Arabian Camel:

Songs of The Syrian Revolution

2012-01-16T22:00:00.000+02:00

A beautiful voice from Hama sings for the revolution.

Can You Still Support?

2012-01-16T21:48:00.000+02:00

The question is, can you still support Assads' murderous tyrannical regime with all this happening? Believe it or not, there are still people that do...

The Free Syrian Army is Real

2012-01-16T21:37:00.001+02:00

A couple of times I have seen commentators on different news channels saying that the free Syrian Army doesn't really exist or is hyped up and is not wide spread as people may think. But there has been alot recently that suggests otherwise.

Even though, it is true that the members of this newly formed "Free Syrian Army" are not well equiped and probably are less experienced and less trained than Assads 4th division and Special forces units (that are the most loyal to this regime) they are definitely more motivated and a stronger belief in the rightuousness of their struggle. This is evident when we consider that it took Assads forces more than a week before they were able to enter certain areas of Homs.

Today Assads' army is bombarding towns and of Zabadani and Madaya located in the Suburbs of Damascus. This has been going on for nearly 4 days now and still Assads' army has not been able to enter those areas. Even though it is said that this campaign is being conducted by Assads' elite 4th division led by First Lieutenant Abo Abdo, Mahers' right hand and operations commander. The following video shows fighters of the Free Syrian Army in Zabadani.

On Haykals' Interview

2011-10-30T02:50:00.000+02:00

On Aljazeera last night there was an interview with Mohammad Hassanain Haykal. He talked about the Arab Spring and shared some of his thoughts on what is happening. I agreed with most of the things he said regarding Syria, how the middle classes in Syria (mostly in Damascus and Aleppo) are still quiet as they consider what has happened in Libya and Iraq and so on, and being able to persuade those middle classes to fully join the uprising will be the decisive point of the uprising. He also mentioned how the revolution should not be rushed by seeking foreign intervention (like in Libya) and that the revolution should mature in order for it to be successful.

He obviously looked down on the foreign intervention in Libya and said that it was a black period of the Arab spring (or something along those lines) as it didn't come from the people, which I would have agreed with if Qaddafi didn't plan on eliminating two thirds of the population of Libya.

One thing I found a bit inaccurate was when he said that most of the protests in Syria are happening in cities and towns that are on the borders. He talked about what happened in Jisr Al Shughour, and hinted at Dera'a where the spark to the revolution took place and how close it is to the Jordanian border and threw in there a possibility of Jordanian secret service involvement in what has happened in Dera'a.

The problem is that most cities and towns in Syria are close to some border, even Damascus and Aleppo are close to the Lebanese and Turkish borders respectively. I don't think that that is an argument that can be made so as to show that there was foreign involvement in the uprising. And even though Damascus and Aleppo are close to borders there are no mass demonstrations taking place. Take for example Der il Zor, which is more inland, that city had alot of protests before the military clamp down. The only factor that determines the size of protests in cities and towns is the presence of security not anything else. For example, during the month before ramadan when Hama was security free, there were protests everyday and on Friday's the protests would be in the hundreds of thousands. For an entire month not one person was martyred and not one was even injured.

If three quarters of the cities in Syria are close to the border then the probability that protests will happen in some of those cities is high. Lets not forget that what happened in Dera'a, the spark to all this was a response by the people to the injustice their own children were put through and the humiliating and barbaric treatment that the families of those children received by regime officials at the time for protesting the ill treatment their children received by security forces. I don't see how foreign powers could have caused this in any way. Not to say that Haykal didn't admit that the demands and grievances of the people of Syria are not legitimate but he could have gone just a bit towards the governments story of events.

Nevertheless, it was a good interview and the he did have some important points about the revolutions in different Arab countries especially about Yemen that I found interesting. Watch it if you can.

Rallies and Vocal Chords

2011-10-30T02:20:00.001+02:00

I think I ripped my vocal chords apart today with the excessive screaming that I did. And yes, it was about the uprising in Syria. So let me dive into the subject without much introducing myself and how I'm physically feeling.

So today was the "Family tree of Syria" event or better officially labeled as a 'carnival' that was being planned by the regime since the Arab league decided to send its envoy to Damascus to find a solution to the uprising in Syria. It was undeniable that a lot of people joined the 'carnival' and I had no problem watching it, just to get a couple of laughs you know. Because If you live in Syria and follow what the regime and those that support it have said in the past and compare it to such events you instantly notice how contradictory these people are. Anyways, I decided to stay home today since the opposition called for a general strike and spend some time watching the news and doing some blogging I thought. Until some family members came around while I was watching TV.. not a good moment, because as soon as they did (they are pro-regime.. actually I don’t know what they are exactly, one day they are here the next there?? ), they start cheering and saying things like "see all these people all Syria supports regime" and "the Zionist conspiracy has been defeated today, Americas plans won't happen after this, We won today, look at all these people!!"

For me that is fine, I don’t mind people having a different opinion even if to me that opinion or position they take is unethical and immoral but when people don't have the correct picture about what is happening, when they are deluded and receive very little information about what is happening in the rest of the country, I don't blame them. What gets me is when those people start accusing those protesters saying they are traitors and basically worthless people who deserve to die. That is when I lose it. I start screaming like there was no tomorrow.

How can anyone accuse these people that are going out knowingly putting their lives at risk so that other Syrians might, just might one day be able to live a better life, one that is better than they would have ever hoped for. How is it that those protesting to defend their honour and families honour from the criminal acts that this regime is imposing on them deserve to die? Those people that have been martyred should all be considered nothing less than heroes, and their heroic acts to liberate this country from this intolerant, unjust and murderous regime should be and will always be remembered. The likes of Ghiath Matar, who during protests used to go up to security army personnel in Daraya and give them water as a gesture of good will and later used to give out flowers, how can this person be worthless? The likes of Hamza Al Khateb, a child with a conscious that went out with members of his town to provide people in a sieged town of Dera'a with food and was arrested and tortured to death, how is he worthless and deserves to die? All those children that have been killed the likes of Hajer Al Khateeb and the other 100+ children are they worthless? Today three more children were killed in Syria, one of them is called Catherine from Homs, I think she was 4 years old or younger. Worthless?

I can't understand these people. They know that the regime is killing but they refuse to say anything about it or take a position against it. Maybe its because they fear the unknown, these people that support the regime have things to lose, they want to feel safe and the only way to feel safe, the only way they believe will keep them living is if this regime stays. They don't care if members of this regime are stealing the wealth of the Syrian people and spending it on living lavishly, I was told its better that a "Syrian" is stealing the peoples wealth than a foreign state.

So there are a lot of people that are controlled by fear but is that enough, is fear alone enough to make you defend a regime that is killing other people just so that a couple of people can remain in power? Not really. If you are afraid you wouldn't publicly admit that you don’t support the regime, but when your around people you trust why not admit that you don’t support the regime?

For this I have two explanations the first one being is that these people are genuinely ignorant of what is going on like I said earlier they don't get the information for them to form the right picture of what is happening. Or, they have become used to following directions that to break out of the shackles and to think freely scares them. If you watched the rally today you can see that even though, and after eight months of protests calling for the end of a regime where one man rules all, both the regime and its supporters are still saying "Bashar is our leader forever" and that it self is stupid and as I said earlier also contradicts what the regime has been talking about like, reform. So, these people have been programmed to think that there is only one person, and one person alone who is able to run this country, one person alone that is able to maintain peace in it and stop it from falling into civil/sectarian wars, and that just happens to be an eye doctor who had a crash course in the military probably becoming the fastest high ranked officer in the world (6 years to become General) who only came back to Syria from the UK because his older brother died and so he was next in line to rule because the second oldest son was seen even by his father, as too moronic and savage to rule. Yes, the perfect person for such a job even for someone who didn’t want to live in this country in the first place.

There is a good documentary to watch called Tufan Fe Bilad Al Ba'ath (Flood in Baath Country) which shows how the education system in Syria instills these ideas that the ruling party is so great and that our leader is eternal and what not.

These ideas that have been instilled into the people have completely sealed off and locked down any notion these people might get that there could be an alternative. And thus, you will find people saying "no one better will come if he (basher) goes". But there have been times that I've seen pro-regime supporters escape for a while, when they feel that their conscious can no longer take it and start to speak freely. The next day they come back as if nothing they said a day earlier has ever been said, they apparently have this ability to self suppress any ideas they may get that this regime is doing things that they need to be held accountable for.

They quickly revert and start saying "No, this regime is fighting terrorists that have come from all borders Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq and are being financed by Bandar Bin Sultan, Hariri, Turkey, Qatar, Aljazeera, Saudi Arabia with billions of dollars and they get the most advanced weapons like laser guns, and they are killing people, because Condaleza Rice said there is a new middle east and regime stood against it, that’s why they made a command center in Hamburg that is leading the protests in the streets, and even Batman is in on this…" ??

Seriously, this conspiracy thing is going way out of control, people need to understand that there will always be plans by the west to dominate this region one way or another, it has never stopped and probably will never stop. These countries have interests, and they will do what is necessary to reach their aims. The problem is not that these western nations have plans to dominate, the problem is when WE don't have a plan to become strong enough to fight off those plans without having to depend on others to stand by us (Iran) and without having bargaining chips that we can use with the west to ease off pressure and get what we want like Hizbullah, Hamas, PKK, etc.

I've gone way out of the topic but its all relevant. However this could have been two or three posts even. Nevermind that, this is probably the only time I'm going to have for a while to write this.

So carrying on with the story I first started with. After ripping apart my vocal chords, I decided to leave the house and go to the office. So off I went, drove past a checkpoint and was going towards the city, only to find out that all entrances to it were sealed off. I ask a police officer how I can get in, he just points towards the other side. So I drive to the other side and to another entrance but it was also sealed off. There, was a man obviously frustrated at not being allowed in, lost it and cursed the police man who was talking to him, the police man shouts at the man with the very famous coastal accent "go away or I'll shoot you right now". The man freezes, looks at the policeman and says "Do it". At that point I still didn’t grasp what was going on, I was watching but also being still angry at the earlier argument I had, and the fact that I didn’t have much fuel in the car and trying to figure out how to get to the office, all this was distracting me. I think if I wasn't distracted I would have gone out and picked a fight with the policeman.

Anyways It rained in Damascus soon after and I assume that people left the rally early. I met with a couple of friends soon after,one of them works in some government department, tells me how employees were forced to attend the rally. We assumed that atleast 80% of those that attended didn't want to be there really. Nevertheless, we can't deny there are people that still support the regime, and we shouldn't have a problem with those people, after all we all want a Syria where we can support who we want and oppose others without being killed for it.

I Support the SNC

2011-10-04T15:04:00.000+03:00

I couldn't have been happier today after hearing that the Syrian National Council has been finally formed head by Burhan Ghalioun, who I honestly haven't heard of before the start of the Syrian revolution. So obviously for now I and many other Syrians will be supporting this council, and although it is not representative of all the political parties and other entities in Syria it does represent (according to Mr. Burhan) nearly 80% of all Syrian entities whether political or ethnic.

Following my last post titled "The Way Forward" which points out how the Syrian revolution needs to take a different path than its counter parts in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya by properly planning the steps taken by those in the forefront of the revolution to ensure a transitional phase that will actually be able to accomplish the aims of the revolution, with much less obstacles as compared to other revolutions. I advise you guys to read it, it’s a pretty good read, if you do rush to read it please ignore the typos, And! Maybe you could leave a comment or rate it or something.. you know.

In relation to that previous post I think this National Council will be able to eliminate any uncertainties and fear of the unknown that the silent majority has, and will (if the council does its job properly) create more backing for the revolution from people that are still undecided or those that are currently pro-regime but have been growing tired of the situation.In any case, what I would like to see from this Syrian National Council next is an action plan and mechanisms by which they will ensure the revolution is successful in toppling the regime (which has been stated as the aim of the council) and the way this council will carry out the transitional phase from a dictatorial regime to a regime that is representative of all the people. What I would also like to see is that the National Council allows other entities that have been formed to support the Syrian revolution or Syrian political parties or Syrian organizations from different backgrounds the ability to take part in the council. According to Mohammad Al Oudat, A Syrian Journalist, 15 political parties within Syria are not represented in the council.

That said, a lot of the people that support the revolution in Syria have decided to support the Council for the time being but have stated that they won't raise their hopes too high and will be watching the steps the council take very closely. It is very possible that this council will lose a lot of its internal support and thus credibility if it carries out things that people believe to be in the wrong direction or are counter-productive. Anything like arguments that break out in the council for any reason that is thought to be insignificant, or making the wrong decisions for example agreeing to hold talks with the current regime or accepting any foreign military intervention or taking the liberty to act on behalf of the revolutionaries rather than acting as a tool to support the revolution.

In any case the Syrian National Council has finally been formed and I support it because for the time being it is the only alternative available.

What Could Have Been for Bashar

2011-09-17T02:07:00.001+03:00

When you look back at things you realize so much could have gone differently, and it would have all been so much better if people did certain things rather than what they already have done. If only people can see the consequences of their actions..I was just thinking to myself, if Bashar Al Assad took a different path to the one he choose, how would have things been different? If he actually listened to the people, implemented proper and real reforms, if he gave people their rights and treated the situation in Dera'a differently, for example if he brought those that were responsible for detaining and torturing the children in Dera'a to Trial, things wouldn't have been where they are now. Instead of being viewed as a criminal and murder by Syrians and a tyrannical and oppressive leader by the rest of the world he would have been viewed as the only president in the Arab world that could really make a difference, the president that the people of the region have been waiting for. His popularity in Syria and the 'Arab World' would have increased to unprecedented levels for any Arab leader in our contemporary history.In contrast, Bashar and his regime were truly viewed as the only regime that was standing by the rights of the people of the region and fighting for the aspirations and rights of Arabs and Palestine. I can almost certainly say that if he implemented reform by changing the constitution and erasing the 8th article of it, if he truly implemented a law for the formation of political parties and held free and fair elections and worked on the next two years in implementing serious social and economical reform he would have not only won (fairly) the elections in two years time, but he would have probably won the elections for years to come. Instead Bashar and his regime took the longer version of the same wrong path that other Arab dictators have taken. How and when this regime will fall all now depends on a number of factors, mainly where the loyalty of the members of his regime (especially the military) will shift to in the coming days; I say days knowing that I'm being very optimistic. What a chance he has been given, an opportunity, instead this regime dealt with it not as an opportunity but as a threat that needs to be dealt with by force.

The Way Forward

2011-08-19T01:14:00.001+03:00

As international pressure increases on the Syrian regime and protests across the country still seem to appear with the same demands of toppling the regime in Syria, the current situation seems to have reached a tipping point. As for the regime it can no longer keep the level of violence it has practiced for the past five months due to the growing international pressure. It my seem that those in the regime have finally understood that the protests will not be hindered by violence, however, if those in the regime are willing to convert Syria into a North Korea then we may not see a reduction in violence by regime on Syrians. By ending the violence and the "security solution" of ending the protests in Syria, the regime has lost its only method of staying in power as neither the protest movement will accept a regime that has killed so far more than 2000 people, on the other hand internationally the US and other European countries have called for Bashar to step aside.

What is more interesting now is what happens at a domestic level in Syria. There have been so many analysis of what has now been called the "Arab Spring" and how revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt have been drailed and hijacked with very pessimistic outlooks in most analysis I have read on both the Tunisian and Egyptian experience. So if we are to learn from not so past experiences we maybe able to avoid the mishaps that have occured in both Tunisia and Egypt. In my opinion the following is what Syrian activists need to be considering at this stage in preparation for what may happen after regime falls while reflecting on events in both Tunisia and Egypt.

1) In both Tunisia and Egypt revolutions happened spontaneously and the fall of the regime happened relatively quickly. This has been a major obstacle post regime as it:

- didn't give enough time for revolutionary activists to plan properly the transitional phase and were left spending most of their time planning on how to topple the regime.

- Created confusion and allowed different political parties that existed to devise mechanisms in reaching the aims of the revolution independently which has lead to alot of collision between the different parties.

That is not the case in Syria as we have had so far 5 months to prepare a transitional period. In my opinion that should have been the role of Syrian politicians and activists in abroad/exile that should have been meeting to plan this transitional period instead of meeting just for the sake of meeting or so what it seemed with all the conferences that they have done. This plan for a transitional period should have the acceptance of politicians, activists and thinkers in Syria.

2) Both revolutions didn't have a leader that spoke for it and was present to lead the transitional period. Although it is great to see that the revolutions were created by the youth and didn't require anyones assistance, there needs to be a person that has backing from all sides of the revolution that will lead the change required. What happened in Tunisia and Egypt can be seen as two halves, a peoples revolution and a military coupe, with the military appointing the leader that would take charge of the transitional period and in both countries that leader was an member of the previous regime in one way or another.

In regards to Syria what we can learn is that there can be no one with previous relations to the regime undertaking the transitional phase and neither should the military be left to control this phase. It is not necessary that there should be one person that will lead the transitional phase, it could be a council. However it should be made up of independent activists and politicians that will not abuse their powers in favour of one party or the other and they should be accepted by the people to lead this transitional phase.

3) Being able to differentiate between the aims of toppling the regime and holding regime accountable for actions during the revolution with aims after the revolution. More importantly are the mechanisms for reaching those aims as mentioned earlier. We all know that the aims of the revolution are to end corruption, create a representative system of the people, give people their rights and freedom of opinion and speech, allowing free media and a free and independent judiciary that will maintain peoples rights. Thats very good but there needs to be a clear mechanism of reaching those aims and that is also the responsibility of politicians and activists at this point and even before this point. It is no good of setting aims without knowing how to accomplish them. What I think is more dangerous is ignoring this aspect and to say that this could all be done AFTER the regime has fallen, because when regime falls and there hasn't been anything planned then expect there will be those that will try to hijack and reap benefits of what the revolution has been able to achieve and give nothing back to the people.

4) Those that have been part of the previous regime or had ties to it or were members of the ruling parties should not be allowed to take part in this transitional period no matter how sincere or "Good" people think they are. Not saying that those that are not related to previous regime are angels but the fact that they stood by the revolution rather than staying quiet is a merit.

5) Accomplishing the above is important especially when it comes to Syria. There is still a silent majority although in recent weeks many have now gone tired of the situation or have seen that the regime for what it really is. This silent majority (especially in Damascus and Aleppo) is controlled by fear of the unknown. What needs to be done be activists within Syria whether LCC or any other entity is to address the fears of those people and to show them that regime change is not something that will lead to disastrous consequences. Accomplishing the above will re-ensure those people that there is an alternative that can lead the change and there are competent people that keep Syria's national interests and won't let go of our national standards (i.e. resistance and unity).

As I've said earlier, there have been many analysis done by renowned individuals regarding the events in the Arab world. I think it is better for those people to be planning and giving action plans or steps that will maintain the revolution after the regime has been toppled which would be more beneficial to most of us rather than writing long academic analysis of what happened in the past.

البرنامج؟ مع باسم يوسف - إنجازات الإعلام السوري

2011-08-02T15:38:00.000+03:00

Regime teaches People a Lesson

2011-07-31T18:01:00.000+03:00

The Syrian regime has finally let the army in to Hama to commit a massacre on the people that hasn't seen brutality in the past month due to the fact that there hasn't been any army or security personnel in the city. For an entire month people gathered and protested the regime and went back home peacefully with out causing any trouble and without people being killed. Today alone and so far, 88 people have been killed in Hama alone.

One wonders what the aim of the regime is. Is this some sort of warning that the regime won't stay quiet during the month of Ramadan? or is it its attempt at scaring the people and deterring them from protesting further or to deter them from escalating the protests during the month of Ramadan?

What ever the reason it is nothing less than being barbaric and desperate attempt to gain something, what it is exactly I have no idea. It has lost legitimacy in the eyes of its people, and the Syrian people see nothing more than a bunch of murderous gang running a country.

Rambling about Syria

2011-07-31T14:11:00.003+03:00

I was reading Abu Fares' recent blog about his recent visit to Istanbul, where he put forth a question most of us thought about during the past couple of months a lot:

"What if we had democracy in Syria and in the rest of the Arab countries?"

During my last visit to Istanbul I thought the same thing. Why is it that a neighbouring country to Syria can thrive on all levels yet we are still so far behind. I was eager as soon as I stepped foot on Syrian land having just come back from Istanbul and witnessing how magnificent Istanbul is, to be able to make a change in Syria. I queued in a line waiting for my turn in the passport control section to get my passport stamped thinking about all the things I can do to contribute to the development of society in Syria.

I was very excited and everything I thought about seemed real and achievable, until the moment when the person in front of me gave the passport control person 50 syrian pounds to let him pass quickly, my enthusiasm died just as quick as that person passed the passport control section. and I quickly remembered where I was. Not to mention how another person went by the baggage inspection also quickly because his "cousin" apparently works there, or how another person paid a worker in the baggage area to go and get him his bags from behind the conveyor thing. These things just kill your motivation to do things you believe will benefit others and your county.

When I used to travel abroad and come back to Syria I used to feel depressed at the situation the country is in. We all know that the country could be much better than it currently is at. I don't have to travel far to feel that depression, sadness and anger at the way things are in this country, just go to Lebanon and walk in the downtown area. I know that this area of Lebanon is not a reflection of the entire country but even that glimpse of economical/real estate development is not present in Syria.

I know that most people think "what can one person do", I don't hold that view, because in my opinion if I move and do something, others will see that someone is trying to do something that they previously thought couldn't be done, they just need someone to prove to them that some things can be done if we put an effort in to it. And then they will move and attempt to contribute. Just like what is happening with all the demonstrations in Syria. We all thought it would be impossible to show dissent to the regime in such a public way until some people decided that this situation cannot remain and decided to take matters in to their own hands.

Until the current demonstrations, I thought that society in Syria was used to being corrupt and materialistic which made individuals in this society that are well off arrogant and egocentric. It is amazing to see how many people go out in demonstrations in Syria to denounce all those sickening attributes of our society. They are not only putting in an effort, but have sacrificed their lives, for the sake of a better future not only for themselves but for Syria. That I think, is the biggest contribution anyone can give to the development of this society.

Some Things May Never Change

2011-06-29T13:34:00.001+03:00

Did the Syrian Ba’athist regime suddenly wake up to what may seem to them a bitter reality? Did they finally accept that reality? Did they accept that reality and are trying to avoid it? Are their recent actions just a response to events and an attempt to maneuver past what seems to them obstacles that face their total domination of all aspects of life in Syria? Those are all questions that one might think about when considering the current events that are taking place in Syria.

It is very hard to believe that the Syrian regime has finally realized that there is no hope of continuing with their current position in regards to protests that has now been going on for more than 3 months. That change that we are witnessing whether it was from the stance of the government media that has finally accepted that there is an opposition to the regime, to the opposition conference that was allowed to take place suddenly, raises a lot of confusion to those that are observing the events in Syria.

For some people that have followed the way the regime has dealt with different situations in the past may very well know that the regime doesn’t give up easily and is very stubborn. The Syrian regime never gives up until it has exhausted all options that help in maintaining the status quo. When there are different elements in the equation the regime always resorted to bargaining its way out of certain situations when solutions of maintaining the status quo have been exhausted.

But the current situation is very different. This is no longer pressure exerted by external elements, it is internal. It is not pressures that they can bargain with, those are pressures in the form of demands by the people that this regime is ruling, demands that they have to obey and that is the only option the regime has. Knowing that, the regime resulted to violence hoping that fear will subjugate the people back to their will. After three months of fear mongering and the deaths of more than 1300 civilians and more than 300 government security and military personnel with growing pressures from what the regime calls its closest allies, it seems that the regime is taking a different road. Whether that road is a road by which the regime gives up just enough of its control of all aspects of life in Syria to relieve and normalize the situation or whether it is a true intention by the regime to finally transform government in Syria into a more plural and representative system is still to be seen.

And that brings me back to the opposition conference that took place yesterday in Damascus. Although the final statement was actually according to expectations of most people that oppose the regime and its stance towards the uprising in Syria, some may wonder what was the real purpose of this conference. Was it allowed to take place in order to place the opposition members outside Syria on the fringe and to create some sort of divide between the opposition that is outside Syria and those that are inside? I got an article from a friend which described how an agreement was reached between the regime and some opposition members that would allow them to form political parties and which will give them Ministerial roles but at the same time would keep the Ba'ath party as the main party in Syria and leader of society as stated in the constitution. This would be similar to what Yemen had. Opposition parties that are hopeless and can't challenge the leading party or create any change.
But then again, this may actually be a genuine attempt to changing the system. A space given by the regime to allow opposition members to meet and make clear their aims prior to implementing new laws that allow formation of political parties in Syria as well as amending the 8th article of the constitution and removing the Ba'ath party as the leader of state and society in Syria. We need to see what happens next in order to see how genuine these current events are.

Anyways, since the last speech of the Syrian president, having expressed my hopes that the president will do the right thing, I have been disappointed. And right now, I have very little hope that the regime is truly taking a road of true reform to a more representative state for the Syrian people. Maybe now that I have very low expectations I won’t be too disappointed when things clear up and we find out that this was all just another attempt at keeping the status quo.

Tips for the Pres on his next speech

2011-06-19T12:21:00.001+03:00

Tomorrow the head of the Syrian regime will give a speech. These are the top 5 things Bashar Assad should and shouldn't mention in his speech.

Five Things Bashar Shouldn’t mention in tomorrow’s planned speech:

1) Terrorists, armed gangs that have terrified and murdered the people
2) Key terms such as salafists, infiltrators (mundaseen), extremists etc
3) Global, nay! Universal conspiracy theory against Syria and how the regime has defeated that conspiracy.
4) Denying the wrong doing of the regime during the uprising
5) Planning more useless reforms that won’t happen and setting up new committees that won’t do anything (the head of the committee will usually come up and say the people are not ready for such reforms).

Five Things he should do/mention:

1) Apologize and accept responsibility for everything that has happened in the past few months and pay respect to all those that have been murdered.
2) Withdraw the military from the entire country and end the military’s role in this crisis.
3) Start a constitutional reform and end the Baath control of the country as well as releasing all political prisoners and those that have been abducted during the uprising.
4) Set date for early and free presidential election/plan for new government
5) Allow Syrian refugees in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan back in to the country and allow foreign and independent media into the country.

I just want to make two further points:
- The only hope I think for this crisis to end with the least damage and through a smooth transition to a more representative system of the Syrian people is when this regime does the above. The crisis in Syria is very similar to that in Yemen, there are still those that support the president and there are those that don't which will make this crisis go on for a much longer period. Lets hope that the regime in Syria and that Bashar Assad has more sense and is more patriotic than Abdullah Saleh of Yemen and is able to see that his stay in power will only result in further deterioration of the situation in Syria especially if the regime keeps on carrying out their security measures against the protesters. I think I still have some faith that Bashar will do the right thing tomorrow. I hope he does for the sake of this country.

- In the free Syria that we all envision we should all respect the opinions of everyone even those that still stand with the current regime. Even though we call for the end of the regime and the end of the reign of the Ba'ath party in Syria, that doesn't mean their presence in the political spectrum in Syria should be erased.

الله اكبر فوق كيد المعتدي

2011-05-12T18:15:00.000+03:00

Dedicated to all the Arab world and more importantly to Palestine. This Sunday will be the 63rd Anniversary of the Nakba (Catastrophe) 15th of May. It will also mark the 3rd Intifada of the Palestinian people. And will be a day to celebrate our martyrs that have fallen for freedom, and died as free men and women. 15th of May will be a celebration of Arab uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria, Jordan and a call to all Arab countries to break the chains of submission and be free. God bless our nation,

الله اكبر

Not For Syrians

2011-05-11T13:31:00.000+03:00

Rami Makhlouf, said it. “If there is no stability here, there’s no way there will be stability in Israel.” He also said that policies were formulated as “a joint decision.” Although the interview is obviously intended for American policy makers this will definitely have resounding effects in Syria.

So why are those two comments of importance to what is happening in Syria?

As I mentioned earlier in previous posts, one of the main reasons why the regime has wide support in Syria was because it opposed any peace deal with Israel that wasn't a comprehensive peace with all Arab countries involved. It also gained Syrians support for its support for resistance groups against Israel in the region. Mr. Rami goes publicly and declares that there is a link between the Stability in Syria and Israel. This shows that in reality, the regime has been securing Israels' stability and continuously lying to its people about being at the forefront of resistance against the Zionist state. How can you be resisting and at war with Israel, and then talk about its stability?

So when dissidents of the regime and those opposing it say that "not one bullet has been fired in the Golan since 1973 to free the Syrian Golan, and they (the regime) claim to be part of the resistance axis in the region"; and "the regime has sold the Golan just like it sold Iskandaron" then when you reflect on what Mr. Rami says you find that those accusations are true.

The regime has always tried to pretend that nothing happens and no decisions are made outside government institutions. That all decisions have to be taken within those specialized institutions to deal with the different issues the country is facing. This charade has been conducted very recently when the no longer legitimate president of Syria announced that there will be reform, where excuses such as dissolving cabinet, and bureaucratic measures for applying reforms such as lifting emergency laws, has been used to delay applying those reforms and win time in the hopes that the crises will end with time.

So when Mr. Rami says that policies are "formulated as a joint decision" that eliminates the role of the entire government. A government that is only up there to delude the people that there is a government and that this country is ruled by the law and institutions rather than a clan or a family. Some may say a mafia.

What Rami Makhlouf has said was not intended to be heard by Syrians. What he said resembles the truth about the regime. He has basically admitted, defended and is proud of everything, what the protesters are saying is wrong with the regime. He said the regime will fight. The regime will fight for its survival against the will of the Syrian people and against the legitimate demands of the people. The masks have finally fallen.

انا الشعب

2011-05-08T19:30:00.001+03:00

أنا الشعب لا أعرف المستحيلا

ولا أرتضى بالخلود بديلا

بلادى مفتوحة كالسماء

تضم الصديق ؛ وتمحو الدخيلا

انا الشعب، شعب العلا والنضال

أحب السلام، أخوض القتال

ومنى الحقيقة.. منى الخيال!!

وعندى الجمال، وعندى آمال

****

وجاء الغزاة

جميع الغزاة..

فأبدوا خشوعًا

وأحنوا الجباه

وكل تساءل فى دهشة ٍ

.. وكل تساءل فى لهفة :

أمعجزة مالها أنبياء؟!

أدورة أرض ٍ بغير فضاء؟!

تلمح بين الجموع وجوهًا

يرف عليها حنان الإله

.. ففيها المفكر والعبقرى

وفيها التقاة ؛ وفيها الهداة

.. ف(موسى) تشق عصاه الزحام

وذلك (عيسى) عليه السلام

وهذا (محمد) خير الأنام

أمعجزة ماله أنبياء؟!

أدورة أرض ٍ بغير فضاء؟!

****

فاين تحقق ما كان وهمًا

ومن ذا الذى ياترى حققه؟!

وكيف تحرر من أسره

سجين الزمان؟! ومن أطلقه؟!

لقد شاد بالأمس أهرامه

بأيدٍ مسخرة موثقة

على ظهره بصمات السياط

.. وأحشاوه بالطوى مرهقة!!

... وها هو يبنى بحريةٍ

دعائم آماله المشرقه

بسد منيع، عجيب البناء

يبث الرخاء ويوحى الثقه

فارزاق أبنائه حرة

وآراؤهم حرة مطلقه

وليس بهم سيد أو مسود

فكل سواء بلا تفرقة

أمعجزه مالها أنبياء؟!

أدورة ارض بغير فضاء؟!

****

وصاح من الشعب صوت طليق

قوى، أبيّ، عريق، عميق

يقول : انا الشعب والعجزة

انا الشعب لا شىء قد أعجزه

وكل الذى قاله أنجزه!!

****

كامل الشناوي

الدكتور الهاشمي

2011-05-07T16:41:00.000+03:00

عبد الباري عطوان- سورية

2011-05-07T16:40:00.000+03:00

كلمة وائل غنيم

2011-05-01T10:14:00.000+03:00

The Most Trecherous of us

2011-04-27T16:03:00.003+03:00

In the last couple of weeks we have seen those that are pro-regime call the protesters in Syria as Traitors and conspirators against their country. I have been stunned to hear from a couple of people that I talked to (some are family members) that what the regime is doing is just because these people (protesters) want to destroy the country. They call them "mukharebeen" that is people that sabotage, vandalize and to put it simply, terrorists. They say those that attack public goods like buildings and such deserve what they are getting.

What this reflects is two things, first, to these people human life is not sacred, secondly, materialism and worldly desires have blinded them so much that they have become selfish. In their eyes a nation is a place, a land, a building or a park, a road and a billboard. They are Wrong. A Nation... is a PEOPLE. People not stone or bricks, not a tree or a building. It is the people. People make up nations, they build nations.

So when you deprive your people from liberty, justice, freedom, security when you strangle their aspirations, hopes and dreams, when your doing this to your PEOPLE, your destroying your Nation; your Country.

Those that kill their people, kill their nation; those that say it is alright to kill some people for the sake of security, in fact are aiding to the destruction of their nation; and those that feel nothing when they see a person killed have no regards to their nation, they don't respect or love their people or nation. They are selfish, they are slaves to materialism. And They Are, most importantly, Traitors.

A nation is not a place, a land, a building or a park, a road and a billboard. A nation is a People.

كلام مهم

2011-04-24T21:41:00.000+03:00

كلام مهم .. كل الإحترام إلى بسام القاضي

الرويبضة

2011-04-20T11:37:00.000+03:00

قال النبي - صلى الله عليه وسلم - :

سيأتي على الناس سنوات خداعات؛ يصدق فيها الكاذب؛ ويكذب فيها الصادق؛ ويؤتمن فيها الخائن؛ ويخون فيها الأمين؛ وينطق فيها الرويبضة؛

قيل‌:‌ وما الرويبضة ‌؟‌

قال‌:‌ الرجل التافه يتكلم في أمر العامة .‌

رواه الإمام أحمد وابن ماجة والحاكم وصححه الألباني (3650) في صحيح الجامع

The Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon him) Said:

There will come a deceiving time when a liar will be believed, and the honest (sincere) will be called a liar; when the treacherous will be trusted, and a faithful (trusted) person will be called a traitor; And the Ruwaibida will speak.

They said: what is the Ruwaibida?

He Said (the prophet peace be upon him): a trivial man who speaks of public matters.

Support for regime?

2011-04-20T11:18:00.001+03:00

In this post I will attempt to show how the Syrian regime of Bashar Al Assad has managed to gain so much support over the past couple of years, just bare with me for a couple of introductory paragraphs!

Social media has played a major role in the uprisings that have taken place across the Middle East and the North Africa region. It is without any doubt that such social media has been the instigator for people to continue their struggle; in the absence of such media those uprisings would have most probably ended in the favor of ruling regimes.

Not only are those social media websites driving and assisting people in their struggles against corrupt governments especially when acting as alternative sources of news and information, but more recently they are showing the consensus and the opinions of majorities in certain countries. For example, on facebook there is a new application that allows individuals to ask questions where other facebook users may select an answer from a number of different answers. One such question that came around a couple of days ago was:

هل انت مع توقيع سوريا لاتفاقية سلام مع اسرائيل؟؟

Do you think Syria should sign a peace treaty with Israel?

Having just checked the results so far those that said YES are 197 whereas those that said NO are 6003.

So how can this be related to the support the current regime gets from most of Syrians?

When it came to foreign policy the Syrian regime has stuck to its core principles of right to resist, righteousness of resistance movements, standing against imperialism and foreign intervention in the middle east region, and most importantly not accepting a peace treaty with Israel. Of course, those aren't simple issues and are discussed further below.

1) Right to Resist and Righteousness of resistance movements:

The Syrian regime has willingly and sometimes out of necessity, supported resistance movements in the region. As we all know they support Hizbullah of Lebanon, Hamas of Palestine and other Palestinian factions including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and for a short while openly supported Iraqi resistance and then covertly supported that resistance after 2004-2005.

When government officials were interviewed by any news outlet and were asked about resistance movements in the middle east, the made it clear that the regime supports any righteous resistance that was fighting any oppressive regime wherever it may be.

Now any Syrian, in fact any person in the world would agree to that and in the eyes of most Syrians, any movement that is fighting the Zionists state is and will always be seen as a righteous movement fighting a righteous cause. However some skeptical Syrians would ask, how come we don't have any resistance on our borders? why isn't our regime, that supports resistance movements in Lebanon and Palestine not conducting its own resistance to the occupation of the Golan Heights. And that's the point the regime failed to address.

2) Imperialism and Foreign Intervention: Not much needs to be discussed except that the regime in Syria opposed any sort of foreign intervention in the middle east most notably the invasion of Iraq even though ties between the two countries haven't been good since the Iraq-Iran war.

3) Peace with Zionist Israel:
The policy that has been carried out by the current regime has been similar to that of Hafez Al Assad. His policy was that no peace will be signed with Israel unless it was a comprehensive peace agreement between Zionist Israel and Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, while at the same time maintaining full rights including return of all occupied lands up until 1967, sovereignty over all the returned lands and other rights related to Palestine.
Having taken the same stance by Bashar Al Assad very little people were against it. However indirect talks that were reveled to the public prior to the 2008 aggression on Gaza exhibited the flexibility of the Syrian regime towards this policy. Whereby the regime defended the indirect talks by pointing out the peace treaties signed between Egypt, Jordan and Israel and justified it by saying it was all part of the comprehensive peace process and that the regime is pragmatic (it does what it can given the circumstances). The indirect peace talks (moderated by Turkey) ended after the aggression on Gaza, as a sign of protest to that aggression.

Those are the three principle foreign policies that solidified the relationship between the people and the regime. There are however other major events that cemented that relationship even further which include:

- US sanctions on Syria
- Assassination of Rafik Harriri and the International Tribunal
- Collaboration of previous Egyptian regime and Saudi Arabia with other countries to topple Syrian Regime.
- Taking in refugees from both Iraq and Lebanon
- Anti Syrian sentiment in Lebanon

(The first Three events contributed heavily to the justification by the regime in current events for the presence of a conspiracy against Syrian regime and its people)

Having considered the foreign policies mentioned above and other events we can clearly see why the majority of Syrians stand by the current regime. When it comes to domestic policies, that is where most of us will find 180 degree shift of opinion. Very few Syrians will be against the foreign policies that were upheld by the previous regime (such questions on facebook reflect this where the current numbers to the earlier mentioned question is at 6950 for NO and 229 for YES - only 6 hours later), believing that the events currently happening in Syria are a continuation of that conspiracy against the Syrian regime by foreign countries and and other entities (mainly Lebanese parties and other figures in the Gulf region).

I do believe that foreign intervention has a minor role in what is happening however the major effects that caused the current uprising happening now in Syria is a result of failed domestic policies, injustice by the regime towards the people and corruption. Will be hopefully discussed later.

Al Baida Village Response

2011-04-17T12:50:00.000+03:00

This is the video done in response to those that have believed the new minister that said that the earlier video in Al Baida village that showed security forces humiliating the men of the village, was actually an old video in Kurdistan where the Peshmerga detained Arabs and did what everyone saw in the video.

Not so Mighty

2011-04-17T12:32:00.000+03:00

Long has been the myth of the mighty security/intelligence forces (or mukhabarat) in Syria, that people dare not say the names of those security apparatus in public or even in phone conversations. There are 13 different security apparatus in Syria each dealing with different aspects of everyday life of the people. The most notorious of those is the Air force intelligence which works domestically as well as overseas. A security clearance is required for virtually everything anyone wants to do, whether it was to get married, start a business, travel, eat, breath... no I'm just kidding, you don't need a clearance for that.

After what has happened in the past couple of weeks from what some may call a revolution -whereas I like to call it anti-government demonstrations- the government has decided to loosen up a bit by removing security clearance procedures for many of the activities.

But honestly, this post is not about the reducing of procedures by these security/intelligence forces. Its about the following (it is related to the security/intelligence in Syria though).

Anonymous, is a person I know who works two jobs, in the morning he goes to the Governorate of Damascus where he works in the Directorate of waterways. His second job is working at the place I work in. A couple of days ago, when there was apparently a football game taking place at the Abbasiyeen stadium, workers at the Directorate of waterways were called for an emergency. They all gathered at the Directorate, each was given a baton and were then sent to the stadium to make sure that if some people, all of a sudden, decided to protest, there would be security present to beat them up and disperse them. According to Anonymous, he said nothing happened that night and they were all sent home.

This according to anonymous has been happening regularly. Two days ago when there was a call for a demonstration in the Abbasiyeen Square, government employees were also sent to face the protesters. Anonymous told his employer that he will not go and opted to go on an inspection round to Al Assi river. He said he would never beat a fellow Syrian, and would rather be hit himself instead if put in that position.

This shows how thin the security forces have been running recently. Given that their power is mostly centralized in Damascus it seems they have been poorly distributed across the country. According to another person I have talked to, he tells me that his brother in-law who works for one of the mukhabarat branches, has been in Dera'a for weeks and that last time they talked he was heading to one of the cities in the North, could be Banyas or Homs, he tells me they still haven't heard anything from him.
This also makes it clearer what and why, what is known as "people's committees" have been created in some cities in Syria like Lattakia, Banyas, Dera'a, Homs and other areas where protests exploded in recent weeks.

And this also slightly ridicules the notion being put forth by the ever so failing Syrian media (namely the Syrian T.V. and the Al Doniya TV station) which attempted to ridicule and deny the videos of security forces beating up civilians with the most absurd and farcical of excuses. Like for example, in their attempts of delegitimizing the video where armed security forces had men from the village of Al Baida on the floor with their hands cuffed behind their backs while the security men were stomping on their heads; Al Doniya suggested that one of the security forces looked too young to be part of the security forces given that anyone wanting to join the security/intelligence must be 18 or over, hence deeming the video fabricated.

It was not until recently that the media has been slightly taking a different narrative. They nearly stopped using outlandish excuses for the failure of security forces in dealing with what has been happening, and they tuned down their attack on those that have been protesting for their rights as citizens in a country ruled by the law and by institutions rather than individuals as most claim. Furthermore, with the above in mind, it does very much seem that the security/intelligence apparatus in this country is not as mighty as one may think, it is still however not a good idea to be caught by them, you will most definitely not have a good time where ever they may take you to.

With yesterdays directions given by Bashar Al Assad, it will be interesting to see how things will unravel in the coming week and not weeks. I'll leave me impression on yesterdays 'Lecture' by the president to the new government for another post.

رسالة مفتوحة إلى الرئيس بشار الأسد - غياث المدهون

2010-08-18T02:54:00.000+03:00

سيادة الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد: اسمي غياث المدهون، وأنا شاعر وصحافي فلسطيني من قطاع غزة، ولدت في مخيم اليرموك في سورية عام 1979 لأب فلسطيني وأم سورية، وعشت ونشأت ودرست في سورية، ثم غادرتها وأنا أحاول منذ سنتين الحصول على اللجوء في السويد.
كلنا نعرف أن اللاجئين الفلسطينيين في سورية ' الفلسطينيين السوريين كما يطلق عليهم' والذين يقارب عددهم 600 ألف لاجئ يتمتعون بكافة الحقوق التي يتمتع بها المواطنون السوريون من حق الإقامة والتنقل في الأراضي السورية إلى حق العودة إلى سورية دون تأشيرة دخول، إلى حق العمل في الوظائف الحكومية والخاصة، إلى حق التملك وهو مماثل لحقوق التملك بالنسبة للسوريين باستثناء تملك المنازل ' يسمح بعقار واحد بالنسبة للفلسطينيين'، بالإضافة إلى أنهم يحصلون على كافة الأوراق والوثائق الثبوتية التي يحصل عليها المواطنون السوريون من جوازات السفر الصادرة عن دائرة الهجرة والجوازات السورية، إلى الهويات الشخصية التي تخولهم بالتعريف عن أنفسهم، إلى حصولهم على دفتر عائلة لتسجيل الزوجة والأبناء... الخ، وباستثناء حق الترشح لانتخابات مجلس الشعب السوري أو لانتخابات الرئاسة أو حق الاقتراع في الانتخابات وهي من حق المواطنين السوريين فقط فإنهم لا ينتقص من حقوقهم المشروعة أي حق، بل إن سورية أصبحت مضرب مثلٍ للتعامل العادل مع اللاجئين الفلسطينيين بالمقارنة مع الدول العربية الأخرى.
وبالكفة المقابلة فإن على اللاجئين الفلسطينيين تأدية نفس الواجبات التي يؤديها المواطن السوري بلا استثناء بما فيها خدمة العلم في جيش التحرير الفلسطيني التابع للقوات المسلحة السورية ' الخدمة العسكرية الإلزامية' وتنطبق عليهم كافة القوانين التي تنطبق على السوريين، وهم يعيشون مع السوريين وبينهم، أسوةً بهم، لهم ما لهم وعليهم ما عليهم.
هذا ما منحته الحكومة السورية للاجئين الفلسطينيين الذين هجروا من مدنهم وقراهم إبان نكبة عام 1948 ولجؤوا إلى الأراضي السورية، وهذا الأمر ليس غريباً أو مستغرباً عن الشعب السوري الذي قدم الكثير من الدماء والشهداء لنصرة القضية الفلسطينية ولنصرة الشعب الفلسطيني في نضاله للتحرر بالإضافة للدعم المادي والمعنوي والسياسي حكومة وشعباً لفلسطين وللقضية الفلسطينية عدا عن إيمان الشعب السوري العميق بعدالة هذه القضية والذي لا يستطيع أحدٌ أن يخفيه.
سيادة الرئيس: هناك فئة صغيرة من الفلسطينيين لم ينتبه لهم أحد لصغر عددهم، وهم الفلسطينيون الذين هجروا من أرضهم إبان نكسة عام 1967، والذين وصلوا إلى سورية بعد هذه الحرب، أو الذين أتوا إليها من الأردن بعد أحداث أيلول الأسود عام 1970، ومنهم والدي الشاعر والصحافي راسم المدهون، فإنهم منسيون ولم يسمع بهم أحد، حتى في التقارير الصادرة عن الأمم المتحدة لا يوجد ذكر لهم، وهم محرومون من كافة الحقوق المدنية، فهم لا يملكون هويات للتعريف بأنفسهم، ولا جوازات سفر، ولا يحق لهم إصدار إقامة، أو تملك منزل، ولا يمكن لهم الحصول على وظيفة حكومية أو قرض، أو تسجيل اسمهم في جمعية سكنية، وليس لهم الحق بإصدار شهادة سوق للمركبات العمومية، وإذا استطاعوا مغادرة سورية بطريقة أو بأخرى فليس مسموحاً لهم العودة إليها، وغالبيتهم يعيشون ظروفاً لا يتمناها المرء لعدوه، منسيين ومهمشين، والذنب الوحيد الذي اقترفوه هو أن إسرائيل لم تحتل مدنهم في نكبة عام 1948، إنما احتلتها في نكسة عام 1967.
لقد كانت معاناتي ومعاناة عائلتي في سورية كبيرة، فلم يكن بإمكاننا الحصول على وظيفة حكومية، والوظائف الخاصة كانت ترفضنا لأن الأولوية للسوريين ومن بحكمهم 'أي الفلسطينيين السوريين'.
أما في السفر بين المدن فكان رجال الشرطة يطلبون هويتي حين أهم بركوب الحافلة، وحين كنت أخبرهم أنني لا أملك هوية لأنني فلسطيني كانوا يقولون لي أن الفلسطينيين يملكون هويات مؤقتة للاجئين، كنت أحاول أن أشرح لهم أننا لسنا فلسطينيين سوريين وأننا من قطاع غزة، وأنه من الغريب أن ترفض منح أحد المواطنين هويةً ثم تقوم بإيقافه لأنه لا يحملُ هوية ولكن دون فائدة، فمن النادر أن تجد شرطياً سمع بنا، وكانت تنتهي القضية في أهون الحالات بإنزالي من الحافلة وفي أسوئها فإن الاحتمالات مفتوحة. وكنت أخاف أن أمشي في الليل كي أتحاشى أن تطلب دورية شرطة أو أمن هويتي.
حصلت على أول جواز سفر لي قبل سنتين عن طريق البريد، لأنه لا توجد سفارة فلسطينية في سورية كباقي دول العالم، وهو جواز غير معترف به لأنه لا يحمل الرقم الوطني، وهذا الرقم الوطني لا تمنحه المخابرات الإسرائيلية إلا لمن ولدوا في الضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة، وأنا ولدت في سورية.
أنا ولدت في سورية ولم أعرف غيرها، نصفي سوري لأن أمي مواطنة سورية، وفلسطيني لأن أبي فلسطيني، لم أرتكب أي ذنب، سوى أنني من قطاع غزة.
لقد هربت إلى السويد وطلبت اللجوء، ولكن عائلتي هي ومئات العائلات التي لجأت إلى سورية بعد النكسة ما زالت في سورية تعاني حرمانها من الحقوق المدنية دون أن يسمع بها أحد.
سيادة الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد، أكتب إليك هذه الرسالة لأن مواقفك تجاه القضية الفلسطينية والشعب الفلسطيني معروفة للجميع، ولا يستطيع أحد أن يجد مكاناً يتمتع به الفلسطينيون بحقوقهم مثل سورية، ولكن هناك فئة صغيرة تعاني منذ 43 سنة وأريد تسليط الضوء عليها، وكل ما أريده ويريده الفلسطينيون في مثل حالتي وحالة أهلي هو أن يعاملوا أسوةً بغالبية الفلسطينيين في سورية وهم على بعضهم لا يتجاوزون المئات، وكلي أمل وثقة بأنهم سيمنحون كافة حقوقهم بعد اطلاعك على قضيتهم.

ستوكهولم، السويد، آب (أغسطس) 2010

Are You Listening?

2010-06-24T21:37:00.000+03:00

Although human conscience develops at a faster rate than, lets say, the change to the climate we still have to go through pain and atrocities before we can see the reality and the consequences of our actions. Human conscience is trapped and is only freed once the chains of tribalism, racism and nationalism that we have shackled our conscience with are broken.

Long Live Palestine

2010-06-02T01:27:00.002+03:00

I literally spent the entire day yesterday watching Al Jazeera; Since I am off for two weeks now with nothing to do. I can’t say I was totally shocked with what happened yesterday regarding the brutal way the incident has been dealt with by a people that believe that they are “Gods Chosen People”, who I bet were thinking to themselves “who the hell are those that want to break this siege we have on Gaza? We will teach them a lesson!” This, my friends, is probably how the issue of the Aid Ships was discussed within the Zionist entities’ top political and military leadership and it can’t be something that is far fetched given the way the Zionist entity totally miscalculated the repercussions of its actions, as it did earlier in its assault on Gaza in 2008.

With its actions the Zionist entity from the first second lost the media war, public opinion across the world turned against it. Who can explain killing 20 people in international waters and then forcefully taking those ships (all this while in international waters) to Asdod? This act can only be explained in two words: Butchery and Piracy. On the other hand, while it seemed that world governments were angry with the savagery of the Zionists, calling ambassadors in more than one country (Sweden, Norway, Spain, Greece, etc) diplomatically Israel neither gained or lost anything (with the exception to Turkey) which can be symbolized with the inability of the UN to at least condemn the actions of the Tyrant entity of our day. Compared with what the UN came up with when poor Somali fishermen hijacked ships off the Somali coast in order to get some compensation for the apparent disposal of toxic waste off the Somali coast that destroyed the marine ecosystem in the area, the UN decided that those were pirates and the entire world sent warships to destroy this dangerous phenomenon!

The Zionist entity, or what is commonly referred to as Israel, believes that it doesn’t really matter what the entire world thinks, whether the entire world likes what it does or doesn’t, that as long as the US and other Western States, will continue to defend the Zionist cause blindly it will survive. The way “Israel” survives, is by keeping public opinion about the Israel in a mist; no one should really know what is going on, it is not important what the rogue “Jewish State” does because its people, i.e. the Jews, have been through alot; They’ve been through the holocaust. What is amazing is how on Fox news (I know its a bad example but an example nevertheless of American mainstream media) while the anchor was discussing the latest news with an Israeli spokes person, the news presenter took it as a fact that the volunteers and the activists on the ship did actually have weapons asking the spokesperson, “what do we know about these weapons?”

The question remains though, why did “Israel” do what it did on those ships? Two reasons are available for this question.

1) The Siege on Gaza. The purpose of this siege has different purposes, firstly it is placed on a part of the Palestinian territory where Hamas has taken control after its counterpart in the West Bank along with “Israel” tried to forcefully overthrow the newly democratically elected government in which Hamas won the majority of the votes. The aim of the siege is not only to try to oust Hamas from the Gaza strip by turning the population against it, but it is also being used by the “Israeli’s” in order to force the Palestinians to make further concessions in their negotiations with Israel. In order to accomplish its goals, “Israel” must make this siege as inhumane as possible. Trying to break this siege on Gaza will ruin the “Israeli” plans of creating an economic peace rather than an actual peace that will lead to the creation of a Palestinian state with full sovereignty over its territory.

2) Breaking this inhumane siege on Gaza which has killed many people humiliates the Zionists. A group of activists that have come from different parts of the world join together in order to break down something the Zionists have been building and see as a strategic tool for their current plans has infuriated the Zionists in all the political and military spheres. The way they see it “we are the superior beings, who are those Goi that are trying to defy our will?” Therefore what happened yesterday was already planned, it was not a mistake and Israel was not going to allow its siege to be broken by anyone.

We have witnessed yesterday how people with a living conscious and thought, who have witnessed the suffering of a people who have done nothing except to call for their legitimate rights of freedom; freedom of choice, freedom of determination and freedom to live act bravely in the face of Tyranny. These activists and those that have been martyred are what each of us needs to and should be, we all have to see injustice and oppression beyond the superficial elements that divide humanity, and to act on eliminating this injustice and oppression. United those people were against this injustice of the Palestinians to the extent that people that still have enmity to each other Greeks and Turks sailed by each other in order to lift this injustice off the Palestinians.

Today Palestine is a cause that is no longer an Arab Cause, but a cause for every free person on this Earth. Today Palestine is a Symbol for Every Free Person. Long Live Palestine.

Barriers Can't Stop Gazans

2010-05-07T15:27:00.000+03:00

The BBC has reported that Palestinians in Gaza have managed to dig past the bomb-proof, super strength steel barrier the Egyptians have been building (with financial backing from the US) in order to stop the smuggling of milk, food and other essential goods into Gaza. proof that necessity is the mother of inventions. Meanwhile tyrant Husni Mubarak gave a speech yesterday where the main points he made sure people understood perfectly were that there will be no change to the current constitution, no change for the current government, to pay raise for the employees in the public sector and no end to the emergency laws the country are under. BUT on a more happier note, he said the elections will be fair!

And here is an interesting article on the New york Times on the American University in Cairo, which not only reflects education in Egypt but in most Arab countries and state run educational establishments across the middle east.

Politics: Losing Control

2010-04-10T00:01:00.001+03:00

Today marks the 8th anniversary of the Iraqi war. Actually today marks the day where the massive statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in central Baghdad as US troops captured the city. Most probably people that planned the invasion of Iraq (and Afghanistan) would have never envisioned a situation where by they are caught in a quagmire. Militarily the US and other allied forces to the US are failing to eliminate Al Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan, and they are still facing a staunch resistance in Iraq from different factions. Economically, the US has spent so far approximately 1 trillion US dollars financing both the wars, increasing the rate of the current (inevitable) economic crisis. And finally politically, the US and its allies have less control in the politics of the invaded countries especially Iraq where countries such as Iran, Syria, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have much more influence and control of the political process as compared to the US and its allies.

US a Superpower:

On top of all that, the status of the US as a superpower where no one dares to stand up to it has been slowly dwindling. Those in the Middle East that have stood by its policies and obeyed the orders of the US during the Bush era have now all moved back to their natural roles and are constantly trying to rebuild relations with countries that have been severely targeted by the Bush administration (for example Syria). Even the untamed dog of the Middle East (Israel) has been refusing to accept and obey the policies of the current Obama administration, escalating tensions between the two 'strategic' allies described by the Israeli ambassador to the US Michael Oren, as the worst in the past 35 years. In addition, so far the US has been unable to enact most of its international policies that Obama has stated prior to ascending to presidency. Most notably the US has been unable so far to start a "peace process" in the Middle East, neither have they been able to deter the Iranians from their nuclear program or even enforce more stringent international sanctions against Iran. The most notable achievement so far at an international stage has been the signing of a new START treaty, and that, technically, has nothing to do with the Middle East.

Putting in the effort

2010-04-08T01:14:00.000+03:00

Its been a packed couple of months and its amazing how time flies by, and how any persons' life moves through various transitions and phases without even noticing it has. We all go through the childhood phase, teenage phase, slightly mature and mature phase without noticing the difference unless we actually think about it; its natural, things develop and people move on. But sometimes when you sit all alone and remember how things were in the past you start to think how good things were "back then" and how you miss the "good old days" when it was "back then" you were probably thinking "when the hell will this end!!?"

Nikos Kazantzakis (I'm dying to read his books, unfortunately I live in an isolated bubble, i.e. Syria) puts it "While experiencing happiness, we have difficulty in being conscious of it. Only when the happiness is past and we look back on it we do suddenly realize — sometimes with astonishment — how happy we had been".

As you grow you start to see your first dreams die off, and a person starts to become more 'realistic'. You leave your dreams of being an astronaut, an astronomer, a president and go for that realistic stuff; accounting, finance, engineering or even the military. Some of us will grow and accomplish our childhood dreams, others won't. Sometimes I wonder how come I didn't end up doing what I always wanted to do, and why right now I'm doing something completely different.

But I think I figured it out, and that it all comes down to one thing: Effort. In order to accomplish what you want you have to do something about it. Nothing comes without effort. This reminds me of the story of Maryam (Mary) in the Quran where it says:

"And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree: she cried (in her anguish): "Ah! would that I had died before this! Would that I had been a thing forgotten and out of sight!" (23) But (a voice) cried to her from beneath the (palm-tree): "Grieve not! for thy Lord hath provided a rivulet beneath thee; (24) "And shake towards thyself the trunk of the palm-tree: it will let fall fresh ripe dates upon thee.(25)"

How many of us have shaken a palm tree before and dates fell from it? It is very difficult especially if it is a women giving birth as well. Although God is more than capable of making those dates fall from the tree without Mary having to shake the tree, God almighty is trying to show us here that without any sort of effort, even if you are thinking of doing the right thing, nothing will happen. If you sit around praying to God for things to happen, and then do nothing about it, believe it or not, nothing will happen.

Which reminds me of the shiekh/imam at my local mosque. I've heard people (non-muslim) talk about this before, how imams at mosques pray for the destruction/humiliation/suffering of other people (non-muslims) and pray that God makes the muslims victorious over their enemies, and then we wonder why non-muslims think muslims are all terrorists.

I want to show two points here, 1) that shiekh is doing exactly what I was talking about earlier, he stands at the minbar (pulpit in the mosque where the imam stands to deliver sermons) praying/supplicating for things to happen, and then he goes back home and sleeps, or what ever he does.

2) That when people at the time of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to come up to the prophet and tell him to pray for the defeat and destruction of the enemies of Islam, the prophet would pray that they are guided to Islam and not for them to be destroyed. Why does that Imam, and many others, don't follow the sunnah (teachings derived from the actions and sayings of the Prophet) of the Prophet? Why do they do what the prophet didn't do?

We are a frustrated people, us Arabs and muslims, from the years of injustice and persecution that has been placed upon us, and our inability to defend ourselves, but will more talk and no action ever do us any good; has it ever done any good?

If you don't write...

2010-04-08T00:18:00.001+03:00

I once heard someone say, "if you don't write, you don't learn". It feels like its been ages since I last wrote anything substantial, and it really does actually feel strange. I hope I get back to the habit of writing more frequently, because I know that there are a couple of you out there who really miss my thorough, complex and enlightened analysis of world politics, my splendid humour and just at times simply miss me...... ???

So I once heard someone say, if you don't write, you don't learn. And I agree.

I think when a person starts to write about anything they start to learn more about not only what they are writing about but also about themselves; It is that search for thoughts, for words, that describes what you feel and believe in that makes you know yourself a bit more. It is that process of trying to articulate the thoughts in a way that is not only understandable to you but also to those that will eventually read what you are writing, that makes things clearer to you.

I think the more a person writes the more they discover themselves. In contrast reading only injects foreign ideas, it is the act of writing that confirms your thoughts and opinions and makes them permanent, but not unchangeable. Some people have told me before that they find it hard to find the right words to describe their opinions and ideas when they write, but as everything else, there is a learning curve, the more you write the easier it becomes, and the more you learn about yourself.

Wrong Perceptions

2010-03-26T23:12:00.000+02:00

So, currently I'm in the middle of no where in Syria and can't wait to get back to Damascus tomorrow. Don't get me wrong this place is amazing. Its a hilly place with lots of green, you can see the bedouins and their tents every now and then, and then spot a shepherd with his herd of sheep, feeding on the new grown grass. The sunrise is magical I must say. But I think I found out today that staying for a prolonged period of time away from civilization is not really my thing, especially when the closest shawarma place is 130 Km away (just kidding restaurants selling shawarma are not that important to me...or are they?). I will post a photo of this place and let you people judge for yourself; why not encourage tourism to this country, ey?

So the point of this post is that, yesterday morning I was driving back to the place we are staying with this english guy Im working with and he tells me about this incident that happened to him when he was working in Algeria. So the Story goes,

"I used to work in Algeria in this facility in a remote place in the deserts. The facility was close by a small village, and although we (i.e. the English gentleman and the people working with him) wanted to go check out that village; we were advised not to and were told it was not safe. When my work was done I left and went back to England. On the same day I get a phone call and was told that two of my colleagues were killed by men from that village"

So I asked,"really??!! how come? what's the reason, why did they do it??"

He replies hesitantly," well they were fundamental islamists and thought that anyone who is not muslim should be killed. They beheaded a French guy and a swiss guy but the third one managed to convince them that he was Muslim so they let him go."

All I could say then was,"what a shame."

The story and any discussion ended there, simply because we reached our camp and had parked, so that is an automatic end to any discussion that anyone would have been having in a car (right?).

Anyways, I felt like I had to ask him what he thought about Islam and what not but didn't get the chance to. I wanted to argue that he shouldn't get any wrong perceptions about Islam because of that incident, and wanted to tell him that just like extremists exist in any country and in any time/culture/religion, for example the KKK,extremism and extremists would always be a minority in a minority, because I'm sure that even when racism in the US was at its worst levels, many people at that time would not go around killing people with darker skin colour on a regular basis otherwise there won't be any African-Americans left in America. I am not sure if he has the wrong perception about Islam, he is living in Syria where the majority population are Muslim, but I just find it frustrating having to go around telling people with wrong perceptions about Islam that "we (as muslims) are not evil". It is a tedious job trying to get people to know what something is really about. I could only imagine how tough it was for messengers and prophets or even revolutionary figures of our time had to go through. To continuously be guiding people requires a person with such strong commitment and endurance to keep on going.

Stuff that Whirl in my head

2010-03-13T09:55:00.000+02:00

Has the world gone mad? or are there only a few people who think that it has? Relative and perspective are the words here that we need to look at. For some this age denotes the time of great technological advances, of human intellectuality reaching its highest potentials and still pressing on, of human affluence and comfortable lives; others view this age as the age of moral corruptness, greed and injustice, the individual over the masses, of subjugation of the weak and the Earth to the desires of the powerful and strong.

And in all that mess we even fail to understand each other as humans due to culture and religious differences. To be honest this is not uncommon or unheard of, history is filled with events where the powerful and rich places an iron fist on the weak and helpless, where massacres have happened because one person believes in the Cross and the other believes in fire. But having reached a level where as I stated earlier of such high intellectual thought why we as humans still act in such ways, and why does it seem that sometimes we live in two different worlds?

In reality we don't live in two different worlds, but we make sure that we believe that we do sometimes due to our own prejudices. Walter Lippmann puts it this way,“When full allowance has been made for deliberate fraud, political science has still to account for such facts as two nations attacking one another, each convinced that it is acting in self-defense. . . . They live, we are likely to say, in different worlds. More accurately, they live in the same world, but they think and feel in different ones.”

We all know that today we live in a village rather than a World, yet we still see how primitive people become when two different people are faced against each other. I guess its as simple as human nature, that we humans still behave in a tribal fashion; we stick to those we share similarities with and fight against those who are different, whether wrong or right. Its also got to do with the fact that we as humans would rather belong than not to belong; would rather fight with the wrong-doers than being a renegade, an outcast. I don't think that we as humans, have reached a level where we are aware that we are not mature enough yet.

Into Conspiracy Theories?

2010-03-12T18:39:00.000+02:00

Are you? well, this might be new for you, if you don't already know this, that is!

In the past couple of years the conspiracy theory (or for those who believe in conspiracy theories I should call this evidence) of a new world order headed by freemasons and illuminati members that control most of the worlds' governments and mainly America, has been spreading like wildfire especially on the internet. Now this all new theory (new because I just found out about it) will really twist your brains and shock you.

Apparently, there is this new "weapon" called Chemtrail where chemical or biological agents are sprayed into the atmospere inducing different climatic changes including rain, snow, drought, heat, cold, storms and even Earthquakes depending on the chemicals being sprayed and electromagnetic radiation being emitted in the case of Earthquakes or something like that. You can google it and you will get a wikipedia page that will give you further information.

Accordingly, some doctors in universities in Egypt and other parts of the world have stated that some climatic changes and events that took part over the past couple of years have actually been part of this Chemtrail project which has been first developed by the Soviets and then later after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the technology was further developed by the US, Israel, China and Japan and maybe India according to the e-mail I received regarding this matter. In an article in Al Ahram newspaper dated 7th July 2007 an Egyptian University of Cairo Doctor named Munir Muhammad Al-Husaini who lectures at the faculty of Agriculture lecturing in Biological control and environmental protection, stated that the Chemtrail has been used in North Korea to induce a drought which destroyed the country's rice source; in Tora-Bora Afghanistan to induce drought and force its inhabitants to migrate; in Iraq in 1991, etc. He also said that the reason for the rise in temperatures especially in the North Africa and Middle East region has been due to experiements carried out by the US and Israel using this weapon giving an example of the swarms of rats that came through Egypt and other parts of the Middle East in 2004.

Its a hefty e-mail with lots of information which I'm not going to go through all right now. It is an interesting conspiracy theory, very much different to what we are used to and could be the next 2012 or The Da Vinci code type of movie. Just to point out that this technology will be completely developed in 2025 and that by then the US will be able to control the weather in any part of the world. Hmmm, isn't that in some movie? I'm sure that I've seen something like this..?

Anyways, Chemtrail, next big thing guys.. watch out!! :)

Celebrating my return

2010-03-08T09:56:00.000+02:00

You heard what Hosni my good friend said the other day? No..? he said that El Baradei is not the national hero of Egypt; the Egyptian people are.

Your damn right! They are the ones that had to put up with your bullshit for the past 30 years!

No Way Through

2009-12-20T19:41:00.000+02:00

No Way Through, a short film that asks the question what would happen if the British capital was filled with Israeli-style checkpoints. Thanks to Syria News Wire for posting this.

When there is no one to turn to..

2009-12-09T05:43:00.000+02:00

أغيب وذو اللطائف لا يغيب وأرجوه رجاء لا يخيب
وأسأله السلامة من زمان بليت به نوائبه تشيب
وأنزل حاجتي في كل حال إلى من تطمئن به القلوب
فكم لله من تدبير أمر طوته عن المشاهدة الغيوب
وكم في الغيب من تيسير عسر ومن تفريج نائبة تنوب
ومن كرم ومن لطف خفي ومن فرج تزول به الكروب
ومن لي غير باب الله باب ولا مولا سواه ولا حبيب
كريم منعم بر لطيف جميل الستر للداعي مجيب
حليم لا يعاجل بالخطايا رحيم غيث رحمته يصوب
فيا ملك الملوك أقل عثاري فإني عنك أنأتني الذنوب
وأمرضني الهوى لهوان حظي ولكن ليس غيرك لي طبيب
فآمن روعتي واكبت حسودا فإن النائبات لها نيوب
وآنسني بأولادي وأهلي فقد يستوحش الرجل الغريب
ولي شجن بأطفال صغار أكاد إذا ذكرتهم أذوب
ولكني نبذت زمام أمري لمن تدبيره فينا عجيب
هو الرحمن حولي واعتصامي به وإليه مبتهلا أتيب
إلهي أنت تعلم كيف حالي فهل يا سيدي فرج قريب
فيا ديان يوم الدين فرج هموما في الفؤاد لها دبيب
وصل حبلي بحبل رضاك وانظر إلي وتب علي عسى أتوب
وراع حمايت وتول نصري وشد عراي إن عرت الخطوب
وألهمني لذكرك طول عمري فإن بذكرك الدنيا تطيب
وقل عبد الرحيم ومن يليه لهم في ريف رأفتنا نصيب
فظني فيك يا سندي جميل ومرعى ذود آمالي خصيب
وصل على النبي وآله ما ترنم في الآراك العندليب

Thoughts: What are we certain of?

2009-12-09T03:28:00.000+02:00

The initial quote talking about 'the truth' on Maysaloons' latest post got me thinking what is truth in the sense of something that we are all very certain of whether muslim or non-muslim. Only one thing came to my mind, (apart from scientific facts or truths) one truth that no one can deny, that we can all be very certain of, it is death. No human being has ever escaped death, and in one way or another we will all eventually die. It is inevitable, it is a truth.

Death makes people, or at least myself, think of the things that I have done in this life, the things that are according to me have been mistakes and the things that I should be doing more of that I am not currently doing. It unveils to a person their own hypocrisies and makes them think about the irrelevance of this life that we live no matter who you are because if you are rich, poor, handsome, famous, etc, death will get to you. The thought of this truth humbles a person. It makes a person a little bit more prepared for what is to come and provides a form of notice that that person needs to amend any wrong they have done before the day of judgment. The Holy Quran says alot about death and what happens to those who have forgotten and decided not to remember:

And the stupor of death will come in truth: "This is what you have been avoiding!" (19) And the Trumpet will be blown — that will be the Day whereof warning (had been given) (i.e. the Day of Resurrection). (20) And every person will come forth along with an (angel) to drive (him), and an (angel) to bear witness. (21) (It will be said to the sinners): "Indeed you were heedless of this, now We have removed your covering, and sharp is your sight this Day!" (22) (Chapter 50; verses 19-22)

And also in chapter 75 verses 26-35

Nay, when (the soul) reaches to the collar bone (i.e. up to the throat in its exit), (26) And it will be said: "Who can cure him (and save him from death)?" (27) And he (the dying person) will conclude that it was (the time) of parting (death); (28) And one leg will be joined with another leg (shrouded)[] (29) The drive will be, on that Day, to your Lord (Allâh)! (30) So he (the disbeliever) neither believed (in this Qur'ân, and in the Message of Muhammad SAW) nor prayed! (31) But on the contrary, he belied (this Qur'ân and the Message of Muhammad SAW) and turned away! (32) Then he walked in conceit (full pride) to his family admiring himself! (33) Woe to you [O man (disbeliever)]! And then (again) woe to you! (34) Again, woe to you [O man (disbeliever)]! And then (again) woe to you! (35)

Subhanallah. We are given signs, and we are then told what those signs are, yet we still walk away refusing to think.

While in Syria..

2009-12-09T01:34:00.000+02:00

I've been contemplating while I sat here tonight, on what I should write about today. Its been a while and even though I have so much time to be sitting and writing (since I am still technically jobless - no surprises there considering where I'm currently living) I still don't, maybe its a lack of motivation or maybe its just the lazy in me?

As I said, this post could have been about the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change, or on Islam or even on government silliness (not restricted to any country) in whatever matter, But I choose to write about ignorant, selfish, unbelievably stupid and inconsiderate things that Syrian people (not everyone) usually do in public. Ofcourse this will require at least an essay that is 27 pages long so I will be talking about one thing every week - just so that I do not shock people who are reading this that live in a more civilized country. So for today, I shall talk about my favourite topic (which I usually complain about every single day): Driving in Syria. I really do get excited when I talk about driving in Syria and seriously become extra motivated, I am right now grinning at my laptop screen as the clicks of the keyboard gradually get louder.. I shall split this into subsections so that you don't get confused:

Rules.. really?:
Rules while driving in Syria are non existing. You can virtually stop where ever you want if your man enough you can even stop on a high way but that will just be pushing your luck; you can drive between lanes; you can go into a roundabout at a speed of approximately 165 Km/second (as long as there are no cameras); you can drive counter-flow; you can babysit your child while driving or you can even drive without any lights on (this one is for those military vehicles). Don't get me wrong people do stop on traffic lights just because they really hate paying those fees if a damn traffic policeman or camera gets them.

High beam headlights, Syrians' favourite:

Wherever you drive, be sure to be blinded by the high beam headlights (or more commonly known as 'Highlights') from cars driving 5 meters behind you, or cars coming from the other side. In some cases you can't blame some people since the roads might not be fully lit or lit at all, but come on people, Damascus is full of signs saying something along the lines of "driving requires manners and that driving properly shows how civilized a person is".. all in vein.

The Mezzeh Autostrade.. or is it?:

The Mezzeh autostrade is not really an autostrade (Italian for highway). First of all there is approximately 27 traffic lights. Secondly you are restricted to a speed of 60 Km/hour in whatever lane your in. And finally, although there are underpasses for pedestrians everyone crosses the road on the 'autostrade', there are even zebra crossings in front of the traffic lights, which brings me to the next point.

Crossing Roads:

A pedestrian may cross from where ever they want. A pedestrian can at times consider him/herself a moving vehicle and walk between cars until there is an opening between the traffic that would enable him/her to move on a lane closer to the side they wish to be on. Pedestrians are really dangerous and suicidal if your new to this country, as they will not wait for you to stop, for them to decide to cross the road once they get bored of waiting.

Traffic light timers:

A good invention. Lets you know exactly how many seconds of your life your wasting waiting for the traffic light to turn green. The benefit of those timers are not quite clear, here taxi drivers that I have been with think they are a method of entertainment and statistically 6 out of 10 drivers will ask you (if your in the passenger seat next to the driver) "will we make it?" and starts to speed up in order to "make it". In other instances the timer is a means of notifying those stuck way behind In a traffic when they should start blasting their horns, or for those in the front can use the timer to either drag race or waste a couple of seconds and see how pissed off those behind them get.

Roads like Silk:

Roads in Syria in general are shit. I apologize but there is no other way to put this. A well laid road in Syria is one which has 7 or less holes in it. When driving in Syria be sure to have a paper bag with you, like the ones they have on airplanes. They say Damascus is the oldest inhabited city in the world, and those roads are the evidence.

Taxis and other Public Vehicles:

Should be considered as hazard. Where to start...!?

Traffic policemen:

If it is the end of the month and traffic policemen are broke, they will pull anyone over for whatever reason it is no matter how unimportant you think it is (indecent looking car for example) and will try to get you to bribe them so that they will let you go.

and to round up something from my last personal experience of driving in Syria.

As I drove yesterday in the suburbs of Damascus, I had to cross a two way bridge that fits exactly two vehicles, to get where I wanted to go. I was driving right behind a pick-up car and as usual the load was a couple of men. All of a sudden and with no prior notice, the driver of that pick-up decided or most probably had made a previous decision with the three men at the back to drop them off on top of the bridge for some strange reason, knowing that they would eventually have to walk to either side of the bridge to get to the place where the micro-buses (little white buses) usually pass by. having little time to act and no choice of stopping I had to take the idiot over; I barely missed him and the glare of the 'highlights' from cars approaching from the other side, struck my eyes nearly blinding me during the process; I had to quickly swerve back into the right lane nearly missing the car and subsequent cars from the other side. Having avoided crashing, I also avoided ending up in prison that day as I decided not to kill that guy ("guy" is not the word or words in my head right now).

how arabs treat each other

2009-11-17T00:22:00.000+02:00

This whole talk and hype regarding the football game between Egypt and Algeria which will qualify one of those teams to the world cup has unveiled the true colors of what we 'Arabs' think of each other, I am talking here at the people and not the governments.

I was amazed to hear after the game what one of the Egyptian presenters of a TV show had to say. As soon as the game was over the presenter (a lady) said something along the lines of 'this win is a pride for all Arabs'. The first thing that came to my mind is "so Algerians are not Arab?!"

To be honest, and whether we like to admit it or not, us "Arabs" never really 'liked' each other. We never treat an 'Arab' in the same why we would treat any other person. Let me give some examples, Example 1: if your an Arab and you apply for a job in the Gulf region you would be given X amount of salary per month, but if your still that same Arab but this time you apply to a job saying that your actually an American/Canadian/British citizen you will be given double that salary.

Example 2: when driving a car in another Arab country which say your there to visit family,and you are stopped at a checkpoint and you happen to be holding a driving license from another arab country which you arn't meant to be driving with, you will either be harrassed for a while or taken to jail, on the other hand if you hold an American/Canadian/British driving license the cop will see your license, and will then salute you then he will thank you for stopping and will ask you to please move on. (personal experience)

Example 3: When two Arab football teams face each other in a sensitive game one like lets say, a World cup qualifier game! The game will most definitely end up with escalating tensions between the two countries (on all levels including public, political, media, etc) like what happened between Egypt and Algeria, Syria and Kuwait (AFC cup), Kuwait and Saudi Arabia (Gulf cup), Syria and UAE (world cup qualifier) and so on. On the other hand when Arab teams face other countries nothing happens and the best example here is the lose of Tunisia against Mozambique and Bahrain against New Zealand given that both are vital world cup qualifying games which both Tunisia and Bahrain unfortunately were not able to make.

Example 4: In some Arab countries an Arab will require a visa prior to entering another Arab country (and may require to fill out an application and then wait for a couple of weeks before that Arab person gets the visa to visit another Arab country) but for non Arabs a visa can be obtained in the airport with no hassle or anything of that sort.

You see, we Arabs "speak alot" meaning we say what we don't really mean and many Arabs pretend like they are cool with each other and like each other, but in reality...

2009-11-10T01:28:00.001+02:00

I enjoy listening to speeches by Bashar Al Assad because he says things in his speeches that no Arab leader says or has said in a long time. Things like 'if peace is not achieved then our only means to get back what has been taken from us by force, will be through resistance', or 'Resisting occupation is a national duty and for Syria to back it up is a moral and a legitimate duty and that supporting it is an honor for us" are things that any body in this region likes to hear. Still in many cases what is being said does not match the reality on the ground...

Thoughts: being an Arab or a Muslim?

2009-11-10T00:46:00.000+02:00

So I haven't been here a lot, apparently residing in a new country requires so much work to be done especially when you are residing in a country where the bureaucracy is unbelievable. Apart from that living in Syria for a while made me notice a lot of things that are wrong with this country, whether big or small but I'll leave those for other posts (just to have something to talk about later on).
As I read the news through a proxy server (since many useful websites that I used to visit are no longer permissible for the average Jim in Syria) a title of an article written by Michel Kilo caught my eye on Alquds Alarabi. The article is titled "The Arab inability to find Shared Nationalistic Denominators". The following is not a comment on the article but merely a remark on the title of the article.

To be honest as I became more interested in politics through the years, as most Arabs, I have been deceived with the colonial idea of Arab Nationalism. When it becomes hard to define what an Arab is in the first place (according to the Arab league it is mainly language?) then you will have a problem with finding the smallest shared denominator between different "Arab" countries. Arab nationalism only came about when western powers that had colonial interests in the region came up with this idea to break up the last of the Caliphates, the Ottoman Caliphate. Arabs back then were over excited with the promises and lies that were given to them by those seeking to colonize the region. Indeed after the "Arab revolution" finally getting what it wanted, an independent rule over "Arab territory" separate from Islamic rule they were (the Arabs) put aside as those seeking to colonize the region (Britain and France mainly) forgot about their promises to the Arabs and sent their armies to colonize the region (see for example the Sykes-Picot agreement).

In addition to this, the failure of Arab nationalism to really deliver the hopes and dreams of Arab states can be easily seen. Maybe the only time Arab Nationalism was saw the light of success with out it succeeding was during the time Abdulnasser was in power in Egypt who failed with uniting Arab countries even though he had widespread public support from nearly all Arab countries.

I think the only reason why many of us consider ourselves as being Arabs is just a result of something more greater that most of Arabs believe in. Our Arab identity is just part of a greater identity, which is Islam. In reality our ultimate identity as people who live in the region known today as the "Arab World" is not the over-puffed and hyped identity as Arabs, It is Islam whether it was through the Islamic culture and traditions shared by most Arabs or in the belief in Islam as a religion (keeping in consideration ethnic and religious minorities that do exist in this region).

No Rain...no life

2009-10-10T11:44:00.000+03:00

Drought has been hitting the North-Eastern parts of Syria in the harshest of ways, causing thousands of people to flee their once green fields into larger cities in Syria (mainly Damascus) looking for an alternative source of living. Speaking to the Financial Times, Nabi Rashid Mohammad, Syria's deputy minister of agriculture says that Syria wants "more parties to be involved in this problem because we, the Syrian government and the people are doing all we can but the problem is bigger than our abilities to deal with it."

Although Syria is seeking international aid, this has so far not been sufficient. The UN has not yet been able to come up with the required amount of funds to face this problem:

"The UN is seeking some $53m (€36m, £33m) in emergency funds but has not received any money yet from donors...

Drought is a slowly ongoing disaster and because of the political situation donors do not give money easily for humanitarian action in Syria," says Mostafa Shbib to the FT. According to a report on Aljazeera the UN has only managed to secure 19% of the total funds necessary.

The effects of the drought can be felt on many levels. Nabil Sukar a Syrian Economist has said that the effects of the drought on the economy can already be felt estimating that the drought will "shave about 1 per cent off gross domestic product growth this year." Syria's GDP growth this year is expected to be around 1%.

The BBC has also reported on the effects of the drought on the families that live in that region stating that nearly 300,000 families have already left the area. Although there has been 'limited assistance by the Un and Red Cross along with food aid distribution and the introduction of a system of tax breaks and new loans for farmers by the Syrian government; non of it is enough.'

Ramadan 2009

2009-09-19T06:08:00.000+03:00

Ramadan is nearly over, and for the first time I have spent it all in Syria. It has been an amazing experience and just knowing that tomorrow is the last day of Ramadan gives me that feeling I get when I am about to leave something precious behind, or the feeling I get when I remember something in the past that has left a mark within me. I leave you with these wonderful photos taken during the first couple of days of the holy month of Ramadan from different parts of the world.

Happy Eid! :)

خطب الحجاج لأهل العراق

2009-09-08T03:21:00.000+03:00

قال أبو العباس المبرد في إسناد ذكره آخره عبد الملك بن عمير الليثي قال: بينما نحن في المسجد الجامع بالكوفة وأهل الكوفة يومئذ ذوو حال حسنة يخرج الرجل منهم في العشرة والعشرين من مواليه إذ أتانا آت فقال: هذا الحجاج ابن يوسف قد قدم أميراً على العراق، فإذا به قد دخل المسجد متعمماً بعمامة غطى بها أكثر وجهه متقلداً سيفاً متنكباً قوساً يؤم المنبر، فقام الناس نحوه حتى صعد المنبر فمكث ساعة لا يتكلم، فقال الناس بعضهم لبعض: قبح الله بني أمية حيث تستعمل مثل هذا على العراق، قال عمير بن ضابئ البرجمي: ألا أحصبه لكم؟ فقالوا: أمهل حتى ننظر، فلما رأى عيون الناس إليه حسر اللثام عن فيه ونهض فقال: يا أهل العراق! أنا الحجاج بن يوسف بن الحكم بن أبي عقيل بن مسعود.

أنا ابن جلا وطلاع الثنايا متى أضع العمامة تعرفوني

والله يا أهل العراق إني لأرى رؤوساً قد أينعت وحان قطافها، وإني لصاحبها، والله لكأني أنظر إلى الدماء بين العمائم واللحى. ثم قال: والله يا أهل العراق، إن أمير المؤمنين عبد الملك نثل كنانة بين يديه، فعجم عيدانها عوداً عوداً، فوجدني أمرّها عوداً، وأشدها مكساً، فوجهني إليكم، ورماكم بي. يا أهل العراق، يا أهل النفاق والشقاق ومساوئ الأخلاق، إنكم طالما أوضعتم في الفتنة، واضطجعتم في مناخ الضلال، وسننتم سنن العي، وأيم الله لألحونكم لحو العود، ولأقرعنكم قرع المروة، ولأعصبنكم عصب السلمة ولأضربنكم ضرب غرائب الإبل، إني والله لا أحلق إلا فريت، ولا أعد إلا وفيت، إياي وهذه الزرافات، وقال وما يقول، وكان وما يكون، وما أنتم وذاك؟.

يا أهل العراق! إنما أنتم أهل قرية كانت آمنة مطمئنة يأتيها رزقها رغداً من كل مكان، فكفرتم بأنعم الله، فأتاها وعيد القرى من ربها، فاستوسقوا واعتدلوا، ولا تميلوا، واسمعوا وأطيعوا، وشايعوا وبايعوا، واعلموا أنه ليس مني الإكثار والإبذار والأهذار، ولا مع ذلك النفار والفرار، إنما هو انتضاء هذا السيف، ثم لا يغمد في الشتاء والصيف، حتى يذل الله لأمير المؤمنين صعبكم، ويقيم له أودكم، وصغركم، ثم إني وجدت الصدق من البر، ووجدت البر في الجنة، ووجدت الكذب من الفجور، ووجدت الفجور في النار، وإن أمير المؤمنين أمرني بإعطائكم أعطياتكم وإشخاصكم لمجاهدة عدوكم وعدو أمير المؤمنين، وقد أمرت لكم بذلك، وأجلتكم ثلاثة أيام، وأعطيت الله عهداً يؤاخذني به، ويستوفيه مني، لئن تخلف منكم بعد قبض عطائه أحد لأضربن عنقه. ولينهبن ماله. ثم التفت إلى أهل الشام فقال: يا أهل الشام! أنتم البطانة والعشيرة، والله لريحكم أطيب من ريح المسك الأزفر، وإنما أنتم كما قال الله تعالى: "ضرب الله مثلاً كلمة طيبة كشجرة طيبة أصلها ثابت وفرعها في السماء" والتفت إلى أهل العراق فقال: لريحكم أنتن من ريح الأبخر، وإنما أنتم كما قال الله تعالى: "ومثل كلمة خبيثة كشجرة خبيثة اجتثت من فوق الأرض مالها من قرار".

اقرأ كتاب أمير المؤمنين يا غلام: فقال القارئ: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم، من عبد الله عبد الملك أمير المؤمنين إلى من بالعراق من المؤمنين والمسلمين، سلام عليكم، فإني أحمد إليكم الله، فسكتوا فقال الحجاج من فوق المنبر: أسكت يا غلام، فسكت، فقال: يا أهل الشقاق، ويا أهل النفاق ومساوئ الأخلاق. يسلم عليكم أمير المؤمنين فلا تردون السلام؟ هذا أدب ابن أبيه؟ والله لئن بقيت لكم لأؤدبنكم أدباً سوى أدب ابن أبيه، ولتستقيمن لي أو لأجعلن لكل امرئ منكم في جسده وفي نفسه شغلاً، اقرأ كتاب أمير المؤمنين يا غلام، فقال: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم فلما بلغ إلى موضع السلام صاحوا وعلى أمير المؤمنين السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته،فأنهاه ودخل قصر الإمارة ."

المصدر: كتاب الأوائل لأبي هلال العسكري

قال القاضي المعافى زكريا: ثنا أحمد بن محمد بن سعد الكلبي، ثنا محمد بن زكريا الغلابي، ثنا محمد - يعني ابن عبد الله بن عباس -، عن عطاء - يعني ابن مصعب -، عن عاصم، قال: خطب الحجاج أهل العراق بعد دير الجماجم، فقال: يا أهل العراق، إن الشيطان قد استبطنكم فخالط اللحم والدم، والعصب والمسامع، والأطراف، ثم أفضى إلى الأسماخ والأمخاخ، والأشباح والأرواح، ثم ارتع فعشش، ثم باض وفرخ، ثم دب ودرج، فحشاكم نفاقا وشقاقا، وأشعركم خلافا، اتخذتموه دليلا تتبعونه، وقائدا تطيعونه، ومؤتمنا تشاورونه وتستأمرونه، فكيف تنفعكم تجربة، أو ينفعكم بيان؟

ألستم أصحابي بالأهواز حيث منيتم المكر، واجتمعتم على الغدر، واتفقتم على الكفر، وظننتم أن الله يخذل دينه وخلافته، وأنا والله أرميكم بطرفي، وأنتم تتسللون لواذا، وتنهزمون سراعا

ويوم الزاوية وما يوم الزاوية، مما كان من فشلكم وتنازعكم وتخاذلكم وبراءة الله منكم، ونكوس قلوبكم إذ وليتم كالإبل الشاردة عن أوطانها النوازع، لا يسأل المرء منكم عن أخيه، ولا يلوي الشيخ على بنيه، حين عضكم السلاح، ونخعتكم الرماح

:ويوم دير الجماجم وما يوم دير الجماجم، بها كانت المعارك والملاحم

بضرب يزيل الهام عن مقيله * ويذهل الخليل عن خليله

يا أهل العراق، يا أهل الكفران بعد الفجران، والغدران بعد الخذلان، والنزوة بعد النزوات، إن بعثناكم إلى ثغوركم غللتم وخنتم، وإن أمنتم أرجفتم، وإن خفتم نافقتم، لا تذكرون نعمة، ولا تشكرون معروفا، ما استخفكم ناكث، ولا استغواكم غاو، ولا استنقذكم عاصٍ، ولا استنصركم ظالم، ولا استعضدكم خالع، إلا لبيتم دعوته، وأجبتم صيحته، ونفرتم إليه خفافا وثقالا، وفرسانا ورجالا

يا أهل العراق، هل شغب شاغب، أو نعب ناعب، أو زفر زافر، إلا كنتم أتباعه وأنصاره؟

يا أهل العراق، ألم تنفعكم المواعظ؟ ألم تزجركم الوقائع؟ ألم يشدد الله عليكم وطأته، ويذقكم حر سيفه، وأليم بأسه ومثلاته؟

ثم التفت إلى أهل الشام فقال: يا أهل الشام، إنما أنا لكم كالظليم الرامح عن فراخه ينفي عنه القذر، ويباعد عنها الحجر، ويكنها من المطر، ويحميها من الضباب، ويحرسها من الذباب

يا أهل الشام ! أنتم الجنة والبرد، وأنتم الملاءة والجلد، أنتم الأولياء والأنصار، والشعار والدثار، بكم يذب عن البيضة والحوذة، وبكم ترمي كتائب الأعداء، ويهزم من عاند وتولى

المصدر: البداية والنهاية/الجزء التاسع/فصل خطبة الحجاج لأهل العراق

Iraqi Bombings: Is Syria Responsible?

2009-09-06T01:29:00.000+03:00

The press conference that was carried out two days ago between Hugo Chavez and Bashar Al Assad was very interesting to watch. Apart from what the talkative Hugo Chavez (I understand now why he has his own TV show) one thing caught my attention from what Bashar Al Assad said during that press conference. When answering a reporters question he said something along those lines 'currently there are no leaders or presidents that work for a cause, most leaders are serving their own interests instead of their peoples interest'. It is debatable as to the extent the Syrian regime serves the peoples interests rather than their own (my personal opinion is that they do) however this comment could be said to be directed towards the current members and leaders of the puppet government in Baghdad especially after the deteriorating situation between the two countries after the bombings on what is now known as the 'Black Wednesday' where more than 100 people were killed in bombings that targeted different Iraqi ministries.

When the bombings took place, the Iraqi prime minister Al Maliki was on a two day visit to Syria along with a group of ministers from the puppet Iraqi government signing Strategic agreements between the two countries including the creation of a higher strategic council that would look after the strategic affairs between the two countries. In some Arab news outlets some political analysts viewed the signing of those agreements as part of a large regional alliance between Iran-Turkey-Iraq and Syria. However those analysts, although they are probably right about the attempts by those countries to create a regional alliance, fell short after the bombings in Baghdad.

Al Maliki ended his visit to Syria a day earlier heading back to Baghdad where without any evidence Al Maliki and Hoshyar Zibari (Iraqi foreign minister) placed responsibility of the bombings to two members of the Iraqi Baath party that reside in Syria in a very Bush administration style; providing no evidence and placing the blame hours after the bombings occurred. Feeling deceived by the Iraqi puppet government the Syrian regime strongly denied all the allegations that were directed towards it. The Syrians went on to launch a diplomatic effort to explain to the world its position in this matter while the Iraqi's continued and escalated their tone and accusations to the Baathist members and 'neighboring states'. It is worth noting that some Arab news agencies reported that the head of the Iraqi intelligence services Mohammad Al Shehwani was retired as cheif of the intelligence services after disagreeing with Al-Maliki over who was behind the bombings saying that the Baathist party doesn't not have the capabilities to conduct such bombings. This comes contrary to what has been said by Reuters which claimed that Al Shahwani was released days before the bombing occurred as Al Shahwani reached the retirement age.

The issue of capabilities is probably the main issue that leads to the dissmisal of the Iraqi accusations towards the Baathists in Syria and the Syrian role in the bombings. Do members of the Baath party have the ability to conduct large simultaneous bombings in probably the most guarded areas in Baghdad? Do they have relationships with members of the current government security services that would allow for such bombings to occur?

A recent comment made by a Turkish newspaper "Hareet" stated that 'there is a country in the region that is annoyed by the growing relations between Turkey, Syria and Iraq' saying that 'Syria did not gain anything from those attacks'. It is clear which country might be annoyed with those growing relations between the three countries. Egypt remains the only country in the region that has not improved its relations with the Syrians and there remains to be any sort of high ranked diplomatic exchanges between the two countries other than the visit by Omar Soliman who arrived in Damascus earlier this year to conduct talks with the different Palestinian factions in Damascus. The Egyptians seem to be the most annoyed with the improving relations between the three countries as it was one of the main players in the region that took part in the attempts to isolate the Syrian regime during the Bush era; seeing itself i.e. the Egyptian regime, being slowly isolated from regional affairs and the decreasing influence and role of the Egyptian regime in the region.

The Iraqi's seem to be only interested in increasing the issue by directly blaming the Syrian regime and calling on for an international investigation and tribunal for those responsible for the bombings even though there are attempts by both Turkey and Iran to lower the tensions between the two countries. The Syrian president Bashar Al Assad will be on his way to Ankara soon in an attempt to resolve the issue, there is an expectation members of the Iraqi government will be present in Ankara too, however Iraq has still not confirmed if anyone from its government will be heading to Ankara.

Back Home

2009-09-06T01:10:00.000+03:00

Three weeks ago I packed my bags in the UK and was on a plane on my way back to the Middle East; Syria for now. To be honest this is not what I planned for last year when I was hoping to work for a couple of years in the UK to gain some experience in my field and then moving on to the middle east where naturally I would have ended up. However due to many factors that affected my plans I was not able to stay in the UK given the current economic crisis and the job market in addition to other things that added to that I decided not to bother anymore and head straight back home.

It's great here. They always say that it is only great if a person comes here for a vacation, anything else a person will surely end up in depression. I don't think that is the case, I like it here, it is very much different especially now in ramadan where everyone seems to be pissed off for some strange reason as if each person fasting thinks they are doing it for everyone else and not themselves. What I don't like here is that in order to get something done in time and with little hassle you have to know someone who has some influence or works in the ministry where you are trying to get something done. It is terrible however I am getting my driving license done that way soooo... :D

Anyways I'm glad to be back!

Arab Human Development 2009

2009-08-15T17:38:00.000+03:00

The new UN Arab Human Development report 2009 has been released recently and is available in both Arabic and English for download HERE.

A summary will follow soon.

My Political Views

2009-08-04T17:51:00.000+03:00

According to this quiz I am not on the extreme right of the political spectrum as a comrade once stated. Actually this is what he said and I quote:

"You think you're left wing? By UK standards?! When you write in your blog,

"The poor are lazy and need to work harder. I hate those guys. And all immigrants. If it weren't for the crappy liberal welfare state we wouldn't be in this mess. What we need is a more powerful, single ruler."??! "

I was about to write a post explaining my political position and how I don't classify myself as being far-right and to refute the outragous comments made about this blog (which obviously are all fabrications and false allegations made against this blog) , But! I guess this is good enough for now. I leave you with the following:

I am a left moderate social authoritarian
Left: 4.17, Authoritarian: 1.71

Political Spectrum Quiz

My Foreign Policy Views
Score: -6.74

My Culture War Stance
Score: -0.7

The Model for an Islamic Caliphate

2009-07-23T05:25:00.000+03:00

"Increasing demands amongst Muslims populations for the rule of law, transparent, accountable and representative government, and an independent and efficient judiciary do not de facto translate into a call for democracy. These provisions are not the monopoly of liberal political philosophy; the Islamic political system addresses each of these but through a model that understands society, the individual, the goal of government and the role of the state differently. The Islamic political system - rather than inherently deficient - is characterized by its own relationship between ruler and subject, authority and sovereignty, law, property and power."

read the rest of the article here.

61 years and still going

2009-07-21T03:30:00.000+03:00

Although the definition of the term 'revolution' does not imply a specific time-frame to accomplish a specific type of change in a drastic manner, however, one would assume that the term 'revolution' should be used when a drastic changes is happening in a short period of time.Many revolutions have occurred in the past that resulted in drastic changes in short periods of time. For example the French revolution (1789-1799), Spanish Revolution* (1936-1939), Cuban Revolution (1953-1959). Although to the start of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as the Palestinian Revolution, it was an unsuccessful one, even though it had the support and backing of many countries and people. Still it is not out of the ordinary that revolutions are unsuccessful since there has been examples of unsuccessful revolutions in the past. But for a revolution that amassed such support and still failed, only points out that there were issues within the Palestinian revolution that rendered it unsuccessful.

The following three factors are believed to contribute to the failure of the Palestinian revolution:

Ideology:
- The main factions that formed and lead the Palestinian revolution were leftist, secular movements that dependent on the ideologies of Arabism and Marxism.

- ideologies were incompatible to the people of the region due to complexity and the different backgrounds of people that live in the region and also due to the traditions and cultures that are deeply rooted in a specific religion.

- many were motivated by those ideologies; they still didn't provide the element that would have unified the people into one organization with one aim.

- lead to different number of factions being created with different ideologies, leaving the leaders of those factions competing against each other rather than against their enemy.

Corruption:
- Corruption of the leaders of the Palestinian revolution lead to many battles being lost.

- in some cases came from the ideologies themselves,

- lead to disastrous events in the history of the revolution, for example Black September, and the Lebanese Civil war. Another good example are the current events within the Fatah movement and the leaders of that movement.

Ineffectiveness:

- leaders of the revolution were not able to use the advantages they had and different tools and means to create a successful revolution.

In some cases the wrong means were used to increase the exposure of the the Palestinian revolution in the West including the hijacking of civilian aircrafts and conducting operations outside the conflict region.

- different Palestinian factions were unable to utilize the privileges they received from different countries such as Lebanon and Jordan where they abused those rights that they were given.

Adaptability:
- Palestinian factions unable to adapt to the different circumstances they found themselves in and were either too late in their response or had unclear vision of consequences to their actions.

Today the 'Palestinian revolution' has been replaced by the 'Palestinian Struggle' symbolizing that the Palestinian cause has gone from one that sought to restore full rights and sovereignty to the Palestinian people to one that seeks to maintain whatever rights and sovereignty that are left, if any.

* Spanish Civil war was during the period of 1936-1939. The Spanish Revolution was during 1936 and lead to the civil war. A better example would have been the 1868 revolution (which I just read about).

Ending Ignorance in the Arab World

2009-07-16T03:05:00.001+03:00

Writing says: How do we end Ignorance (underdevelopment) in the Arab World?

Dust in the Air

2009-07-16T02:52:00.001+03:00

While Obama declares his countries' eternal support to the Zionists entity no matter what asking (begging) Zionists leaders in the White House to give him more time in order to accomplish his vision for peace in the middle east; news from the Zionist entity that soldiers were given orders Not to differentiate between civilian and militants during the massacres of Gaza in 2008 are reported. Leaves me wondering, how could a president of a nation with the principles of Freedom, Liberty and Justice for all ask from those who commit atrocities and have never shown the will to make peace for more time to achieve anything..? Will Obama promise the Palestinians a life with no persecution, injustice or racial apartheid..?

Difference Between Iran and EU

2009-06-28T04:41:00.000+03:00

In an article published on the wall street journal, the writer reflects the difference between what is happening in Iran and the European Union saying:

"In some countries they rig votes, in the European Union they repeat votes to get the desired result."

Then there is Noam Chomsky whose opinion and speculations regarding different matters are always interesting to read. Chomsky says in a radio interview:

Michael Jackson Dies

2009-06-26T09:20:00.000+03:00

Probably one of the most influential people of the70's, 80's and 90's, "The King of pop" an icon and a reference point for so many people has died yesterday at the age of 50. Whether you like him for his music or dislike him for his attitude or actions, I doubt anyone will deny that he was one of those people whose name (and moon walk) will be known for generations to come.

Johann Hari on Iran/Peru media bias

2009-06-24T20:17:00.000+03:00

It is not usual that I agree with what Johann Hari says, but this article is his finest for me. It seems that there are some people that are awake and actually to realize what is going on in the world.

Johann Hari: A fight for the Amazon that should inspire the world

Why Not Peru?

2009-06-19T21:02:00.001+03:00

The coverage of the western media on the Iranian "revolution" has been so extensive that some outlets have dedicated a minute by minute coverage webpage to follow what is happening there. This meant that whatever is happening anywhere else in the world goes unnoticed. For example what happened in Peru during the demonstrations by the poor and native of that country against the government that had planned to introduce new laws allowing foreign companies to exploit the rainforest which those people lived by. Atleast 60 people have been killed during the demonstrations and many more missing. But this is not important because Peru unlike Iran is not hindering the West and their multinational companies from exploiting their natural resources and allowing them to dominate over the area.

The independent has writen an article about it, yes one article is all that it gets. And the only reason why they did is because it somehow is related to the UK...

Lost in Translation..?

2009-06-19T20:30:00.000+03:00

Got extremely bored today at work, so I thought to myself what better to do then to check out whats going on in terms of sustainable development in Syria!!! Ya' feel me ! interesting stuff.

So I went on google and searched "Syria Sustainable Development" and as usual the relevant stuff comes up...(?) I was surprised to see that there was a report on the sustainable development programme in Syria that was submitted to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. So I decided to read it. It was really enlightening. The environmental management and planning system they were proposing to implement is very similar to the system here in the UK to some respect. Until I hit this bombshell of a sentence:

"MSEA is assisted by a Consultative Technical Committee and nine Environmental Committees reflecting scrotal interests."

SCROTAL??!!! reallyyy? they have scrotal interests? Excuse me if I am mistaken but scrotal does not fit in that sentence at all! unless there is another meaning to that word (from what I know scrotal is basically describing something that has a scrotum... you should google it if you need more info that's as far as I go)

NINE committees reflecting scrotal interests! I think we have some serious scrotal issues in Syria that no one knew about.. we should all get our scrotals checked by those committees before its too late! haha..

This is the link to the report in pdf. click here if interested.

Global warming sweeps Syrian countryside

2009-06-19T20:19:00.000+03:00

(Image from AFP)

DAMASCUS: Some 160 villages in northern Syria were deserted of their residents in 2007 and 2008 because of climate change, according to a study released on Tuesday.

The report drawn up by the International Institute for Sustainable Development warns of potential armed conflict for control of water resources in the Middle East.

"The 2007/8 drought caused significant hardship in rural areas of Syria. In the northeast of the country, a reported 160 villages have been entirely abandoned and the inhabitants have had to move to urban areas," it said.

In Syria and also in Jordan, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, "climate change threatens to reduce the availability of scarce water resources, increase food insecurity, hinder economic growth and lead to large-scale population movements," the report said.

"This could hold serious implications for peace in the region," the Canada-based institute said.

The study, financed by Denmark, predicts a hotter, drier and less predictable climate in the Middle East, "already considered the world's most water-scarce and where, in many places, demand for water already outstrips supply."

Oli Brown, who co-wrote the report with Alec Crawford, said: "Climate change itself poses real security concerns to the region. It could lead to increased militarization of strategic natural resources, complicating peace agreements."

"Israel is already using climate change as an excuse to increase their control over the water resources in the region," he said.

The IISD said, however, that there is much that national governments and authorities, civil society and the international community can do to respond to climate change and the threats it may pose to regional peace and security.

"They can promote a culture of conservation in the region, help communities and countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and foster greater cooperation on their shared resources," the study said.

Brown and Crawford's report says climate change could affect farm productivity in Syria, where agriculture represents 23% of gross domestic product and employs 30 percent of the active population.

"Some 13% of agricultural land was downgraded between 1980 and 2006 because of ... urban expansion and agricultural, industrial and tourism activities," Fayez Asrafy, a desertification expert, told AFP.

"Rainfall shrank by 10 millimetres (a year) between 1956 and 2006 while temperatures rose by (an average) 0.5 degrees Celsius, though below the worldwide average of 0.6 degrees," Syrian meteorologist Khales Mawed said.

The IISD predicts even modest global warming would lead to a 30% drop in water in the Euphrates, which runs through Turkey, Syria and Iraq, while the Dead Sea would shrink in volume by 80 percent by the end of the century.

more on treehugger.com

إلى كل شامي

2009-06-17T02:14:00.000+03:00

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

إلى كل شامي لا يعرف قيمة بلده

إلى كل شامي لا يصدق متى تتاح له فرصة السفر والخروج من الشام

إلى كل دمشقي لم يدرك جمال دمشق ولم يحمل لها في قلبه الحب والإخلاص والوفاء

إلى كل مسلم لا يعرف وصية رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم بالشام

أهدي هذه الرسالة التي وصلتني في بيان فضل دمشق والشام من أحاديث سيد البشر صلى الله عليه وسلم,

وللاستزادة (كتاب فضائل الشام ودمشق) ((للإمام الألباني رحمه الله)) والذي خرّج فيه أحاديث كتابي (الربعي) و(شيخ الإسلام) عن نفس الموضوع وإليك الرسالة:

لقد ذكر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم الشــام وخصوصاً دمشق بإسمها، من خلال أحاديث صحيحة ومسندة صححها أهل العلم والحديث

قال صلى الله عليه وسلم: ((إن فسطاط المسلمين ، يوم الملحمة ، بالغوطة إلى جانب مدينة يقال لها : دمشق ، من خير مدائن الشام
الراوي: أبو الدرداء - خلاصة الدرجة: صحيح - المحدث : الألباني - المصدر: صحيح أبي داود - الصفحة أو الرقم: 4298

قال عليه الصلاة والسلام: ((ستخرج نار من حضرموت – أو من نحو بحر حضرموت – قبل يوم القيامة ، تحشر الناس)) . قالوا : يا رسول الله فما تأمرنا ؟ فقال : ((عليكم بالشام ))
الراوي: عبدالله بن عمر - خلاصة الدرجة: صحيح - المحدث: الألباني - المصدر: صحيح التر! مذي - الصفحة أو الرقم : 2217

ذكر النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال: ( اللهم بارك لنا في شامنا ، اللهم بارك لنا في يمننا ). قالوا : يا رسول الله، وفي نجدنا ؟ قال: ( اللهم بارك لنا في شامنا ، اللهم بارك لنا في يمننا )......
الراوي: عبدالله بن عمر - خلاصة الدرجة: صحيح - المحدث : البخاري - المصدر: الجامع الصحيح - الصفحة أو الرقم: 7094

وقال صلى الله عليه وسلم: ((يوم الملحمة الكبرى فسطاط المسلمين بأرض يقال لها : ( الغوطة ) ؛ فيها مدينة يقال لها : ( دمشق ) ؛ خير منازل المسلمين يومئذ .))
الراوي: أبو الدرداء - خلاصة الدرجة: صحيح - المحدث: الألباني - المصدر: صحيح الترغيب - الصفحة أو الرقم : 3097

وعنه صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه قال: (( عليكم بالشام )).
الراوي: معاوية بن حيدة القشيري - خلاصة الدرجة: صحيح - المحدث : الألباني - المصدر! : صحيح الجامع - الصفحة أو الرقم: 4069

وعنه صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه قال: ((صفوة الله من أرضه الشام ، و فيها صفوته من خلقه و عباده ، و لتدخلن الجنة من أمتي ثلة لا حساب عليهم و لا عذاب))
الراوي: أبو أمامة الباهلي - خلاصة الدرجة: صحيح لغيره - المحدث: الألباني - المصدر: السلسلة الصحيحة - الصفحة أو الرقم: 1909

وقد ورد عنه عليه الصلاة والسلام أنه قال: ((يا طوبى للشام، يا طوبى للشام، يا طوبى للشام، قالوا يا رسول الله وبم ذلك ؟ قال: تلك ملائكة الله باسطوا أجنحتها على الشام )).

الراوي: زيد بن ثابت - خلاصة الدرجة: صحيح - المحدث: الألباني - المصدر: فضائل الشام - الصفحة أو الرقم: 1

Mousavi's big blunders

2009-06-17T02:03:00.000+03:00

By Kaveh L. Afrasiabi

In the current post-election turmoil, when the reformist challenger to Ahmadinejad has petitioned the relevant authorities to void the presidential elections results and hold new elections, it is easy, too easy, to jump to conclusions about who is right or wrong in Iran today, as if Mousavi and the other reformist candidate Mehdi Karrubi, have the final say on the fraudulent nature of the elections results, hotly contested in the streets of Tehran and a number of other Iranian cities today.

The western media has adopted at face value Mousavi's allegation of rigged elections and the stream of images from Iran, showing the defiant mostly young Iranians battling the riot police, etc., has showered us with the tendency to dismiss any suggestion that the Mousavi camp bear some blame for what has transpired in Iran, that is, a major political crisis. Here is one plausible explanation:

Initially, the ruling elite had no intention of any "election engineering" and, in fact, lowered its guards by allowing a fiercely competitive race that galvanized the public attention through the TV debates, unfettered campaigns, etc. but then as we got closer and closer to the June 12 appointed hour, it became patently obvious that the reformist camp was pushing the envelope to new, and from the vantage point of system coherence, intolerable heights that, in turn, required a stern reaction.

With respect to Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi, who is today appealing to the spiritual leader and pledging loyalty to the principle of rule of jurisprudence, velayat-e faghih, it is noteworthy that throughout the campaign Mousavi showed no deference whatsoever to the leader and, in fact, crossed the red line when he showed his secularist true colour in his speech at Tehran University, which can be seen on youtube, where he explicitly called on the clergy to not get involved in politics and maintain their independence from government.

During his long absence, Iran has been much transformed and, per the words of a University political scientist, a "regional power house under the leadership of ayatollah Khamenei" has emerged that, perhaps, Mr. Mousavi has no keen knowledge of, in light of his vitriolitic attacks on the regime's foreign policies, calling Iran's foreign policy a "disaster."

Ayatollah Khamenei was quick to respond to Mousavi's mostly unfounded criticism, by issuing a statement that questioned the views that claim Iran has been "isolated." Ahmhadinejad himself aptly rebuffed Mousavi in their TV debate, when he pointed at the 60 world leaders who have visited Iran during his term, adding that 118 nations of the Non-Aligned Movement have been supporting Iran.

That is true, and sadly neither Mousavi nor Karrubi ever showed any understanding of the country's dynamic foreign policy, e.g., the fact that Iran today is at the forefront of the NAM movement and its regional power and influence has substantially increased. Instead of constantly trashing Iran's foreign achievements, a fair opposition candidate would have praised the positive while criticising the negative and, yet, there was a conspicuous lack of balance in Mousavi's assessments of Iran's foreign policy performance.

Nor was Mousavi consistent all the time. Case in point, while in his Farsi speeches he criticised Ahmadinejad's hitherto unanswered letter to Obama, in his latest interview with an Arabic satellite channel, he sang a different tune by referring to the letter as a sign of Iran's proactive diplomacy. Also, he would defend Iran's program without ever giving Ahmadinejad any credit for the strides that Iran has taken in its nuclear program in the past four years. "We had three centrifuges when I came in and we have over 7000 now," Ahmadinejad pointed out during the debate, to Mousavi's oblivious ears.

How did a man known previously as an unreconstructed leftist, who is still so enamored of planned economy, with no ties whatsoever to the Second Khordad reformist movement end up at the helms of this movement and, now, with his great refusal to accept the elections' verdict without showing much evidence of voter fraud, has thrown that movement in a crisis of survival? That is surely a question for future historians to ponder, for at the moment with passions running high in Iran, Mousavi is simply viewed as a symbol of resistance to religious tyranny.

But what about the tyranny of simplistic and distorted portrayal of Iran's achievements and his tacit questioning of the highest religious authority, that is a prerequisite for candidacy in today's Iran, aforementioned? Mr. Mousavi may be right about some voter irregularities but to remain steadfast on his wild claim on June 12, before the vote count had began, that he is the "definite winner," leaves a lot to be desired.

In conclusion, a more prudent politician would try to utilize the millions of votes cast on his behalf into bargaining chips for influence and even policy input in the next administration, instead of wearing the hat of a martyristic hero and thus basking in the glow of regime-bashing, a regime that has done much to empower the ordinary Iranians and enhance Iran's power in the international arena.
Source: Middle East Online

Summary of Netanyahus' Speech

2009-06-16T20:14:00.000+03:00

Sources: Alquds Alarabi

Syrian League Final - Al Karamah - Again!

2009-06-13T14:40:00.000+03:00

I have been following the Syrian football league this season extensively, and it has been quite the amazing for certain clubs, and a huge disappointment for others. Al Karamah (Homs) the league champions for the past 3 years were struggling in the first half of the season and just managed to finish the first half in the mid-table region. On the other hand Al Ittihad of Aleppo (or Al Ahly), were one of the strongest contenders battling through out the first half of the season until they topped the league above Al Jaish (Damascus) and Al Majd (Damascus).

The Second half of the season took a different turn. Al Ittihad remained top of the league for the entire time, while Al Karamah finally rediscovered their game and their goal touch, climbing slowly up the ranks of the league, beating Al-Ittihad 1-0. In the final 10 games of the league (which is technically the second half of the season minus three games since the league is only 14 clubs) Al Karamah managed to win 8 games, draw 1 and lost 1, while Al Ittihad won 4, drew 2 and lost 4.

By the end of the season Al Karamah managed to amass equal points to that of Al-Ittihad, 52 points each with Al Ittihad on top on goal difference. However, this is not how the Syrian League works. If two teams end up with equal points at the end of the season they play one more decisive game to determine the winner of the league. That game was played yesterday. A poll on the Syrian National News Agency (SANA) showed that most people though Al Ittihad were going to win the game and so on the 21st minute a penalty was given to Al Ittihad which Otobong Ene Ede, the Cameroonian National converted with ease past Mosab Balhous, the Karamah Goalkeeper. Everything seemed to be going as predicted until Mohammad Al Hamwi scored an equalizer in the 71st minute, rounding a defender from the right side of the penalty area and taking a shot which deflected off an Ittihad defender sending the goalkeeper in a completely wrong direction.
A killer typical goal by Al Karamah then came in the 95th minute of extra time (Al Karamah made it a habit of scoring late goals). A cross from the right side was headed back into the 6 yard box where Eyad Mando was left unmarked. Having all the time and ease to place the ball in the top right hand corner of the goal sending Al Kramah fans into ruptures.

By that Al Karamah ended an amazing season for themselves, while Al Ittihad will be left wondering where did it all go wrong.

It was good to see teams from Damascus up there again, Al Jaish playing really well so was Al Majd. Terrible to see Al Wahda unable to compete since I am a Wi7dawee... next season maybe ? haha..

Loving the Muslim World..

2009-06-08T20:50:00.000+03:00

It was really interesting to listen to Obama’s speech the other day in Cairo in which he addressed the Muslim world trying to reconcile the differences and apologizing for the wrong doings (at least some of the wrong doings) that the United States committed against the Muslims in different parts of the world. Probably the most surprising aspect of the speech was that Obama admitted to the fact that the CIA was behind the coupe that lead to the overthrow of a democratically elected prime minister of Iran at the time and placing the Shah as the ruler of the country. I have to admit that the people attending the speech at the American University of Cairo were really reactive and applauded Obama excessively; it was funny that whenever Israel or the Jews were mentioned no one clapped however.
There are those that view the new American administrations role as one that is seeking to mend the American relations with different countries and especially Muslim majority countries. Yet to many this is just a different strategy for similar objectives, ones that I have earlier discussed. The long term objectives of the United States have not changed since the end of the Second World War, and there is no indication of them changing, there may be a change in the method and approach of how to achieve the objectives and aims as seen when ever there was a change in the American Administration, but the end result was always the same.
The following is an excerpt from the book “Confessions of An Economic Hit Man” written by John Perkins, the part describes one of the conversations John Perkins had while he was conducting an assignment he had in Indonesia:
“The beautiful English major laughed at this. “Because that’s the plan. Vietnam is just a holding action,” one of the men interjected, “like Holland was for the Nazi’s. A stepping-stone.”
“The real target,” the woman continued, “is the Muslim world.”
I could not let this go unanswered. “Surely,” I protested,” you can’t believe that the United States is anti-Islamic.”
“Oh no?” she asked. “Since when? You need to read one of your own historians – a Brit named ToynBee. Back in the fifties he predicted that the real war in the next century would not be between Communists and capitalists, but between Christians and Muslims.”
“Arnold Toynbee said that?” I was stunned.
“Yes. Read Civilization on Trial and the World and the West.”
“But why should there be such animosity between Muslims and Christians?” I asked.
Looks were exchanged around the table. The appeared to find it hard to believe that I could ask such a foolish question.
“Because” she said slowly, as though addressing someone slow-witted or hard hearing, “the West – especially its leader, the U.S. – is determined to take control of all the world, to become the greatest empire in history. It has already gotten very close to succeeding. The Soviet Union currently stands in its way. But the soviets will not endure. Toynbee could see that. They have no religion, no faith, no substance behind their ideology. History demonstrates that faith – soul, a belief in higher powers – is essential. We Muslims have it. We have it more than anyone else in the world, even more than the Christians. So we wait. We grow strong.”… “

Something Worth Watching - Reality TV Show

2009-06-03T00:32:00.000+03:00

'Stars of Science', the previously unseen Pan-Arab innovation contest on TV initiated by Qatar Foundation, kicked off, yesterday, with a highly-anticipated first prime-time episode, available to millions of Arab homes.

In a fast-pace and vibrant rhythm, the audience has been transported to Doha, Tunis, Alexandria and Beirut, where 100 hopeful applicants, shortlisted among 5600 applications, tried to impress and convince the jury with their projects of innovation.

Only 16 of them, from 11 countries, were selected and gained access to the ultra-modern Doha workshop, build within Qatar Science and Technology Park, where the competition will continue.

This episode was also the occasion to discover more about the candidates, their projects (see thereafter), personalities and aspirations, as well as the three jurors, Dr. Sadeg Fares, William Sawaya and Dr. Mona Zaki.

Engineer Dr. Sadeg Fares, with over 500 patents in his name, expressed his support for the candidates, saying that their projects will 'aid in developing the Arab world in the fields of science and technology.'

Renowned designer William Sawaya expressed his endorsement of Stars of Science, saying that it 'challenges Arabs to pursue technological excellence.'

Dr. Mona Zaki, businesswomen and marketing consultant, advised the candidates to 'be optimistic and to have confidence in what they do.'

The 16 candidates distinguish themselves by their various profiles and backgrounds, while their projects, characterized by their great diversity, are a testimony of the vibrant inventiveness of the Arab youth:

- Wahiba Chair (26 y.o - Algeria) - a nutrition label-scanning device that can be uploaded to mobile phones, immediately telling the consumer whether a food item is good for them.
- Sarah Al Sammak (24 y.o - Bahrain) - 'Canito' , a product bringing together a garbage and recycle bin that will attract people to recycle their waste.
- Mohammed Hijazi (25 y.o - Egypt) - a physiotherapy equipment that will help patients with various disabilities in strengthening their injured limbs with minimal interference.
- Mazen Salah (31 y.o - Jordan) - a device that would keep cars cool through all seasons.
- Sager Fayez (28 y.o - Saudi Arabia) - a reading tool for the blind persons, where books can be scanned and read aloud, as well as translated.
- Bassam Jalgha (22 y.o - Lebanon) - an automatic tuner for string instruments.
- Yasser Ramil (21 y.o - Morocco) - a wireless mobile phone charger
- Imad Al Harithy (23 y.o - Oman) - a mind-controlled wheelchair
- Mohammed Khalaf (25 y.o - Palestine) - a vertical keyboard to make typing a more comfortable process.
- Ahmed Abou Salim (29 y.o - Palestine) - an oxygenated drink that will give the consumer energy and revitalize the body
- Hashem Al Sada (22 - Qatar) - a specific tent fitted with solar panels for electricity generation.

- Mohammed Orsod (26 - Sudan) - an oil testing device that allows to determine the quality of cooking oil.
- Hassan Deeb (22 - Syria) - a piece of equipment that can generate electricity from waves.
- Saber Ben Massoud (24 - Tunis) - Tyres which can be changed in a lesser amount of time.
- Taha Tissaoui (26 - Tunisia) - a device to transport injured patients safely

The show promotes a healthy competitive and team spirit, in that it focuses on a non-eliminatory voting process, where candidates whose projects are not chosen, will join the teams of their peers.

Each of the subsequent weekly episodes, broadcast on Fridays, will revolve around one of the specific challenges of the innovation contest:
- Episode 2: Engineering (June 5)
- Episode 3: Design (June 12)
- Episode 4: Business (June 19)
During the final episode, to be broadcast live from Aspire Sports Academy in Doha on June 26, and in which the two finalists will be given the opportunity to launch their product, viewers will vote by SMS and telephone to decide the winner of a $300,000 prize.

Starting from tomorrow, Sunday, May 31, the audience will also be able to follow the activities of the candidates and their inner impressions, in daily episodes of this original reality show, broadcast from Sundays to Thursdays.
To be part of this experience, viewers can tune in to one of the 17 channels broadcasting the program, through an unprecedented Pan-Arab partnership:

Qatar Television, ENTV (Algeria); Bahrain TV; Nile Cultural Channel (Egypt); Jordan TV; Saudi 1 (KSA); Kuwait TV; Future TV (Lebanon), Tele Liban (Lebanon); Mauritania TV; Al Aoula (Morocco); Oman TV; Sudan TV; Syria 1, Hannibal TV (Tunisia), Yemen TV and ANA.

From AMEinfo.com

Avi Shlaim: What Sane People Say

2009-05-31T04:38:00.000+03:00

How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe:

Oxford professor of international relations Avi Shlaim served in the Israeli army and has never questioned the state's legitimacy. But its merciless assault on Gaza has led him to devastating conclusions...

تميم البرغوثي: أمة في الغار

2009-05-31T04:14:00.001+03:00

Random News

2009-05-28T02:05:00.000+03:00

Given that I don't have much time to write even though there is so much I want to write about, I will just quickly go through some of the stuff that I have found interesting.

Israel Passes New Law

Israel is on the verge of passing a new law which makes it illegal for anyone to deny that Israel is a Jewish state to which the punishment will be imprisonment. According to an Arab-Israeli talking to aljazeera this will make it easier for the Zionist authorities to persecute the Arabs of '48. This will not be the only law that will be passed that will curtail freedom of speech and opinion there are another two laws being prepared one of which makes remembrance of the catastrophe by Arab-Israelis illegal and the other is known as the "patriotic citizen law" which makes it compulsory to swear allegiance for any Arab that has gained an Israeli I.D. card.

Amazingly enough I have yet to see this being publicized on any western news outlet, the same ones that rush to write about an incident where a muslim person is in the middle of it.

The Under-cover King

Apparently the King of Jordan has been going around ministries and government buildings undercover, in order to get to know the problems people face in those places and get a first hand experience of how it is there. At the same time a majority of people in a recent poll stated that they cannot recall any achievements of the current government, to be exact 70% said that.

The Champions

And finally, although I don't like to write about sports here, but I must admit this is the most amazing day in football history. Barcelona won the treble!! HAHAHAHA.. im so happy.. i think im gonna cry.. :D anyways thats all for today.. Visca El Barcaa!! o 3ashat 2umatuna..

نكات اهل حمص تتحول الى وسيلة تعبير مأمونة لنقد المجتمع السوري

2009-05-22T02:06:00.000+03:00

من القدس العربي

دمشق ـ ا ف ب: 'اجريت لحمصي عملية جراحية ناجحة، فقرر اجراءها مرة ثانية'. هذا نموذج عن النكات التي لاحقت اهالي مدينة حمص عبر التاريخ واوردها كتاب عن 'النكتة الحمصية' التي تحولت وسيلة تعبير مأمونة لنقد المجتمع السوري.
ويسبر الصحافي والكاتب الحمصي جورج كدر الخلفيات التاريخية للنكتة الحمصية في كتابه 'ادب النكتة: بحث في جذور النكتة الحمصية'، مبينا ان صفة 'الجنون' لم تكف عن ملاحقة اهل حمص منذ ايام العبادات الوثنية.
ويقول المؤلف في كتابه الذي اعاد اخيرا اصدار الطبعة الثانية منه بعد عامين على صدور طبعته الاولى، ان التندر على الحماصنة والسخرية منهم اخذ في الماضي البعيد شكل نوادر وقصص زخرت بها كتب من زارها من الرحالة والكتاب.
واشهر هؤلاء الرحالة ياقوت الحموي وابن الجوزي الذي قال عنهم انهم 'بين الحمقى والمغفلين على الاطلاق'.
اما الآن فيأخذ هذا التندر اشكالا مختزلة ومكثفة صارت شبكة الانترنت مجالا خصبا لتناقلها ونشرها.
ويعيد الكاتب في حديث لوكالة فرانس برس دوافع تأليفه هذا الكتاب الى ايام انتقاله للدراسة في جامعة دمشق. وقتها كما يقول 'ما ان يقابلك شخص ويعرف انك من حمص حتى يسألك: ما آخر نكتة لديك عن الحماصنة'.

هذا السؤال الذي لا يزال يكرر على مسامع اهل حمص دفع الكاتب للبحث والتقصي ان كان 'التنكيت على الحماصنة يأتي من فراغ ام له امتدادت تاريخية؟'.

وللنكتة الحمصية جذور 'موغلة في القدم' تصل الى 'عيد المجانين' الذي كان موجودا في العبادات القديمة واندثر، بحسب ما يستعرضه الكتاب.
كما ان المؤلف يجد ان لها صلات بعبادة إله الشمس في القرن الثالث الميلادي والتي كانت تتم في حمص واتسمت بمظاهر مجون وصخب حتى الهذيان، وهو ما حمل كل من يمر بحمص وقتها على الاعتقاد بان اهلها مصابون بـ 'لوثة جنون'.
ولم يغير في هذا 'الصيت' ان من حكم روما حينذاك كانت جوليا دومنا ابنة حمص، ووالدها ابسيانوس الثاني من دعا لعبادة اله واحد هو اله الشمس بعد الفرعون المصري اخناتون. وحتى الآن يستخدم السوريون في سخريتهم احالة دارجة على يوم الاربعاء بوصفه 'عيد الحماصنة'.

وفي هذا السياق، يسلط كتاب 'النكتة الحمصية' الضوء على روايات شعبية وتاريخية تحكي كيف تفادت حمص غزو تيمورلنك المغولي عبر استقبال اهلها الحافل له، وتظاهرهم بالجنون ليجنبوا المدينة الدمار.
وكما يورد الكتاب كانت مدن الشام التي دمرها المغول تتندر بهذه الحادثة بالقول 'جدبها اهل حمص على تيمورلنك يوم الاربعاء فعفا عنهم' ليبقى منه مع مرور الوقت فقط ما يتعلق بربط 'الجدبة' بيوم الاربعاء.
ومن القضايا التي يؤكد الكاتب تأثيرها على ظهور النكتة الحمصية تلك المتعلقة بالعصبيات القبلية والدينية.
فهو يسرد كيف كان اهل حمص 'كثيري التقلب في الامور الدينية' وهو ما جعلهم في مرمى نوادر جاءت لتكرس 'رؤية مسبقة' حولهم او انها انبثقت من خلفيات 'تحامل' بعض الكتاب والرحالة على اهل حمص، كما يشير الكتاب الذي جاء اشبه بمرافعة مطولة عن اهل حمص.
ويعلي الكاتب السوري الساخر نبيل صالح من شأن النكتة التي تدخل في نسيج كتابته الساخرة.
وهو يعتقد ان 'النكتة اكثر قدرة من الموعظة على اصلاح العالم' معتبرا ان 'اهل حمص الاذكياء هم الاكثر تأليفا وتسويقا للنكات حول انفسهم'. ويضيف ان ذلك يشكل 'دليل قوة وثقة وصحة نفسية عند الحماصنة'.
ويروي صالح كيف كان يعبر حمص في الماضي ويلاحظ عبارة على واجهة بقالية تقول 'لدينا ثلج بارد'.
وبعد سنوات طويلة دفعه فضوله لدخول البقالية والتأكد من 'جدبنة' صاحبها كما يقول، والذي اخبره ان العبارة كتبها والده وكانت عاملا في كسب زبائن استدرجهم فضولهم لشراء ما لا يلزمهم. وينقل صالح تعليق صاحب البقالية الذي قال له: 'من الجدبة برأيك: انا ام الزبون الواقف امامي'.

وعلى غلاف كتاب 'النكتة الحمصية' يوقع فنان الكاريكاتور السوري علي فرزات رسما لرجل حمصي باللباس التقليدي، يقف على تاج عمود تاريخي وقد اخترقت السهام كل جسده، ويبدو هذا الرجل واجما فيما لم يصب اي سهم التفاحة فوق طربوشه.
ويعلق فرزات على اشتغاله هذا الرسم غلافا للكتاب بان الرجل يجسد شخصية الحمصي 'الذي يتلقى النكات برحابة صدر دائما'.
ويشير الى ان الجميع يصيبون شخصية الحمصي ملحقين بها صفة 'الحمق' فيما تبقى الحكمة من نكاته مثل التفاحة في الكاريكاتور 'غير مصابة'، على حد تعبير فرزات في حديثه لفرانس برس.
ويعتبر الكاتب كدر ان النكتة الحمصية تحولت لدى السوريين الى 'وسيلة مأمونة لنقد الواقع السياسي والاقتصادي والاجتماعي'، مشيرا الى انها 'دخلت في الكثير من المحظورات'.

ومما يورده الكاتب من نكات جمعها من المتداول في الانترنت حول الحماصنة، تلك التي يذهب فيها حمصي الى ضابط في وزراة الداخلية طالبا الترشح للانتخابات فيجيبه الضابط 'هل انت مجنون؟'، فيرد عليه الحمصي 'وهل هذا شرط للترشح؟'.
ويدعو مؤلف كتاب 'النكتة الحمصية' في ختام بحثه التاريخي الاجتماعي الى اقامة مهرجان عالمي للفكاهة في مدينة حمص التي تعد اكبر المحافظات السورية مساحة، معتبرا انه صار من الضروري ان تتحول هذه المدينة الى 'عاصمة عالمية للضحك تثور على ما يسود العالم من كآبة وحروب'.

Missing Link.. Found!! ?

2009-05-21T09:31:00.000+03:00

Apparently the missing link to human evolution has been in someones attic for quite a while.. only recently was the significance of the find known.

Update:
In a poll conducted by the washington times more than 70% of the people who voted said that they didn't believe "Ida" the missing link was really.. the missing link.

On another note an article on the independent explained what really this find is, how it happened, and why it is being revealed right now.

View of Recent Events

2009-05-16T17:20:00.000+03:00

Having posted the "Vision 2015" of the American-Israeli plans for the region, I would like to solidify those stated points by using current events to do so, and just to remind you that what is happening right now is bigger than what some might think it is.

1) Liquidation of the Palestinian cause:

We have seen how the coming of an extreme right leadership in Israel with Netenyahu as it's prime minister and Lieberman as foreign minister, pointing to one thing which is similar to the camp david negotiations between Ehud Barack and Yasser Arafat, the Israeli proposition is back to being that of a "economical" peace between the Israelis and Palestinians with no defined sovereign state for the Palestinians. Not that it hasn't been that way for the past 9 years but they are actually saying that it is an economical peace rather than claiming a peace done through the two state solution "the road map". The Fateh Leadership seem to accept anything that they can benefit off directly while the only people resisting those plans are cornered in Gaza with no-say on whats happening in the West Bank.

2) Removal of Any Regional Entities that would oppose the American-Israeli plans:

Wars in Gaza this year and in Lebanon 3 years ago prove this point. Recently there has been a diplomatic move by the US specifically to try to erode this coalition between Syria and Iran on the one hand and Syria-Hizbullah-Hamas on the other. With the arrival of many diplomats recently to Syria from the US and others from other countries to try and persuade the Syrians to break off those ties by offering them better economic relations and more aid to help in development and such. It seems that so far this has been ineffective as the American administration kept the US sanctions on Syria.
Indeed the Americans and Israelis would like to see their plans go through without having to fight in another war, the recent meeting between Netenyahu and Obama for the purpose of synchronizing actions between the two countries in order to maintain this aim of trying to reach the objectives without war. The question is how long will this period last for?

Other events to consider:
- Hussein Hajj Hassan (Hizbullah member of the Lebanese Parliament) visits the UK.
- The continued siege on Gaza by Israel and Egypt.
- Recent accusations made by Egypt towards Hizbullah, after 5 months of capturing the Hizbullah member in Egypt.
- Revealing Israeli military actions in Sudan and the air force exercises in long distance bombing and exercises on mid-air refueling.
- Publishing of reports on possible Israeli military strikes in Iran and their consequences to the region.
- Al Assads' speech during Abdullah Gul's visit to Syria.

The proposed visit of US Middle East envoy George Mitchell to Syria anytime between now and Barack Obama's visit to Egypt should be a defining moment as to what the next 7 months hold. The thing to watch out for after that visit is the Saudi-Syrian relations which seem to be massively effected by the attitude of the US policy towards Syria, and what happens at the US embassy in Syria.

3 and 5) Normalisation of relations between (Arab) states and Israel and the creation of a (regional) alliance to counter the rise of new global powers.

Writing this would seem to King Abdullah of Jordan as shortsightedness, as he accused those who wouldn't back the American agenda for this region of being, at least in the broad context of his claims.
Anyways, In addition to the proposal made by Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad al-Khalifa the foreign minister of Bahrain in October last year of a regional alliance between The Arab states, Israel, Turkey and Iran, there has been recent proposals of a similar alliance yet with a wider reach of not only Arab countries but also all 56 Islamic states that form the OIC. That way normalization of relations (once a humiliating peace agreement has been reached between the Israelis and Palestinians) between Israel and a quarter of the countries of the world will be achieved. This alliance has been called out for by the Jordanian King twice and by the Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Al Dahabe. Amr Mousa on the other hand 'only' stated that there needs to be a 'regional security agreement'.

To make things easier for Israel since it has to make a lot of concessions in order to achieve peace between them and the Palestinians (sarcasm) the Financial Times has stated that some Arab governments are looking to reduce some of the terms and conditions relating settlement expansion in the West Bank in order to achieve the peace they (the governments) always dream about. Not to forget that settlement building on occupied land (let alone expansion) is illegal according to the Geneva convention agreement.

With the re-surfacing of old US policies coupled with a new vision, the Muslim world is yet again going to be used to fight the wars of the West as a proxy to achieve their plans without sacrificing much except some of their wealth (Afghanistan in the 1980's and Chechnya). However, there is a huge difference with the situation back then and today. The Muslim world is a fast developing one with growing economies and huge economic potential with a rapid predicted increase if those potentials are harnessed correctly. Obama's romance with the muslim world is not being pursued with no aim or objective behind it, and it isn't just to refresh America's image in the Muslim world.

Thoughts On Zionism

2009-05-13T23:20:00.000+03:00

Its been a long while since I last read or discussed Zionism or the history of Zionism. It is fine when I am discussing the topic with someone who is unbiased towards a particular subject, as a person should be when history is being debated, but then again very few are, sometimes I can't help myself when looking at history and not trying to justify it with reasoning that seems logical and to an extent 'right'. But this is not the subject. The subject of this post is Howard Jacobson's commentary on the independent titled "A letter to an Anti-Semite who isn't".

" because Zionism itself has turned the screws. And certainly there are cruelties committed in its name."

The history of Zionism is a cruelty in itself. What has Zionism brought other than destruction, disparate, violence, racism and hate? Since the late 1800's leaders of the Zionist movement have been feeding on the misfortunes of European Jews, misguiding them to believe that they Must go to Palestine, that they must go back to the promised land in order to escape the persecution they faced in Europe. It is worth noting that it was only until the second world war and the holocaust incident did the Jews of Europe decided that it was their time to leave, before that the number of Jews that believed the lies of the Zionists were minimal.

"Anyone who has read the history of Zionism will be aware that its aim was to dispossess the Arabs," a critic of Israel has recently written. To which both the long and the short answer is that anyone who has read the history of Zionism will be aware of no such thing. "

Mr Jacobson, in a very juvenile way goes on to say:

"For Zionism was never a single movement, and whatever isn't a single movement cannot be said to have a single aim. A complex of ideologies, Utopian, messianic, visionary, practical, communistical, sometimes dreamily idealistic – Jews and Arabs working the land side by side – sometimes just plain desperate, came together (and indeed didn't always do that) to form that which we call Zionism."

Jacobson assumes here that all Jews are Zionists, and that the Zionist movement is an entirely Jewish ideology. Lets point out that although the leaders of Zionism did have differing beliefs other than Judaism (Herzel and Nardou were Atheists), Zionisms' ultimate aim is one, and that was ending the Jewish diaspora. Even though Jews at that time knew that they were only meant to return to the 'homeland' through divine intervention, hence the relatively small number of Jews that believed the Zionist ideology and accepted the aims of Zionism.
In addition, Zionism was not only an ideology which is explicit to Jews, in fact Christian Zionism existed way before the Zionism that Zionists today believe in, the Herzel Zionism. The gathering of Jews was seen by Christians in Britain and America as an act that needs to be done in order for the second coming of the messiah.

"Living with Arabs, not dispossessing them, was to be a way of achieving this."

If that is so, then why did the Jews that came under the Zionist banner live in Kibbutz's and isolated themselves from all Arabs, grew their own food, built their own homes and created their own independent communities and militias that later on massacred and killed and ethnically cleansed many Palestinian Arabs in different villages and towns across Palestine? It is unbelievable how people like Jacobson pretend as if that is what they want, they want "Arabs and Jews to live with each other" yet go on and try to justify the criminality of the Zionist state for the past 60 years. The Jewish people did suffer but that doesn't give them the right to claim a land that they probably have never seen before (talking about Jews 70 years ago) and steal it claiming its their land because their ancestors were there. Really? Your ancestors? Were they also blond, blue eyed and white?

Jacobson who pretends to be a fair person and plays that game of "I sympathize with the Palestinians but we the Jews are always right because of the HOLOCAUST", then goes on to explain to us how the word Zionist and Jewish are interchangeable words, that both mean the same thing as he criticized Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN earlier last month. Zionism a political ideology is the same as Judaism, a 5000 year old religious belief?

"Holocaust denial is the fulfillment of Primo Levi's greatest dread – that those who suffered would never be believed."

Let me just state right now that I will deny the holocaust not because I don't believe it happened, and even if it did happen then why should I be so saddened by the thought of the Holocaust, why should I put my head down in respect of those who died in a terrible genocide, why can't I discuss it in a critical way, when much worse crimes were committed in the same acts of hate and racism in different parts of the World? 20 million native Americans were slaughtered by European Immigrants, hundreds of thousands Aboriginal were massacred, the 60 million killed during World War II many of which were innocent civilians and so on and so forth. Why can I discuss these events, research them and write papers about them, yet as soon as anyone utters the word holocaust followed by 'I don't...' a person has to stand up and shout "Holocaust Denier!!" and "Anti-Semite!". I will tell you why people are not allowed to talk about the holocaust, simply because someone doesn't want people to know the truth. They don't want people to even put that thought into other peoples' heads to such an extent that they have made laws that criminalize those who deny the holocaust, yet homosexuality is a matter of freedom of choice and slandering Islam is a freedom of speech and opinion. Not only that but they even built museums and placed the topic in their school's educational curriculum just to make sure that no one thinks otherwise. What is so special about the genocide of Jews (and Gypsies and french resistance fighters caught in the war, By the way!) that it has a special title "Holocaust" what makes it so different from other genocides, why is there no special name for the genocides in Rwanda for example? Isn't that just a little bit racist?...?

Let me end this by saying to Mr. Jacobson that the only thing that is wrong is you. And I say it with full confidence.

Miss Saudi Arabia.. ??!

2009-05-09T04:29:00.001+03:00

YES! finally what all the women in Saudi Arabia have been waiting for! A Miss Saudi Arabia competition is going to be held this week with more than 200 contestants striving to become the first ever Miss Saudi Arabia. You may be confused as to how such a competition is going to be held in one of the most non-women-friendly countries where women cannot even drive. However, this competition is not like those held in other countries where half naked women show off their beautiful figures and faces to a bunch of judges, the Miss Saudi Arabia is actually quite deep where God given looks and figure is not part of the competition.

So what is the judging criteria, if not beauty? There will be four areas that the contestants will be judged on, those are her morals or manners, her commitment to her family, obedience to her parents and her commitment to her religion, Islam.

I must say that it would be really tough to judge on these things unless each woman comes in with a file of her entire life. How are they going to judge her morals or manners? Will they drop rubbish on the ground and see how the girl reacts to it? Will they start yelling at them and see how they react, or will they wait until its prayer time to see who prays and who doesn't? Will they ask the women about their life experiences and from that make a judgment?

Unfortunately I won't be able to know how the competition works, and neither can anyone since it is not going to be shown on TV since its a women only thing and the Saudis are not very fond of women being on TV. This is the second time this competition is held. The winner receives a prize amount of $2600

Secret UAE Torture Tapes revealed

2009-04-27T11:35:00.001+03:00

Influenza Epidemic

2009-04-25T01:49:00.000+03:00

"The symptoms of the 'Spanish’ influenza (1918) – so-called because Spain, as opposed to countries involved in the conflict, did not censor reports of the spreading plague - included a hacking cough, projectile nose bleeds, and a condition known as heliotrope cyanosis, a dark-blue discoloration caused by shortage of oxygen to the lungs. Unlike most strains, it did not just strike the very young and old but also the 20-40-year-old age group. Around 228,000 Britons perished, and worldwide, it killed at least 50 million – ten times as many as had died in the war.

Now, as the world faces the prospect of a new pandemic - mostly likely triggered by the bird flu virus H5N1 - the question has to be asked: how would Britain cope with a similar outbreak today? In the event of a repeat of 1918, the Department of Health calculates that a quarter of the UK population could fall sick over a fifteen-week period and 375,000 people could die. But the Armageddon scenario is that a new avian virus could have an even worse impact - resulting in more than 450,000 deaths."

A couple of months ago a person giving a lecture said that during a conversation he had with the British Health Minister he was told that "the UK government is anticipating an influenza epidemic that will wipe out a third of UK population. The minister said it should have happened between two years ago and next year"...

Walking Out - An Act of Racism

2009-04-20T23:33:00.000+03:00

If the west keeps on bringing up the issue of free speech, and then walk out on a person who is merely expressing his opinion, what does that make the western nations? What is the difference between walking out in protest of what Ahmadinijad had to say about the racist, apartheid Zionist state, and when Muslims walked in the streets demonstrating against the insulting drawings of the prophet Mohammad (may God's peace and blessings be upon him)?

The double standards exhibited by these people is unbelievable. To not accept the fact that the Zionist state is a racist, hateful state that has been waging wars against the Arabs and has been using weapons indiscriminately against civilian populations is an act of racism in it self. These are the same western countries that stood and watched Lebanese being massacred in 2006, and are the same ones supplying Israel with weapons and technology and aid that has been used to Massacre Palestinians for the past 60 years, while at the same time subjugating Arab countries and Muslim countries to economic sanctions just because they refused your hegemony in thier countries..
wonder why AlQaeda gets so many sympathizers within the muslim world...?

An Achievement

2009-04-18T07:09:00.000+03:00

A person I knew back when I was still in high school had on his facebook status "officially an American citizen.. Proud to be American!!".. 12 people gave him the thumbs up while another 16 congratulated him on this "achievement"..

Which got me thinking about how many Arabs wish they had a citizenship of a different country, and the reasons for that.. very soon after that I was checking citizenship requirements for the UK.. just checking..

To be honest I will be the last one who will think of doing that.. :)

2009-04-18T04:19:00.000+03:00

In celebrating the Independence day, a decision was made to change the look of the Arabian Camel, although we are facing some technical problems which we are in need of help with, this should do for now..

rejoice people, rejoice... :)

محاضرة الدكتور النفيسي لخونة العرب

2009-04-16T20:19:00.001+03:00

Old Habits

2009-04-15T20:43:00.000+03:00

So much for Obama's decision to shut down and end torture in Guantanamo. Inmates at Guantanamo claim they are still being abused and tortured. Credibility strike one for Obama..

Trying Too Hard

2009-04-15T07:02:00.000+03:00

It seems the Egyptian regime has now gone full force against Hizbullah and Iran attempting to lower the support that Hizbullah has amongst the Egyptians. The crime of Hizbullah is that they tried to help out the trapped people in Gaza by supplying the people with essential day to day products and the resistance with weapons and ammunition. It is true that Hizbullah by sending members of its group to Egypt does indeed violate the sovereignty of Egypt but if the Egyptian government refuses to open up the Rafah border and allow the Palestinians whom have been trapped in Gaza for almost 2 and a half years with limited supplies, and if the Egyptian government refuses to support those who are willing to fight for their freedom by at least turning a blind eye to the smuggling of weapons to those freedom fighters then someone else will take up that role. It is unfortunate that such a regime has borders with Gaza.
(On this note let me point out that Mr. Mubarak along with other world leaders and politicians are nothing short of criminals for not forcing Israel to lift the siege off Gaza even after a devastating military attack by the Zionists).

I am most amazed by the Egyptian media which has lost all of its professionalism in the way it has been dealing with the issue. The slandering of Hasan Nasarallah, or any other leader or even person in such a manner by supposedly professional journalists writing in respected news outlets, is nothing less than shameless and utterly shocking, these journalists have managed to reach new levels of low.

The most infuriating thing is how those journalists repeat the same thing as if if they keep saying it we will have to believe it.

One thing I would really want an answer to is the comment made by journalists and politicians who are saying that "the Egyptian people are completely around/support the Egyptian government in everything it does", to what extent is this? Do the Egyptian people support the Egyptian governments role in the Gaza war by sealing off the border and not allowing aid to go through? Do they support the view that Hamas and Iran (and any other state that refuses to be dictated by America) are the enemies while Israel and the United States are their "best friends"? Do they share the opinions of their foreign minister when he said that "any Palestinian coming through the borders will have their legs cut off" during the time the Gazans broke through the Rafah border crossing out of desperation? Do the Egyptian people believe that internally their country and government is at its best shape, economically and socially?!

And what the hell is that claim about "spreading Shiaism" in Egypt?! As if the Egyptian Government is so worried about the spirituality of its people; that Shiaism will spread like wild fire if it wasn't for the heroic interventions of the flawless government that stopped one man of 25 years of age sent by Hizbullah to convert the people of Egypt to Shiaism. I wonder if those Palestinians and Egyptians helping the Hizbullah agent are Shia as well considering that at least 3 members of that "Cell" belong to the Muslim Brotherhood. I find those claims by Egypt and other Arab governments that Iran is trying to spread Shiaism within their countries is very patronizing and condescending to Arabs and non-Arabs in the Muslim world.

Some members of the Egyptian parliament are saying that Egypt should respond by two folds to the attempts of destabilizing the country by Hizbullah and Iran. What can Egypt do? Ever since the peace treaty signed between the Egyptians and Israelis the Egyptian role and presence in the region has slowly been diminishing. Iran and quickly Turkey, are playing the major roles in the region. Can the Egyptian presence in the region be compared to that of the Iranians? The Egyptians were not even able to get the Palestinians to agree on forming a unity government, unlike the Iranians who have now complete control of Iraq and Lebanon. The Egyptian government has lost its ability of political decision making, which is currently in the hands of the US and Israel, which explains Mubaraks invitation to Netanyahu a week prior to revealing this Hizbullah "cell".

The Egyptians (and when I say Egyptians followed by criticism I mean the Egyptian government) is trying too hard to create this separation between the Sunnah and Shia'a Islam, they are trying too hard to minimize the mentality of 'resistance' within the Egyptian population by smearing the image of those who chose to resist and be truly sovereign unlike the fake sovereignty the Egyptian government claims it has. That resistance to the imperialist plans of Western nations is the only thing that brought the Arabs and Muslims any good, and if anyone claims there is any other means by which we can liberate our countries, bring peace and justice to those that have been persecuted for so long then they are wrong.

The Green Islam

2009-04-13T16:17:00.000+03:00

Way before the creation of any human rights groups and animal rights groups why before we understood how important trees are, and before we realized our dependence on the survival and maintenance of our ecosystem, Islam gave us guidelines on all those topics. The following is an article written by Gar Smith about "Islam and the Environment":

Despite the apocalyptic premise of Samuel Huntington's book, The Clash of Civilizations (which prophesies an inevitable war between the armies of the God and the armies of Allah), Islam and Christianity have much in common. In their view of the natural world, both the Bible and the Qur'an share many of the same stories,
heroes and ethical concepts. But there are some differences. The Qur'an might even be said to be the "greener" of the two holy books.

The world "Earth" (ard) appears no less than 485 times in the holy book of the Qur'an. Shari'a, the word for Islamic Law, literally means "source of water."

One familiar story from the life of the Prophet recounts how, during a journey, one of Muhammad's companions removed a baby pigeon from a nest. Muhammad confronted the thief and gently returned the bird to its nest. "For charity shown to each creature with a wet heart, there is a reward," the Prophet declared.

In the words of Allah, "There is not an animal in the earth, nor a creature flying on two wings, but they are nations like you." (6:38)

Islamic cleric Mufty Imam Tajuddin H. Alhilaly, argues that all living things "are partners to man in existence and they deserve their own respect."

As befits a faith born in the desert, water is honored as "the secret of life." Islam forbids the wastage of water "and the usage thereof without benefit.... The preservation of water for the drinking of mankind, animal life, bird life and vegetation is a form of worship which gains the pleasure of Allah."

Imam Alhilaly infers from this passage that Islam also forbids "factory outpours to go to waterways or to the ocean, as this would pollute the water and threaten marine life.

"Air is the property of Allah the Exalted," the imam states. "Hence, contaminating the air with smoke is an encroachment on nature and a threat to the life of mankind and all other living things."

The Qur'an does, however, endorse the transformation of wilderness into agriculture and cattle pastures. The Qur'an proclaims that it is Allah who "sends down water from the sky, and therewith we bring forth buds of every kind. We bring forth the
green blade from which we bring forth the thick-clustered grain; and from the date-palm, from the pollen thereof, spring pendant bunches, and gardens of grapes, and the olive and the pomegranate."

"The earth is our first mother," says Imam Alhilaly. "Therefore it has certain rights over us. One of these rights is making it come alive with green vegetation and other plant life.

"The Prophet said that he who is kind and merciful towards animals, Allah will be kind and merciful towards him.... We must deal with animals with utmost beneficence and compassion and strive to ensure the preservation of the different species,"
Imam Alhilaly instructs. "It is forbidden in Islam to kill a animal for mere play. Islam has forbidden wastage of animals and plants in peacetime and in wartime."

Tradition has it that if someone kills a bird for amusement, the bird will demand justice from that man on judgment day.

In an essay on the "Significance of Environment in Islam" in the April 1998 issue of the Islamic Voice, Akhtar Mahmood, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Punjab, notes that "Islam discourages luxurious and lavish living." Muslims see the
existence of luxury as "an expression of social injustice, as few can afford luxurious items at the expense of the deprived masses."

In an article posted on www.Islamicwell.com , F. Kamal notes that the two fundamental books of Muslim faith - the Qur'an (the Holy Book) and the Hadith (the
parables and examples from the life of the Prophet) - both teach that kindness to animals is an "article of faith for Muslims." The Prophet advised people never to curse beasts of burden and commanded his followers to treat these animals with gentleness and kindness.

The Muslim holy books tell of a woman who "was tortured and was put in Hell because of a cat which she had kept locked till it died of hunger." In another tale, a prostitute's sins are washed away because she gave drinking water to a thirsty dog.

Kamal observes with some pride that these stories were recorded "1,400 years ago - long before it became fashionable or 'politically correct' to care about
animal rights."

In the centuries following Muhammad's passing, Islamic scholars introduced the idea of hima - a protected zone. Many Islamic countries now set aside certain wild areas that cannot be developed or cultivated. These have become modern wildlife reserves.

"Much of the foundations of modern science are built on Muslim scientific roots," Kamal states. But Islamic science, Kamal noted, was not "a cold pursuit devoid of any ethical considerations. It was not a confrontation against nature but a search for Allah's signs, limitless bounty and mercy.

"One of the most destructive causes of pollution is consumer waste," Kamal writes, citing the Qur'an (17:27): "Lo! the squanderers were ever brothers of the devils and the devil was ever an ingrate to his Lord." Devout Muslims, Kamal says, "do not disorder their world... in search of self-gratification, greed, waste and ingratitude to their Lord."

In his article "Islam and the Environment," Arafat El Ashi, director of the Muslim World League in Canada, [191 The West Mall, Suite 1018, Etobicoke, Ontario M9C 5KB, Canada, (416) 622-2184, www.al-muslim.org ] observes that "Human life is sacred in the sight of Islam. No one is permitted to take the life of another person except as
life-for-life. Suicide is a crime in Islam."

Under Islam, El Ashi states, "it [is] incumbent on every Muslim to contribute his/her share in improving greenery. Muslims should be active in
growing more trees for the benefit of all people." Even during battle, Muslims are required to avoid cutting trees that are useful to people.

The Prophet instructed the faithful that any Muslim who plants a crop that feeds another person, animal or bird, will receive a reward in paradise. Cutting down trees is seen as an abomination.

How important is the planting of trees? In the words of the Prophet: "When doomsday comes, if someone has a palm shoot in his hands, he should plant it."

Resources:
* Environmental Protection in Islam, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
[www.islamnet.com]

* The Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Science (at Harvard University's Center for the Study of World Religions) offers information ranging from religious instruction to organic gardening and solar energy. [www.hds.harvard.edu/cswr]

* Islam and Vegetarianism [501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510, www.islamveg.org]

* more on islam religion

Arab Leaders

2009-04-13T03:00:00.000+03:00

Reflecting the reality of Arab leaders...

source: alquds al arabi

Reshuffling Positions

2009-04-03T05:09:00.000+03:00

Two things are happening soon in Syria's politics. First of all the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. The Syrian Muslim brotherhood is a sister organization to the Egyptian brotherhood, it is an Islamic political party who's ideas were transferred to Syria in the early 1930's from Egypt, but only became prominent politically in the 1950's. the Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed in 1980, anyone caught and accused as being a member of the brotherhood was sentenced to death. The Hama revolt carried out by the Brotherhood, and subsequently the crushing of the revolt by the iron fist Ba'athist regime (also known as the massacre of Hama) was the last fight between the Syrian regime and the brotherhood. Leaders of the Syrian brotherhood were exiled.

Coming back to recent events; in 2006 exiled leaders of the Syrian muslim brotherhood formed an alliance with other opposition members most notable AbdulHalim Khadam who was the Syrian vice president to Bashar Al Assad, the alliance was called the "National Salvation Front" and was created to bring the Syrian regime to an end and usher in a democratic government. To most Syrians this was seen as a joke mostly due to the reputation of AbdulHalim Khadam due to his activities in both Lebanon (during the time Syrian forces were present in Lebanon) and Syria.

Having seen their credibility dwindle, and the increase of popularity of the Syrian regime under the leadership of Bashar Al Assad, not only within Syria but also across the Arab world, and having seen their efforts go ineffective to the much efficient and effective Syrian foreign and internal (to an extent) politics and policies the leadership of the Syrian Brotherhood are reconsidering their position, carrying out an "auditing approach" to their position and policies. The Muslim brotherhoods' membership to the "National Salvation Front" is also under revision and a decision will very soon be made as to whether or not they should uphold their membership to the "Salvation Front" or terminate it in order to be able to resume political activities in Syria.
The Syrian government have signaled a willingness to allow the Syrian Brotherhood back into Syria but of course under their rules and conditions. It will be a tough nut to crack for the Syrian Brotherhood where they will have to make some concessions but I believe this will benefit both sides.

Secondly, the Syrian government will be undergoing a cabinet reshuffle soon. It is said that there will be two additional ministerial roles added. This will include reinstating the role of 'Deputy Prime Minister for Services', and the addition of a 'Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Development/Reform' along with the currently existing role of 'Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs' occupied by Abdullah Al Dardari. Thus, and for the first time there will be three deputy prime ministers in the new government.
According to the sources of AlQuds AlArabi the new appointments will be completely from an academic background with a great amount of experience in their fields of expertise and that there will be no appointments of well known politicians within the Syrian political circles. This comes as Syria moves towards a new stage of its "social market economy", as well due to the current world economic crisis that is bound to hit Syria.

Palestinian Refugees

2009-03-30T06:02:00.000+03:00

Yet again we are at a point where our Fabulous Arab leaders meet.

Arab foreign ministers met in the past two days to decide the topics that the leaders will be discussing in the meetings. Having decided on the agenda; the main issues to be discussed will be:
- Reconciliation between Arab states (or 'Differences management')
- The Sudanese issue
- The Arab peace initiative with Israel and the Palestinian reconciliation initiatives

Those are the four main issues that are going to be discussed at the meeting, however, an important issue that needs to be quickly resolved still remains with no solution and has been removed completely from the agenda of the Arab league meetings taking place today in Doha, Qatar, that is the issue of Palestinian refugees stuck on the borders between Jordan and Iraq and Syria and Iraq.

Those refugees living under harsh conditions have no one to help them out and are completely ignored by most media outlets in the Arab world. I must admit that I don't understand the reasons for not allowing those approximately 3000 Palestinian refugees into Syria under humanitarian grounds and with the help of the UN, having allowed 2 million Iraqi refugees into Syria since 2003.

Neither are other rich Arab countries in the Gulf region helping those refugees resettle. Come to think of it, they didn't allow any Iraqi refugees into their countries, yet they host more than 1 million American and other foreign military personnel on their lands. And to be honest solving this problem will be much easier and actually achievable in comparison to the other 'main' issues that are topping the meeting's agenda.

More information on the Palestinian refugees here.

Genetics and Homosexuality

2009-03-22T16:20:00.000+02:00

After reading and studying it for a short while I have decided to reply to the comment a person has said on Outcast's Blog.
The comment was "Homosexuality is, as is the state of the science, nothing you choose. Period."

My opinion:
People choose to be homosexual or not in the same way that a person chooses to become vegetarian or not. I don't think that homosexuality or any other form of behavior should be treated as if it was genetically hardwired into us for two reasons.

1) if this is the case then any other form of behavior such as criminality and terrorism can be explained in the same way, that way if your grandfather was a criminal then there is a possibility that you are going to be a criminal as well. In that sense we have no free will, we cannot choose what we want to be or who we want to be and are bound by the inherited characteristics of our parents or grandparents and so on. Although behavioral characteristics are inherited it is not something that you cannot change, at the end it is a persons decision to impose a certain behavioral characteristic.

2) Changes either to or from OSA (Opposite Sex Attraction) have implications for genetic control. Kitzuger and Wilkinson 59 in their survey of changes towards lesbianism remark that there were so many different psychological paths to exclusive SSA (Same Sex Attraction) that it was impossible they were genetically controlled, a point rarely made.

Dr. Francis S. Collins the former head of the Human Genome Project and director of the National Human Genome Research Institute stated that, "The evidence we have at present strongly supports the proposition that there are hereditary factors in male homosexuality — the observation that an identical twin of a male homosexual has approximately a 20% likelihood of also being gay points to this conclusion, since that is 10 times the population incidence. But the fact that the answer is not 100% also suggests that other factors besides DNA must be involved. That certainly doesn’t imply, however, that those other undefined factors are inherently alterable."

therefore Dr Francis concludes that "current data provides little evidence to support the conclusion that homosexuality is hardwired."

"No one has yet identified an actual gene that contributes to the hereditary component (the reports about a gene on the X chromosome from the 1990s have not held up), but it is likely that such genes will be found in the next few years."

and, “Yes, we have all been dealt a particular set of cards, and the cards will eventually be revealed. But how we play the hand is up to us.”
“The Language of God” (pp. 260-263)

A Moment to Stop and Enjoy

2009-03-19T03:29:00.000+02:00

A friend sent this to me a while back, and I just decided that I should post this.

"A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule. A few minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work. The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theatre in Boston and the seats average $100. This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?"

Qatar Science and Technology Park

2009-03-18T14:12:00.000+02:00

Yesterday saw the opening ceremony of the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP). The QSTP will combine research, business and educational institutions all in one area making it an ideal place where new technologies are introduced to the world.

World class research and training centers are available for corporations that are willing to take part. Shell, Total, Microsoft, EADS, Exxonmobile, Virgin are amongst the first memebers to join QSTP.

I think this is great, even though it costs around $850 million dollars to build with no immediate payback on investment in the short term, its still better than wasting that money on buying Yachts and building Islands for rich Russians to buy. I have to say I like the direction which Qatar is taking.

Anyways this is the great opening speech by Sheikha Moza of Qatar:

And this is a short intro of what is in the park:

The Strangers - الغرباء

2009-03-09T19:44:00.000+02:00

The Strangers (Al-Ghuraba'a) is an Islamic cantata (song without music) that was sung by a young man that belonged to the muslim brotherhood in Egypt. It was sung after the young man and a couple of others were sentenced to death in Egypt in a case that was known as the "case of the century" where the closing speech of the defendants lawyer lasted for almost 2 hours. Most people beleived that the defendants would most definitely not be sentenced to death, however given the type of government that was present in Egypt in 1993 (and still present till this day) the defendants were sentenced to death.

The reason for the title strangers is due to a Hadith of the prophet Mohammad peace be upon him which says:

"Islam came as something Strange, and will once again be strange, beatitude for the strangers!"

روى مسلم أيضاً عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه وأرضاه أن النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال

"بدأ الإسلام غريباً وسيعود غريباً كما بدأ، فطوبى للغرباء"

The following is the cantata of the young man after they were all sentenced to death:

Translation in English:

Apostasy In Islam

2009-03-08T05:27:00.000+02:00

There has been a lot of talk by critiques of Islam on the rule of Apostasy in Islam which has been fueled by fatwa’s given out by some Islamic scholars on the matter. This topic has always featured in discussions by those interested by religious matters especially in the Arab world and generally in the Islamic world.
In order to deal with this issue we need first to discuss it from two different concepts and levels and we also need to differentiate between those two levels in order to avoid confusion and ambiguity. Those two levels are the general and the personal.

The first level refers to the general concept in Islam of freedom of belief which is made clear in the following verses from the Quran:

- And if thy Lord willed, all who are in the earth would have believed together. Wouldst thou (Muhammad) compel men until they are believers? (Sura 10 verse 99)

- If then they turn away, We have not sent thee as a guard over them. Thy duty is but to convey (the Message)… (sura 42 verse 48)

- Thou art not one to manage (men's) affairs. But if any turn away and rejects Allah― Allah will punish him with a mighty Punishment. For to Us will be their Return; Then it will be for Us to call them to account. (Sura 88 verses 22-26)

- Say "The Truth is from your Lord": let him who will, believe, and let him who will, reject.. (Sura 18 verse 29)

- We showed him the Way: whether he be grateful or ungrateful (rests on his will). (sura 76 verse 3)

- Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clear from Error; whoever rejects Evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah hearth and knoweth all things. (Sura 2 verse 256).

It is obvious that these verses give people the freedom of belief. A person is free to believe in Islam or not to believe and the prophet (pbuh) was not given the right to force those who reject Islam back into believing neither to force people to believe in Islam.
A lot of fuqaha’a (Islamic jurists) would say that these verses are “copied” and are a response to “the verses of the sword” however both these concepts do not exist in the Holy Quran. Nevertheless, the verses that are referred to as “copied” are the ones that have been passed down from past Abrahamic prophets and their teachings either through the concepts of those teachings or their meanings have been compiled together with the arrival of the prophet Mohammad peace be upon him. On the other hand the so-called “verses of the sword”; there is no such verses however there are verses that permit or allow the fighting of non-believers of Mecca whom the Muslims were at war with. The Muslims at the time and under the threat of liquidation through killing by the non-believers of Mecca, and after they have been persecuted and evicted from their homes (amongst them the prophet pbuh) fought the non-believers of Mecca in self defense and nothing else, it is worth noting that this war was empty from the spirit of revenge by the Muslims. It is known that the prophet accepted the Treaty of Hudaybiyah when the Meccans intercepted the muslims attempt to enter Mecca, and it is also known that the Muslims entered Mecca later on through negotiations that were preempted by the prophet through his marriage of Abu Sufyan’s (the leader of the non-believers of the Quraish) daughter Um Habiba and were carried out (the negotiations) by Mohammad’s (pbuh) uncle Al-Abbas. When the muslims entered Mecca he order a person to call out and let everyone know that “whoever enters the house of Abu Sufyan is safe, and whoever closes the door is safe, and whoever enters the mosque is safe.”

In regards to apostasy from Islam to another belief this falls into the second level, the personal level from the perspective of the “freedom of belief” as was mentioned earlier. Within this personal level there are two levels, the personal and the personal-personal.

Here the personal level is referred to in the following verses of the Quran:

- Anyone who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters unbelief― except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in Faith― but such as open their breast to unbelief― on them is Wrath from Allah, and theirs will be a dreadful Penalty. (Sura 16 Verse 106)

- And if any of you turn back from their faith and die in unbelief, their works will bear no fruit in this life and in the Hereafter; they will be Companions of the Fire and will abide therein. (Sura 2 verse 217)

- As for those who sell the faith they owe to Allah and their own solemn plighted word for a small price, they shall have no portion in the Hereafter: nor will Allah (deign to) speak to them or look at them on the Day of Judgment, nor will He cleanse them (of sin); they shall have a grievous penalty. (sura 3 verse 77)

- How shall Allah guide those who reject Faith after they accepted it and bore witness that the Messenger was true and that clear signs had come unto them? But Allah guides not a people unjust. (86) Of such the reward is that on them (rests) the curse of Allah, of His angels, and of all mankind. (sura 3 verse 86-87)

- If anyone contends with the Messenger even after guidance has been plainly conveyed to him, and follows a path other than that becoming to men to Faith, We shall leave him in the path he has chosen, and land him in Hell,-what an evil refuge! (sura 4 verse 115)

- Those who believe then reject Faith, then believe (again) and (again) reject Faith and go on increasing in unbelief―Allah will not forgive them, nor guide them on the way. (sura 4 verse 137)

In all the verses mentioned above the punishment of the person who apostates from Islam is not death but rather it is God’s wrath, curse, hell; in other words it is God who punishes those who apostate from the religion and not other humans. This is what we find in the Quran, however Islamic jurists say that the punishment of those who apostate from the religion of Islam is death and base this judgment on a hadith (prophets saying) which says “whoever changes their religion, kill them”. So how can this difference be explained?

Without getting into the debate as to whether the for mentioned hadith is correct or not, fighting those who apostate from islam has occurred at the time of the first caliph Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with him, and it is a historical fact. However, it is important to separate or differentiate between those who change their religion for personal reasons without having any other motives and under their personal convictions and judgment, and between those who apostate for external motives. This is what is meant by the concept of ‘personal-personal’. That is, the apostates that Abu Bakr (ra) fought as the ‘head of state’ were not only people who changed their beliefs due to personal convictions, but were people who rebelled against the state and organized themselves to fight that state lead by Abu Bakr. Therefore the apostate in this sense are those who went out and attacked the state, whether it is an Islamic state or not, in any form possible whether they actively fought or conspired against the state.

Thus the Islamic arbitration of apostasy in this meaning is not one against the freedom of belief, but against those who betray the state, nation, homeland or country and is against those who collude with the enemy of the state. From this we can understand how Islamic jurists linked the concepts of a ‘fighter’ (a person who goes against the state and society and fights against it in any means for example as a bandit) and between an ‘apostate’; thus an apostate in this sense is a form of ‘fighter’ (bandit) and the arbitration of Islamic jurists in this case will vary between different jurists depending on the extent as to whether the apostate is a ‘fighter’ or not. With the agreement of Islamic jurists, a ‘fighter apostate’ is to have capital punishment; Islamic jurists have been at a disagreement in regards to the punishment an apostate receives if they only apostate and not fight the state. This just shows how that Islamic jurists have considered the case of apostasy not as something linked to freedom of belief but as something linked to a person who is fighting against the rule of the state and against society.

To conclude, the Islamic law in regards to apostasy is not related to freedom of belief but is linked to, what we call today treason. Likewise those who speak about Human rights, of which the freedom of belief is at its forefront, do not defend or do not have a belief of “freedom of treason” or “freedom of being a bandit” or “freedom of colluding with the enemy of a state”, therefore it is clear that Freedom is something and apostasy is something else.

What needs to be worked on however, is whether a Muslim, who apostates without causing trouble to the state or society, is considered as a ‘fighter apostate’ and deserves capital punishment?! It is obvious that in such case the evidence from the Holy Quran (being the highest authority in Islam) states that an apostate will be punished by God almighty and not by other humans as the earlier stated verses show and those who are arguing that an apostate deserves to be killed do not really have any bases for their argument. And God knows best.

WHY DO YOU KILL ZAID?

2009-03-07T19:28:00.001+02:00

Interview with Professor Dr. Juergen Toedennofer who visited Iraq and witnessed the truth about the occupation and about the Iraqi resistance.
His perspective is not strange to the majority of Arabs but according to the people in the interview it seems as if it is a revelation. Hope this man's first hand experience in Iraq gives many of you (those of western origin especially) something to think about.

Homosexuality

2009-03-07T04:33:00.000+02:00

The preparation of a new campaign against homosexuality (sodomy) is underway on the blogsphere. I'm not sure if it is against homosexuality or just to understand the position of homosexuals in our Arab societies since the person calling for this campaign was not really clear, nevertheless there is something about sodomy and there will be alot of clashes between those who believe that homosexual people have a right to express their sexual orientation in public while in the other corner there are those who believe that homosexuality corrupts society (the later is my position on homosexuality).

Just a quick thought and comparison. The idea of deregulation of markets has been viewed by many as a means of increasing trade and improving the economical aspects of a country. However and without going into details this has not worked out and the current economic downturn for example can only, in my opinion, be dealt with through more stringent regulations on markets and more importantly on the financial sector. Deregulation is based on the assumption that corporations and companies are run by good people that run their businesses under ethical and moral considerations, unfortunately this is not the case and in reality corporations are greedy organizations that want to maximize profits as quick as possible.
In addition to that, regulators underestimated the greediness of some businessmen, their inefficiency and carelessness led to the biggest scams in the history of this market system (that we know of). A good example here is the case of Bernard Madoff.

Now the same goes with society. If we assume that every person is a good person whom live their lives according to high ethical and moral standards we will be fooling ourselves. I am not saying that everyone is bad, but at the same time not everyone is good. The move of societies away from religion and into more secular, liberal societies is due to the affluence of a population in a society. The more affluent a society is the more they have resources and time to fulfill their needs and ‘desires’. People’s needs are instinctive, we need to eat, sleep, psychological needs and so on. However our desires are things we make up. Accordingly sexual orientation is a desire and not a need. A person does not need to have sexual intercourse with another person of the same sex, but because that person has reached a certain level of affluence where all their needs have been fulfilled they turn to their desires, things they make-up in order to quench that desire.

Religion regulates our lives, it reminds us of what is right and what is wrong and what is healthy in a society and what will corrupt society therefore religion maintains the integrity of a society. In most religions, especially in Islam, the society as a whole is always more important than the individual but that does not take away the rights of the individual. When an individual is seen to be practicing something that will lead to a corruption of society they are punished, and the punishment varies today from one Islamic country to another, from being fined to capital punishment as is the case in Iran. However in Islam and the Islamic law, the Sharia’ah, a person accusing someone of homosexuality (or any other crime punishable under Sharia’ah) is not something easy to go on about. In order for a person to be accused of homosexuality there needs to be four witnesses that can bear witness that the person accused has committed sodomy, in the case that one fails to be a legitimate witness all four witnesses are punished.

So to conclude, there is no need for those who like to consider themselves as homosexuals/transsexuals to openly act in a homosexual way in public in a country where the majority of people follow the religion of Islam. If someone does not believe in islam, lives in a muslim country and is homosexual then maybe you should keep it to yourself and practice whatever you practice in your house.

Omar Al Bashir And Sudan

2009-03-05T03:25:00.000+02:00

The international criminal court has issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudan's president Omar Al Basher, yesterday. The warrant however fell short of accusing Al-Basher of committing genocide and accuses him of seven war crimes including crimes against humanity, which include murder, rape and torture. The three-judge panel said it had insufficient grounds for genocide.

For me, this is nothing to do with bringing justice, it is basically politicizing international institutions taking the side of western plans of dominating regions by force and cutting off any benefits emerging economies are getting from fair deals in other developing countries. Here we are mainly considering China. Consider the following points to know where I'm coming from:

- Before the "conflict" in the Darfur region China's import of Oil from the African continent was around 30% of its total imports, of which 35% was imported from Sudan and the Darfur region specifically. The Sudanese government has always favored Chinese companies compared to Western oil companies that were not allowed to benefit from the new discoveries in the Darfur region. But since the start of the "conflict" in 2003 China's import of oil from Sudan has decreased and now is roughly around 10% of its total imported oil from Africa.

- The "conflict" that was in the South of Sudan which took up the lives of approximately 3 million Sudanese people was not even picked up by the ICC or any western country as being acts of genocide or war crimes. However, when a "conflict" in Darfur is going on, and when it has been going on for a much shorter period of time compared to the conflict in the South, there is an instant uproar and condemnation to the acts of supposedly "Arab" militias backed by the Sudanese government against "the people of Darfur".

- The "conflict" started when rebels in the Darfur region took up arms against the government.

- And the fact that Abdel Wahid al-Nur, the leader of the largest rebel group in Darfur (who has been exiled where he stayed in France since 2001) met top defense officials in Israel to discuss their support for the rebels forces. This same person and from Israel, rejected the 'goodwill' agreement signed by the Sudanese government and rebel factions in Doha, Qatar. The rejection came on the same day the agreement was signed while Abdel Wahid Al-Nur was in Israel meeting defense officials and mossad agents as different sources mention.

What bothers me most though is how in a Haaretz article it says that Abdel Wahid Al Nur is supported by humanitarian organizations. I wonder what type of humanitarian organizations those are that supported a person who was the main reason for the start of this conflict, a man that refuses to even agree to sit down and negotiate instead of fighting and having more innocent people killed.

To try to convince me that this has been done to bring justice and peace... the decision by the ICC to charge Bashir with human rights violations and other war crimes thinking that this will bring just and peace is just ridiculous! the only thing this will manage to create is more turmoil in Sudan and worsen the situation there.

Atheism and Darwin

2009-02-19T03:32:00.000+02:00

A thought that I had a couple of days ago when I passed by a stand at the student union where a couple of students were celebrating Charles Darwins' 200th anniversary by giving out sweets and cake and what not.
I was thinking to myself that in 15 years time (if not less) this would become a ritual and people would start practicing it as if it was Christmas or Eid or yom kippur.
Anthropologist state that it is of human nature that humans always associated themselves with rituals and that throughout human history people from different cultures have ALWAYS practiced rituals in one way or another.

However, it is interesting that in most cases it is Atheists who take up the ideas of Darwin, especially those on evolution as proof of the randomness of the universe and the reason for denying the existence of a God. They also usually blame religion for everything that is wrong in this world. What is interesting to point out here is that those atheists have, consciously or otherwise, set up a system of beliefs and rituals that are meant to be "practiced" or observed by "followers" or "believers" of atheism. I have watched videos of Atheists arguing with people who follow a religion, it almost always seems that their arguments are set and that most of the time the responses and questions by the atheists are the same, which suggests a 'set system of beliefs'; it is only people with a strong belief in something that will go out and seek to "convert" or change peoples' opinions about something, In Canada atheist are campaigning for the right to place atheist advertisements on buses, you can even "donate" for that cause. As for the link with rituals there is a "proposal for a secular celebration of Winter Solstice meant to be used across society".

"People often mark the major life stage events in life - like being born, getting married and so on - with religious ceremonies like christenings, weddings and funerals. Atheist and Humanist organizations offer their own rituals for these events that give them meaning and significance without any religious content. Such a ceremony can have as much significance and be as dignified as a religious ceremony".

So are atheists trying to create a 'new religion'? If that is so doesn't that dismiss their claims of not believing in religion in the first place?

What annoys me the most however, is how atheist pretend to be smarter than everyone else, saying that they have science on their side forgetting that science is logical whereas their claims are not. Such is the example of the argument between an atheist and Imam Abu Hanifah (rahimahu allah) who was a Muslim jurist that lived in the 8th century.
The incident happens when an atheist approached a group of Muslims that were gathered at the Royal Palaces in Baghdad and says to them, "I don't believe in God, there cannot be a God, you cannot hear Him or see Him, you're wasting your time! Bring me your best debater and I will debate this issue with him."
A messenger from the gathered Muslim goes across the river Tigris to where Imam Abu Hanifah was and tells him "Oh Abu Hanifah, an atheist is waiting for you, to debate you, please come!" Imam Abu Hanifah tells him he's on his way. The Muslim messenger goes back and joins the crowd that was waiting for the arrival of Imam Abu Hanifah. It was sunset at the time and one hour had passed, but Abu Hanifah still hadn't arrived. Another hour had passed, but still there was no sign of him. The Muslims started to become tense and worried about his late arrival. They did not want the atheist to think that they were too scared to debate him, yet they did not want to take up the challenge themselves as Abu Hanifah was the best of Debaters from amongst the Muslims. Another hour passed, and suddenly the atheist started laughing and said, ' Your best debater is too scared! He knows he's wrong, he is too frightened to come and debate with me. I guarantee he will not turn up today.'

The Muslims increased in apprehension and eventually it had passed midnight, and the atheist had a smile on his face. The clock ticked on, and finally Abu Hanifah had arrived. The Muslims inquired about his lateness and remarked, 'Oh Abu Hanifah, a messenger sent for you hours ago, and you arrive now, explain your lateness to us.'

Abu Hanifah apologizes for his lateness and begins to explain, while the atheist listens to his story. 'Once the messenger delivered the message to me, I began to make my way to the River Tigris, and on reaching the river bank I realized there was no boat, in order to cross the river. It was getting dark, and I looked around, there was no boat anywhere nor was there a navigator or a sailor in order for me to cross the river to get to the Royal Palaces. I continued to look around for a boat, as I did not want the atheist to think I was running away and did not want to debate with him.

I was standing on the river bank looking for a navigator or a boat when something caught my attention in the middle of the river. I looked forward, and to my amazement I saw planks of wood rising to the surface from the sea bed. I was shocked, amazed, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Ready made planks of wood were rising up to the surface and joining together. They were all the same width and length, I was astounded at what I saw.

I continued to look into the middle of the river, and then I saw nails coming up from the sea floor. They positioned themselves onto the boat and held the planks together, without them being banged. I stood in amazement and thought to myself, 'Oh Allah, how can this happen, planks of wood rising to the surface by itself, and then nails positioning themselves onto the boat without being banged?' I could not understand what was happening before my eyes.'

The atheist meanwhile was listening with a smile on his face. Abu Hanifah continued, 'I was still standing on the river bank watching these planks of wood join together with nails. I could see water seeping through the gaps in the wood, and suddenly I saw a sealant appear from the river and it began sealing the gaps without someone having poured it. I looked closer and I could see a boat forming before my eyes, I stood in amazement and was filled with shock. All of a sudden a sail appeared and I thought to myself, 'How is this happening, a boat has appeared before my eyes by itself, planks of wood, nails, sealant and now a sail, but how can I use this boat in order to cross the river to the Royal Palaces?' I stood staring in wonderment and suddenly the boat began to move. It came towards me against the current. It stood floating beside me while I was on the river bank, as if telling me to embark onto it. I went on the boat and yet again it began to move. There was no navigator or sailor on the boat, and the boat began to travel towards the direction of the royal palaces, without anyone having programmed it as to where to go. I could not understand what was happening, and how this boat had formed and was taking me to my destination against the flow of water. The boat eventually reached the other side of the River Tigris and I disembarked. I turned around and the boat had disappeared, and that is why I am late.'

At this moment, the athiest burst out laughing and remarked, 'Oh Abu Hanifah, I heard that you were the best debater from amongst the Muslims, I heard that you were the wisest, the most knowledgeable from amongst your people. From seeing you today, I can say that you show none of these qualities. You speak of a boat appearing from nowhere, without someone having built it. Nails positioning themselves without someone having banged them, sealant being poured without someone having poured it, and the boat taking you to your destination without a navigator against the tide, your talking ridiculous, I swear I do not believe a word of it!'

Abu Hanifah turned to the atheist and replied, 'You don't believe a word of it? You dont believe that nails can appear by themselves? You don't believe sealant can be poured by itself? You don't believe that a boat can move without a navigator, hence you don't believe that a boat can appear without a boat maker?'

The atheist remarked defiantly, 'Yes I don't believe a word of it!'

Abu Hanifah replied, 'If you cannot believe that a boat came into being without a boat maker, than this is only a boat, how can you believe that the whole world, the universe, the stars, the oceans, and the planets came into being without a creator?

The atheist was astonished at his reply got up and fled.

Finally I would like to leave you with this article from The Independent on Darwin.

Dubai In Decline

2009-02-19T03:21:00.000+02:00

The credit crunch effects Dubai greatly, when estate prices decline in Dubai you should know something is wrong, although many people are saying these are rumors and that everything is fine.

"...Instead of moving toward greater transparency, the emirates seem to be moving in the other direction. A new draft media law would make it a crime to damage the country's reputation or economy, punishable by fines of up to 1 million dirhams (about $272,000). Some say it is already having a chilling effect on reporting about the crisis".

Al-Zaytouna Nottingham Dabke Group

2009-02-16T02:55:00.000+02:00

The group performed tonight, the following is a description of the play:

"A celebrated, maverick playwright gets an unexpected call in the middle of the night, from a very old friend with an unusual request…

Two cousins bump into each other after an eternity apart… in the strangest of circumstances and the most surreal of settings.

Four Palestinian students are about to meet in a London Café to discuss putting up a show about Palestine… They share a love for their ancestral land… and almost nothing else… with very interesting consequences.

A theatre producer has 8 weeks to stage a play about Palestine but is struggling to find someone brave and visionary enough to write the script…

Idealism, anger, love, hate, cynicism, despair, hope, loss, nostalgia and resilience… Palestine meets Palestine in this Play within a Play.

The results are unpredictable, powerful and life-changing for all concerned".

I'm not really a theatre critic or a person that regularly goes to theatres, in fact this is probably the third time I've been to a play, but the description above does sound better than the play itself. True all of the above was in the play but I didn't think they spent enough time developing the story. However the Dabke and the music were awesome!! Very entertaining, especially the checkpoint scene. But I guess its more of a music concert than a play, but it was really worth it, a must see for anyone who wants to see Palestinian folklore dance and music.

One comment about the content of the play. There is a part where one of the girls in the cafe was talking about the need to make the Palestinian cause a 'universal' cause. Two things I have to say about that, 1) The Palestinian cause is an Arab cause and not a universal cause. There are 300 million Arabs, if those are not able to act and liberate Palestine then there is something really really wrong with the Arab people, because we have already been given 60 years time to do so. The only time the Palestinian cause becomes a 'universal' one is when it becomes the muslims cause. 2) Nevertheless I understand the need to make the Palestinian cause a universal cause, simply because we have given up hope that the Arabs are capable of doing anything.

P.S: if your one of the guys who was performing in the play and fell while doing the dabke I just want to tell you tough luck man, it really was terrible. :D nah just kidding..

Rambling of an Arab

2009-02-04T23:18:00.000+02:00

As the massacres of Gaza become a thing of the past, Arab states have moved on to more 'important' things (at least for those Arabs that had no interest in the crisis in Gaza from the beginning). Having put Gaza behind them, Moderate Arab officials met in Abu Dhabi to discuss the issues that are hindering 'Arab unity' created by undesired, destructive interferences from entities that are not Arab. Of course you might think that if we are discussing 'Arab unity' then that would include all the Arab states, however it seems that in the eye of so called moderate Arab states countries like Syria, Qatar, Sudan, Libya and Algeria are not at the same level of Arab'ness compared to those of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain.

It seems that Moderate Arab states have now decided to completely lock on to their newly acquired target: Iran.

The real problem is there is NO reason for Arab states to be in conflict with the Iranians. If there is then I'm completely missing the reason why we should be focusing on fighting the Iranians. I know of a few reasons why some people say that we should be fighting the Iranians. They say the Iranians are trying to spread shiaism in Sunni countries, they say that they want to recreate the Persian Empire, and they say they want to conquer Mecca and Medina; these are the reasons why they say we have to be fighting them. In reality all of this is propaganda and even if there are people trying to 'convert' sunni muslims to Shia Islam as so many people have stated, people like Sheikh Al Qaradawi, this will never reach a point where 90% of the the muslim sunni population will start to believe in Shia Islam, especially if its done in a preaching manner.
But if these accusations are true, and eventually Iran does for example manage to establish the "Persian Empire" and conquer Mecca and Medina, whose fault is that really? Is it the Iranians fault that we (all Arab states) do not have the required resources to fight such an evil plan? and how come it is such a problem to have Iranians taking over, when right now there are American bases in nearly every Arab country? What type of Hypocrisy is this? Is it ok for the Americans to occupy our lands with their military bases, but not so 'ok' for the Iranians that are closer to us in the cultural, religious and historical sense than the Americans and Westerners will ever be?!

People that I talk to usually tell me that I am deluded about the hidden agendas of the Iranians and their plans to dominate the region. What about the American Western Colonial Imperial Zionist agenda? It seems that some Arabs forgot that when the Shah of Iran was in power and when Iran had strong relations with Israel, the Arabs didn't say one word about the Iranian influence in the region, they forgot that when Khumaini came to power he order that Arabic become the second language in educational institutions, they forgot that it was Saddam Hussein who started an 8 year long war that was order by the CIA, which by the end left Iraq in a devastated situation (and some nationalist Arabs have the nerve to call Saddam a Hero!). The Arabs seem to forget that those three Islands by the coast of the UAE were given to Iran in a deal agreed by King Faisal and the Shah of Iran; giving Iran those three islands in return the Iranians would give the island of Bahrain its independence.

Arab politicians are not really politicians, they complain about Irans increasing influence and then they allow it to gain that influence. It is Iran that supports Hizbullah and Hamas, and it is Iranian money that those organizations were giving out to people after the Zionist aggressions of 2006 on Lebanon and 2008 in Gaza. At the same time, Arab states have completely abandoned the thought of resistance, and leaders like Husni Mobarak of Egypt even supported the Zionist Aggression on Gaza by blocking the Rafah border crossing, stopping humanitarian aid from reaching civilians and not allowing refugees to escape from the war zone. It is Egypt as well that has allowed the Nato to patrol its waters to stop the smuggling of weapons into Gaza. True, Iran is not doing all of this because they love Arabs, but they are doing this for their own interest, and not their leaders narrow individual interests but the interests of Iran as a whole.

Talking about interests, Iran launched last week its own Satellite into space, using its own scientists and its very own technology, and plans to send three more satellites in the coming year, along with its nuclear program Iran has surpassed the technological abilities of ALL the Arab states combined. And all of that in 30 years; 30 years under economic sanctions. Now consider the Arabs. Saudi Arabia has not been involved in a single war since the day it was created, its number one export is Oil, followed by DATES! One might think that with all this oil, Saudi Arabia might have a strong petrochemical industry but no, they don't. Consider Egypt. Its been 30 years since it signed its peace treaty with Israel, therefore it is out of the conflict. Egypt's leaders at the time said that now that they have signed a peace treaty and are out of the conflict they can concentrate on the economy and improve the living standards of Egyptians. Egypt's main exports are Petroleum, Petroleum products and freakin cotton!! (Just to paint an uglier picture Egypt still is under Emergency laws, even though they are no longer at war with Israel).
My point is, not one Arab state has managed to become an exporter of knowledge and technology, not one state has managed to launch its own satellite into space so that their scientists can collect information that will help them with their research, not one state has educational institutions/universities that produce and assimilate knowledge in order to benefit their own people. All we know is how to get the American, British, French engineer, specialist, consultant, expert, etc, to do things for us, our leaders only know how to sip alcoholic beverages in New York, party in Monaco, and sail in 70 foot yachts in the Côte d'Azur.

Let me end this because trust me, I (and any Arab person) can sit and complain for days about the stupidity of the Arab leaders that are running our countries. To round this up and to conclude this is a part of the movie "V for Vendetta" explaining the reality of oppressive regimes and who really are the ones who are guilty for allowing those regimes to exist...

Erdogan Storms out of WEF

2009-01-30T09:10:00.001+02:00

President Erdogan of Turkey storms out of the World Economic Form (Davos) debate on Thursday after a long speech by the Zionist Israeli president who attacked Hamas and backed the last massacres in Gaza saying "we had to teach Hamas a lesson like we taught Hizbullah in 2006".
But the only lesson Perez learned is how sovereign dignified states react when a load of bullshit has been said, as Erdogan storms out of the debate when he wasn't allowed to reply to the comments made by Perez.

Poor Amr Mussa though, didn't know what to do "should I stay or should I go?! " until Ban Ki moon told him to sit down, poor thing.. :D

As it seems Erdogan is a hero now in Turkey after a lot of people went to greet him when he arrived at the Ataturk Airport in Istanbul early on Friday morning.