The Talibanization of Gaza?

A statement issued by a group in Gaza that calls itself "The Islamic Swords of Truth blah blah blah) warned Palestinian women who do not wear the proper Islamic dress and who use make up and revealing clothing that they will be punished by having acid thrown into their faces if they don't change their ways. They bragged that they've already thrown acid in the face of one woman (was not reported in the local papers as far as I know). They also smashed the windows of a taxi because the driver plays loud music and threatened all taxi drivers who play music in their cars. They took responsibility for bombing internet cafes and music stores and promised they will contine to burn them if they are not closed down. They describe internet cafes as part of a zionist conspiracy to distract Palestinian men and women from the jihad. Shall I go on? La, khalas, bekaffi. (More here in Arabic)

When asked, a Hamas represenative said his group does not condone such behavior because changing society should not be done by force but by laws, with the approval of the people.

Top African Artists

The Independent asked a panel of experts on African art to come up with a list of the 50 best African artists. You can view details here.

There were four Arabs on the list: the Sudanese painter Ibrahim el Salihi, and 3 Algerian singers: Khaled, Rachid Taha, and Souad Massi (I'll never forgive myself for missing her D.C. performance last year). I would have liked to see some Arab writers on the list, but thus is the nature of such lists.

I have posted some songs by Rachid Taha before (apparently his hit song "Ya Rayeh" originally belongs to a female popular singer). Below you can watch Khalid and Faudel sing "Aisha" live. Also a glimpse of Souad Massi.

Arabic reggae by Hameed al Sha3ri. He's Libyan, but I'm not sure what dialect he's using here.

Justice vs. Power: Chomsky vs. Foucault

Only for the hardy nerds amongst you. This is the debate between Noam Chomsky and Michel Foucault. Don't expect the empty fireworks we get watching debates on Al Jazeera's "The Opposite Direction."

Apartheid

"Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories has many features of colonization. At the same time it has many of the worst characteristics of apartheid," writes John Duggard, a South African Law Professor.

Cairo and the Hijab

Egypt is still reeling from Farouq Hosni's remarks about the hijab! Another fake "crisis" facing the Islamic Umma, embodied by its women. One of the visitors to my blog reached me by typing in his/her search engine "Farouq Hosni homosexual." I doubt he found what he wanted.

Here's a pretty informative article (in Arabic) in Al Sharq al Awsat about the popularity of the hijab in Egyptian society and the attitude of the state (mainly State TV and the foreign ministry). The only problem is that the article at the beginning collapses the veil and the niqab: Qasem Amin and Huda Sha'rawi were against the niqab and the role it played in separating women from the public sphere. I find the comments of the readers also instructive. One mentions an omission in the article, which is the contribution of the Gulf culture to the popularity of the hijab in Egypt via Egyptians who migrated to work there. A similar influence is noticeable in Palestinian society.

Israeli Settlers Attack Human Rights Defenders

According to Amnesty International:

"Human rights defenders working in the Occupied Territories are at risk of attack by Israeli settlers. Amnesty International is concerned at the latest such attack against those who seek through their presence to afford protection to Palestinians and to bear witness to the abuses perpetrated against them by Israeli settlers in the area.

On 18 November, Tove Johannsson, a 19-year old Swedish human rights defender, was assaulted by Israeli settlers as she accompanied Palestinian school children through an Israeli army checkpoint near the Tel Rumeida Israeli settlement in the West Bank city of Hebron . . Tove Johannsson was ... hit in the face with a broken bottle by an Israeli settler, and sustained broken cheekbone and a fracture near her eye. Her colleagues reported that as she fell to the ground, a group of settlers who were watching the attack clapped and cheered and some tried to take photos of themselves next to her bleeding face, giving the camera a ‘thumbs-up’ sign."

It's Demographics, Stupid!

They never stop. Always thinking of ways to keep the Palestinians out. Now, they are proposing two laws, which aim at doing the same thing: making sure that Palestinians (particularly those with the potential to reproduce) are not unified with their Israeli partners. Don't be fooled by the "security" justification; it's all about keeping the state "clean." So much for the freedom to love.

Banning the Iranian Madame Bovary

The Iranian "Ministry of Censorship (oops, I mean culture) and Islamic Guidance" banned Zoya Pirzad's bestselling novel I Will Turn Out the Lights. The novel tells of a love affair of a bored Armenian Iranian housewife. From the reviews I've read, the main character thinks too much to be an Emma Bovary, but I guess thinking is more subversive than anything she might "do".

Here in Arabic

Rape as Torture Weapon

According to a new report by Amnesty Internation, rape is endemic in Nigeria, used by the police as a weapon of torture. But not to worry. The state is dealing with the problem: on Tuesday they organized a "police workshop on sexual violence."

Well, that should take care of it!

"War Chic"

"The November issue of the magazine Marie Clare did an outstanding job of in remedying the media's woeful lack of coverage of the impact of war on fashion. With several hard-hitting articles and a photo spread, MC gives this aspect of war reporting it's proper due," writes Lucinda Marshall.

Worst Headline of the Day

"الشجاعية يطعن فلسطين خمس مرات"

Translation: "Al Sheja3yeh stabs Palestine five times."

I mean we don't have enough real violence, we need to use metaphorical violence to describe scoring soccer goals? How about a truce in this constant deployement and mobilization of the language of violence and war to talk about friendly sport competition?

In Support of (non) Flying Imams (nothing about nipples though)

"Imams, ministers and a rabbi staged a pray-in yesterday at Reagan National Airport and demanded an apology from US Airways for barring six Muslim clerics from a Minneapolis-to-Phoenix flight last week. The religious leaders called for an end to racial profiling, saying it was unacceptable in the United States."

Church and State Against Nicaraguan Women

The total ban on abortion in Nicaragua claims its first victim. More are sure to follow. Note that all groups, across the political spectrum, supported the ban. No one dared to oppose the church. Some secularism!!

Safe Skies: No Imams or Nipples, Please!

It's not often that I read about flying Imams and nipples in the same article, but these are strange times we are living in.

How Are Arab Women Doing?

The soon-to-be-released 2005 report on Arab Human Development, which is published in connection with the UN, is focused this time on the status of women in the Arab world. How are women doing? Not great. Women are not part of the decision-making process, their representation in government tends to be symbolic, their economic activity is 33%, and their lives are endangered by pregnancy and labor. They suffer double under foreign occupations and they are yet to catch up to men in terms of educational opportunity. According to the report, the two forces that hinder women's developemnt are the dictatorial secular regimes and the rising Islamic movements. (in Arabic)

Wow! I read a whole article on Arab women without encountering the word "veil"! What is going on?

About Elias Khouri

A long profile in The London Review of Books of the Lebanese writer Elias Khouri.

On the Occasion of Britain (almost but not quite) Apologizing for Slavery

The Stranglehold of English Lit.

Felix Mnthali

Those questions, sister,
those questions
stand
stab
jab
and gore
too close to the center!

For if we had asked
why Jane Austen's people
carouse all day
and do no work

would Europe in Africa
have stood
the test of time?
and would she still maul
the flower of our youth
in the south?
Would she?

Your elegance of deceit,
Jane Austen,
lulled the sons and daughters
of the dispossessed
into a calf-love
with irony and satire
around imaginary people.

While history went on mocking
the victims of branding irons
and sugar-plantations
that made Jane Austen's people
wealthy beyond compare!

Eng. Lit., my sister,
was more than a cruel joke--
it was the heart
of alien conquest.

How could questions be asked
at Makerere and Ibadan,
Dakar and Ford Hare--
with Jane Austen
At the centre?
How could they be answered?

British Apologies

Tony Blair is going to express "sorrow" for the role Britian played in the slave trade. But no apology. Here's a list of some British apologies The Independent lists (the Palestinians got to wait in line for theirs--it's a long line, I'm afraid):

* POTATO FAMINE

In 1997 Tony Blair said sorry for Britain not doing more to relieve suffering from Ireland's 19th-century potato famine.

* DESERTERS

This year some 300 First World War soldiers shot for refusing to fight (many of whom were shell-shocked) were pardoned.

* MAORIS

In 1995, the Queen officially apologised to the largest Maori tribe in New Zealand for the devastation wrought on their land in the 1860s.

* AMRITSAR MASSACRE

In 1997 the Queen visited Amritsar in the Punjab, scene of a massacre of up to 1.200 people in 1919. She said it was "distressing", and said: "History cannot be rewritten, however much we might sometimes wish otherwise."

Samir Joubran: Kheyanat Mari7a

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Book Review: Modern Arabic Fiction

Son'allah Ibahim, Hanan al Shaykh, 'Ala' al Aswani

A condescending review in The New York Times of the new anthology The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction, edited by Denys Johnson-Davis. Among the things we learn is that Arab fiction writers don't have much of a tradition to draw on, and they never appreciated A Thousand and One Night which is revered in the West (in other words, even when Arabs write something good, they are incapable of appreciating it themeslevs). One thread running through the review is a comparison of Arabic fiction to Western fiction, to the advantage of the latter. Even when the reviewer praises Ghassan Kanafani for his Men in the Sun, he calls him "a Palestinian advocate" (which is odd considering that Kanafani was a Palestinian writer) who "was killed by a car bomb in 1972." (can you guess the missing word?)

Then there is this kind of standard orientalist stuff: "In societies where religion dominated all aspects of life, the notion of authors creating a separate fictional world was widely viewed with suspicion."

The reviewer concludes by anticipating that the anthology will be treated less as a literary sampler and more as a "telescope" through which to view Arab culture and customs from a "safe remove."He adds: "in the current climate, with suspicion of all things Arab and Islamic at an all-time high, that may not be entirely a bad thing." I disagree. I think it is a bad thing because using literature as sociology during hostile times is not going to yield much understanding or appreciation of another culture. Readers are going to find what they already know. Some might even conclude with: "I'm lucky to be American."

Frankly, I'm not crazy about anthologies of fiction. I don't like to read excerpts from novels. What's the point? But I guess having these anthologies is better than not having them.

Ok, I think this crancky review of a review has gone too long.

The Performative Contradiction

Here's an explanation of the major difference between men and women. Mind you, this is a scientific explanation, utilizing graphs to communicate the latest research on gender differences.

"Umm Kulthum: A Voice Like Egypt"

"Umm Kulthum: A Voice Like Egypt" by Michael Goldman is, to my knoweldge, the only film about the great Arab singer. Below you can watch 10 minutes of it. They give you a taste, jsut a taste; I recommend the full-length film, which chronicles Umm Kulthum's relationship to Arab nationalism, among other things.

God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children

"The kindergarten teacher is lying on a stretcher, covered with blood. The minibus is parked alongside. From somewhere to the left, the army cannon is firing shells. The children are lying on the ground next to one another. That is how one of the children described the morning when they were driving to their kindergarten in Beit Lahia and an Israel Defense Forces shell or missile - the army spokesman refuses to say - exploded several meters away and mortally wounded the teacher before their eyes, " writes Gideon Levy.

Defending Veiled Women?

A few days ago, I asked if Farouq Hosni, Egypt's Minister of Culture, is the Arab Jack Straw. The comparison was provoked by his statement that wearing the hijab is old fashioned and not necessary. His words have caused a fire storm in Egypt that is yet to abate.

It started with the Muslim Brother MPs (always alert to the most important dangers facing the nation) who asked for the minister's metaphoric head. Not to be outdone by their colleagues, MPs of the ruling party, that is, Hosni's party, have demanded his resignation on the spot. He is being accused of going against Islam by undermining a major pillar of the religion. They are even now scandalized by the minister's own sketches which shows "naked" women.

He tried to backtrack by saying this was his personal opinion and he has the utmost respect for veiled women. Didn't wash. Some Egptian intellectuals, including the director Yousef Chahine, have signed a petition supporting him and decrying "thought terrorism." The actor Hussein Fahmi proved that his choice of words is not much better than his acting when he lowered the public debate even further by saying that veiled women are "mentally retarded."

But Farouq Hosni is no Jack Straw really. The veiled women of Egypt are not in the same position as the veiled women of England. For one thing, they are a majority. The bullies in this case are the members of Parliament whose intention is to create more and more taboos and to impose their own narrowly-defined morality on people in the name of their "Islam." If anything, it's unveiled women who are on the defensive in Egypt and who have to explain themselves.

The veil musalsal (soap opera) continues . . .

Empowering Muslim Women

WISE: Women's Islamic Intiative in Spirituality and Equity held a conference in New York recently to initiate a global movement to empower Muslim women. One of the aims is to empower women to interpret the Qur'an and to form a shura (advisory) council to deal with advancement of women's rights. Over a hundred Muslim women attended. (here in Arabic)

No, I didn't come to New York to attend the conference. I wasn't invited : (

Female Circumcision Denounced

The Muslim establishment in Egypt, represented by the Mufti of Al Azhar and al Qaradawi, are coming out against female circumcision (female genital mutilation/cutting), asserting its un-Islamic nature. According to them, it's against Islam because it injures women's bodies and denies them their natural right of sexual pleasure. (in Arabic)

Good stand, folks. Stick to it.

Putting Dream on Hold

Helem, the Lebanese Gay and Lesbian organization, had to put its dream of lobying for gay civil rights on hold for now. That kind of work needs the protection of a strong civil society, which is usually the first casualty of war and militarization.

To Taser

A few days ago, I learned a new English word: "tasered." The video below illustrates the meaning.

Egypt's Endangered Yout

What a relief it is to know that the Egyptian parliament knows what the problems facing Egyptian youth are and that they are going after them. The main problem seems to be called Nancy Ajram. She, or rather her legs, are undermining the nation. No doubt about it. No body is fooled by her song "Ana Masri" (I'm Egyptian), which seems to have miserably failed in appeasing her attackers. The other problem is Haifa Wahbi, who with every butt wiggle decimates one more family unit. A third problem is Alyssa, whose august cleavage is guilty of subverting the Egyptian armed forces (I have this from close sources).

For some reason, they don't mention, Dana Ana Dundun who won this blog's award for worst video clip ever (she got the highest rating: "just dreadful".

But brethren and friends, not to worry. The Muslim bothers in parliament are always awake. Their eyes are always open; they are always watching.

This is why they are again asking that these singers be banned from performing in Egypt because they are ruining the yout of the nation.

Here's some advice:

watch less TV, take cold showers, get a life or a remote control. But no matter what you do, do not click on the button below.

Sade: It's Only Love That...

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Censorship in Egypt

Hanan Turk in Dunya, her last film without a veil

"Welcome to paradise, where carrying a film camera on the street without a permit is a criminal offence."

Africa and Homosexuality

A useful run down of the attitudes of African countries towards homosexuality. Two things I find particular interesting:

male homoxuality seems to be the most problematic, since many of the laws are expressly against it. In Kenya, male homosexulaity is illegal, but lesbian relations are not.

It's in the struggle against apartheid that acceptance of gay rights emerged. Imprisoned political prisoners had at some point to confront the fact that one of their own was a homosexual.

How Do You Say Patriarchy in Hebrew?

In a survey of 500 Israeli Jews, " Forty-three percent of the male participants answered that if they don't like what their partner is wearing, it is their right to forbid her from wearing it. Thirty-six percent of the female participants concurred with that notion."

What a Revelation!!

This is a journalistic earthquacke! The New York Times is reporting on its front page that an Israeli Peace Now group is revealing information that 39% (let's call it 40%. What is 1% between neighbors?) of settlement land is privately owned by Palestinians.

No!!!

Can't believe it. I almost fell off my chair and broke my head.

I guess when Abu Ahmad says they stole my land, he sounds like a broken record and no one believes him. Arabs lie, you know. And when Umm Ahmad says: what about the other 60%; is it owned by Martians ya Khouy? No one believes her, because she's a peasant woman who can't possibly have anything to say.

But, hey, it's now on the front page of The New York Times. I think the Palestinians should make November 21st a national holiday. Brothers and sisters: We have arrived!

How to Neutralize the Israeli Army

Collective, civil, non-violent action is the only way the Palestinians can neutralize the mighty Israeli army. There was an example of that kind of action in Gaza today, when hundreds of Palestinians gathered at a house that was about to be hit by an Israeli airstrike. The Israelis called the strikes off and are of course using that to show how they avoid civilian casualties. Yes, so far the Israelis won't fire a missile into a crowd of 100, especially with cameras rolling, but they would into a crowd of 10. They have their standards, you know.

This tactic is not new. The women in Beit Hanoun used it a couple of weeks ago to lift the siege from a mosque. More importantly it was used on a daily basis by women in the first intifada: they would surround the young man who was about to be arrested in the street by soldiers and would yell and elbow and do all they can to secure his release. No body used the militaristic term "human shields" then.
I don't like the term "human shields" to describe what's going on. The Israelis are using it to argue that the Palestinians don't respect human life and endanger the lives of their civilians. The Palestinians are trying to redefine it and use it as a term of civil resistance to occupation, but usually the weaker side loses the war of definitions. Moreover, I'm concerned that civil, non-violent resistance can be obscured by the continued use of militaristic terms and metaphors. One other such term is the word "hudna" that Hamas insists on using: they don't want to use the sissy word "peace agreement" because that is now synonymous with "Oslo"--a dirty word--so they adopt a militarisitc term to ask for "peace," giving the wrong impression that the Palestinians too are an army that can cease hostilities.

Not to sound too pessimistic, but the Israelis will try to neutralize this tactic. In other words, they will continue to fire their missiles without giving advanced notice, which is the rule anyway (everytime a missile or tank shell is fired in Gaza it is potentially fired into a crowd, let's not forget that). Therefore, what I hope will emerge from this is a realization that collective, non-violent action has an incredible potential to bring about change and that it will be adopted as a "strategy" of resitance and not as a marginal tactic that we use along side militaristic means. The Qassams and the suicide bombers are ultimately the antithesis of this kind of resistance.

I always believed that civil resistance is the way to go. It's better for Palestinian society in the short and long run, whether we end up with one state, two states, or no state.

This belief hasn't earned me many friends over the years. In fact, every time I express it I lose a few. This time, I'm sure, will be no different.

Al Jazeera's English Launch

On the Occasion of Banning the Burqa in Holland

Hijab Scene # 7

No, I’m not bald under the scarf

No, I’m not from that country

where women can’t drive cars

No, I would not like to defect

I’m already American

But thank you for offering

What else do you need to know

relevant to my buying insurance,

opening a bank account,

reserving a seat on a flight?

Yes, I speak English

Yes, I carry explosives

They’re called words

And if you don’t get up

Off your assumptions,

They’re going to blow you away.

Mohja Kahf, from Emails from Shehrezad.

Naseer Shamma: Al 'Amiriyha

And the Moral of the Story Is?

From this story, we learn that Afghani women set themselves on fire to escape domestic abuse. What interests me is the point of such a story. Is it because we "invested" in Afghani women so we need to report on their situation every now and then? In this case, what would our conclusion be? Perhaps that although we tried hard to help these women, and despite the "improvements" that resulted, these people are incurable and beyond the pail.

Or maybe I'm missing something?

Afghani society is patriarchal and has been torn by war for decades now. War does not improve women's situation. Any idiot knows that, right?

Battling Immodest Dress

Women who are wearing "immodest" clothes are sparyed with bleach. Clothes stores are set ablaze.

But before you start ranting about those fanatic Muslim men who live in the dark ages and who just won't leave women alone, before you reach for your copy of The Arab Mind to try to make sense of the weird Arab culture that breeds this mysogyny and intolerace, before you shake your head in disgust and say, "those poeple! I'm just sick of hearing about them and their veil"...

Read this.


(thanks Rabee)

Security the Excuse, Transfer the Goal

The New York Times sends a photographer and a reporter for two days to the West Bank to report on the chokingpoints that are ruining Palestinians lives. They come back with one photo and an article that profusely quotes Israeli officials who justify these hellish internal borders with their usual "security" arguments. At no point does the reporter examine this b.s. security propaganda.

What these chokingpoints do is just that: choke. They choke the Palestinian economy so people can't make a living and just leave. So security is the excuse, transfer is the goal.

On another note: I think the Palestinians should have taxi drivers as their national heros. Those guys are amazing.

What the Kassams Obscure

Bi'lin

Quote of the Day

""If I feel like dancing then you know what - I'm going to dance."

Zohreh, homelss Iranian woman

Dutch Ban Niqab

5% of Holland are Muslims. Only dozens wear the niqab/burqa (which covers the face). Yet, these women are deemed dangerous because "burqas disturb public order, citizens and safety." I'm interested to know if there were actual cases in which burqa-clad women disturbed public order. Are there actual cases in which they posed a threat to other citizens? Or is this just a case of the powerful picking on the less powerful, otherwise called "bullying"? Any Dutch readers out there who may enlighten us?

Abier Kassim al Janabi

"An Army specialist who admitted that he and a group of other U.S. soldiers raped a 14-year-old girl and killed her and her family in an Iraqi village was sentenced to 90 years in prison yesterday, by far the longest sentence for a U.S. soldier in connection with the death of an Iraqi
since the war began in 2003."

Nostalgia I

How many times have I seen this movie? I can't remember the name, which scares me. But I do remember this scene so vividly, which scares me even more!

Scene plot: she (Magda) loves him (Abdel Halim Hafez) silently. He loves someone else. He finds some poetry she wrote lying around. He sings. She listens.

Song: "Ahwak"

The Road to the Cup

It was blocked in the face of the the Palestinian soccer team, which was not allowed to leave Gaza to participate in the Asian cup.

At Least She Died Thin!!

Another "zero model," Ana Carolina Reston, starves herself to death. Hey, but she looked great!

Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me, When I'm 34

Zimbabwe has the lowest life expectancy for women anywhere in the world: 34.

Egypt's Jack Straw?

Egypt's Minister of Culture, Farouq Hosni, has recently said that he believes wearing the hijab constitutes a step backward. According to him, the hijab was an old fashioned style of dress that women in the old days wore to distinguish themsleves from their slaves. The Azhar folks and the Muslim Brotherhood representatives in the Egyptian parliament (or whatever that thing is called) are demanding that he "apologizes." (in Arabic)

Unfortunately, the newspaper story doesn't mention in what context he made his comment. Did he just get up one morning and felt a really urgent need to diss the hijab? Some context ya 3arab!

AL Jazeera Coming to a Cable Near You

In our dreams. Apparently, it's being shunned and no Americna cable company will carry the new English Al Jazeera channel. What are they afraid of, exactly?


Picture: Riz Khan

Islam and Rape: Pakistani Style

Pakistan takes a baby step towards changing the most retarded rules on the books regarding women and rape.

A bit of a background: once upon a time in this feminist dystopia called Pakistan, some brilliant minds decided on one dark day (or was it the other way round: some dark minds on a brillian day?) that a woman who is raped has to prduce four witnesses to prove her case, otherwise she herself will be punished for adultery! They babbled something about it being "Islamic". The Washington Post babbles after them by concluding its news piece with this sentence:

"Strict Islamic law dictates that a woman claiming rape must produce four witnesses, making a trial almost impossible."

Actually, what the Qur'anic verse says is this:

"And those who launch a charge against chaste women, and produce not four witnesses (to support their allegations)- Flog them with eighty stripes; and reject their evidence ever after: for such men are wicked transgressors” (24:4)

Translation: If a woman is accused of adultery or fornication, her accuser has to bring forth four witnesses (and some argue that the four witnesses should have actually witnessed the act of penetration to qualify as reliable witnesses!) otherwise they will be punished for false accusation.

According to Muslim tradition, this verse was revealed after some Muslims spread rumors about A'isha, prophet Mohammad's wife, when she stayed behind during a caravan trip and then showed up with a young man who helped her back to the camp. Mohammad was pretty upset about it all, and A'isha left his house and went to her father's house in protest. Then the verse was revealed and her name was cleared.

Islamic feminists have been arguing that this was intended to protect women from calumny. It makes proving cases of adultery nearly impossible (think about it: four wide-eyed witnesses!! They got to be doing it in the street at highnoon). It could be used to protect women's (and men's) privacy.

But patriarchy is quite imaginative, so since 1979 the brilliant minds mentioned above managed to turn this verse upside down in the name of their Islam. And "Islamists" in Pakistan are upset that a change is being made!!

Needless to say, but I'll say it anyway, nobody in the US is saying poor Pakistani women; they are oppressed and we need to bomb the hell of them to save them. Nope. Pakistan is "our" friend. But I bet you that one day if we feel like bombing Pakistan, the women's situtation there will prove handy. So stay tuned for updates.

From "Al Atlal"

Responding to popular demand (ok, ok, the demand of one), I'm posting here some selections from "El Atlal," written by Ibrahim Naji and sung by Umm Kulthoum. I wouldn't even dare to begin a translation.

We had to learn this poem by heart for our Tawjeehi (high school) exam . Since half the class imagined they were in love, and the other half imagined their hearts were broken, this was the most "memorable part" of the Arabic literature curriculum. We aced it!!

(ps. in the third stanza below, the word "Shay'a" is missing at the end of the first line. I told you I aced it!).

يا فؤادي لا تسل أين الهوى كان صرحا" من خيال فهوى
ايقيني و اشرب على أطلاله و رو عني طالما الدمع روى
كيف ذاك الحب أمسى خبرا و حديثا من أحاديث الجوى

لست أنساك و قد أغريتني بفم عذب المنادة رقيق
و يد تمتد نحوي كيد من خلال الموج مدت لغريق
و بريق يظمأ الساري له أين في عينيك ذياك البريق

يا حبيبا زرت يوما أيكه طائر الشوق أغنّي ألمي
لك ابطاء المدلّ المنعم و تجني القادر المحتكم
و حنيني لك يكوي أضلعي و التواني جمرات في دمي

أعطني حريتّي أطلق يديّا انني أعطيت ما استبيقت
اه من قيدك أدمى معصمي لم أبقيه و ما أبقى عليّا
ما احتفاظي بعهود لم تصنه و لم الأسر و الدنيا لديّا

أين من عيني حبيب ساهر فيه عز و جلاء و حياء
واثق الخطوة يمشي ملكا ظالم الحسن شهي الكبرياء
عبق السحر كأنفاس الرّبى ساهم الطرف كأحلام المساء

أين مني مجلس أنت به فتنة تمت سناء و سنى
و أنا حب و قاب غائم و فراش خائر منك دنى
و من الشوق رسول بيننا و نديم الكأس لنا

هل رأى للحب سكارى مثلنا كم بنينا من خيال حولنا
و مشينا في طريق مقمر تثبت الفرحة فيه قبلنا
و ضحكنا ضحك طفلين معا و عدونا فسبقنا ظلّنا

و انتبهنا بعد ما زال الرحيق و أفقنا ليت أنّا لم نفيق
يقظة طاحت بأحلام الكرى و تولّى اللّيل و اللّيل صديق
و اذا النّور نذير طالع و اذا الفجر مطلّ كالحريق
و اذا الدنيا كما نعرفها و اذا الأحباب كلّ في طريق

أيّها الساهر تغفو تذكر العهد و تصحو
و اذا ما التأم الجرح جدّ بالتذكار جرح
فتعلّم كيف تنسى و تعلّم كيف تمحو

يا حبيبي كلّ شيىء بقضاء ما بأيدينا خلقنا تعساء
ربّما تجمعنا أقدارنا ذات يوم بعد ما عزّ اللّقاء
فاذا أنكر خلّ جلّه و تلاقينا لقاء الغرباء
و مضى كلّ الى غايته لا تقل شئنا فانّ الحظّ شاء

From http://www.webarabic.com/wa-forum/lofiversion/index.php/t2958.html

"God's Foreign Policy"

"Many conservative Christians say they believe that the president’s support for Israel fulfills a biblical injunction to protect the Jewish state, which some of them think will play a pivotal role in the second coming."

Mecca's Timeshares

Now Muslims can do the hajj in high style. I mean those who can afford it.

Daaah!!

"Politics - not religion - lies at the root of a growing divide between Muslim and western societies, according to a report presented to the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, yesterday.

An international panel of scholars, politicians and religious leaders warned that cultural stereotypes were turning negotiable disputes into "seemingly intractable identity-based conflicts" and that the clash-of-civilisations theory has obscured "the real nature of the predicament the world is facing".

When They Come Calling...

"While the streets of Nablus may be Palestinian during the day, at night they belong to the Israeli army."

Same-Sex Marriage Legalized

"South Africa's parliament has voted to legalise same-sex weddings - the first African country to approve such unions."

Rape: Weapon of War

According to this story about Uganda, rape of women is being used as a "weapon of war" and for ethnic cleansing. This, unfortunately, wouldn't be the first time. Cautious estimates say 110,000 women were raped in the Berlin area after world war II (yes, by the good guys). In 1992 between 20,000 and 50,000 were raped in the middle of Europe, in Bosnia-Herzegovian.* Only then the world decided to label rape in war as a "war crime." What was it before that? Boys will be boys? @#$% happens? What?

see, Mass Rape:The War Against Women in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ed. Alexandra Stiglmayer.

Masterly Improvisations

Umm Kalthoum sings Ibrahim Naji's great poem "El Atlal" (The Ruins). The poem is 134 lines; in this clip she's improvising on four lines only. I love to watch her body language. There is poetry there too.

Impending Deportation

According to the Guardian, "A young lesbian who fled Uganda after her Muslim father threatened to kill her is being deported back home tonight, despite facing persecution and a jail sentence of up to seven years because of her sexuality...

"Uganda has a well documented record of persecuting homosexuals. Section 140 of its penal code criminalises "carnal knowledge against the order of nature" and the offence carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence. The country's president, Yoweri Museveni, once proposed the arrest of all homosexuals, though he subsequently modified his position and called for a return to days when "these few individuals were either ignored or speared by their parents"."

"The legislation banning same sex relations was inherited from British colonial rule."

Are Democrats Better for Palestine?

Kathleen and Bill Christison don't think so. And the fit the democrats are throwing about the Jimmy Carter book is not promising.

But this has to change, right?

Pearls

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Resistance Literature Revisited

Barbara Harlow just loves to talk about Ghassan Kanafani. No matter what or where, she will always find a way of referring to his Men in the Sun. This lecture, an update of resistance literature, is no exception.

Google Offends Iran

Well, folks, if google goes down in the next few days, its attempt to redraw Iran's map might have something to do with it.

Deceptions

"It's just a question of dosage. Had the members of the Atamna family and their neighbors been killed over the course of two or three days, and had a "most wanted man" been killed along with them, no one would have blinked. Was anyone upset when dozens of people were killed in the Gaza Strip before that artillery shell? Did anyone think it necessary to stop the random shooting? Did anyone apologize for those innocents who were killed cumulatively, one by one?"

And

"Nineteen inhabitants of Beit Hanun were killed with malice aforethought. There is no other way of describing the circumstances of their killing. Someone who throws burning matches into a forest can't claim he didn't mean to set it on fire, and anyone who bombards residential neighborhoods with artillery can't claim he didn't mean to kill innocent inhabitants."

Checkpoint Babies

In the past 6 years, Sixty-eight Palestinian women gave birth at Israeli chockingpoints, resulting in the death of at least 34 newborns and four mothers.

Sahar Khaliefeh's novel Al Mirath (The Inheritance) ends with one such delivery.

From the point of view of apologists for the Israeli occupation: just price tags.

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Abdel Majeed Abdallah: "Rouhi Te7ebak" (Jalsa version)

Kashmiri Women and the Marriage "Crisis"

War has the darnest effects on women's lives: in Kashmir, it raised the marriage age from 25 to 35. See, many eligible bachelors were killed, so the women had to compete harder for the remaining few, who wanted women with jobs. So the women got into higher education to improve their cv, but as a result gained a voice and became a bit picky. What a mess!

In the Line of Fire

"Israeli military commanders drastically reduced the 'safety' margins that separate artillery targets from the built-up civilian areas of Gaza earlier this year, despite being warned that the new policy risked increasing Palestinian civilian deaths and injuries, The Observer can reveal."

Don't Hate Me Because I'm Beautiful

Tanaas

By Palestinian oud player Samir Joubran


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Ode to Fool

I just had fool mdammas for dinner at a new Arabic restaurant in Silver Spring called A Taste of Jerusalem. This was really good Palestinian fool, the best I've ever had in the States. I had it with fresh pita bread and mint tea! Funny how here it is served as an appetizer! As if you can eat anything for the next three days!

Fool, for those who are wondering what I'm talking about, is made up of fava beans and the usual yummy suspects (lemon, olive oil, garlic, cilantro). It is hummus's childhood friend and best buddy. But unlike its well-known and uppity friend, which has been appropriated, anglicized, and watered down to a "health food" and even called a "dip" (how humiliating!) fool is very down to earth and has not been globalized--thank the lord of beans.

Fool, they say, has a not so flattering effect on the brain--we were discouraged from eating it before exams--in case you are wondering why suddenly I'm blogging about food!

Price Tag!!

photo: Murdered Palestinian women and children as seen through Israeli logic

One Israeli commentator justfied the Israeli massacre in Beir Hanoun by writing: "Those who impose terrorism and fear upon an entire region... need to understand that they cannot hide behind women and children. Such behaviour carries a price tag."

What amazes me is that he can't see how this same "logic" can be used by the "other side" to explain the killing of his own women and children. Did I say "logic"? It's not logic. It's pure insanity.

As to the vulgarity of his "price tag," I don't have words. Only a scream.

A Glimmer of Hope?

According to Mustafa Barghouti, who has been mediating between Fateh and Hamas, there will be a new unified Palestinian government. He calls it the most imporatnt event in the past 30 years. (in Arabic)

Crowded Gaza

Gaza is getting so crowded these days that Gazans are running out of space to bury their dead. The 18 victims of Israeli shelling were buried in one mass grave. During the burial, "Two Israeli unmanned aircrafts buzzed overhead," the Jerusalem Post reports.

When Humanity Malfunctions

"The horror simply cannot be put into words.

From the Palestinian Press

I wasn't the only one upset at the suspension of the talks between Hamas and Fateh to form a coilition governmet following the Beit Hanoun massacre. This Palestinian columnist, Abdel Majeed Swailem, has these words to say (my translation):

"we console ourselves after every massacre by talking about full liberation and about bringing about an earthquake and tearing the sky, and we announce in front of the world that we will return to suicide bombings and that we will suspend all marginal issues such as national unity and national reconciliation and such small and silly matters because we want to focus on confronting the massacre. And there we are denouncing, condemning, pleading, shocked, surprised ....there we are crying, screaming, asking for help and doing everything and saying everything except the one thing that we must say: why have we reached this abyss and why are we in this state? Why do we die so cheaply and such a humiliating way in front of the world without finding anybody who would merely acknowledge the death of our children....We don't ask ourselves why this is happening to us and what is our responsibility in all that is happening. As long as our national movement is not self critical about its ideas, its performance, its methods and is not holding others accountable and is not giving justice to anyone ....we will be looking at a dark future...

وهنا نحن نعزّي أنفسنا بعد كل مجزرة بالحديث عن التحرير الكامل وعن زلزلة الأرض وعن شق عنان السماء ونعلن أمام العالم أننا سنعود إلى العمليات التفجيرية وسنعلّق المسائل الهامشية الصغيرة من وحدة وطنية وتوافق وطني وما شاكل من صغائر وخزعبلات، ونتفرّغ وننكبّ على مواجهة المجزرة، وها نحن نستنكر ونشجب ونناشد ونستهجن ونستغرب وندين، وها نحن نبكي ونصرخ ونستغيث ونفعل كل شيء ونقول كل شيء إلاّ الشيء الوحيد الذي يجب أن نقوله، لماذا وصلنا إلى هذه الهاوية ولماذا أصبحنا بهذا الحال؟ ولماذا نموت بهذا الثمن البخس وبهذه المهانة على مسمع العالم وعلى مرأى هذا العالم دون أن نجد من يترحّم (مجرّد ترحّم) على أطفالنا في المحيط الهادر والخليج الثائر وفي بلاد الاسلام والمسلمين. لم نسأل أنفسنا بعد لماذا يحدث كل هذا وأين نحن فعلاً مما يحدث لنا؟، وما دامت حركتنا الوطنية لم تراجع نفسها ولم تراجع رأيها وأداءها ووسائلها ولم تسائل أحداً ولم تحاسب أحداً ولم تنصف أحداً، وما زالت الحركة الإسلامية في بلادنا تعيش نشوة الوريث ولا تعرف مسؤولية الشريك وما زالت تعيش في المراحل الأولى والبدائية من أبجديات العمل السياسي وما دامت لا تفرّق بعد بين السياسة والحق وبين البرنامج والشعار وبين الايديولوجيا الخاصة والعمل المشترك فان غيابنا سيطول وتغييبنا سيستمر، وما دام كل شيء في بلادنا مباحاً ومستباحاً بما في ذلك أو قبل كل ذلك عقولنا وذكاؤنا وحكمتنا وكل التجارب التي مررنا بها ودفعنا ثمناً باهظاً لها وما دامت كل حساباتنا تقوم على مصالح القبيلة والحزب والعائلة السياسية فإن أوضاعنا ستسوء أكثر مما هي سيِّئة ومستقبلنا سيكون قاتماً أكثر مما هو حاضرنا واما اسوأ ما في ماضينا فسيصبح اياماً نترحم عليها ونذكرها بكل خير كلما جاء ذكرها.

A Step in the Rights Direction

The UAE government takes a step in the right direction by declaring reforms to protect the rights of foreign workers (85% of the population). "The reforms, ordered by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, include establishing a labour court, setting fixed working hours for domestic help and regulating the contracts of guest workers, most of whom are from South Asia."

Now, what else needs to be done to make Dubai into the Cordoba of the 21st century?

First Muslim in Congress

Keith Ellison is the first Muslim in the US congress. He ran on a platform against the war in Iraq, for universal health care, and for gay and abortion rights.

Oppressing Women

Amira Hass on the two lobbies that defend the oppression of Palestinian women.

I agree with her that the timing of the Human Rights Watch Report couldn't have been worse: for the Palestinian women being slaughtered in their sleep with Israeli army shells, and for those being abused by their families.

Beit Hanoun: Hell on Earth

"I was hit by shrapnel on my side. There was smoke and dust everywhere. It was like a fog. It was hard to breathe. There were heads decapitated. I saw my aunt Jamila's leg flying. I tried to help her but she said, 'Run for your life'."

Boxing the Palestinians

At the margin of its story about the slaughter of 20 Palestinian civilians by the Israeli army, The Washington Post provides a primer of the conflict to educate its readers more. One box says "Israel" and the other says "Hamas." The article about "Israel" is the Israeli narrative. The article about "Hamas" won't be objected to by the Israeli narrative.

As I've been saying all along, since the Hamas win, the Palestinian people disappeared. They don't exist anymore. Only Hamas exists and the Palestine-Israeli conflict gets a new starting day, which is the day Hamas won the elections. Israel can do anything it wants and is not accountable to anybody because there is Hamas. Period.

This is why The Washington Post doesn't give the Palestinians a box. The narrative now is about Israel and Hamas.

Instead of The Post's box, the Palestinians have been getting another kind of box. I hear that the coffin-making business is thriving in Gaza these days.

Why?

In response to Israel's latest slaughter party in Beit Hanoun, Hamas decided to suspend the talks with Fateh over a unity government--talks that we've been reading were about to conclude with a new governemnt that includes both sides.

Why?

The last time they were close to reaching an agreement with Fateh based on the so-called Prisoners' Document, the Israeli soldier was captured.

Just when the Palestinians need a united leadership now more than ever, they are told this is not the time for it.

Why?

The Night God Died in Beit Hanoun

The lucky ones were sleeping.

Nancy Ajram - Ehsas Gedied

Nancy Ajram's new vidoe clip, "Ehsas Jdeed: new feeling" is the usual fare of girl meets boy, but with a twist: the boy in question can only use sign language. The director, Saeed al Marouk, dedicates the clip to his parents, both of whom used sign language. He spoke his first words when he was seven. Nice work.

Divorce: Israeli Style

If the man says no divorce, it means no divorce. Exactly as it works in any good old theocracy.

The Veil Debate

Just in case someone out there hasn't had enough of the veil talk, here's more.

Gaza Humor

"After their death, the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, the Jordanian monarch King Hussein and the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met in hell, where they were being punished for failing to bring about peace. So they drew up a peace deal and asked to phone their successors to implement it. Rabin was charged $100 for the call, King Hussein $50, but Arafat only $1. Perplexed, he asked 'Why?'. 'You called Gaza,' he was told. 'That's a local call from here.'"

On Being a Palestinian Giraffe

Since the suffering of Palestinian humans doesn't get noticed, I thought maybe a story about the suffering of the lone Palestinian giraffe will get some attention.

Choosing Your Gender

"Separating anatomy from what it means to be a man or a woman, New York City is moving forward with a plan to let people alter the sex on their birth certificate even if they have not had sex-change surgery."

It's Brains and Personality, Baby!

A researcher is arguing that Africa is poor because people there have low IQs. It amazes me that this kind of eurgenic argument keeps popping its ugly head.

Harvesting Their Olives: Take II

The Israeli army " had completely blocked access to groves in five West Bank villages. The IDF prevents farmers in three villages from entering their land on the west side of the separation fence. Another six villages were informed their lands had been closed or seized by the military. In at least one case, farmers were thrown off their land without being presented any orders at all. Farmers in 10 villages were ordered to harvest olives on specific dates and seek advance permission from security officials before entering their land."

Film Review: The Night Baghdad Fell

Director Mohammad Amin

I just saw Mohammad Amin's film Laylat Sokoot Baghdad (The Night Baghdad Fell). It's an Egyptian comedy about the effects of the American invasion of Iraq on Egyptians who live in fear and anxiety that they are next. The main character, a headmaster of a school, decides the only way for Egypt to protect itself is to develop a deterrance weapon. Since the higher ups don't seem to be doing anything about it, the headmaster decides to do it, or rather to get one of his former genius students do it. So throughout the film, we see Tarek, the unappreciated genius, trying to invent a weapon that will thwart an American invasion. The CIA of course is watching closely and eventually interfers to abort the inventors' attempts. But it's a comedy and a happy ending is a must, no matter how farcical it is.

The movie was two hours, way too long. It had some good gags. The crowd laughed. I laughed. I won't deny it.

But the sexual politics of this film are retarded retarted. The military weakness of the Arabs in front of the Americans is figured, predictably, as sexual impotence of men. Yes, the men in the film are so defeated, so anxious, so terrified of American military might that they can't perform in bed. Then one woman finds a solution: she dons on a marine fatigue and her husband gets it up. The idea catches on. So it's not enough that the defeat of Arabs is figured as a male defeat, the women are seen, again figuratively, as "the enemy." But the problem is not only that Egyptian men are impotent, but that they are feminized: American dominance is translated on the screen into sexual dominance of Arab men (this is not hinted at; it's quite explicit). In one key scene in the film, at a moment of frustration and defeat, the main character shows them that now that they have failed in inventing a weapon, they can only go on their knees in front of the invading Americans, raise their hands, and say in English: "Please, do not f@#$ me." Everybody does that repeating the sentence after him. Women are violated sexually by the Americans in male fantasies: it's really more about the men watching the women abused and not being able to do anything about it.

And if you even wondered if Condi Rice can belly dance, you may want to go see the film. She is at the center of not one, but two wet dreams of one of the main characters.

After the screening, the director took some questions. I asked him, in Arabic, why he figured the military weakness as sexual weakness, particulary of men since that shows that the defeat is really affecting the men and not the women.

His answer was that he did that because men are usually the "doers" (al fa3eleen). Not necessarily, I said. He said something about our "eastern" culture ... I tried to tell him that I am "eastern," but I don't think he heard me.

Death Score, Human Shields, and Spin

302 Palestinians and 3 Israeli soldiers dead in the four-month-confrontation in Gaza.

Among the latest on the Palestinian side are two women (Amna Abu Oudah, 42, and Intissar Ali, 40) unarmed, shot down during a women's march towards a mosque where Palestinian men where besieged by Israeli troops. The marching women helped the Palestinian men escape just before the mosque roof collapsed.

The reports in the Israeli and western press are emphasizing the role of the women as "human shields" to exonerate Israel from any responsibility. The headline in the German copy of Spiegle says it all: "Human shields die in mosque attack." Trust me, this is going to be milked to the max by Israeli propaganda.

Hamas propaganda is already at it as well. I'm curious to see if they would confirm or deny that some of the men escaped the mosque dressed up as women. The Israelis are emphasizing this to score two points: first, when they shoot at women it is because what seems to be women are really men in disguise. Second, to emasculate the macho fighters who really cannot be that heroic if they are "hiding behind women" and,even worse, dressing up as women. Some of the Arab press is not reporting the detail about clothes. One commentator on Al Arabeyya site celebrated the "free women of Palestine" and contrasted them and the armed men to the "whores" and "deviants" who left the Jericho prison in their underwear. So this siege, and the way it ended (with the men escaping) is arleady being contrasted with that other siege, when Palestinian security forces were forced to surrender to the Israelis and were stripped down to their underwear in front of the world.

Harvesting Their Olives

"Palestinians like to compare themselves to the olive tree. You can chop it down, they say, you can burn it, but it still grows back."

Carter on Israeli Apartheid

In his soon to be published book, Carter wrote that Israel’s current policies in the Palestinian territories constitute “a system of apartheid, with two peoples occupying the same land but completely separated from each other, with Israelis totally dominant and suppressing violence by depriving Palestinians of their basic human rights.”

The democrats don't like it one bit.

Adding a Lash or Two to Injury

A Saudi woman was gang raped by a group of men. They were given light jail terms (1-5 years) and she was sentenced to 90 lashes. Her crime: she "spent time alone" with the man who tried to rescue her. And before anyone jumps to the conclusion that there are double standards here, the rescuer got 90 lashes as well. (in Arabic)

(Thanks Rabee. I am weeping.)

Rabbis Declare Holy War

Orthodox Jews continue to riot in Jerusalem against the gay pride parade. Haaretz reports that "The police are particularly concerned by the calls of rabbis for a holy war against the police and the marchers." It also mentions that one Islamist group leader is joining in the condemnation.

A united Jerusalem at last!

Afghani Women: An Update

American feminists, such as leadership of The Feminist Majority, who supported the war on Afghanistan because they believed it was good for women, should read this report on their current condition. Liberating Afghani women was a fictional reason for the war that unfortunately some feminsists (not all) were duped, or chose to be duped, into embracing.

Of course, there is always this argument to fall back on: "we tried to help those people. We really really tried, but they are entrenched in their ways and beyond hope or help. What can we do?"

Either way, we emerge feeling good about ourselves vs. "those" people.

Egyptian Crowd Attack on Women: Who's Responsible?

The crowd attack on women in downtown Cairo is front page news in the London based daily Al Quds al Arabi. Abdel Bari Atwan, the editor of the newspaper mentioned the attack in the context of a general criticism of the Egyptian government. He faults a regime that is only interested in perpetuating and protecting itself and not its citizens. He calls Egypt a stone-age banana republic.

Atwan uses the somewhat archaic expressions "Al Muhassanat" (the protected, the impregnable, though there must be a better translation) and "Hara'er Misr" (free women of Egypt) to refer to the molested women. I think "women walking in the street," or "Mwatinat: female citizens," would have been adequate: do we really need to "idealize" these women in order to get outraged at the violation of their rights?

It's easy to blame this event on the regime and to see it as "symbolic" and symptomatic of a larger problem. The danger of that, despite its merit, is to drown the fact that the violation is directed at women and their presence in the street. People like Atwan need to examine how their attitude to women's bodies in public is part and parcel of the whole problem. Anyone who ever demanded that women be "modest" in their dress in public or blamed them for attracting attention has contributed to this atmosphere of violation and abuse.

I'm also not happy with calling the attacking men "sexually frustrated" or "sexually frenzied" etc. One side makes use of the "repressive hypothesis" by saying all this is caused by the sexual frustration of men in the society, and their inability to get married for economic reasons. The other side blames this "sexual frenzy" on Haifa Wahbi and Nancy Ajram and on western cultural invasion. In other words, it's either too little sex or too much sex.

I don't think it's about "sex" per se. Among the attackers in the crowd were kids who thought it was fun to join in with the adults to humiliate women.

The society's tolerance of daily sexual harassment of women in public--in the street, on buses, in stores--and the "blame the victim" segregationist solutions, such as veiling, hiding at home (because it's a "woman's kingdom" you know), or separate transportations for men and women, are responsible.

Not just the regime.

Attacking Human Rights Watch

An article worth reading from the New York Review of Books about the attack on Human Rights Watch by "Israel can do no wrong and if you disagree you are an anti-semite" organizations.