Gaza Going Off the Rails: Why Israelis Need to Stop and Think

January 11, 2009 – 1:46 pm

Entering the third week of war, the problems with the Israeli-Gaza conflict have surpassed questions of justification or objectives. Leaving aside who’s right (nobody), or when and how this war will end, or whether there will be a winner (no), or whether the achievement of Israel’s goals will outweigh the damage done to their international reputation or the shift in regional alliances and moods, the essential problems with this war have begun to scream in my ear.

The problems strike me when I drive in the north and see the Russian language campaign ads for Tzipi Livni. Livni, the centrist, supposedly noble candidate of Kadima, has responded to snide comments and allaying Russian-immigrant fears about her gender by advertising her “manhood to change the country.” In Hebrew, the ad substitutes “manhood” for “guts.” Either way, she has something to prove in this war.

They strike me when I read editorials from international news sources or take comments from friends back home, who think this war was calculated to take advantage of the last space before Barack Obama comes to power, or of the run-up to the February elections, or the Christmas season lull. It has nothing to do with that, I insist: When Israel and Hamas made their truce last summer, Obama’s presence was hardly inevitable, and Hamas was the one firing rockets in the week after the ceasefire ended. At the very least, Israel is fighting for their own security reasons and not out of bald-faced political opportunism, I contest. But the longer the war drags on, the more I doubt. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in current affairs, israel, palestine | Comments (3)

Yes We Can: A Letter to Obama from an Arab-American

January 8, 2009 – 1:59 pm

Dear President Elect Obama,

I was born outside your state capital of Springfield, Illinois to Jordanian parents who in turn were children of Palestinians in exile. I am an US educated attorney who has spent long hours and days following and studying American culture, history and politics. I have always been fascinated by the dynamics of American society and the promise of the American dream. Therefore, as I followed your campaign over the past year not only did I become deeply moved by your message, but also grasped the historical significance of your victory. Like many of my fellow Arab and Muslim brothers and sisters across the world I celebrated your victory with tears of joy and with screams of jubilation.

Of course our joy was not driven by any misconceptions that your victory would magically alter American policies toward the Middle East. These policies have, and will continue to be, blindly supportive of Israel’s hegemony and its barbaric abuse and erosion of the inalienable rights of Palestinians – which unfortunately has been on full display over the past fortnight. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in current affairs, israel, palestine, politics | Comments (6)

If I Were An Israeli…

January 6, 2009 – 8:37 pm

About ten years ago, just before Ehud Barak was elected Prime Minister of Israel, he was asked by Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy what he would do had he been born Palestinian. Barak replied frankly: “I would join a terror organization.”

I admired that honest answer as it showed that he may have understood the mentality of many of his Palestinian occupied subjects. He was elected on the basis of going ahead with the peace process and I always thought that if he really understood the Palestinian mentality he would do his utmost to prevent young people like from joining terrorist organizations.

Alas, he didn’t achieve peace back then, nor do his actions now show that he really understood the Palestinian mind. Being myself a Palestinian and knowing how many of my people think, I dare put myself in the shoes of an Israeli citizen and try to reach any new conclusions. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in current affairs, israel, palestine, politics | Comments (12)

Gaza and the Road to Israel’s February Election

January 2, 2009 – 10:43 pm

Really, if it weren’t so tragic, if it didn’t have to do with war, the sequence of events that led to the Israel-Gaza conflict would be comical.

In the days leading up to the Israeli Air Force air strike, as Palestinian militants launched more and more rockets in an effort to induce a new cease-fire from Israel, under better terms than the one that expired December 19th, Israeli politicians wavered between preaching patience and calling for attacks, with both sides appearing to have the February elections in mind.

On Christmas, it appeared the calm might extend a little longer: Ehud Barak appeared on a comedy show in Israel (something akin to SNL, and he did a fine job ribbing himself, by all reports), and a news story floated in national newspapers that soldiers were instructed to use up their vacation days this year, because they wouldn’t transfer over to the next year.

Perhaps thinking themselves so clever, Barak and co. then ordered the air strike last Saturday that indeed shocked the Gazans and has lit up the world. And things haven’t slowed down yet.

It should be said that political considerations appear to be out of the picture so far, as Ahron Bregman pointed out in his interview. War in any case will benefit the right wing, and hence the opposition leader and election front runner Benjamin Netanyahu. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in current affairs, israel, palestine | Comments (1)

Israel in Gaza: Interview With Ahron Bregman

December 31, 2008 – 9:47 am

Jonathan Mok has previously interviewed scholar Ahron Bregman on the subject of Israeli military actions.

Jonathan Mok: What can you say about the latest Israeli assault against Hamas? Do you think that the Olmert government would like to send a signal to the Obama administration?

Ahron Bregman: The Israeli military operation in Gaza is not about sending a signal to the future Obama administration, but a response to a strong feeling that Hamas has overstepped the mark, by firing rockets into Israel. It is true that thus far there have been few casualties in Israel, but the rockets did disturb life and worryingly – from an Israeli point of view – Hamas obtained medium-range missiles that could reach major populated areas.

For now, Israel enjoys strong American support and it is unlikely that in the foreseen future Washington will stop Israel’s military operations. Like the Israelis, Washington regards Hamas as “the bad guys”.

Jonathan: The responses of various Arab states and Mahmoud Abbas are different this time. While they condemn the Israeli attack, they also blame Hamas for sparking the action. Do you see a new departure from the traditional responses of Arab leaders?

Ahron: Don’t forget that the Palestinian Authority and such countries as Egypt and Jordan regard Hamas as a threat to their own regimes. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in current affairs, israel, palestine | Comments (4)

How to Win Friends and Influence People According to Nagla Al-Imam

November 26, 2008 – 9:23 pm

You know what you get when you fight fire with fire? An inexhaustible blaze.

But according to Nagla al-Imam, this isn’t true. She believes that fighting Israeli occupation with sexual harassment is actually the key to resisting it. She recently “invited Arab youth to sexually harass and rape Israeli women as a form of resistance”: Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in current affairs, egypt, israel, muslim women, palestine | Comments (4)

Letter to Barack Obama from an Arab-American Democrat: On Rahm Emanuel and More

November 13, 2008 – 9:07 am

Congratulations!

The road to the White House has been extremely long and highly entertaining.

Thank you Sarah Palin for showcasing Tina Fey’s comic genius. Thank you Barack Obama for showcasing American meritocracy at work.

You ran an impeccable campaign and I am proud to have a President who knows what the word impeccable means. But most of all thank you for inspiring us to get involved in politics. It has meant the world to me and to many Arab-American democrats.

Let me share with you what I saw:

I saw Arab-Americans young and old volunteer their time. They donated money like many other Americans who responded to your message of hope. They urged their friends and families to become registered voters. Many voted for the first time in their lives.

On election day I saw young kids with loud speakers cheer for Obama on the streets of Paterson, New Jersey. I honked my horn and was happy as a lark. It felt good to be on the winning side for a change. It feels good to be an American. I know this isn’t possible in Europe.

But don’t get me wrong. It hasn’t been all good: Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in current affairs, israel, palestine, politics | Comments (5)

Arab Americans, the Election, and Clarion’s Islamophobic Agenda

October 15, 2008 – 10:16 am

Most Arab Americans I know resent the United State’s intimate relationship with Israel and the adverse affect it has on Palestinians. Most Arab Americans I know (myself included) are voting for Barack Obama.

It’s not that we have forgotten Obama’s AIPAC blunder or that we disregard Biden’s outspoken support of Israel. It’s that unlike Senator McCain, Obama’s campaign does not thrive off of the fear-mongering and finger-pointing shamelessly practiced by the Republican campaign. As proof, take the latest McCain ad which falsely accuses Obama of lying about his relationship with “terrorist Bill Ayers.”

Yet too many Arab Americans still associate with the GOP. And this association may prove disastrous for our future as citizens and members of society.

Along with American Muslims, Arab Americans suffered the consequences of the politics of fear; with increased terror alerts came a decrease in their civil liberties, a blow to their reputation (both at work or in social groups), and sometimes even threats to their personal safety. The fact that Obama does not rely on the played-out terrorist card should be reason enough for Arab Americans to support him.

Here is another:

Last month, the Clarion Fund, a supposedly non-profit organization funded by a $400,000 dollar grant from a “secret donor”, paid 70 newspapers in 14 of America’s swing states to distribute their DVD, “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West.” Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in current affairs, election 08, immigrants | Comments (5)

Motorcycle Diaries Part XVII

August 3, 2008 – 4:08 pm

I was seeking sanctuary from the scorching heat of an Aqaba July afternoon in my hotel room when I tuned in to the live footage of the arrival in south Lebanon of the freed prisoners from Israeli jails. Unshackled from their jailors by force, Hizbullah delivered what it promised to do two years ago and coerced Israel to release those whom its top politicians and generals declared will never be set free.

The other story in the news on the very same day was the gun attack at the Roman Amphitheatre in Amman, where a deranged Islamist opened fire at the audience of a musical concert. How the two stories are closely connected, I shall reveal after I share with you the totally new kind of emotion that enveloped me as I followed the parade of the liberated men on TV (alongside the coffins of the fallen fighters, inside one of which lay Dalal Mughrabi, whose corpse Ehud Barak personally mutilated in 1978 and invited the cameras to record his primeval act).

As I watched this historic event, I didn’t know how to define the overwhelming jolt of elation that swept my own sun-mutilated corpse. Why did it seem so unusual to belong to a nation that gave birth to a dedicated group of fighters who refused to abandon their captured comrades, I asked myself? Why was I so surprised to feel that way? Indeed, the extraordinary nobility of those who persevered and offered their lives to twist the arms of the captors of their brothers-in-arms was a manifestation of military valor and gallantry in combat that I have not witnessed in recent memory from my own nation folk. Then I realized what this sensation was like

The only people in this region who have always lit a candle of solidarity for their missing sons and daughters were not the Arab countries. Finally, I could feel as privileged as Jews do. For the first time in my life, and although I never wished for it, I felt like an Israeli. Indeed, one of the reasons the Israelis have always conquered their Arab adversaries was because their soldiers go into battle knowing that their leaders and their people shall never rest until they return them to their families, whether living or dead.

And now, this most honorable trait with its noblest values of gratitude to your fighting brethren combined with the solemn vow to leave no man or woman behind, is no longer monopolized by our enemies. The sweltering Aqaba sun became cooler all of a sudden as the refreshing breeze of redeemed dignity penetrated my soul. Read More »

By Zaid Nabulsi | Posted in current affairs, entertainment, islam, lebanon, religion | Comments (0)

Director, Pioneer, and Godfather of Egyptian Cinema: Remembering Youssef Chahine

July 29, 2008 – 7:59 pm

Earlier this week, the Arab film industry lost one of its foremost figures, as the renowned Egyptian director, Youssef Chahine passed away in Cairo at the age of 82, following a brain haemorrhage.

Born on 25 January, 1926 to a Christian family in Alexandria, his father was an attorney of Lebanese origin, while his mother was Greek.

Growing up, the pentalingual Chahine home was as cosmopolitan as the city in which it rested, although as Chahine later joked, as with other Alexandrines, he failed to master any of the languages completely.

After studying engineering at Alexandria University for one year, Chahine convinced his parents to allow him to pursue his interest in acting through studying in Hollywood, where he passed the years 1946 to 1948 at the Pasadena Playhouse on the outskirts of Los Angeles.

On his return to Egypt, he entered the film industry after embarking on apprentice work with the Italian documentary film-maker, Gianni Vernuccio, and cinematographer, Alvisi Orfanelli, the latter of whom introduced Chahine to the major production companies of the late 1940s.

Orfanelli subsequently assisted in Chahine’s early films, Ibn el-Nil (Son of the Nile) in 1951, Nisa Bila Rigal (Women Without Men) in 1953, and Bab El Haded (Cairo Station) in 1958.

Already a resident of the movie hub of the Middle East – Egypt has been a steady source of movies since the 1930s – Chahine commenced his first film, Baba Amine (Father Amine) in 1950.

Nevertheless, it was his second film, Ibn el-Nil that catapulted him to success as the movie’s début at the 1951 Venice Film Festival drew more crowds than anticipated due to a sudden turn of meteorological fortune.

Caught in a flash rainstorm, festival goers thronged into his showing in gowns and bikinis alike, and discovered a cinematic revelation that would seal the fate of Chahine’s reputation in the movie industry.

With a directing career spanning 58 years, Chahine’s work inevitably has challenged as many boundaries as it has garnered awards. Read More »

By Feature Writer | Posted in arts and literature, current affairs, egypt | Comments (0)