I had no idea

there were Jews in Bahrain! But apparently there are a small group. One of them, Huda Nunu, has been appointed the Bahraini ambassador to the United States.

"Younis" By Mohammad Mounir

Favorite line: "What love is this if it is without freedom"

Nakba Mobile Ad in DC

Some More Dreams Deferred

You work so hard to get the scholarship. You wait so long for it. You dream about it. You know how much is riding on this once-in-a lifetime opportunity. Then the dream-deferring Israeli occupation tells you you can't leave and the Americans can't do anything about it. As one of the denied students put it: “I still cannot believe that the American administration is not able to convince the Israelis to let seven Palestinians out of Gaza.”

Dubai's New "Moral" Campaign is Immoral

Dubai police is conducting an arrest campaign against what they call "deviants" and "men who look like women" and "women who look like men." They don't want them in public spaces. The name of the harassment campaign is "Our Values are Strong, Let's Preserve Them." The rhetoric of the head of the police makes it clear he wants to protect Dubai from "foreign" influences that undermine local values.

Isn't it funny that values that are supposedly strong or based in "nature" always need the police and the law to reinforce them? I think the moment the police is called upon to reinforce certain values it's time for us to question these values, not to embrace them.

But it's not only the police who is involved in this. Other groups are sponsoring this sexual harassment campaign: The Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Youth and Culture, The Department of Naturalization and Residency, Al Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Department, and the Health and Electricity Department.

Electricity???

What does the Electricity Department have to do with this matter? Maybe they thought they are the ones responsible for "enlightening" the public...

وتشارك في الحملة جهات حكومية منها وزارات الشؤون الاجتماعية والشباب والثقافة والقيادة العامة لشرطة دبي ودائرة الجنسية والاقامة ودائرة الأوقاف والشؤون الاسلامية وهيئتا الصحة والكهرباء وعدد من الجمعيات والمؤسسات الاجتماعية.

When asked how does he target his victims, the head of police explained that he goes for men who look like women and women who look like men, focusing on clothes and make up.

The police in the US used to do something similar. In fact, the law required that a person should have three items on him/her that indicate gender: so a woman needed to have, for instance, a non-boxers underwear, a bra, and high heels. Otherwise, she will be arrested. Dubai seems to be doing the same.

So ladies, before you visit Dubai, make sure you stop by Victoria Secret and stock up. For safety. As to men, try the Army and Navy store.

Long Live Patriarchy!

The Egyptian parliament decided to strike out three items from a Child's Rights law that has been previously approved. The three items are:

The right of the mother to claim her child (give the child her name). But they were generous enough to allow her to get a birth certificate for the child and record the name of the father in it. One Islamist parliamentarian objected even to this and warned that it encourages adultery.

Raising the marriage age for girls to 18

Criminalizing parents who circumcise their daughters

According to the conservatives in the Parliament, these items undermine Islam and are not popular among the people.

Well, if they are in the business of canceling what is not popular amongst the people, shouldn't they cancel Mubarak?

Mahmoud Darwish On the 60th Nakba Year

"At the Station of a Train that Fell Off The Map" (in Arabic)

Israeli Soldier Shoots a Peace Activist at Close Range

"The video shoes the officer, a lieutenant, walking with a group of soldiers down a dirt path, and carrying an M-16 assault rifle fitted with a rubber bullet adapter over the muzzle. Cohen is seen wearing a white T-shirt and a backpack, walking alongside the soldiers and shouting. Cohen says he was protesting the arrest of a fellow demonstrator. The officer then turns toward Cohen and fires a single shot at his thigh. The force continues to walk, as Cohen falls to the ground."

Two Court Decisions I Like

The First one is by a Jordanian court: it sentenced a man who killed his sister to ten years in jail instead of the obscenely short sentences issues in so-called honor killings. He murdered her because her ex-husband accused her of adultery.

That's an improvement. Abolishing the honor killing special treatment law is the next logical step. Would the illustrious parliament ever agree to that?

The second one is by an Egyptian court: it refused to take away Egyptian feminist Nawal el Saadawi's citizenship as a fascist Islamist lawyer demanded in his law suit against her. He charged her of not thinking the way he does. The court didn't find that as one of the reasons the law lists for taking away any one's citizenship.

It should be remembered that even when these law suits against intellectuals and artists don't yield the desired verdict, they still intimidate and silence, which is exactly their point.

One More Reason to Dislike Naipaul

According to a new authorized biography (review in Arabic) of V. S. Naipaul, the Nobel Laureate Edward Said once called "an intellectual disaster" was not only a self-hating racist and Islamophobe. He was also a sadist who beat up and humiliated the women in his life.

Hey, but he was a good writer!!

The Australian Mullas and the Professor

Some so-called Muslim leaders in Australia have nothing better to do than lead a protest campaign against a course on "Women in Arab and Muslim Literature" taught by a Palestinian-Australian professor, Samar Habib. They are frothing at the mouth and making a big fuss because they don't like the books she's teaching.

They particularly object to her including The Perfumed Garden and writers as Nawal el Saadawi, Fatima Mernissi, and Amina Wadud. According to the stone-brained protesters, these sources talk frankly about sex and give a distorted, disrespectful view of women in Islam. They are kicking and screaming because Habib is also including some material about prophet Mohammad's relationship with his wife Aisha.They suggest instead that the Qura'nic sura about the Virgin Mary offers a more accurate representation of Islam's view of women. Ya right!

In other words, what they are saying is that only their highnesses have the right to touch the tradition, to interpret it, and to twist it whichever they want to suit their own view of what women in Islam are. The tradition is theirs to suppress, select from, and invent. Everyone else should just keep their mouths and minds shut and be good faithful sheep.

And in a typical ad hominem move, they try to discredit Habib herself for being a specialist in, according to Al Arabiya, "deviancy." Let me translate that into non-hate talk: it means Habib has written a book called Female Homosexuality in the Middle East: Histories and Representations. She also translated and wrote the introduction to Lebanese writer Ilham Mansour's novel on Lesbian desire I Am You. According to the Australian mullahs, this qualifies her to "spread" lesbianism, which they accuse her of, and disqualifies her from even mentioning Islam or Muslims, especially the women. (oh, protect the women, protect the women!!!)

Habib is defiant and dismissive. According to her, the Australian media loves to publicize the view that Muslims are closed minded and not open to living in a pluralistic civil society. That is the reason they publicize the tired views of some conservative who does not represent all of the Australian Muslims. Of course, she is right. But never underestimate the ability of those so called Muslim-leaders to stir up hysteria. (For a sample of other controversies stirred by Australian Muslim nit-wits, check this older post).

Al Arabiya, in its usual non-professional and hate-mongering manner, responded by asking her to clarify her position on the veil, Islam, and the accusation that she spreads lesbianism. Habib, wisely didn't respond because anything she says (or not say) will be held against her.

If anybody is giving Islam a bad name, it's not Habib, who I think is doing a very responsible job. It's those Mullahs. If you give them the chance, they would shut us all up. They will insert themselves in every course, every poem, every cartoon, every greeting, every color, and every bedroom. Their ambition is to tell us how to eat, drink, brush our teeth, make love, and pick our noses (there is the right way and the wrong way you know). All in the name of protecting an Islam they appointed themselves its guradian when in fact they are it's public enemy number one.

Go Samar!

Love in Saudi: What the Women Say

The New York Times, it turns out, did visit the women's quarters in Saudi Arabia (they sent a woman) for their part two on youth and love in Saudi Arabia. This article maybe a bit better; the author claims to have interviewed scores of Saudi women, not just two as her male colleague did. That helps.

Not surprising, the picture that emerges is more complex (but still not complex enough). As I predicted, if you wanted rebellion, go talk to the women. Some of these women are dressing up like men and invading public spaces to flirt with women as men!! How about that? There is even mention of same sex relations and of Saudi papers lamenting the rebelliousness of today's youth. Also a passing mention to recent clashes with the moral police.

In other words, it's not all conformity in the happy kingdom. The women are stirring.

Palestinian Victories

I'm surprised and hurt. But mostly hurt. All these historical victories and all these historical achievements and all these historical revolutions and all these historical press conferences and no body told me?

I'm referring of course to Bassam Abu Sharif's memoir that is being serialized in Al Quds Al Arabi. My god, I had no idea that the man was so hysterical (I mean historical) and so achieving!!

But can someone please tell him that Yaser Arafat died and that he no longer needs to brown nose him in every sentence he writes? Every other sentence would suffice.

Policing Coffee Drinkers and Reporting on Saudi Youth

A Saudi psychology professor was arrested by the Saudi moral police for meeting with a woman in a cafe. For punishment he will receive 150 lashes and will be jailed for eight months. Amnesty International is protesting the arrest and punishment. (in Arabic)

According to the article, Amnesty doesn't mention the woman who was caught with the professor.

Still in the Happy Kingdom, The New York Times has a front page drivel, I mean article, about Saudi Arabian youth. It's all based on talking with two young Saudi men, Enad and Nadir, who in their cluelessness become representative of all the young men and women of the country. I would love to know how the writer, Micheal Slackman, found his subjects. A stroll in the mall, perhaps? The gist of the article is that Saudi youth perpetuate the status quo, hence the "generation faithful" part of the title. There is no rebellion.

In other words, nothing ever changes in the Middle East. Because you know they have lots of Islam and tradition, and they sit on the ground and eat food with their bare hands and do all that stuff that makes those people different from us.

Which is the ultimate point of the article.

Why not talk to the women? Maybe more rebellion will be found in those quarters. Talk to anyone but those two doofuses.