She was almost my age, my mother, back in the summer of 1982, that summer which holds my best-conserved memories. I look at myself in the mirror and I almost see her face staring back at me. The fine wrinkles on the forehead, a few grey hairs, and the new habit I am acquiring of pulling my hair up. How does one describe the changes in one’s features? Like looking at old pictures and knowing you don’t look as young anymore, though you also know you haven’t changed. Maybe more than anything, it is the eyes that betray us; - tired eyes through Kohol, our traditional black eyeliner, announcing to you and to the world that you are at war. Read more about Needing a miracle to hold my beliefs accountable
“We are struggling for justice and there is no place for murderers and war criminals among us!” Under this slogan, some 2,500 thousand Palestinians held a mass protest in Ramallah against Condoleeza Rice, US foreign policy in the region and the meeting that was scheduled that day between her and Abu Mazen. Popular anger and determination to resist all those that want the surrender of the Palestinian people’s struggle for justice was boiling in the streets as the presidential guards were attacking the protestors. Read more about Photostory: Ramallah to Rice: "Screw your 'New Middle East'!"
The tactics used by many Arab militants should be resoundingly condemned, both for targeting innocents and for bringing disaster on their own peoples. Even so, underneath America’s scorn for Hezbollah and Hamas lies an incredible racism that pretends to believe that no Arab could possibly have any legitimate grievance with Israel, even as Israel smashes their nations into oblivion. To deliver a solution to this crisis from out that racism is to birth a monster. For a short time this week I allowed myself to feel some hope. But America’s plan for “peace” amounts to throwing gasoline on an already raging fire and standing back while we all burn. Read more about Lebanon burns while the US feeds the flames
By superimposing the ‘War on Terror’ rhetoric, the US is continuing its bull-headed approach to foreign policy. Until Americans realize that their country is vehemently hated in this part of the world, and that only a fundamental shift in approach to the Middle East can alter this perception, its tainted role can only do more damage than good. Forget about imposing an outsider’s view of democracy - order, economic development and human rights would be sufficient in this region. The other changes must happen internally by the funding and development of civil society. Read more about What Are the Root Causes, Mr. Bush and Ms. Rice?
Rest assured: as long as there is injustice there will never be peace, and it is only a matter of time before the whole world is engulfed in a state of total chaos, we can see it anyway and only if the real justice prevails will there be real world peace. Today is not the time to throw accusations in all directions, to just sit back, talk and analyze. Today is time to open the mind, the eyes, the ears, and make the world understand that what the strong powers are doing today will one day turn against them. They are only increasing the desperation, the hate, the cruelty, the injustice, and there will only be desperate retaliations. Read more about Enough empty talk
I turned on the radio in the kitchen to listen to ‘Sawt al Shaab,’ the communist station that provides updates on the situation, interspersed with nationalist music. Fairuz came in over the static, singing about what a wonderful place Lebanon is. All of a sudden her voice cracks with static and morphs into the robotic voice of a man speaking Hebrew-accented Arabic. It is the same recording that my aunt heard on the phone at 4 am. I jiggle the antenna, trying to get away from his creepy pronouncements but there is no escape. I turn off the radio and leave the kitchen. Read more about One week of war: Every decision is a gamble
Everything in Beirut was so calm I even went home for lunch. There were ongoing airstrikes on the south but no reports of causalities yet. Kinda wanted to come with me to the office when she saw that I was going back there. The minute we reached the street, we heard the sounds of four huge consecutive explosions. I don’t remember what I did - maybe I jumped - but when I looked at Kinda she was pale. It took her two seconds to get back down to earth and say the magic words “boom boom ha ha”. And she kept repeating that for five minutes, automatically. She was not smiling. She was asking, “Boom boom ha ha ?”. Read more about Pity the living and the days to come
The past few days protests were held in Israel, across the Middle East and around the world condemning Israel’s US-backed war on Lebanon and Gaza. The the largest demonstrations, involving thousands of people, were held in the United States and in countries closely allied with Washington�s war aims in the region — Britain, Australia and Canada. In downtown Los Angeles, activists held a rally on Saturday, July 22, to protest Israel’s war on Lebanon and Gaza. They dropped a banner with raining bombs. The image was traced from a large image created by Brazilian cartoonist Latuff — although they spun it to demonstrate the role of the US in this conflict. Read more about Photostory: LA drops banner against Israel's war on Lebanon and Gaza
I am not writing this article to condemn the atrocious Israeli war on Lebanon that started on that abyssal day of July 12, 2006, nor to debate who is mainly responsible for it. I am writing to give hope - the hope that every Lebanese citizen needs right now. Hope for every family who has lost a child, a mother or a father. Hope for every family whose house was destroyed. Hope for every Lebanese student who thinks he has no future in his country anymore. Hope for every investor who withdrew his business from this country. In Majida el Roumi’s song to Beirut, she sings, “Beirut, lady of the world, get up from under the ruins like a pine flower in April.” Read more about Lebanon's Phoenix Rising
The paramedics and witnesses could not differentiate between the pieces of flesh of the eleven-year-old Nadi al-Attar, and those of his grandmother, 57-year-old Khairiyya, or the donkey’s, scattered on the branches of lemon and boxthorn trees on both sides of the dusty road in Beit Lahia, north Gaza. Yesterday, the old woman and her three grandsons Nadi, Shadi (14), and Ahmed (17) were riding a donkey cart, heading to their field to collect ripe figs that fetch a good price in Gaza’s markets when Israeli rocket hit their cart and blasted two of them into small pieces. Read more about Terrorist Donkey Joins Family in Death
