Gosh! I haven’t blogged in ages. I know, I know, I am terrible. So for the sake of the good ol’ times let me share a long-overdue post about what I did these past few months.

This summer was nothing short of amazing! I got the opportunity of a lifetime to go do summer research at a lab in Cambridge University in England, and it was spectacular.

King’s College Chapel as seen from “The Backs”

It was really amazing being in Cambridge. At the time of my visit the university was already 800 years old! Affiliates of that university have contributed to literally every field of science, and they include among others: Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, James Maxwell, and Alan Turing. Isaac freaking Newton was there! How cool is that! I never expected to be able to go to pub and have dinner at the same table where the discovery of DNA was first publicly announced. This was unreal.

Besides the university, the town of Cambridge is amazing. It is old, has lots of history, and very bike-friendly. People use bikes to get everywhere, and there are bike parking spaces all over town. As a matter of fact, policemen hassle you if you break traffic rules with your bike! I was really shocked by that, and I can’t say that I really obeyed the rules I just learned to avoid the police if I am going backwards on a one-way street

Houses in Cambridge are more “European” than I’m used to

The town and university had much more religious affiliations than I would have thought. There were churches all over the place, and several places in town were named after iconic Christians, e.g. “Magdalene Bridge” and “Jesus Green”. Other than that, the weather in Cambridge was horrible unfortunately. It was cold for most of the time and almost constantly raining, and I was there in the summer! At the end I was glad to go home just to get some sunlight.

I am usually not an outgoing person. However, given that this was my first time in Europe, I decided to take the opportunity and tour around. If you are young and single you can get around Europe very cheaply. They have a huge number of deals for students in almost every country. For example, you can literally find good accommodation for just €18 a night! So I went on a few weekend trips.

Granted, you can never experience a city in just 48 hours. However, you can still have a great time and get a taste of the local culture. The process itself was really amazing. I would wake up Saturdays at around 4am and bike to the bus station, then go from there to the airport to catch the 6am flight to any European capital. I would then spend the weekend there, and travel back on Monday morning. The awesome thing is that Monday noon I would be back in my lab working. Never in a million years would I thought I’d ever get to do that. I’ll tell you more about my weekend trips later, for now let me share some photos from London.

A view of Westminster Palace from the London Eye

London was nice. We happened to go there on the Queen’s coronation anniversary, so there were very nice shows and marches around town. We went to Westminster Abbey where various kings, queens, and other famous people are buried. I got to see Newton’s and Darwin’s burial grounds which is very surreal.

Westminster Abbey

A view of Big Ben from street level

All-in-all, England was very nice. Unfortunately I didn’t see much besides Cambridge and London (I opted to go out to other places instead). It took me some time to get used to their accent and coins (they have so many coins) but at the end I was a professional . Probably the only two things I didn’t like were the weather (it rained constantly, and it was cold even though it was “summer”), and the local food. Everybody told me that English food sucks but I didn’t believe that until I went there. The food was bland and tasteless at best. Luckily, you can get plenty of non-English food all over the place. So over all, England was nice place to visit.

It is always nice to learn about the fascinating stories of the past. History can be very entertaining if relayed correctly. Unfortunately, many history textbooks are filled with boring dates and badly narrated stories. In his short book, E.H. Gombrich tries to remedy that. He narrates the history of the world more like a story. With minimal use of dates or boring details as you’d often fine in textbooks. In fact, his book was originally intended for children. But I find it suitable for all ages.

My only criticism of this book is that its definition of “the world” is really “Western Europe”, and not all of it. Mostly Germany, Austria and France. The history of the rest of the world is briefly, if at all, mentioned. Not only is it focused on western Europe, but it is written from a Christian point of view, even though the author is Jewish! For example, the Muslim conquests were described as brutal and ruthless, while the countless deaths caused by the Christian wars and conquests were described as sad and unfortunate!

But, don’t let that deter you. This is indeed an interesting book, and its material is presented in a very eloquent manner. You will briefly learn about pre-historic people, then the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Jews, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, and briefly about the Arabs, Indians, and Chinese, all the way through the middle ages and beyond. It is an interesting read that tries to highlight each eras contribution.

My advice is, read this book, but don’t take it as absolute fact. Just an interesting read.

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 …

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***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.

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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>

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It was not total lights out in the major cities, but dimming/reducing lighting temporarily was at least helpful. Here are some pictures by the Discovery website here.

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:

]]> http://www.za3tar.net/2008/11/23/ramallah-road-in-jacksonville-florida/feed/ 8 http://www.za3tar.net/2008/08/20/middle-east-nuclear-weapon-free-zone-videocommentary/ http://www.za3tar.net/2008/08/20/middle-east-nuclear-weapon-free-zone-videocommentary/#comments Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:16:30 +0000 za3tar http://www.za3tar.net/?p=320 As i am surfing YouTube for some videos, i come across the following entry discussing the behavior of US media when former US president Carter said that Israel has nuclear weapons (Fox News’ reaction made me laugh ). The commentator …

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Professor David Mumford (homepage, wikipedia) is an American mathematician at Brown University. He is also the most recent recipient of the prestigeous Israeli mathematics prize (Wolf Prize). Mumford said on Monday that he is donating his share of that prestigious Israeli mathematics prize to advance the education of Palestinian students.

He decided to donate his money to Bir Zeit University and to an Israeli group that tries to ease Israeli travel restrictions on Palestinian students. The contrast between what goes on in Israel and what goes on in the Palestinian areas is “striking”, with Israelis able “to travel freely to meetings and graduate students going wherever they please,” he said. Adding: “It seems to me in the Palestinian areas, this isn’t the case”.

Thank you Dr. Mumford.

Read more about this story here and here.

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

I accidentally came across this page. What a tremendous water fall!!

As reported on Wikipedia; U.S President Roosevelt’s wife (Eleanor Roosevelt) reportedly exclaimed “Poor Niagara!” upon seeing Iguaçu,

It sure looks magnificent.

click the image for a large panoramic view