Up)

Word is hand,
Word is leg
Word is door
Word is an electric star in the fog

Word is a solid bridge over a tumultuous sea
The jinn, my precious ones, cannot destroy

so speak up
speak up
speak up

Nancy Ajram Sings for Kids

Nancy Ajram's latest album is all songs for kids. In the video below, which includes some of these songs, Ajram appears as a school teacher, fairy, and mom. A black kid and a kid with down syndrome are included among the kids in the video, which is a first as far as I know in any Arabic video. This enlightened move must be the doing of director Said al Marouq, who directed Ajram's earlier video "Ihsas Jdeed," in which he had the characters communicate their love in sign language, another first. As I blogged before, his parents were deaf and could only communicate in sign language.

I just showed the video to my son; he liked it. His favorite part was when the fairy turned the kids into a frog. I like the video too. My only reservation is that the song about the mischievous boy who draws on the walls envisions him a great artist in the future but the song about the good girl celebrates how her heart is full with feelings and how much she loves people and is loved by them. I would have preferred it the other way round: the mischievous girl and the feeling boy. Yalla, next time.

Hating Haifa Wahbi

If you want to know what misogyny is, read the comments by hundreds of Al Arabiya readers on the Haifa Wahbi's car accident. You really would think this woman is a mass murderer or someone responsible for the humiliation of the Islamic Umma and the Arab nation.

Why can't people just say they dont' like her songs, her voice, her video clips, what she stands for, without wishing her death so fervently?

Where does all this hate come from?

Palestinian Leftists and the Hamas Takeover

Maan reports that most Palestinian leftist groups issued statements supporting Abbas. The Popular Front and the Palestinian National Initiative seem to have withheld full support but both have spoken against the Hamas Gaza takeover.

Al Zahhar Speaketh, Unfortunately!

I learned a couple of days ago that my 17-year-old nephew got kicked out of school for two days for calling Al Zahhar a jackass. In defending himself in front of the school principal, S said he mis-spoke and what he really meant to say was that Al Zahhar was a political jackass.

This Spiegel interview with Al Zahhar illustrates the concept. An Arabic summary of the interview's low points is here.

Salvation in Gaza

"Gaza – Ma’an – Muslim clerics and Christian leaders, Palestinian academics, eminent figures, intellectuals, journalists and NGO representatives, declared on Monday that they have formed "the Palestinian assembly for salvation" in Gaza.

A statement was signed by many, which said “according to the call of duty and conscience, we announce the formation of this assembly.”

The assembly declared that Palestinians are prohibited from using weapons against one another and that the use of weapons is illegal. “All that has resulted from the use of weapons recently is illegal and should be retracted, everything should return to how it was before the violence,” read the statement.

Also included in the statement were the following points:

1. The non-recognition of the use of weapons and revocation of the outcome of violence.
2. Return of the headquarters and establishments to their previous state and ownership.
3. Confirm the legitimate rule of President Abbas and urge him to reform the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian Authority.
4. Secure and maintain the role of the Palestinian Legislative Council immediately.
5. Uphold the geographic unity of Palestine and avoid a division between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
6. Everyone should assert that no party will be ignored, neglected, eliminated or rejected.
7. Be aware of citizens’ needs and give them priority.
8. Stress and confirm the sovereignty of law, respect freedom, enable the media to enact its role and keep it free from incitement.
9. Urge all Palestinian societies, NGOs and factions to enact their responsibilities in securing unity and the steadfastness of the Palestinians."

Poll: What West Bankers Think of Hamas Takeover

The majority, according to this poll, seem to support Abbas.

If nothing else, this poll should remind people who are going around defending Hamas in the name of the Palestinian people that Palestinians are divided. Pretending otherwise is dishonest. The problem with acknowledging this fact is that it makes it harder to just denounce everyone who is criticizing Hamas as being a collaborator with the American and Israeli plan. According to this poll, that's over 70 percent of West Bankers.

Female Genital Mutilation

Budoor Ahmad Shaker, 11, died while being "circumcized" in a private clinic in Egypt. The cause of the death is the wrong doze of anesthetics. As a result of this death, the Mufti of Egypt is forbidding all female circumcisions. The article mentions that according to Egyptian law, female genital mutilation/cutting is regulated: allowed only if the clitoris is too big!!!! and according to the discretion of the physician (right!). Nevertheless, it's still a widely spread practice.

The family is suing the doctor for negligence. What do they call their subjecting their daughter to the operation to begin with? Wish someone would sue them!

Update: 6/28/2007: The Egyptian ministry of health decided to ban all kinds of Female Genital Cuttings in clinics and hospitals.

Questions

Abdallah Awad asks some interesting questions in Al Ayyam:

" في عز قوة "السلطة، والاجهزة" لم يظهر اي توجه لجمع السلاح من الفلسطينيين، وذلك لحسابات المقاومة، وكان ذلك خطاً احمر، لا يمكن القبول به، والآن تلجأ كتائب القسام الى ارسال (تباليغ) نسخة طبق الاصل عن تباليغ (ضباط مخابرات الاحتلال)، تطلب من المرسل اليه "مراجعة احد المقرات في الجامع" كما تقول نسخة منه واحضار سلاحه معه وما يوجد عنده من اسلحة.
اذا كان خطابكم يرتكز على وجود تيار (انقلابي خائن).. بماذا تفسرون تجريد المقاومين من السلاح، بالقوة، ومعاقبتهم اذا رفضوا التسليم في خطاب (يعيد انتاج الاحتلال من جديد)..؟! ان اي عاقل يدرك ان القطاع تحت الاحتلال، وان تعرضه للعدوان اكثر من وارد.. الا اذا كانت هناك اتفاقات من تحت الطاولة مع الدولة العبرية.. فهل سحب السلاح من المقاومين هو عمل وطني.. أم ماذا؟!
جيد اذا كنتم (حررتم القطاع من العملاء والتكفيريين والمفسدين).. لماذا توقف اطلاق الصواريخ نحو الدولة العبرية.. والأهم لماذا طاردت كتائب القسام سرايا القدس بعد اطلاق عدة صواريخ على سديروت..؟! ولماذا اشتبكت مع مجموعة تابعة للجبهة الشعبية.. وصادرت سلاحها وهي ذاهبة لتنفيذ عملية ضد قوات الاحتلال"

In the Name of Democracy

"The Palestinian union of journalists also highlighted that the takeover of media centres and offices created an unprecedented situation in Palestinian history. There is an extreme “monopoly” and “blackout” of news reports in the Gaza Strip, the statement added."

It's worth remembering that Fateh and the PA didn't exercise this kind of blackout even at their worst moments.

However, Abbas's new NGO law is a disaster for democratic institutions.

Being Gay and Palestinian

As this Economist article makes clear (but perhaps not clear enough), despite its propaganda, Israel is not interested in Palestinian gay men except as vulnerable subjects to blackmail and make into collaborators.

The article is exclusively about gay Palestinian men, not women, who do not have the men's particular experience. However, Israel's Shin Beit has used attitudes to women's sexuality as a way to blackmail both non-gay men and women into collaboration.

The only way to prevent such blackmail is to fight against homophobia and sexual discrimination in Palestinian society. Among other things, they do leave Palestinian society vulnerable for exploitation of this kind. But if men and women, gay and straight, are not made to feel ashamed of their sexuality, if their sexual choices are not criminalized, then they will not be such easy victims of colonial blackmail.

In other words, speaking up against homophobia and sexual discrimination should be part of an anti-colonial national resistance strategy.

Law and Order: or How to Shatter a Knee Cap

One example of Hamas practices that are modeled after the Israeli army is the "wanted list." According to Haaretz,

"Hamas was not using a random hit list. Every Hamas patrol carried with it a laptop containing a list of Fatah operatives in Gaza, and an identity number and a star appeared next to each name. A red star meant the operative was to be executed and a blue one meant he was to be shot in the legs - a special, cruel tactic developed by Hamas, in which the shot is fired from the back of the knee so that the kneecap is shattered when the bullet exits the other side. A black star signaled arrest, and no star meant that the Fatah member was to be beaten and released. Hamas patrols took the list with them to hospitals, where they searched for wounded Fatah officials, some of whom they beat up and some of whom they abducted."

The Haaretz article concludes with this passage about Hamas's execution of civilians from the Bakr family. For the record, I haven't read about this anywhere else:

"Aside from assassinating Fatah officials, Hamas also killed innocent Palestinians, with the intention of deterring the large clans from confronting the organization. Thus it was that 10 days ago, after an hours-long gun battle that ended with Hamas overpowering the Bakr clan from the Shati refugee camp - known as a large, well-armed and dangerous family that supports Fatah - the Hamas military wing removed all the family members from their compound and lined them up against a wall. Militants selected a 14-year-old girl, two women aged 19 and 75, and two elderly men, and shot them to death in cold blood to send a message to all the armed clans of Gaza."

British Niqabis Explain

Caption anyone?

This article mentions a dozen reasons why some British women are wearing the niqab, ranging from it being an "an act of faith," to an "act of empowerment," to a practice that gets you good "grades" (I swear it's not my word) that move you to the head of the line of people pushing and shoving to enter Paradise.

I find it interesting that wearing the niqab is presented in the article and by the women interviewed as a personal decision on the part of individual women, who seem to be making that decision in isolation from their husbands, parents, or peers. That is not totally convincing. The Wahhabi mosques and preachers surly play an important role in presenting the niqab as an option for these women. They should be an important part of any investigation of the niqab.

Souad Massi: "Bladi" (My Country)

About Algeria, about Palestine...One sad song fits all.

Coming to a City Near You

I've been desperate for some good news lately so I'm really happy to report that a Hooters restaurant will be opened soon in Dubai. Can't wait!

Update: 7/2/2007: Darn!! The project is nixed because people signed petitions against it.

New Word: "Sieving"

Reading the news this morning, I learned a new Arabic word. It appears in Ali Jaradat's article in Al Ayyam: غربلة جسد جمال أبو الجديان The word is "Gharbaleh," used about the body of one of the Fateh men executed by Hamas. It means that his body was "sieved" or "made into a sieve."

How do you do that?

45 bullets.

One Hundred Days of Solitude

Alan Johnston

Winners

"But there are two green Hamas flags on the gate, too, and one of them is placed higher than the Palestinian one."

Not Offended

Just for the record, I am not one of the 1.5 billion Muslims Iran is claiming are offended by the nighthood of Salman Rushdi.

However, I am deeply offended by Iran's and Pakistan's insistence on speaking in the name of 1.5 billion Muslims.

Update: a careless spelling mistake rendered this post nonsensical. My apologies. In light of the comments below, let me try again:

Just for the record, I am not one of the 1.5 billion Muslims Iran is claiming are offended by the Knighthood of Salman Rushdi.

However, I am deeply offended by Iran's and Pakistan's nighthood which makes them insist on speaking in the name of 1.5 billion Muslims.

Regardless of whatever Rushdi wrote in The Satanic Verses, the Iranian murder Fatwa against him undermined, in my opinion, any ethical right people had to be offended at his words. He didn't call for murder; he wrote a novel. The Iranian government called for murder. Hence the difference between his words and theirs. In fact, after what Rushdi went through as a result of that Fatwa, I wouldn't be offended if he were given the "sainthood."

Executions on TV

Human Rights Watch condemns the executions carried out by Hamas and Fateh.

These executions should never be forgotten. What also should never be forgotten is that Hamas not only executed people, but it aired footage of the execution of Samih al Madhoun on its official channel, Al Aqsa TV. The footage is now available on the internet.

Words and More Words

"Those who choose a path other than dialogue must bear the consequences of their actions," said a Hamas guy on the day irony slit her wrist.

As the Arab proverb says: "I hear your words, I like them; I see your actions, I'm stunned."

Bikini Nationalism

This is the invitation to a party in Manhattan thrown by the men's magazine Maxim and the Israeli consulate to celebrate the special issue about Israel's attractions. See my earlier post about this here.

Elias Khouri: "Violation"

I am grateful for the Lebanese novelist Elias Khouri for writing this article about the Gaza disaster. Unlike other leftist and secular intellectuals, who want us to believe that what happened is a grand defeat for US and Israeli policies executed by the honorable Hamas, he is rightly horrified at the violations. As he puts it, the corruption of some of Fateh and its security forces does not justify the disgrace that Hamas committed. Below is my translation of the the opening section.

لا املك كلمات تصف مشهد انتهاك بيت ياسر عرفات في غزة، او الدوس علي
صورته، ونهب بيت خليل الوزير، ولا يستطيع احد اقناعي بأن تحطيم الرموز الفلسطينية، والسخرية منها، تعبر عن شيء له اسم آخر سوي العار.
السياسة وتحليل الانقلاب العسكري الذي قامت به حماس في غزة يأتي لاحقا، ولا ادري اذا كان يفيد في شيء، وانا اري علي الشاشة الصغيرة مشاهد الكبائر. فلسطينيون يلبسون اقنعة سوداء ويصرخون بالتكبير مجبرين اسراهم من الفلسطينيين علي التعري ورفع الأيدي! اعدام سميح المدهون علي شاشة فضائية الأقصي التابعة لحماس، وانزال العلم الفلسطيني عن المباني العامة في غزة بعد احتلالها واستبداله بعلم أخضر!
حلّ القناع مكان الكوفية التي لبسها الفلسطينيون في المدن ايام ثورة 1936 تضامنا مع المناضل الشهيد عزالدين القسام، واليوم يأتي من تسمي باسم القسام كي يدوس علي الكوفية ويستبدلها بالقناع!
لن يقنعني الجـــواب بأن الكثـــــير من رجال السلطة ورجال الأمن فاسدون. فالفساد لا يعـــــالج بالافساد الاخلاقي الذي يدمر رمــــوز فلسطـــــين التي مـــــات في سبيل الـــــدفاع عنها عشرات الوف الشهداء. ولن تقــــنعني لغة التـــــذاكي التي تدعو الي الوحــــدة الوطنية فــــوق برك الدماء والاذلال والمهانة.
انها لحظة للحزن والأسي.


"I don't have words to describe the scene of violation of Yaser Arafat's house in Gaza, the stamping on his picture, and the looting of Khalil al Wazir's house. Nobody can convince me that the destruction of Palestinian symbols and their degradation has any other name but disgrace.

Politics and analysis of the military coup which Hamas carried out in Gaza should come later, although I don't see the point in light of the disaster I'm watching on TV: Palestinians wearing black masks, screaming "God is greater," forcing their Palestinian prisoners to undress and raise their arms; the execution of Samih al Madhoun on Hamas's Al Aqsa TV; the taking down of the Palestinian flag from public buildings in Gaza and the raising of green flags instead!

The mask has replaced the koufeyeh which the Palestinians wore during the revolution of 1936 in solidarity with the fighter Izz el Deen al Qassam. Now, people who took his name are stamping on the koufeyeh and wearing masks instead.

I will not be convinced by the argument that many of the the Palestinian Authority men and security forces are corrupt. Corruption must not be countered with moral corruption that destroys the symbols of Palestine for whom tens of thousands have died. I will not be convinced by the clever language calling for national unity over pools of blood, humiliation, and degradation.

This is a moment of sadness and grief.....I could have never imagined, in my worst nightmares, a nightmare like this one.

Suicidal, not Necessary

Ali Jaradat, one of the leaders of the PFLP (neither an admirer of Fateh nor Hamas) responds in an article in today's Palestinian daily Al Ayyam to Khaled Mesh'al's statement that the Hamas take over was a "necessary step"by arguing that it was rather a "suicidal step." (in Arabic)

"From the River to the Sea"

from Al Quds Al Arabi

The word "Palestine" is divided into two syllables, one in the West Bank and one in Gaza. The first syllable "Flas" conjures the word "bankrupt" and the second,"teen," means "mud."

Mahmoud Darwish: A Diary

These notes by Mahmoud Darwish appeared today in the Palestinian daily Al Ayyam. My translation follows.

أنت منذ الآن غيرك!
"يوميـات"
محمود درويش

هل كان علينا أن نسقط من عُلُوّ شاهق، ونرى دمنا على أيدينا... لنُدْرك أننا لسنا ملائكة.. كما كنا نظن؟
ü
وهل كان علينا أيضاً أن نكشف عن عوراتنا أمام الملأ، كي لا تبقى حقيقتنا عذراء؟
ü
كم كَذَبنا حين قلنا: نحن استثناء!
ü
أن تصدِّق نفسك أسوأُ من أن تكذب على غيرك!
ü
أن نكون ودودين مع مَنْ يكرهوننا، وقساةً مع مَنْ يحبّونَنا - تلك هي دُونيّة المُتعالي، وغطرسة الوضيع!
ü
أيها الماضي! لا تغيِّرنا... كلما ابتعدنا عنك!
ü
أيها المستقبل: لا تسألنا: مَنْ أنتم؟
وماذا تريدون مني؟ فنحن أيضاً لا نعرف.
ü
أَيها الحاضر! تحمَّلنا قليلاً، فلسنا سوى عابري سبيلٍ ثقلاءِ الظل!
ü
الهوية هي: ما نُورث لا ما نَرِث. ما نخترع لا ما نتذكر. الهوية هي فَسادُ المرآة التي يجب أن نكسرها كُلَّما أعجبتنا الصورة!
ü
تَقَنَّع وتَشَجَّع، وقتل أمَّه.. لأنها هي ما تيسَّر له من الطرائد.. ولأنَّ جنديَّةً أوقفته وكشفتْ له عن نهديها قائلة: هل لأمِّك، مثلهما؟
ü
لولا الحياء والظلام، لزرتُ غزة، دون أن أعرف الطريق إلى بيت أبي سفيان الجديد، ولا اسم النبي الجديد!
ü
ولولا أن محمداً هو خاتم الأنبياء، لصار لكل عصابةٍ نبيّ، ولكل صحابيّ ميليشيا!
ü
أعجبنا حزيران في ذكراه الأربعين: إن لم نجد مَنْ يهزمنا ثانيةً هزمنا أنفسنا بأيدينا لئلا ننسى!
ü
مهما نظرتَ في عينيّ.. فلن تجد نظرتي هناك. خَطَفَتْها فضيحة!
ü
قلبي ليس لي... ولا لأحد. لقد استقلَّ عني، دون أن يصبح حجراً.
ü
هل يعرفُ مَنْ يهتفُ على جثة ضحيّته - أخيه: >الله أكبر< أنه كافر إذ يرى الله على صورته هو: أصغرَ من كائنٍ بشريٍّ سويِّ التكوين؟

ü أخفى السجينُ، الطامحُ إلى وراثة السجن، ابتسامةَ النصر عن الكاميرا. لكنه لم يفلح في كبح السعادة السائلة من عينيه. رُبَّما لأن النصّ المتعجِّل كان أَقوى من المُمثِّل. ü

ما حاجتنا للنرجس، ما دمنا فلسطينيين.

ü وما دمنا لا نعرف الفرق بين الجامع والجامعة، لأنهما من جذر لغوي واحد، فما حاجتنا للدولة... ما دامت هي والأيام إلى مصير واحد؟.

ü لافتة كبيرة على باب نادٍ ليليٍّ: نرحب بالفلسطينيين العائدين من المعركة. الدخول مجاناً! وخمرتنا... لا تُسْكِر!. ü

لا أستطيع الدفاع عن حقي في العمل، ماسحَ أحذيةٍ على الأرصفة. لأن من حقّ زبائني أن يعتبروني لصَّ أحذية ـ هكذا قال لي أستاذ جامعة

!. ü >أنا والغريب على ابن عمِّي. وأنا وابن عمِّي على أَخي. وأَنا وشيخي عليَّ<. هذا هو الدرس الأول في التربية الوطنية الجديدة، في أقبية الظلام.

ü من يدخل الجنة أولاً؟ مَنْ مات برصاص العدو، أم مَنْ مات برصاص الأخ؟ بعض الفقهاء يقول: رُبَّ عَدُوٍّ لك ولدته أمّك!. ü

لا يغيظني الأصوليون، فهم مؤمنون على طريقتهم الخاصة. ولكن، يغيظني أنصارهم العلمانيون، وأَنصارهم الملحدون الذين لا يؤمنون إلاّ بدين وحيد: صورهم في التلفزيون!.

ü سألني: هل يدافع حارس جائع عن دارٍ سافر صاحبها، لقضاء إجازته الصيفية في الريفيرا الفرنسية أو الايطالية.. لا فرق؟ قُلْتُ: لا يدافع

!. ü وسألني: هل أنا + أنا = اثنين؟ قلت: أنت وأنت أقلُّ من واحد!.

ü لا أَخجل من هويتي، فهي ما زالت قيد التأليف. ولكني أخجل من بعض ما جاء في مقدمة ابن خلدون.

ü أنت، منذ الآن، غيرك!

Mahmoud Darwish: “You From Now On Are Your Other”

A Diary

Did we have to fall from a great height and see our blood on our hands to realize we are no angels, as we thought?

And did we have to expose our private parts to the world so that our truth does not remain virgin?

How much did we lie when we said: we are an exception.

To believe yourself is worse than to lie to others.

To be kind to those who hate us, and harsh with those who love us—that's the lowliness of the arrogant and the arrogance of the lowly.

Past, do not change us every time we move away from you.

Future, do not ask us: who are you? And what do you want from me? For we too do not know.

Present, bear with us for we are only unwelcomed passers by.

Identity is what we leave behind not what we inherit, what we invent, not what we remember. Identity is the corruption of the mirror which we must break every time we like the reflection.

He wore his mask, gathered his courage, and killed his mother because she was what was available of the prey and because a woman soldier stopped him, bared her breasts, and said: Does your mother have these?

If it weren't for shyness and darkness, I would visit Gaza without knowing the way to the house of the new Abu Sufyan or the name of the new prophet.

If Mohammad weren't the final prophet, every gang would have a prophet and every prophet companion a militia.

We liked June in its fortieth anniversary: when we can't find that who would defeat us again, we defeat ourselves by our own hands so as not to forget.

No matter how hard you look into my eyes, you won't find my look there. It was kidnapped by a scandal.

My heart is not mine. It's nobody's. It had become independent of me without becoming a stone.

Does the one crying “God is Greatest” by the corpse of his victim-brother know that he is an infidel (kafir) because he sees God in his own image: smaller than a complete human being.

The prisoner, ambitious for inheriting the prison, hid his victory smile from the camera but he didn't succeed in restraining the joy dripping from his eyes, perhaps because the improvised script was stronger than the actor.

What need do we have for narcissus when we are Palestinians.

As long as we don't know the difference between the mosque (al Jame3) and the university (al Jami3a), since both have the same etymological root, what need do we have for a state since it, and the days have the same fate.

A big sign on the door of a night club: We welcome Palestinians returning from battle. Free entry and our wine does not make you drunk.

I can't defend my right to work as a shoeshine on the pavement. Now it's the right of my customers to consider me a shoe thief. This is what a university professor told me.

Me and the stranger against my cousin, and me and my cousin against my brother, and me and my sheikh against me. This is the first lesson in the new patriotic education, in the tunnels of darkness.

Who enters paradise first? That who died by the enemy's bullets or that who died with the brother's bullets? Some religious authorities say: be ware an enemy that was born to your mother.

Fundamentalists do not vex me, because in their own way they believe. But I'm vexed by their secular supporters and their atheist supporters who believe only in one religion: their pictures on TV.

He asked me: Does a starving guard defend a house left by its owner to summer in the French or Italian Riviera. I said: He does not defend.

He asked: Is me + me = two?

I said: you and you is less than one.

I'm not ashamed of my identity, for it's still being written, but I am ashamed of some of what appears in Ibn Khaldoun's introduction.

You, from now on, are your other. (or: you, from now on, are different)

One More Execution

According to Palestine TV, Hamas executed today the status of the unknown soldier in Gaza. It was tied to a donkey and dragged in the streets.

update: Al Quds al Arabi reports that a fundamentalist talibani group in Gaza is responsible for the destruction of the status, not Hamas.

Hamas's Use of Islamic History!

From the Palestinian daily Al Hayat al Jadedah, a Fateh newspaper:

"الاستاذ الجامعي المنتصر على اخوانه نزار ريان المنتمي لحركة حماس والذي جلس يخطب خطاب النصر في غزة، أفتى بكل ثقة وبلا تردد تنم عن قدسية طاغية بردة حركة فتح والأجهزة الأمنية، بالنص (ردة) وليس غير ذلك؟! ولمن لا يفهم فقد فسر كلامه الشريف أن الصحابي الجليل والخليفة الأول أبوبكر الصديق رضي الله عنه قد حارب المرتدين، ولكنه فتح-كما فتح نزار ريان- باب التوبة لمن يعود للاسلام من عناصر الأجهزة الأمنية؟!
يضيف الإمام المعصوم زميل سماحة المجتهد بتكفير الآخرين يونس الأسطل بالنص (أن الدين الاسلامي يتسع للمرتدين والزنادقة)؟! ويستطرد بنشوة النصر العظيم على الأعداء (نحن على الحق وهم على الباطل) ولمن لم يتابع جيدا فهو لا يقصد بالأعداء أصحاب الباطل اليهود أو الصهاينة، مذكرا بأبي بكر الصديق الذي حارب المرتدين على منع الزكاة (أفلا نقاتل من ينتهك حرمة بيوت الله ويعدم العلماء-مع العلم أنه من أعدم وجماعته الأبرياء وعلى شاشات التلفزة-ويبيع القضية الفلسطينية) ويؤكد بعنفوان المنتصر على الكفار ( أن لا حوار لحماس معهم إلا من خلال فوهة البندقية)؟! ومرة ثانية هو لا يقصد بتاتا العدو الصهيوني بالطبع، لذلك طافت قوته التنفيذية وكتائب القسام-وعزالدين القسام منهم براء- بجثة الشهيد الشيخ سميح المدهون قائد كتائب شهداء الأقصى في شوارع غزة في حالة تمثيل بالجثث تذكر بالجاهلية الأولى لم يسبق لها مثي"

Gaza Fragments, or, "The era of justice and Islamic rule has arrived"

"marching once-feared Fatah fighters down the street shirtless and with hands raised."

Portraits of Abbas and his predecessor, the late Yasser Arafat, lay on the ground as Hamas fighters showed reporters pools of blood where they said two of Abbas's guards shot themselves rather than surrender. A Fatah official said the guards were killed.

"dozens of Palestinian citizens have arrived at Erez crossing at the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, awaiting Israeli approval to flee to the West Bank. Eyewitnesses mentioned that the groups of people at the crossing included women and children."

"a prominent Hamas preacher had issued a religious edict, or fatwa, saying Hamas was entitled to kill Madhoun.Witnesses said Hamas supporters paraded his body through the streets of Nusseirat refugee camp."

"several Fatah fighters had been shot in the head."

Congratulations Hamas

Mabrouk guys! You did it! Start you spin now. Tell us how you did it for us, for Palestine, for the people, for security, for dignity, for the land, for history, for the future of our kids. Tell us and we will believe you because you are the "victors" who "liberated" Gaza (again) and freed its people (again).

You can do it again and again and again. Because words are cheap. As cheap as the blood you can now dip your fingers in to draw on your faces your victory sign.

To victory!

The Gunmen Versus The People

"About 1,000 Palestinians marched through Gaza City urging the rival factions to "stop the killing". The demonstration drew gunfire from armed men on nearby buildings killing at least one protester."

update: "The dead in Wednesday's fighting included a teenager at a peace rally, a schoolboy shot leaving an exam room and two United Nations relief workers."

"People are not the same any more, they look sad and hopeless"

Gazans speak about the violence on their hijacked streets.

"Some of the Dead Are Named"

Reading about the horror taking place in Gaza, I was struck by one particular line in a Maan news report:

"Some of the dead are named."

We've gotten used to the Gaza dead as nameless and faceless that naming them, even some of them, is jarring. It's almost a transgression of boundaries, a violence against our numb sensibilities.

"Some of the dead are named."

Not all, mind you. Only some. The naming can't keep up with the killing. The namers can't keep up with the killers. Tagging a body takes longer than making one. That's why it's "some."

But naming the dead, some of the dead, is possible. What's impossible is naming the living. The living dead. Those pulling the triggers, firing the mortars, pushing their neighbors off buildings, mutilating bodies. Mutilating bodies. Can we name them? Who are they? What are they?

Yes, some of the dead are named. Like this:

Yasser Bakir, 27; Saddam Bakir, 18; Basil Kafarna, 25; 'Eid Al-Masri, 56, and his sons Faraj Al-Masri, 23, and Ibrahim 'Eid Al-Masri, 21; Muhammad Mihjiz, 20; Muhammad Dahdouh, 21; Mazen 'Ajouz, 30; Jamal Abu Al-Jidyan, 45, and his brother Majid Abu Al-Jidyan, 33; Ms. Rayah Mihsin, 75; Ms. Sara Mihsin, 15; Ms. Dalal Mihsin, 19; Jamal Rabi', 13; 'Umar Rantisi, 20; and Mousa Abu Zeinah, 40.

Disgraceful!!!

Norman Finkelstein has been denied tenure by DePaul University.

Mabrouk Alan Deshowitz! You won. Courage, truth, justice, fairness, and, above all, decency, lost.

Mahmoud Darwish: Ahmad al Arabi

Divine Intervention: Take II

Women's Tortured Bodies

The video of Kathem el Saher's recent Iraq song "Al Ro3at wal Nar" makes ample use of women. There's more than one scene of them being tortured in jail; they are shown to link the past with the present; they are witnesses and keepers of the the flag; and they are the bleeding nation. At one point we see them singing the words "Are we Arabs?" thus making it clear they are appealing to the Arab nation (masculine) who has failed them. By the end of the video, a man emerges as the leader of a liberating army and the flag bearer. Hussein D3aibes was always, in my opinion, an unoriginal director of video clips and this one is really no different from his other non-political and cliche ridden ones.



While watching this clip I was reminded of the classic film "The Battle of Algiers" by Gillo Pontecorvo (watch trailer below). I was always struck by the fact that although that film shows women's involvement in all aspects of the struggle for national liberation, it never shows their torture. There are the famous scenes of men being tortured, and women witnessing the torture (the close up with the woman shedding a tear) but never women tortured. This is despite the fact that historically Algerian women were tortured and there were in fact some infamous cases that had some impact on French public opinion. These women never made it into the film. The question is why?



Why would we see them in Kathem's video but not in Pontecorvo's film?

Could the presence and the absence of their tortured bodies have to do with the fact that this clip is made during an ongoing war and the use of women is to rally the masculine nation to their defense while in the film, made at an optimistic moment right after independence, the issue of violation of women's bodies is too problematic for the young nation to deal with and is therefore suppressed?

Israeli Propaganda and Homophobia

Suhail Kewan, writing in Al Quds al Arabi, is right to criticize the way Israel uses gay rights issues to whitewash its crimes against the Palestinians. It's important to point out that the fact gays in Israel have civil rights they don't have in other Arab countries or in the Palestinian areas does not mean that Israel is not illegally occupying Palestinian land and is responsible for Palestinian displacement and loss.

However, Kewan doesn't do a good job making his point. For two reasons:

To say that homosexuals exist in Palestinian society (as he puts it "every village has one or more") does not prove anything in this discussion because it's not about weather they exist or not but weather they have rights or not.

The language he uses to talk about homosexuals proves that they are held in contempt: the two proverbs he shows off with, especially the one that closes the essay about how Arabs (He means Arab men), who let others humiliate them, are the homosexuals of this world, only expose his own homophobia and ignorance.

Wa'd: Saudi Singer

Elia Suleiman: "Divine Intervention"

Arabs Sing For Darfur

"Arab pop stars descended on Khartoum this week to perform concerts to aid war-torn Darfur, in a rare show of solidarity with the millions of Muslims caught in the conflict in western Sudan...But despite the charity's good intentions, some Islamic scholars in Sudan said the concerts were sinful.

"We view this as a way to corrupt this country, its people, its values and morals," the Sudanese Islamic Scholar's Society said in a statement posted on an Islamist website."

Killing Journalists

"An Afghan journalist was shot dead by unknown gunmen in her home north of Kabul on Tuesday night as she slept beside her 10-month-old baby."

Souad Massi: Raoui (The Storyteller)

Censoring the Internet

"The Chinese model of an internet that allows economic growth but not free speech or privacy is growing in popularity, from a handful of countries five years ago to dozens of governments today who block sites and arrest bloggers," said Tim Hancock, Amnesty's [International] campaign director.

"Spinsters" in Jordan

According to a survey carried out by an Islamist charity, there are 87 thousand women in Jordan above 30 who have never been married. The article, and probably the survey, use the word "spinster" (3anes) to describe these women. The delay in marriage is attributed to low incomes, expensive dowries, and higher education.

It's interesting how the survey has determined who a spinster is : 31 and above. I'd say that's progress. When I was growing up, the scary number in my town was 23. When my mother was growing up in the same town, it was 18.

The survey doesn't tell us how many male spinsters are out there because, as we all know, a man can be over 90, hairless, toothless, and noseless, and missing a significant number of his other vital organs and still be considered marriageable.

This reminds me of that other Arabic expression which is used to describe menopause: "THE AGE OF DESPAIR"!! (senn el ya's)

I would really love to meet the guy (or is it a committee?) who coined that term.

Teaching Islam

"Islamic studies will be designated "strategically important" to Britain's national interests, allowing tighter official scrutiny of university courses."

"In Praise of the Occupation"

"No wonder there is nostalgia for the occupation that existed before 1991!" writes Amira Hass.

A Mediterranean Song

This song is by Algerian singer Reda Taliani about that perilous journey across the Mediterranean. Below is the translation of the refrain that ng graciously supplied along with the video. As he said it is not easy to translate when "you have French, Algerian and Amazighi in one sentence." I don't know who made the video (Thanks ng).



Yal babour ya mon amour (Oh boat, my love)
Kharejni mil la misere (deliver me from misery)
Fi bladi rani mahgoure (in my own country, I am discriminated against)
Aite aite ou j'en ai marre (I’m tired, tired, and I had enough of it)
Matratish l'occasion (don’t miss the chance)
Fi dari sa fait longtemps (for which I’ve been planning for so long)
Hada nessetni qui je suis (till I forgot who I am)
Nkhdem aali a jour nuit (working on it day and night)
Yal babour ya mon amour (Oh boat, my love)
Khalejni mel la misère (deliver me from misery)
Evasion spéciale de L'Algérie a l'occidentale (special evasion from Algeria to the Occident)

Muslim Woman Wins Discrimination Case

" The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) welcomes a Phoenix, AZ, jury award of $287,640 to a Muslim woman after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) brought an employment discrimination case against Alamo Car Rental on her behalf. Alamo had terminated Ms. Bilan Nur in December of 2001 for refusing to remove her hijab, or head covering, during the Holy Month of Ramadan. This was the first post-9-11 backlash discrimination case brought by the EEOC’s Phoenix District Office."

Profile: Zeineb Badawi

You can read about her here and see her in a brief promo below. Can you imagine a Zeinab Badawi on American prime time news? I don't think so. Hirsi Ali would beat her to the job.

Or in a Leila abulela's novel for that matter? I doubt that too. I desperately looked for her in Minaret to no avail.

Here's a quote:

"There is far too much talk of this potential clash of religions and about Islam being inherently violent. I'm not an expert on Islamic law but I know there's nothing that justifies blatant murder and when you read that the Taliban says, 'You can't educate girls', that's complete rubbish again."

Exporting Egyptian Maids

There's anger in Egypt over a deal the government signed with Saudi Arabia to export Egyptian maids to the happy kingdom.

It sounds that national pride is at the center of the protest: some objectors are saying that Egypt used to export professionals and now they came down in the world they are exporting maids. Also there is the desire to protect "our women" from exploitation by strangers.

I wonder if the same people who are objecting to this deal ever said or did anything about the exploitation and abuse of maids in Egyptian households. Or perhaps national pride doesn't kick in then because it's domestic abuse--all in the family.

Living in the Toilet

A poor Moroccan family has been living in the public toilet. Now that the toilet is been barred after media attention, they are thinking of emigrating but hesitate not because of the perilous sea journey because they are "proud" of their country.

MC Rai

On the authority of Improvisations' Tunisian in residence this is a mixture of Tunisian and Algerian Rai.

(Thanks ng)

Threat to Decapitate Women

هددت جماعة اسلامية متطرفة في قطاع غزة بقطع رؤوس مذيعات التلفزيون اذا لم يلتزمن ارتداء الزي الاسلامي، ما اثار الرعب في صفوف المذيعات. وجاء هذا التهديد من جماعة «سيوف الحق» التي ادعت المسؤولية سابقاً عن تفجير مقاهي انترنت ومتاجر اشرطة الموسيقى. وتغطي غالبية مذيعات التلفزيون الفلسطيني الـ 15 رؤوسهن بمناديل.

وارسلت «سيوف الحق» تهديدها الجمعة عبر البريد الاليكتروني الى وسائل الاعلام. وجاء فيه: «سنقطع الاعناق من الوريد الى الوريد اذا دعت الحاجة من اجل حماية روح هذه الامة واخلاقها». واتهمت المجموعة المذيعات بانهن «من دون حياء او اخلاق».

وقالت مذيعة طلبت عدم ذكر اسمها: «هذه سابقة خطيرة في مجتمعنا. انه ستستهدف كل النساء العاملات. هذا البيان خوَفنا». وقال مسؤول امني رفيع طلب عدم ذكر اسمه ان «سيوف الحق» يقل عدد اعضائها عن مئة وانه تشكلت العام الماضي.

The Swords of Truth, the group responsible for blowing up internet cafes and music stores in Gaza, issued a statement on the internet threatening to decapitate all the female announcers who appear on Palestinian TV unveiled. Most female TV anchors cover their heads . The group vowed to "slit their throats from ear to ear in order to protect the soul and moral of the nation and accused the women of being with no shame or morals."

Needless to say, the women are scared and consider this threat an attack on working women.

They should be. Especially after hearing the response of the anonymous high level Palestinian security official who said that member of The Swords of Truth group is less than a hundred. In other words: not to worry. No big deal. Ignore them. Women whine. Not important for me to care. I never bother with any group that is less than 500. I have my standards. Anyway, the women can just cover up. It' s not that the group is asking for the moon.

Temporary Marriage Encouraged

"Iran's Interior Minister, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, has started promoting temporary marriage as a solution to the country's social problems. Shia Islam allows a man and woman to marry for a fixed period of time, ranging from an hour to a century.A man can also have any number of temporary marriages...

Iran first started promoting temporary marriage as an alternative to living in sin 15 years ago.The then President, Hashemi Rafsanjani, said it was a way for men and women to satisfy their sexual needs.He even said there was no need for a cleric: the couple could read out an oath in private in order to marry.

These days, some girls who want to travel with their boyfriends and be allowed to stay in the same hotel room or avoid arrest by the moral police might have a temporary marriage. Poor women who need financial support also do it.

But on the whole there is still a strong taboo against the practice. One woman MP asked the interior minister if a man came to ask for the hand of his daughter in marriage, would he willingly tell him how many temporary marriages she had had.

Another warned that promoting temporary marriages would cause thousands of problems.
There are already tens of thousands of children from temporary marriages whose fathers will not acknowledge them and are therefore considered illegitimate."

Iranian women rights activists are unhappy about this promotion of the temporary marriage. (in Arabic)

Nobel Peace Laureates Speak Up

"Individually they are impressive; together they are formidable. Six Nobel Peace laureates from around the world - all women - gathered in Dublin yesterday to take part in a major conference on the issue of female empowerment and the advancement of peace in the Middle East....Describing the conference, one of the six, Professor Jody Williams, said: "We looked at the violence against women resulting from the war in Iraq, which has its roots in the oil industry's lust for the reserves in the Middle East and the resulting interests at stake."

It seems the quality of the women peace laureates is much higher than that of their male counterparts.

A Modest Proposal For Dead Bodies Floating in Water

I think the United Nations should sponsor the creation of an international garbage dump where bodies of dead immigrants could be thrown in order to avoid the tensions among civilized nations who wouldn't rescue the immigrants when they were alive and have no reason to want to rescue them when they are decomposed corpses. Any dead bodies found floating in the seas can be just taken directly to this garbage dump and international peace and dignity can be maintained.

I have to confess that this is not an original idea of mine. The Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani imagined it in his novella Men in the Sun. When the three Palestinian refugees searching for the other Promised Land tried to illegally cross from Iraq to Kuwait in the empty water tank of a truck and suffocated to death, the driver, a Palestinian himself, threw their bodies on a garbage dump. After he stole their watches.

Of course that was not the fate of all Palestinian refugees. Kanafani, after all, was writing fiction. The lucky ones ended in the Nahr el Bared camp.

But I digress.

Iraqi Prostitutes in Syria

"Inexpensive Iraqi prostitutes have helped to make Syria a popular destination for sex tourists from wealthier countries in the Middle East. In the club’s parking lot, nearly half of the cars had Saudi license plates."

So one way to think about it is that these young women, who fled their destroyed country and are selling their bodies to rich Arab buyers, are doing a favor to the Arab nation: helping the economy of one honorable republic and servicing the men of other honorable countries. I'd think that makes them the most honorable women in our honorable Arab nation.

Please remember these women next time you hear someone frothing at the mouth about the "rape" of Iraq or the "rape" of Palestine or hear an eloquent poet lamenting how his city has become a whore. Because countries, my friends, don't get raped and cities are not whores.

Women do and are.

Women Who Fight

"Over the years, I have learned that Fatima's life is but a microcosm of the story of Palestinian women today: fighting a battle on multiple fronts. Fatima's stunted leg is the least of her handicaps - she is also a woman living in a patriarchy, and a Palestinian living under intense military occupation. The paralysing nature of Israeli military rule in the Palestinian territories cannot be overstated: the colossal theft of land, resources, life and dignity would be enough to discourage almost anyone, and yet people like Fatima exemplify the most hope-inspiring and defining characteristic of most Palestinians I've met - resilience."

One State Argument

Sari Makdisi makes the case for the one state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Most Dangerous Places to Live

"Bethlehem – Ma'an – A report by the Economist Intelligence Unit has labeled Israel as the third most violent and dangerous place in the world to live. Only Sudan and Iraq were described as worse in the annual survey, which listed 121 countries according to how peaceful each country is, based on levels of violence and organised crime within the country, as well as levels of military expenditure."

Is that with Gaza or without?

Alan Johnston Alive on Video

Hip Imams Wanted

You know, the kind that may on Valentine's day tell you that romantic love is consistent with Islam instead of sermonizing against red roses as works of the devil.