This is the last of my Blog About Palestine Day 2009 posts. This harvest post contains a sample list of more than 30 articles (in 4 languages) and a video contributed to this magnificent event on that solemn day by YOU (and people like you). They are presented in no particular order here:

English:

• The Coffeehouse: The day i went home…
• Cinnamon Zone: She is Palestine
• Qwaider: The Lies and Myths Machine
• Naser: Meet Jedditi (Grandma)
• Za3tar: Rewriting the History of the Holy Land
• Rebellious Arab Girl: Where is my homeland?
• Garfan: Arab Isralis vs Palestinians vs Arabs
• Yameen Shmal: Ana Falasteeni
• Historian: Silence
• Laura Sparkle: Blog About Palestine Day 2009
• Choice Words: Social and Reproductive Justice under Occupation
• Jumana: The 61 anniversary of Palestine’s catastrophe
• Silver Lining (realisticbird): Palestine; is the cause alive and well?
• Al-Falasteenyia: Wake up and smell the Nakba(t)
• Nina: Palestina In My Mind
• SaSa: Palestine – peace without justice
• Medad/Nathan: Palestinian Portrait
• Maysaloon: The Nakba – 61 years on
• Sacred Beginnings: May 15th – Blog about Palestine Day
• Ahmad Hamda: Palestine I am Sorry
• Umm Ali: May 15th – Nakba Day – Blog about Palestine
• SimSim: Palestinian voice can only be heard by blood
• Yasmin Hamied: One day later
• LongLivePalestine: My Time in Palestine

Arabic:

• Mona’s Corner: أبوريت صوت من فلسطين
• Mohammad Badi: العام الواحد والستين في عمر قضيتنا، لن ننسى ولن نغفر أبداً
• Mohammad Online: فلسطين
• ASKAdenia: ماذا تبقى من فلسطين بعد 61 سنة؟
• eNAS: 15th May –> BAPD
• عين العقل: الخنازير تحكم العالم
• سجال: إلى فلسطين

Bulgarian:

• Rusland Trad: Иргун,Хагана и други организации в Израел
• MKaragyozov: 61 години история на несправедливостта и унижението ІІ

French:

• Samia Lamine: La Nakba: 61 ans d’errance et le droit de retour

Video:

• HATTLER – Assalamu Alaikum – Live 2008 (HD)

Thank you everybody for your contributions! Many personal stories about first hand experiences of the Nakba were told. Many stories about the Palestinian identity, and living in diaspora were discussed. Many wonderful poems were written. Many first hand present-day accounts were shared. Many visions for the future. It is all because of you, and thanks to you.

I know for a fact that i didn’t/couldn’t list all contributed entries here (simply because it is intractable). If you were not listed and would like to be listed, please let me know.

Tomorrow is Blog About Palestine Day 2009. The community response has been very refreshing so far. So many people have signed up both on the blog announcement and the Facebook Event. The event has been advertised and promoted on Qwaider’s Planet and Toot. This is a true grassroots community effort and I am so proud to be part of this responsible and vibrant community.

If you would like to participate but you’re facing a mental writer’s block, here is a list of possible topic ideas that i hope you find useful. Also, I would really appreciate it if the title of your blog post was preceded by [BAPD] (for example “[BAPD] My Article About Palestinian Cities”).  Finally, I would really appreciate it if you added a graphical button leading back to the event’s page so that future readers can learn more about the subject and read other people’s articles. You can use the following code to add a button to your post:

<a href=”http://www.za3tar.net/?p=742″><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/buttons/pal-day-en.png" border="0" alt="Blog About Palestine Day" /></a>

Here is a short list of blogs (that i know about) that have signed up for this event. This list is absolutely in no particular order, This list is absolutely not all-inclusive, if your blog has not been listed here, please let me know so that i can add it.

These are some of the seeds, tomorrow will be the blossom, and after that i will try to compile a harvest list of the articles.

• Memories Documented – Qwaider
• Whisper
• Rusland Trad
• Garfan
• Ulysses
• Nekrif
• Mona
• SimSim
• Mohammad Badi
• Cinnamon Zone – Ola
• Yameen Shmal
• MKaragyozov
• Nadeem
• Mohammad Online
• Historian
• Fatema
• Jumana
• Samia Lamine
• Rebellious Arab Girl
• Danny D
• Laura
• Ahmad Hamdan
• Yousef

Thanks again for your participation, and I look forward to reading your wonderful articles.

إلى القرآء المحترمين،

يَسُرني أن أدعوكم للمشاركة في يوم التدوين عن فلسطين 2009. هذه العودة الثانية لهذا الحدث بعد النجاح الباهر الذي حققه في إنطلاقته الأولى العام الماضي. فبمشاركتكم الطيبة تم كتابة أكثر من 70 تدوينة عن فلسطين بأربع لغات! وأنا على ثقة بأن مشاركتكم هذه المرة ستؤدي إلى نجاحٍ أبهر وأكبر من العام الماضي.

كما تعلمون، يوم 5/15 من هذا العام سيصادف الذكرى الواحدة وستين للنكبة الفلسطينية. هذه الذكرة المؤلمة تُحيى ذكراها على الصعيد المحلي والإقليمي وحتى الدولي. ولذا شاركوني يا أعزائي لنرفع الوعي العام بالواقع الفلسطيني والثقافة الفلسطينية.

لا شروط أو قيود على ما يمكن أن تكتبه أو حتى اللغة التي تكتب بها. فأي موضوع له علاقة بفلسطين أو الفلسطينيين سيكون ممتازاً. يمكنك الكتابة عن الماضي أو الحاضر أو المستقبل. يمكنك الكتابة عن الثقافة أو السياسة أو الإقتصاد الفلسطيني. فعلياً، الهدف من هذا اليوم هو زيادة الوعي العام عن فلسطين، فأي تدوينة لها علاقة بفلسطين بأي شكل ستكون ثمينة.

بعض الأسئلة والأجوبة:

هل الحدث مقتصر على الفلسطينيين والعرب ؟

لا، كل شخص في العالم مهما كانت إتجاهاته سيكون مُرَحباً به للمشاركة. الجميع مدعو للمشاركة.

هل على مقالتي أن تعكس وجهة النظر الفلسطينيية (أو حتى أن تكون مقالة إيجابية) ؟

كلا، أنتَ حرٌ ومشجع لتكتب ما تشاء.

أيجب أن تكون التدوينة سياسية أو تقتصر على النكبة ؟

بالطبع لا، فيمكنك الكتابة عن فلسطين من نواح سياسية، أو إجتماعية، أو إقتصادية، أو إنسانية، أو حتى قطعة أدبية تعبر عن رأيك وإحساسك.

كيف يمكنني أن أساعد أو أنشر هذه الحملة ؟

هذا الحدث يعتمد على جهود المدونين أمثالك، فساعدنا رجاءً لنشر هذه الحملة وتحفيز المدونين للمشاركة بها. يمكنك نشر الحملة بعدة طرق:

- أعلن عن “يوم التدوين عن فلسطين / Blog About Palestine Day” في مدونتك أو موقعك.

- أضف شعار وعداد “يوم التدوين عن فلسطين” إلى موقعك (العدادات والشعارات موجودة هنا).

- شارك بالحدث على Facebook وأدعو أصدقائك للمشاركة.

لندون معاًً عن فلسطين ولفلسطين، من داخل فلسطين ومن خارج فلسطين! لنساعد فلسطين بأفكارنا وآرائنا وكلماتنا وتدويناتنا. لنعمل معاً لإنجاح هذا الحدث ورفع الوعي العام عن تلك الديار الحبيبة. نحن جيل المستقبل، فهيا بنا نكتبه لنا بأيدينا.

وفي الختام أشكركم، وأتمنى دعمكم، وأطوق شوقاً لأرى تدويناتكم.

]]> http://www.za3tar.net/2009/05/04/%d9%8a%d9%88%d9%85-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d8%af%d9%88%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d9%81%d9%84%d8%b3%d8%b7%d9%8a%d9%86-2009/feed/ 5 http://www.za3tar.net/2009/04/21/blog-about-palestine-day-2/ http://www.za3tar.net/2009/04/21/blog-about-palestine-day-2/#comments Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:12:13 +0000 za3tar http://www.za3tar.net/?p=742 ***UPDATE #1:*** A Facebook event for this initiative has been created. Please join the event and pass the message on to your friends (more info here). ***UPDATE #2:*** Topic Suggestions and a preliminary list of participating bloggers has been published …

Read more »

***UPDATE #1:*** A Facebook event for this initiative has been created. Please join the event and pass the message on to your friends (more info here).

***UPDATE #2:*** Topic Suggestions and a preliminary list of participating bloggers has been published here.

***UPDATE #3:*** A sample harvest list of blog posts contributed to this event has been published here.

---

Dear all,

It is my pleasure to invite you to this year’s second annual Blog About Palestine Day. Thanks to your efforts, last year’s event was a huge success with more than 70 articles published in at least 4 languages. I am confident that with your continued contribution and the contribution of new bloggers, this year’s event will turn out to be an even bigger success.

May 15th of this year is the 61st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba –which marked the beginning of the modern age Palestinian plight and suffering. This date is remembered annually on local, regional, and global levels.

I am certain that many in the blogosphere will dedicate some posts to commemorate this tragic event. However, inspired by last year’s success, I would like to start a formal initiative to encourage everybody to dedicate one post on Friday, May 15th, to talk about Palestine or the Palestinian Experience.

There are no restrictions on what you can write, or the language that you can use. Really, anything that talks about Palestine, or the Palestinians; in the past, present, or future; political, social, economical, or any other aspect is welcomed. The goal of this event will be to share thoughts, and raise awareness about the Palestinian situation. Hopefully, with everyone’s support, this will be such a spectacular event that it will catch the eye of the mainstream media (specially that the Palestinian situation is inadequately and incorrectly represented in most of the western media outlets).

FAQ:

• Do I have to be Palestinian / Arab to participate ?
  No, everybody is welcomed to join in on this effort.
• Does it have to represent the Palestinian point of view (or be a positive article) ?
  No, you are free, and encouraged, to write whatever you want.
• Does it have to be about the Nakba precisely ?
  No, you can talk about the history of the Palestinian plight, current internal and external affairs, or outlooks for possible future resolutions to this conflict and how do you think can we achieve and maintain peace.
• Does it have to be a political article ?
  No, you are free to talk about any aspect of the Palestinian life inside and outside Palestine. You are free to talk about whatever you want.

I would appreciate it if you could help me spread the word about this event. For your convenience, i have created some simple counters and web buttons for this event. You can find their code below:

Thank you in advance for your help and support.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/display-en-small.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/display-ar-small.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/display-en.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/display-ar.js"></script>

---

**NOTE:** Blogs *hosted* on WordPress.com (and possibly other engines) might face some trouble embedding JavaScript code as is done above. If this is the case for you, you can use the following web buttons below:

<a href="http://www.za3tar.net/?p=742"><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/buttons/pal-day-en-small.png" border="0" alt="Blog About Palestine Day" /></a>

<a href="http://www.za3tar.net/?p=742"><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/buttons/pal-day-ar-small.png" border="0" alt="Blog About Palestine Day" /></a>

<a href="http://www.za3tar.net/?p=742"><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/buttons/pal-day-en.png" border="0" alt="Blog About Palestine Day" /></a>

<a href="http://www.za3tar.net/?p=742"><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/pal-day-09/buttons/pal-day-ar.png" border="0" alt="Blog About Palestine Day" /></a>

]]>

Was out shopping (in a mall USA), passed by a sonoma shirt, pleasantly surprised to find the displayed sticker stating that it was made in Jordan … it’s about time

(it is hard to read, but the printout on the shirt says “made in Jordan in the second line after the L)

I have to apologize for not submitting a post for the Blog About Jordan Day on time. The truth is that i have been extremely swamped for the past few weeks. In any regards, i think better late than never to submit. What follows is my post for BAJD which is really a reflection of a recent conversation i had with a friend of mine.

It is no surprise that the world is facing a huge economic crisis. Jordan, and indeed the rest of the Arab world, has not been spared from this crisis. As we all scramble to recover, it is worth noting that we face additional challenges. Although Jordan has shown many good development projects that aim to expand the potential of students and entrepreneurs, we should observe that that this development has not been uniformly distributed across the different areas of the country. Most of these initiatives have concentrating on the capitol Amman, which makes sense since it is the biggest city in the country. However it is just as important to provide good opportunities to residents of the other places of Jordan. This will dampen the disparity between Amman and most of the rest of the country.

One way this could happen is by expanding infrastructure projects to the rest of the country. Infrastructure projects are great because they employ a large group of people to build and provide benefit a large group of people for a long time after they are built. Infrastructure projects include upgrading schools, hospitals, waterworks, electricity, roads, ..etc. As great as these projects can be, we have to realize that the government’s has a limited amount of financial resources (specially in this global crisis).

So what can we do ? This is a perfect opportunity for citizens to contribute to the well being of their future, their children’s futures, and the country as a whole. For example, many people these days prefer to buy land and keep it until it gets expensive and then sell it. All this time the land sits underutilized. Why not grow something on it for example ? This would require working hands, but there are many people who are out of work and would be available to do this job. Plus the land’s produce can either increase the export of the country or at least feed a few more hungry families.

I think the road to a bright future for Jordan, and many other Arab countries, is through citizens trying to utilize the limited set or resources that we already have. When i compare our situation to that of people from other emerging developing countries (like China and India) i notice that what we lack is a grand vision of how should we move forward as a unit as a country. No doubt that Jordanians and Arabs are skillful people, so imagine what we can do if we put our hands together and look forward ?

أعلم أن الجميع مشغول باله بالعدوان الدموي على غزة والإجتياح، ولكن الموضوع التالي مفيد وجميل ونبيل وبإمكاننا جميعاً المساهمة به بدون التحرك من أمام التلفاز أو التوقف عن قرآءة الأخبار.

قام المشرفون على ويكيبيديا العربية بتخصيص برنامج “أسبوع الويكي” كوسيلة لتوحيد الجهود لإثراء المحتوى العربي على ويكيبيديا وتشجيع كافة الناس على المساهمة. الفكرة هي كالتالي، كل أسبوع سيكون هناك موضوع مُعين يتم العمل الجماعي عليه. فهناك مثلاً أسبوع الإنترنت لإثراء المقالات المتعلقة بالإنترنت، وبعدها يأتي أسبوع الأغاني للكتابة عن الأغاني المختلفة، وثم لاحقاً أسبوع التلفاز وأسبوع المُدن وأسبوع الرياضيات وأسبوع العلوم وغيرها.

طبعاً لم يَكُن للمُخَططين لهذا البرنامج أن يتنبأوا بأن هذا البرنامج سيتزامن مع عدوان جارف على غزة، ولكني على ثقة أننا جميعاً بإمكاننا التطوع بدقائق قليلة من وقتنا للمساهمة. فمثلاً، لقد تم توثيق العدوان الإسرائيلي الأخير على غزة بشكل ممتاز في هذه المقالة على ويكيبيديا العربية.

أعلم أن البعض سيتردد بالمساهمة ولكني أود تشجيعهم بالقول:

• لا تخف إذا كانت لغتك العربية غير قوية: ليس الهدف كتابة كُتب مدرسية من أول محاولة. هذه هي قوة الوكيبيديا، فإذا كان لمقالتك أخطاء لغوية (كما هو الحال معي) فسيأتي أشخاص كُثر من بعدك لتصحيح هذه الأخطاء. المهم هو وضع المحتوى العلمي.
• المواضيع مُتعددة ومُختلفة، فإختر ما تُحب: كُلٌ منا يستطيع المساهمة في موضوع معين، وليس بالضرورة أن تكتب في موضوع لا يهمك أو لا تدري عنه. فبإمكانك الكتابة عن المغنيين المفضلين لديك، أو الطعام الشعبي في بلدك ومنطقتك، أو برامج الإنترنت التي تستعملها، أو المدن التي زرتها، أو المواضيع المفضلة لك في تخصصك ودراستك وعملك …إلخ
• لا حد أدنى، فأكتب قدر ما تستطيع: لست مضطراً لكتابة كُتب كاملة أو حتى فصول. فأكتب ما تستطيع.
• أنت لست مُجبراً على الترجمة: فبإمكانك الكتابة من ما تعرف. ليس ضرورياً أن تُترجم المقالات الإنجليزية عن موقعك المفضل على الإنترنت مثلاً أو مدينتك أو الأغاني أو البرامج التلفزيونية أو مجال خبرتك. طبعاً الغاية هي كتابة مواضيع مفيدة وبقدر الإمكان دقيقة، فإذا كنت لست خبيراً بموضوع معين فلست مضطراً للكتابة عنه. مُجدداً إختار المواضيع التي تَجِد فيها الراحة.

كل أسبوع من أسابيع الويكي يبدأ يوم الأربعاء وينتهي يوم الثلاثاء بحيث تكون عطلة نهاية الإسبوع في منتصف كل حقبة.

أخيراً أود أن أقول بأن إثراء المحتوى العربي على ويكيبيديا سيعود بالنفع علينا جميعاً. فإن إتاحة العلم بسهولة للجميع هو خطوة ضرورية لِرُقي المنطقة وتطورها، وفي هذا مصلحة لنا جميعاً.

لقد صنعت بعض الأزرار للترويج لهذا المشروع وللتذكير بالموضوع لكل أسبوع (ستتغير الصور تلقائياً كل أسبوع).

<a href="http://www.za3tar.net/?p=560"><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/wiki-week/wiki-week.png" border="0" /></a>	<a href="http://www.za3tar.net/?p=560"><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/wiki-week/wiki-week-small.png" border="0" /></a>

As you know, the Arabic version of Wikipedia is struggling in terms of content. Many articles are just small stubs that are infrequently updated and maintained. I understand that most of us use the English Wikipedia because more people globally are maintaining it. However, the Arabic language remains the mother tongue of the vast majority of people living in Arab countries, and not everybody online is comfortable with the English language. Add to that the large number of small school children who can not really benefit from an English Wikipedia as much as they could from an Arabic version. The presence of an Arabic encyclopedia online is imperative, yet Arabic Wikipedia is still struggling.

What do you think should be done to remedy that ? Does the Wiki model or the single-source (Encarta/Britannica) model work best for Arab users ? What are your thoughts on this subject ?

There has been some discussion on Questler (excellent site btw) on this topic. It has been suggested that maybe university professors should encourage their students to submit information to Arabic Wikipedia as part of their “class project”. Another suggestion is to start an online campaign promoted by us Arab bloggers to encourage people to engage more in Arabic Wikipedia. We can also have a “Write to Arabic Wikipedia Day/Week” that is carried out by the community of Arab bloggers (i know that a similar event has been done in the past, but it did not engage bloggers as much and i believe bloggers are more energetic on this regards). This event could also be done in collaboration with Arabic startups like Yamli that will make it easier for people to type Arabic if that is a barrier.

I am interested in discussing this issue with you. What are your thoughts on this ? You can join the discussion either on Questler, or by leaving a comment on this blog.

Have you noticed the new Egyptian-accent Wikipedia ? This is actually true! Some articles are written in “Egyptian”, there is an Egyptian portal, and a full-Egyptian version of Wikipedia. I think this is odd (to say the least).

I have to say, i find the Egyptian search boxes funny

Are they doing this to promote easy use of Wikipedia to Egyptians ? After all there is a “Simple English” version of Wikipedia. I don’t know .. but i still think it is a bit odd.

This news site never fails to surprise me.

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen; the third headline is about a SImpsons episode, and the fourth headline is about a Facebook group against coloured Kuffiyehs !! However, they did not include their usual “sex headline” .. maybe because it is Hajj season.

Come on Al Arabiya, yes not all your news have to be political, but please prioritize and separate things correctly. I can hardly see why would you ever report a Facebook group on your front page!

Honestly, it it seems to me that Al Arabiya always tries to play to a target audience of highly emotional people. So if they want to have them feel happy, they would report a trivial non-news happy issue (like: the last Simpsons episode contained a none terrorist Muslim Arab). If they want to stir up Lebanese/Palestinian flame war, they would report on a regional non-issue (like: A Palestinian Facebook group protesting against coloured Kuffiyehs in Lebanon). If they want to get the audience buzzing for a while, they would report one of their usual sex items (examples are too many to list).

Come on Al Arabiya, you can report what ever you want, but please put everything in its correct place. I bet there is something happening regionally, in the Arab world, or globally that is more interesting than a Facebook group or a Simpsons episode.

Also, by the way Al Arabiya, the “right wing channel” was not airing an episode to “defend Islam”. It was talking about intolerance and prejudging people (American Muslims in this case) of being terrorists. So that episode was tackling issues of stereotyping Americans Arabs and Muslims rather than “defending Islam”. This is just another example of how Al Arabiya plays into an emotional audience.

*** Update: The Washington Post has an excellent editorial article about this here ***

Chances are that you have heard, read, or watched something about the current American presidential campaign. Of course, the candidates are pandering to the public and promising to work on many of America’s pressing issues. The current economic and health crises are focusing most of the talking points on domestic issues –such as taxes, health plans, economy, energy, reform ..etc– with the occasional mention of foreign policy.

Yet, unsurprisingly, Israel was mentioned in every single presidential debate, in the vice presidential debate, in most of the rally speeches, and in most of the interviews. It is almost a domestic issue.The candidates agree on this one: Israel is America’s closest ally in the Middle East; America will always have unwavering support of Israel; America will ensure Israel’s security ..etc. Sarah Palin repeated three times in one of her interviews that “[the USA] should never second guess Israel” [video here]. Heck, even Joe the Plumber is stumping for Israel expressing his worries if Obama becomes the president. Really ? It made its way to the speech of Joe the Plumber ?!!

But don’t be discouraged my friends. Today the Palestinians got their first mention in this campaign since the AIPAC speeches in the democratic primaries. Nonetheless, it came as a form of an attack from the Good Ol’ Party. Woooo, Obama has ties to the “radical Palestinian” Rashid Khalidi.

I haven’t heard of Khalidi before today. But from what i could gather online about him, he is an American born in New York of Palestinian decent. He studied at Yale and Oxford universities, and he is a professor and the current director of the Middle East Institute at the prestigious Columbia University. He is a member of the Board of Sponsors of The Palestine-Israel Journal, and frequently publishes scholarly articles about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The “controversy” about him in the American medium stems from him sometimes criticizing the actions of Israel and expressing differing views about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the difficulties in realizing the two-state solution. Now he is being (apparently falsely) tied to the PLO and then to Obama! This thing came to light because of an LA Times newspaper article saying that there exists a tape of Obama in a dinner which Khalidi attended, but the paper refuses to release that tape because it would violate source confidentiality or whatever. What grabbed my attention is this response quote from McCain:

“I Guarantee you, if there was a tape with me and Sarah Palin and some Neo-Nazi or one of those you think that tape would be made public ?”

So let me get this straight, criticizing some of Israel’s actions or having differing views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than the acceptable American-Israeli view is now equatable with neo-Nazism !!!

Cheer up American-Palestinians and Palestinians around the world, here is your first mention in the American presidential campaign. You have become an attack piece that Palin will probably go touting around. And remember please, don’t you ever dare to criticize any action of Israel or show anything but complete support of Israel’s view of the conflict, or else, you will be a neo-Nazi!

Anyway, to show you how information technology is being used in this campaign, I did some Googling to learn about this Khalidi character, and i saw this ad:

(try this yourself)

To know why this ad is important, check out the trend of people searching for Khalidi and notice the recent spike:

So … yeah … we finally got a mention in this race .. yaay!!

I was reading an article on how a Barack Obama face mask was filed under “terrorist costumes” on Amazon.com. I ran the search myself, but i got a John McCain face mask as a result. However, what caught my attention is what Amazon returned as “related search” for that query:

(try this yourself)

That’s gotta bum you out for the rest of the day right ?

I guess i have been silent for a while. It is not like I have nothing to say, but none of the bits and pieces in mind grew enough to constitute a legitimate post. Finally, i decided to lump them all together and dump them in one post.

I was chatting with one Jar of Juice the other day discussing the status and needs of our corner of the blogosphere. We concluded that there is too much chaos and anarchy and that the true voice of singlehood has been muffled by the recent wave of “lovey dovey” romanticism. Following the example of Barney Stinson‘s Bro Code, and to deliver the final verdict on the dealings of bloggers on the internets, we started drafting the rules of the Bloggers’ Bro Code.

• Rule #1: All Bro Bloggers are inherently cooler than “Bloggerettes”.
• Rule #2: Only a few cool Bloggerettes are considered cool and have been given honorary Bro status.
• Rule #120: The use of the lbs, inches, feet, and miles (or other English Units) is illegal and might strip you of your Bro title. Only Metric and SI units are acceptable.
• Rule #150: Wara2 Dawali is cool. Wara2 Malfoof is just as cool as well. (amendment motioned by Hani)
• Rule #151: Any Bro cooking wara2 dawali must notify at least three other Bros in his vicinity at least 24 hours in advance to give them a chance to come mooch off of him.
• Rule #152: If a Bro is invited for some wara2 dawali, he can bring with him another bro blogger; The approval of the host is irrelevant and not required.
• Rule #170: A few things in life are awesome. Wara2 Dawali & Wara2 Malfoof are Awesome!
• Rule #200: Bro bloggers are single by nature. Romantic posts are permitted at a maximum rate of one post per month.
• Rule #217: When referring to your spouse on your blog, the following terms are prohibited: sweety, honey, 3omri, 7ayaty, 7abeeb albi. The only acceptable reference is: “to2borni wliy 3ala amti shu rijjaaaal eben 3ammi”. Update: the term “husbandy” is prohibited as well. (amendment motioned by Hani)
• Rule #230: l33t is dead. You are not a haxor. And Bro Bloggers with aliases of the type: xtra_kool, hot_ice ..etc will be stripped of their Brohood.
• Rule #250: Blogs with more than 3 shades of pink are not cool.
• Rule #251: Blogs that use the orange color correctly are cool.
• Rule #255: Each Bro Blogger can have at most one imaginary friend. Imaginary characters are not entitled to their own imaginary friends.

I can not explain the logic of guys like this (you should at least read the title). Their complete and utter stupidity is beyond comprehension, and they really do give faith and the rest of us a bad name.

Last week before Ramadan, my advisor invited our group to his lake house for some barbecue and fun; and it was alot of fun! It was a beautiful sunny day, we had some good food, and nice chats. The lake was warm and calm. I was encouraged to try kayaking, and i did. It was my first time, and it was AMAZING! Ahh .. it is so great to have a nice boss/advisor.

The view from his lake house.

Maybe it is my Palestinian & Arab genes; but i am addicted to news and politics. So naturally over the past weeks i followed the developments in Russia/Georgia, and the American Democratic and Republican conventions. It became clear to me that facts don’t matter quite alot. At some level, i knew this already, but the idealist in me tried to deny it. I have always tried to convince my self that substance rather than presentation is what matters most. Not true!

You can get away with the most ridiculous statement ever if you present it correctly. Sometimes you don’t even have to even present it elegantly. All you have to do is just repeat it over and over and it becomes fact. Isn’t it amazing ?! You can promote propaganda to facts just like that !!

The most recent events in American politics give you all the examples you need. I do not have deep favoring for one party over the other. All i really want is somebody to push the Middle East Peace Process forward. Currently it seems that Obama is more likely to do that than McCain. It has been interesting to see the Republicans attack Obama on experience and then have to justify picking Palin as the VP candidate. All of a sudden this unknown person is being promoted as the champion of the common man. Her words and speeches say one thing, and her record says another. Yet the Republican pundits are sitting on TV shows distorting the truth very severely. I guess the Democrats might do the same thing. But the extent to which it is being done by the Republican party is just ridiculous. How dumb do they think people are ? Anyway, this satirical segment sums it up pretty nicely.

So Google introduced this new browser, and the world is buzzing. Part of this buzz is that which surrounds every Google product release. The part of this world-wide buzz is because this is one of the company’s few ventures to the world of the desktops, and this product could develop into something more serious. The company that is known for making web applications wants to provide a solid platform for its applications to run on.

I didn’t see a huge technological breakthrough in Google’s browser. They use the WebKit rendering engine which is supposed to be good. I really liked the idea of encapsulating each tab in a separate process. However, this is not totally new, and has been introduced a couple of years ago by some researchers at the University of Washington. I haven’t played much with this since it is for Windows only at this time. But i sure will try it when it is made available for Linux.

I am not sure whether this will trigger a new browser war or not. After all, Firefox 3.1 is on its way and it is claiming an even faster rendering engine and a very very fast JavaScript interpreter. All three major rendering engines (Trident, Gecko, and WebKit) are sticking more and more to standards.

Regardless of what will happen. This sure is a good boost for web application development. We sure are at the beginning of a new phase of web applications. My hunch it is all about interactivity, performance, and storing application data on the client browser side.

We have been blessed to live in the same time as the great poet Mahmoud Darwish. We have been lucky to see him express our concerns and convey our message to the world. But alas, he is a mortal, and yesterday he departed us and left us in this cold world of ours.

We have lost a great poet, a great Palestinian, a great Arab, a great human being.
We might have lost the poet, but his work is eternal. Poetry is immortal.

Rest in peace Mahmoud Darwish. May God bless your soul.

Note: The following pages have nice brief accounts for his life. In English here, In Arabic here and here.

كنت أناقش هذا الموضوع مع أصدقائي قبل أيامٍ قليلة، وبعد قراءة هذه المقالة دُفعت لأترجم أرائي لكلمات على هذا الموقع.

الكل يعلم أن معظم مدننا العربية قديمة قِدَم الزمن وكلها تتسابق لمواكبة هذه الأيام الجديدة، هذا أمرٌ جميل، ولكن السؤال هو على أي حساب يحدث هذا التقدم ؟

معظم مُدُنِنا تعمل على بِناءِ مبانٍ حديثة وشوارع واسعة ومرائب جديدة وغيرها من المرافق الضرورية. هذا حسن؛ ولكن غالباً إما أن يقف هذا البناء في مكان معالم تاريخية لتلك المدن، أو أن يُنصب مكان أراضٍ مشجرة ومزارع جميلة. ليس بالضروري أن نسأل آبائنا عن “ما كان” لنلمس هذا الأثر، فالكثير منا يستطيع أن يتذكر بناء قديم جميل هُدم ليبرز مكانه إعمار جديد. ففي مدينتي رام الله، أتذكر جلياً فندق قصر الحمراء القديم ببناءه الجميل، وساحته الواسعة المُشَجَرةَ التي كنت ألعب بها وأنا صغير. أما الآن، فقدم هُدِمَ الفندق وقُطعت الأشجار، وحُفرت الأرض للتوسيع لمشروعٍ جديد لم يتم. وفي ضاحية رام الله العتيقة (رام الله التحتى) أيضاً منازل كثيرة مبنية على الطراز القديم –عُمرُ الواحد منها 100 عام تقريباً– هُدِمَ معظمها لنأتي بمنازلَ وعمارات جديدة.

هذا الأمر ليس مقتصراً على رام الله فحسب، بل نراه أيضاً في الكثير من المدن الأخرى. كنت أتصفح صوراً من أيام الشباب لأبي وأمي. فرأيت صورةً ظهر فيها جبل جرزيم في نابلس ومعظمه أخضر وجميل، وكأنه منظر من صورةٍ أوروبية. أما اليوم فجبل جرزيم معظمه أجرد بلا شجر. والحال ذاتها في جنين. حيث كان سَهلُها الخصب مزروعاً بكافة أنواع الأشجار المثمرة، وكثرة هذه الجنائن هي التي أعطت جنين إسمها، أما اليوم فترى هذا السهل تقل فيه الأشجار والمزروعات على حساب البناء العشوائي.

وبحسب ما قرأت من المدونين العرب الآخرين، فإن هذه المشكلة موجودة أيضاً في عمان وبيروت والقاهرة والكثير من المدن العربية الأخرى. أما إذا نظرنا داخل الخط الأخضر، سنجد أن الأمر على العكس تماماً. أتذكر أنني عندما كنت أزور المدن العربية داخل الخط الأخضر كنتٌ أٌذهل بتغير التضاريس. فالجبال خضراء، والطبيعة جميلة على عكسنا تماماً. وما ذهلني أكثر هو إكتشافي أن إسرائيل لديها برنامج تبرع لليهود في أنحاء العالم لـ “يزرعوا شجرة في إسرائيل“. وحتى على مستوى المعالم التاريخي، طبعاً هناك عمل على طمس الهوية العربية للبلاد بعدم الحفاظ (وأحياناً ردم) المعالم العربية، ولكن المعالم التي يريدون إبرازها يتم المحافظة عليها وترميمها وإستغلال تلك المباني الأثرية لصنع رونق خاص لتلك المنطقة.

ولكن ما سبب هذه المشكلة ؟ برأيي الأسباب واضحة؛ النمو السكاني وإنعدام الرؤية المستقبلية وشح المال وقلة التقدير للموروث الحضاري. مفهوم “الحي أبقى من الميت” سائد عندنا، وأعتقد أن الجميع يتفق أن مَن تنقصه لقمة العيش لن يأبه بموروث حضاري أو أي شيء آخر، وهذا الأمر مُتفهم. ولكن ما المشكلة في تشجيع المحافظة على رونق وروح المدينة القديمة (في البلدة العتيقة) وبناء العمار الجديد في أماكن جديدة. فعلى سبيل المثال رأيت بعض الناس يحولون منازل قديمة (ذات القبب) إلى مطاعم وجلسات هادئة، وكما دونت مسبقاً، بعض الشركات تجعل من المباني ذات الطراز القديم مقرات لها. وهناك أيضاً بعض الأفكار للسماح للناس بإقتلاع الأشجار بشرط زراعة غيرها في مكان قريب.

طبعاً كل هذه المشاريع تحتاج إلى دعم ومساندة حكومية أو جهة مالية مختصة. ولكن برأيي أنها مجدية. فإذا إستمرينا بقتل روح البلدة الأصلية، فلن يبقى لنا شيء لنفرق المدن عن بعضها البعض. فما الفائدة إذا كانت كل المدن تحتوي على نفس المباني، ونفس المولات التجارية، ونفس المرافق ؟ من الجيد أن تقدم كل المدن تلك الخدمات لسكانها، ولكن لا بد من عامل يعطي كل مدينة إنفراديتها ويحافظ على روحها، وهذا سياسعد الحركة السياحية لتلك المدن.

طراز معماري قديم في رام الله

(In English & Arabic)

هذا الخبر ليس جديد على الإطلاق، بل على الأغلب أنه أقدم من معظمنا، ولكني لم أكن أعرف به من قبل ولذا قررت مشاركتكم إياه.

هل تعلمون أن هناك رائدان فضاء عرب خرجوا في رحلات إلى الفضاء في الثمانينيات من القرن المنصرم لإجراء أعمال علمية (وليس للسياحة كما هي موضة الوقت الحالي)!! ورواد الفضاء هؤلاء ليسوا أمريكان أو أوروبيين من أصل عربي، بل هم عربٌ عرب.

رائد الفضاء العربي الأول كان السعودي سلطان بن عبد العزيز آل سعود والذي خرج إلى الفضاء في السابع عشر من حزيران عام 1985 كجزء من الفريق الدولي لتثبيت الستالايت عربسات 1B على متن الرحلة الأمريكية STS-51-G.

أما رائد الفضاء العربي الثاني فهو السوري محمد أحمد فارس والذي خرج إلى محطة الأبحاث الفضائية الروسية ميير (Mir) في شهر تموز من عام 1987 على متن الرحلة السوفيتية Soyuz TM-3.

الشيء الغريب في الموضوع أني لا أذكر أني وجدت ذكراً لأيهما في كتب العلوم المدرسية (وأنا درست على منهاج الضفة الغربية القديم والذي هو أساساً المنهاج الأردني). يعني على الأقل ذكر رواد الفضاء هؤلاء قد يعزز الطموح عند الأطفال الصغار للجد والعمل. هل صادف أحدكم هؤلاء الرواد في مناهجكم الدراسية (أو حتى الذكر عن طريق التلفاز) ؟

الصورة على اليمين هي لرائد الفضاء السعودي والصورة على الشمال هي لرائد الفضاء السوري.

أما الصورة التالية فهي تبيين دول العالم بتاريخ إخراج أول روادها الفضائيين … ههههه شكله هذه هي الشغلة الوحيدة اللي سبق فيها العرب إسرائيل .

This is the last of my Blog About Palestine Day posts. This Harvest post contains a sample list of more than 70 articles (in 4 languages) contributed to this magnificent event on that solemn day by YOU (or people like you). They are presented in random order:

English Posts:

1. Hani Obaid: Memories of The Old Country
2. Mona’s Corner: Tatreez (Cross-stitch Embroidery) : Important Symbol Of Palestinian Culture
3. Ali: Christians of Palestine & Death March ( & part 2)
4. Summer’s Life Thoughts: Palestine Remembered- Sixty Years Later
5. Loolt’s Talking Virtually To Myself: My Daughters Graduation; Location: Yaffa, Palestine
6. Qwaider’s Memories Documented: Palestine, the bloody tearful eye of the nation
7. Black Iris: To Palestine: An Apology
8. Maioush: The Holy Land, this is where I’m from.
9. Dandoon: 60 years
10. 7aki Fadi: A Poem for Palestine
11. za3tar: On Being Palestinian
12. Al-Falasteenyia: Redefining the Nakba
13. Al-Ajnabiya’s Climbing Walls: Judaizing East Jerusalem
14. SimSim’s Own World: We don’t live in Palestine; Palestine lives In Us
15. Adoosh: On the 60th anniversary
16. Bruised Earth: The Nakba Continues: 60 Years On
17. Southern Muslimah: Diaspora
18. Aaminah Hernandez: Genocide By Any Other Name
19. Attending The World: Nakba: We will never forget!
20. Paroles: Palestine, May God change all of this.
21. Sabeur’s Nekrif: Palestine
22. The Coffee House’s: Refugee-ism
23. Oma: 60 years of Tears!
24. Don’t be sad blog: The origin of the olive tree
25. Ibrahimo: Al Nakba: Sixty years of Displacement and Occupation of Palestine
26. Alloush from Syria: Sixty years, our home is stolen !!
27. Ola’s Cinnamon Zone: Happy Birthday Israel & Mahmoud Darwish and Naji Al-Ali Audio-Visual Collection
28. Rebellious Arab Girl: I can’t deny who I am. I am part of Palestine.
29. Roba’s And Far Away: 60
30. Black Ice: Palestine: Try not to cry…
31. Iman: To Palestine: With Hope,
32. Above and Beyond: I Am
33. 3ammania: Blog About Palestine
34. 7ala: The Tears of Palestinian Kids
35. Reflect Upon: Palestine.. I Love You!
36. Behind Walls: Is It Our Nakba or Theirs ?!
37. Arabian Monkey Tales: Open Call: Palestine
38. Grey Fort: A song for the lost
39. Garfan: فلسطين داري ودرب إنتحاري

Arabic Posts:

1. رؤى حلا طه: أهم المصطلحات حول احتلال فلسطين منذ 60 عاماً وقيام دولة إسرائيل المزيفة! وهذا فيديو
2. علوش: ستون عاماً على سرقة وطن
3. شريف وأحزان شجرة البطاطا: 60
4. البحر العذب: إستشهاد أم
5. فتوشة انثى من مطر: آن أن تنصرفوا
6. خبيزة (محمد القاق): كل عام ونحن منكوبين
7. ياسمينة : كلمات من داخل 48 : في ذكرى الستين
8. أنا كده: فلسطين … صباح الخير يا حلوة
9. علا من غزة: فلسطين التي أسميها وطني
10. شامي: لفلسطين وحدها
11. ابن الشمال: عن النكبة
12. كنان جرجوس (مرطبان العصير): القدس عربية
13. بلوند (أشقر): عائدون .. في ذكرى النكبة
14. أحمد بكداش: نزاريات … والنكبة لم تنتهي بعد
15. نور : سلسلة النكبة واحد ، إثنان ، ثلاثة
16. أسكدنيا: ستون عاماً والعودة أقرب
17. بعد الصمت: فلسطين …كالروح ، أغلى ما لدى الأحياء
18. مبرمج من جرش: نكبتنا ستون عاماً وما زالت مستمرة
19. المترمد: 60 عاماً وفلسطين باقية
20. المنفي: فلسطين 60
21. حر اليدين: ستون عاما … يا فلسطين
22. كباية شاي: فلسطين … ستون عاما عائدون
23. محمد أون لاين: 60 عاماً على إغتصاب ابنة عمي
24. ملاقط عالمنشر: النكبة 60

Other Languages:

1. Albert’s Salut i república: Nakba , 60 anys d’èxode. (in the Catalan Language!! — i think)
   
2. Mudin: Mereka dibunuh, kerana kita membenarkannya! (in the Malay Language!!)

Thank you everybody for your contributions! Many personal stories about first hand experiences of the Nakba were told. Many stories about the Palestinian identity, and living in diaspora were discussed. Many wonderful poems were written. Many first hand present-day accounts were shared. Many visions for the future. It is all because of you, and thanks to you.

I know for a fact that i didn’t/couldn’t list all contributed entries here (simply because it is intractable). If you were not listed and would like to be listed, please let me know.

Finally, to those who were recently introduced to my blog. I hope you stick around after this event. I do blog about various other stuff on a semi sporadic fashion. I will try to keep it interesting, and i hope to see you around. To my dear existing readers, stick around; This new summer season of za3tar’s blog is full of surprises .. who knows what it holds ?!! a mid summer rommantic thrill ? a million dollar give-away ? an adventure with ruthless gangs ? speedy car chases ? more boring nerdy stuff ? some rants ? .. only time will tell. So stick around

كلنا تعودنا على تفاهات الموقع الإلكتروني لقناة العربية. فبالإضافة إلى توفير الأخبار الخيالية المفتعلة (شك الأسافين) يوفر لك هذا الموقع ضماناً بوجود خبر جنسي (أو متعلق بالجنس) على صفحته الأولى مجاناً ولعيون أحلى الشباب

يعني صار الي بيقراء هذا الموقع زي اللي بتفرج على فلم هندي .. مش عارف شو راح يتطلعلو ….

وإن لم يكن هذا كافياً، فأنت على ضمان بأن يكون الخبر التافه من الأخبار الست الأوائل على الصفحة (إذا لم يكن من الثلاثة الأوائل). وأخبارهم الجنسية تتنوع بتنوع خيال العاملين على الموقع، فأحياناً أنت على موعد مع أخبار العادات الجنسية في العالم العربي، وأحياناً أنت على موعد مع أخبار السحاقيات والشاذين في الدول العربية، وهلم جر

ومؤخراً توسع الموقع ليقدم واجهتين جديدتين، إحداهما باللغة الأردية (باكستان) والأخرى بالفارسية (إيران). وبقت العربية على عهدها. فالخبر الثالث على الواجهة الفارسية يتعلق بالجنس

والخبر السادس على الصفحة الأردية أيضاً جنسي

بالمناسبة .. أليس من الغريب أن كلمة “جنسي” متطابقة باللغات الثلاث

أنا لست ضد تناول القضايا الجنسية في عالمنا العربي، فتجاهل هذا الجانب على أساس العيب ما هو إلا غباء. ولكن كل شيء بحدوده. فلا يكاد يمر يوم بدون خبر جنسي على الصفحة الأولى. وبعدين هل الصفحة الأولى هي المكان الأمثل لمثل هذه الأخبار ؟!! وبعدين يعني إحنا خلصنا من كل مشاكلنا في دولنا عشان تدوشونا بأخباركم اللي ما إلها طعمة ؟ إستحوا على دمكم

I have complained previously about Ikbis not using the term Palestine in their countries list. At the suggestion of Qabbani, i sent them an email expressing my concern, and they promised to work on it soon. I checked back a couple of times since then, but nothing had changed.

When i checked back today however, i did find that the Ikbis folks were true to their words. They did in fact replace the “Palestinian Territories” with Palestine, and for that i sincerely and deeply thank them.

Thanks again Ikbis for your prompt response, for your great product, and for listening to your users.

And for now, i leave you with this funny April’s fool prank featured video

شوية نهفات خفيفة. طول الوحدة منها 15 – 30 ثانية موجودين هون وهون وهون. للأسف الفيديو بيشتغل أول ما تفتح الصفحة فما بقدر أحطهم هون … إزعاج

تنزيلات ؟! … آه قصدك ديسكاونت…. هاهاها رهيبة

هاي الأغنية عالقة في بالي ومش عم بتروح …. فعلاً إنها رائعة
آخ .. يا ريت أرجع أشوف يافا ليوم إنشاء الله

I am sure you have heard about ikbis, the Arabic multimedia sharing website. I have nothing against that site, i personally think it is an amazing growing web application, i browse its content on an almost daily basis, and i wish it all the best.

However, as i was creating a user account on that site today, i was shocked to see that they don’t list Palestine as a country. Instead they listed it as the Palestinian Territories. I am shocked to see this from an Arabian company based in Jordan. As far as i know, Jordan does recognize the state of Palestine, so why doesn’t Ikbis ? Other Jordanian websites (such as Maktoob and Jeeran) do list Palestine as a country, so why not Ikbis ? Are we being disowned by our brothers in Ikbis ? Not long ago, Facebook created a swarm of protesting users after it removed Palestine as a “network” on their sites (which ultimately resulted in reinstating that network), so why is Ikbis afraid ?

I know, i know, Ikbis probably did not mean to make a political statement in this. I bet they also sympathize with the Palestinian plight. Most likely, they made this move so that they can grow their site in peace without worrying about politics. However, come on! this is a very small gesture, and it doesn’t seem to hinder other sites from growing and prospering, even sites with global audiences, so how about sites with an Arab audience ?!

So, dear Ikbis folks, please list Palestine as a country.
I am also interested in seeing what do my dear readers think about this .

Note: In all fairness, i didn’t notify Ikbis about this issue until Qabbani mentioned that below.

By the way, for some reason they missed translating the word “Sex” in the Arabic registration form. What’s wrong in saying جنس after all, that is how it is reported on your passport :-p

All this buzz and articles about BAJO made me feel homesick too. Sitting in my office, i cracked up Ahmed Kaabour, Marcil Khalifeh. Somehow, i ended up on YouTube. Link after link, i found my self listening to Mawtini.

Mawtini-Mawtini could not be captured in words. Even though i have listened to it thousands of times already, even though i used to listen to it daily in our morning school queue, it still makes my body shiver once i listen to it. It manages to do that even without lyrics.

Here’s a nice video i found on YouTube, i like the different scenes. At first, i thought they are not all from Palestine, but then again i think that the ones i don’t recognize are from ’48.

… and here’s Ahmad Kaabour’s fil dafa

.. the title’s meaning will become more evident as you read this article.

Although i didn’t grow up in Jordan, i did get the opportunity to live (and work) for a considerable time in Jordan over the past year. And since i am not a Jordanian citizen, let me start out by commenting on what i admire about Jordan and its people.

Realizing the lack of big-money-generating natural resources (oil), Jordan and Jordanians are commended for bootstrapping their country (almost literally) in an effort to create a sustainable economy based on tourism, services, some manufacturing, and an evidently exploding technology sector. They have also tried to create a stable economy in a restless region of this world.

One can also never forget Jordanians for being the gracious hosts of many of their distressed Arab brethren. Palestinians, Iraqis, and Lebanese have all escaped the gruesome horrors of war to find a safe haven in Jordan. Yes there have been some clashes in the past (manifested in black september), but overall (despite some minor glitches), nowadays Jordan is a relaxing melting-pot for many Arab nationals.

Let me also be the first to offer some brotherly criticism from a citizen of one Arab nation (in the making) to another. Truly, we all have to realize our problems before we fix them. Since i have spent most of my time in Amman, my comments below are mostly applicable there.

The first issue i would like to bring up is that of air pollution. Simply put, you can not walk the streets of Amman without nearly suffocating. Yes Amman is a bustling metropolis, but somebody must regulate the car exhaust gases, and enforce that regulation! You can actually see all the black, dense, suffocating emissions spew out of pick-up trucks, mini busses, and cars of all sizes, makes, and models. Why can’t police personnel consistently issue tickets and fines for those who are caught with faulty exhausts? Why do pedestrians have to suffer? If you add up these tiny toxic deposits from all the millions of cars that navigate Amman’s streets and corners, you’ll end up with a hefty amount of toxic waste that is inhaled regularly by pedestrians and residents of this great city. “Sorry, i made a conscious decision to avoid toxic fumes by not to smoke cigarettes, and i do not want cars forcing their toxic waste down my lungs whether i like it or not“.

Speaking of smoking, when are we to realize that it is our natural right to breathe pure, smokeless air? Most restaurant, coffee shops, malls, shops, offices … you name it, are filled with smokers. I am not saying ban indoor smoking entirely (one has to set realistic goals first), but at least dedicate specific smoking and nonsmoking sections.

If you approach any smoker with a request to consider his nonsmoking fellows, you almost always get the same answer, as if it was taught and rehearsed in a secretive smokers club seminar “Smoking is my right, i am not trespassing on your right. If you don’t like it, stay away. Turn your head and don’t breathe this air”. Argh, i can not over stress how aggravating this answer is. Most people don’t come out of their mothers’ wombs with a cigarette in their hand, thus it is the unnatural thing to do, and smokers have acknowledge the right of nonsmokers to clean air. If you want to smoke, fine; it is your right. But, please do not force me to second hand smoke with you.

Another growing bad Ammanite phenomena is showmanship and one-ups-manship. In a city suffering from a growing gap between rich and poor, and the slow vanishing of middle class, many still find it necessary to indulge in extravagant arabian-gulf-like unnecessities (with no disrespect). Somebody explain this to me please; how is it necessary spend tens of THOUSANDS of Dinars on “special” car license plates while your average fresh college graduate only earns about 150 JDs per month? People used to criticize the people of the gulf for their extravaganza, and now some of us are doing the same.

“Not only do you have to buy the ungodly, gas-guzzling car that is the Hummer, but you have to buy it with a Jordanian two-digit license plate to show the rest that you are #1″. For god’s sake, that car is only a cube, at least get something with a nice shape to amuse our eyes.

I hope my criticism was not taken as blind hatred or prejudice. I know we suffer many of these problems in Palestine and in many of our Arab countries. Yet, we can not solve these issues by not talking, and acting upon them.

Finally, if you are still wondering about the title. Well, good titles must encourage the audience to read the given article, and if you have reached this point, then my bizzare title has done its job

Thanks Qwaider for your initiative.