za3tar

This song by the Palestinian comedian Asa’ad Sabah (أسعد صباح) was a hit during the mid 90s. It was released on a cassette tape along with many other jokes and comical songs. Almost any Palestinian growing up in the 90s would instantly recognize this song and its Hebron accent . For those who are interested, this song is poking fun at family fights, tribal reconciliation, and marjaleh.

Why am i posting this you ask ? Nothing, some random memory recollection that came up during a chat with some anonymous tipster

I was surfing online aimlessly when i stumbled upon this:

Isn’t it awesome ?!!

I have seen towns in the USA called Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Lebanon, Palestine, Damascus, Tyre, and Alexandria .. but these are all old biblical names and/or their corresponding cities in the Middle East are very old (from the greeko-roman times) unlike Ramallah.

And for my Jordanian readers, wala eyhimkom .. here is Amman Road in Edison New Jersey:

By now it is semi-confirmed that Hillary Clinton will be appointed to the Secretary of State position in the upcoming Obama administration in the USA. The secretary of state (foreign minister) is the face of the USA’s foreign policy and helps shape major international events. We can all recall Colin Powell in front of the UN with a white tube trying to make the case for the Iraqi war, and Condoleezza Rice’s trips to the Middle East in the Bush administrations’ final (almost weak) efforts to push for some progress in the Arab-Israeli conflict. For this reason i have been anxiously anticipating the appointment of secretary of state for the upcoming administration to see if there is any hope of pushing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process forward.

I am uncomfortable with the picking Clinton for this position. She does not strike me as a moderate or neutral democrate on the issues regarding the Middle East. She is a staunch supporter of Israel, and did not advocate for a diplomatic resolution ot the Iranian situation during her presidential bid. Although it was almost unrealistic to expect a secretary of state (or even an administration) that is nuetral regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, i was hoping that the next secretary of state would be less “in the bag” for Israel.

Yes yes yes, it was very clear during the campaign that whatever the outcome of this past election, the US’s position will not be anything less of “we are 110% with Israel”. But i was still hoping that this new administration will at least be more peaceful and really try to work harder to push the peace process forward.

I still say we should not judge the book by its cover. Let’s wait and see what this new administration does. I still hope things will be different in the upcoming 4 years.

I woke up this morning only to find out that both my parents have created Facebook accounts . Talk about a morning surprise!

Over the years my family has been slowly coerced to becoming a high-tech wired group; after all, internet, email, palms/blackberries, and VoIP are all in use. Yes we are truly a nahfeh . I’ve gotten quite used to waking up on some days to find 7 forwarded emails from my mom in my inbox.

However, transition and adoption of new tech is rarely smooth. Things do take getting used to. I sometimes do wonder how do people who were not in contact with high tech gadgets in their teens or 20s deal with such things. After all, they grew up without seeing value for such things, and have adapted to going about their daily routine without such “interference”.

Perhaps what is even more interesting than the view of our parents and other people from their generation, is our view on things when we get in their position. We (pretty much all the readers of this blog) have all grown up in the age of computers and rapid technological jumps. So we are quite accustomed to frequently changing to new things, using new websites, new gadgets ..etc. So will we have an easier time adapting to our children’s technology in 10, 20, or 30 years ? I don’t know. I guess only time will tell. But for now, i will just go post something on my father’s wall

I just watched the latest Bond movie. I have to say I kinda liked it. This was the first Bond movie I watch ever, so now I am considering watching some of the previous ones.