za3tar

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.

There are many contemporary issues regarding Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict that one could talk about. However, today I would like to shed some light on an issue that is perhaps not as prominent in discussions as it should be.

As we know, the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin in general were the cradles of many early human civilizations. This region is full of historical artifacts dating to thousands of years ago. These historical artifacts are not the exclusive right of any one people, but are indeed the property of the world in general because they are a crucial part of our common humanity and global history.

For this reason, it is sad to see the destruction to ancient historical ruins and artifacts in conflict zones. We’ve all heard of how ancient Babylonian monuments were some of the victims of the war in Iraq. A similar situation is also happening in the holy land amidst the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

However, an even worse crime is the deliberate rewriting of ancient history to serve current political moods. There is no denying that Jews lived in this region thousands of years ago. Yet at the same time we can not deny or ignore that Arabs and other ethnicities lived in this area as well for thousands of years. Not only that, but for the last 1400 years, the area of Israel and Palestine was inhabited and ruled over by Arabs and Muslims.

For the past few years, Israel has been digging for artifacts of the biblical Jewish era of the land at the expense of artifacts from other eras, specifically Arab and Muslim times. Just to make it clear, the problem here isn’t that they are digging for Jewish artifacts, it is that they are doing that at the expense of the Arabic history of this land. Israel should not be allowed to pretend as if this land has been sitting empty and idle for the past 2000 years. Not only does that history belong to Arabs and Muslims, it also belongs to the world in its entirety. This is just like the fact that the ancient pyramids in Giza do not belong to Egyptians exclusively, they belong to the world. So, if for some reason Egypt decides to demolish the sphinx or one of the pyramids tomorrow, it will not be allowed because these monuments are not its exclusive property. So must be the case for Israel.

This concern is not a wild stroke of the imagination. The New York Times recently ran an article on a series of parks being built in Jerusalem that will overrun Arab and Muslim old sites and enforce only Jewish history, totally ignoring the History of that city and its current Arab population.

Not only that, but if you take a walk inside the Old City of Jerusalem you will see how the many Muslim sites are ignored by the municipality and left to deteriorate , while the Jewish sites are dug up and excavated at the expense of Muslim sites. When I was in old Jerusalem i was shocked to see that there even some paintings being sold of the old city without the Dome of the Rock which is the city’s most prominent land mark and has stood tall in the city for at least 1300 years!

If you watch the History Channel you will undoubtedly run into the multitude of shows excavating the tiniest rock to show the ancient Jewish history of the area. However, hardly any show ever mentions the Muslim history of the land as well, or even other epochs by other people. The audience of these shows is left with the impression that this area has been continuously controlled by Jewish people and that Arabs and Muslims never were there. I remember clearly that in one of the shows the host joined a tent of volunteers who were looking at rubble in some area and were excavating for historical artifacts. As the host was sifting through his pile, he came across some peculiar piece, so he asked the tent director if it could be of some relevance. The directory replied “No, it is Umayyad” and they tossed it away !! Why toss it away if it is Umayyad ? isn’t that at at least 1250 years old ? Isn’t that interesting ?

The danger is not in ignoring the big noticeable landmarks like the Dome of the Rock or Al-Aqsa mosque. These are easy to spot and many people recognize them. The problem is in throwing away, damaging, or destroying the smaller and lesser known sites. The ruins of a small Umayyad palace near the Noble Sanctuary have been damaged by Israeli excavations for Jewish ruins.

These infringements on ancient sites, and preferring some over the other will result in a warped view of the history of this region. In my opinion, this is totally wrong. Old history does not belong to one people, it is a property of our common humanity.

Of course, Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims have their role to play. We should pay more attention to preserving these ancient ruins in the holy land, and start our own efforts to excavating this region for its history as well. With that said, I think historical sites should be protected from politics. Archaeologists should be honest to history, and should not favor one people’s history over another based on politics. Truly, if we don’t know our past, we can’t understand our present; and if we don’t understand our present, we can’t plan for our future.

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.

***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.

**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>