Anyway, today Obama is visiting Israel & the West Bank. Ramallah is in the West Bank, and this area is usually referred to in news reports using any of the following terms: Palestine, West Bank, Palestinian Territories, or Occupied Territories. At least the term “West Bank” is very politically neutral. Not like this:

For God’s sake, you just said that you are sitting infront of the Palestinian President’s building

For example, read this comment i just found on Aljazeera English’s Youtube channel:

You heard him ladies and gentlemen; Everybody, let’s get busy … we need to increase our “production” by more than 1,000% a day over the next 10 years!! So, drop whatever you’re doing, go home, and get down to business … from 43,000 to 500,000 A DAY !! LOL.. it is all part of his grand scheme.

This definitely is a wacky idea in my opinion. I mean come on, can you imagine planet earth orbiting in space with a big pipe extending out of it ? Even if such a thing could be built, how on earth will you maintain it and protect it from meteors and other space hazards ? How will you even make it stable ?! … i personally don’t think it will even be economically feasible to build and maintain such a link.

In totally unrelated news, and in contrast to that wacky idea, i think the following events can actually take place .. (but i hope they don’t ):

• Qwaider making a blog post *during* his wedding party: … yeah, who amongst us doesn’t believe this is possible…. i’d actually be surprised if he didn’t … heck, i’ll be surprised if he didn’t blog during his honeymoon :-).
• Two days after their marriage, Qwaider seriously tries to convince Maioush that she should migrate her blog to be hosted on Memories Documented (his blog) instead of WordPress: … he explains how his own private hosting can provide her with secure backups and strict anti-spam mechanisms (not to mention his perceived superiority of his blogging engine to everything that is readily available out there) … i say resist the temptations Maioush.
• KJ’s imaginary friend, Moogle, gets jealous of Qwaider’s marriage and decides to have his own imaginary friend: … (yes .. with KJ it is very well possible that an imaginary friend could get an imaginary friend). Unfortunately, Moogle’s imaginary friend runs off to get married as well … this will leave KJ perplexed for a few weeks… oh boy … god help us if that happens.

Qwaider .. sorry buddy, somebody had to pick on you because you’re getting married … and congratulations to you and Maioush again.

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 :-).

المشكلة

بإختصار فإن المشكلة التي نواجهها اليوم تنبع من الكم الهائل من المعلومات والمقالات والتدوينات الموجودة على الإنترنت. فهذا الكم الهائل يسبب مشكلة في عرض تلك المعلومات للمستخدمين بشكل سلس ومعبر وعادل. كان مجمع قويدر من أوائل المجمعات التي أضافت مدونتي إلى مخزونها، وأنا أشكر السيد قويدر على هذا فقد عرفني مجمعه على الكثير من المدونين الرائعين كما أنها عرفت الآخرين علي. هنا تكمن قوة المجمعات وضعفها. فعلى مديري المجمعات أن يختاروا مخزونهم بحرص حتى يضمنوا جودة المعروض على موقعهم ويبقوا القرآء مهتمين. وفي ذات الوقت إذا أضافوا الكثير من المدونات إلتهم الضعيف منها الجيد وأذابه، فلا ترى على تلك المواقع إلا التدوينات السيئة التي تخسر إهتمام المشاركين.

هناك ظاهرة أخرى لاحظتها على موقع قويدر وغيره. حالياً يتم سرد المقالات حسب ترتيبها الزمني، فالمقالات الأجدد تعرض أولاً, وهذا أمر منطقي. ولكن بالنسبة للمدونين الجدد والمغمورين أمثالي يعني هذا الأمر أن فرصة قراءة مقالاتي يعتمد على وقت نشرها! فإذا نشرت مقالتي في وقت الظهيرة حسب توقيت المنطقة العربية فإن مقالتي لن تقرأ من الكثير لأن العديد من المدونين ينشرون مقالاتهم في ذلك الوقت –فتنزل مقالتي لمراكز متدنية على الترتيب الزمني. لذا صرت أحرص على نشر مقالتي عند ساعات الصباح الباكر (3 أو 4 صباحاً) في الوقت الذي لا ينشر الكثير من المدونين مقالات جديدة –فتبقى مقالتي في المراكز الأولى ويقرأها الناس في الصباح التالي.

ظاهرة تنافس المقالات على الوقت تشبه ظاهرة أخرى في عالم الهندسة تسمى” ظاهرة السباق” (Race Condition) التي بها يحصل القادم أولاً أو أخيراً على فائدة غير عادلة للباقين.

هذه هي المشكلة. والحل يكمن في إيجاد طريقة لعرض المقالات لا تعتمد على وقت نشرها بل على جودتها.

الفكرة والحل المقترح

كيف نقيم جودة المقالات؟ هذا سؤال صعب ويعتمد على شخص المجيب. ولكني أرى أن بإمكاننا إستخدام عدد التعليقات وعدد مرات عرض المقالة كمقياس لجودتها، أو بالأحرى كمقياس لقوة وقعها على القراء. فالمقالات ذات الوقع القوي تقراْ كثيراً وتستجذب الكثير من التعليقات. ولحسن الحظ فإن محركات التدوين الجدد كـ ورد برس و بلوجر ينشرون عدد التعليقات لكل مقالة في خلاصة الموقع (RSS).

ولكن الأمر ليس بهذه السهولة. فعدد التعليقات ليس بالمقياس المطلق. فبعض المدونين ككنان جرجوس (مرطبان العصير ) يحصلون على 8 تعليقات على الأقل لأي تدوينة. أما المدونين المغمورين أمثالي فإن 8 تعليقات تعتبر كثيرة للمقالة. إذاً عدد التعليقات لا يدل بشكل مطلق على جودة المقالة.

برأيي يكمن الحل في إستعمال نسبة عدد التعليقات إلى وسطها الحسابي لتقييم كل مقالة حسب المعادلة التالية:

التقييم = ((ب ÷ معدل التعليقات) × (عدد التعليقات ÷ معدل التعليقات)) +
                                        (( ت ÷ معدل العرض) × (عدد مرات العرض ÷ معدل العرض))

حيث أن ب و ت ثوابت لإبراز أهمية عدد التعليقات على عدد مرات العرض. و قمت بقسمة الثوابت على المعدلات لأبرز أهمية الإرتفاع للذوي التعليقات القليلة.

الآن أصبح لدينا طريقة جيدة لتقييم جودة ووقع المقالات، لكن كيف نعرضها ؟ سرد المقالات حسب تقييمها لن يجدينا نفعاً لأن الترتيب سيتغير دوماً وهذا سيربك المستخدمين. لذا كان رأيي أن نستخدم التقسيم التربيعي لهذا الأمر كما في الصورة التالية:

حيث تقسم مساحة العرض على الشاشة إلى مستطيلات فيها عناوين التدوينات من الأيام الثلاثة الماضية (أو حتى 100 تدوينة). و تعطى كل تدوينة مساحة وحجم للخط بالتناسب مع تقييمها. وبهذا يستطيع الزوار رؤية كل التدوينات مرة واحدة، ويستطيعون بسرعة معرفة المقالات الأكثر شعبية. وكلما زاد عدد التعليقات وعدد الزيارات لمقالة ما، زاد حجم عرضها. وبهذا نتغلب على مشكلة سباق المقالات. ولإعطاء الفرصة للمدونين المغمورين، يتم زيادة حجم المستطيل (أو يغير لونه) مع زيادة مدة العرض. فعند اليوم الثالث تكون تلك التدوينة أكثر بروزاً من التدوينات الجديدة جداً (الطازجة ).

حالة المشروع

كما ذكرت سابقاً فإنني قد بدأت بالعمل في هذا المشروع ثم تركته لكثر أعباء الدراسة. حتى الآن قمت بكتابة الكود المطلوب لجلب الإحصائيات عن عدد التعليقات للمدونات على بلوجر وورد برس. وقمت أيضاً بكتابة الكود اللازم لتحضير وعرض التقسيم التربيعي (بشكل بدائي على الأقل). ثم توقفت بعد ذلك.

ملاحظات

عندي بعض الملاحظات التي أود أن أضيفها. أولاً فكرة إضافة شعبية المقالات إلى المجمعات ليست بالأمر الجديد. فالكثير من المجعات تتيح للقراء تقييم المقالات. ولكن الناس قلما تقيم. ثانياً يجب الإشادة بأن موقع توت حاول مكافئة المقالات الجيدة بوضع بعضها في موقع الصدارة ولكن عملية التقييم عندهم يدوية وغير ديناميكية. وبمنا أنها ناتجة عن تقييم أفراد معينين فإن تلك التقييمات تعكس عادة أراء المقيمين على الموقع وليس القراء. وأخيراً يجب مراعاة أن بعض محركات التدوين –كجيران وغيرها– لا تضع عدد التعليقات في خلاصاتها ولا تمنح خلاصات خاصة للتعليقات وهذا يعقد الأمور قليلاً ويجبرنا على كتابة كود يقوم بقراءة صفحة المقالات وينقب عن التعليقات. وهذا أمر صعب لتنوع أشكال المدونات وتصاميمها .

الختام

آمل أن تكون هذه الفكرة قد أفادة البعض. بلا شك أن الشركات ومطوري المواقع العربية يجب عليهم أن يطرحوا أفكار جديدة تميزهم عن باقي المتنافسين. للأسف معظم مجمعات المدونات العربية هي فقط نسخة طبق الأصل عن بعضها البعض. وهذا يجعل تميز الخدمة أمر صعب. وقد يؤدي هذا إلى تدهور وضع بعض المواقع أو حتى إشرافها على الإغلاق كما رأينا في حالة دوّن. لم يعد مجرد تقديم ذات الخدمة كالمواقع الإنجليزية ولكن باللغة العربية بالأمر الكافي لضمان نجاح وتفوق المواقع والشركات العربية. ولذا يجب علينا أن نعود للإبتكار.

إذا كنت مهتماً بهذا المشروع (أو إذا كنت صاحب مجمع) أترك لي خبراً وأنا سأكون سعيداً بمساعدتك ومناقشة بعض الأفكار معك وتقديم الكود المكتوب لك.

Although these new introductions seem exciting, fine, and dandy; I can’t help but feel cheated somehow. You see, except for the multitouch screen, the iPhone’s features pale in comparison to other contending phones. Nokia’s N95 and N96 come at the equivalent price of the current iPhones (the non 3G), and they yet include much better software and hardware capabilities. The iPhone 2 MegaPixel camera falls short compared to the Nokia’s 5 MegaPixel camera phones for the same price. Not to mention that the iPhone still can not capture videos, perform zooming, or offer flash photography .. all of which are standard on other contending phones for the same or even lesser price.

Another problem with the old iPhones was the immaturity of its software. The iPhone’s web browser, media player, and photo viewer are fine .. but other than that the phone’s software sucks. The calendar software is a joke, the software frequently crashes, and you can not even resend, edit, or draft SMS messages (all of which my very old mobile phone was mastering). However, i am optimistic that with the release of the SDK we will start seeing better software running on the iPhone. However, it is shocking that Apple thought it would be more fitting to include a scientific calculator in their software update before even fixing the SMS app!! Heck, the phone doesn’t even distinguish between dialed and received calls !!

The iPhone’s recent price drop also digruntles me. Don’t get me wrong, i am glad it is finally getting cheaper. But if you think about it, Apple added 3G and GPS communicators, and didn’t change the phone’s processor power. The material cost certainly did not  get cheaper of the past few months, and still Apple was able to cut the price in half. I guess what i am trying to say is that not only was the original iPhone over priced, it was grossly over priced. As a person who spent a quarter of his college stipend to buy an iPhone, i feel cheated that practically the same phone was offered for half the price just a couple of months later! I understand that electronics get cheaper with time, but this is clearly just too much!

I was rather disappointed with these WWDC revelations. I guess this reminded me with “old Apple” behavior, where they would announce a small set of features that are subpar compared to the current state of alternatives, and brag about them. Come on Apple, please fix the SMS features in your phone, please give us a real camera that can truly stand its ground against Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, and fix the many annoying bugs and stupid limitations of the iPhone. How come i used to be able to upload any music file to my very old phone and turn it into my ringtone and i can not do that with the iPhone. I understand you want to charge people money .. but come on .. $2 for a ringtone ?!! this is too much. I know there are hacks to bypass some these limitations, but i choose to maintain the integrity of my phone, and i should not be punished because of that.

Certainly Apple is great at over-hyping products and creating market buzz. They can really take an ordinary item and market it successfully as the next best thing on earth. I honestly believe that if they choose to market monkey feces, they could make iFeces and that would be the next big hit world wide. I really wish i had this ability .. it would make me a millionaire . However, for now, i am disgruntled and i do feel cheated. And whatever chance there was of me making my next computer a Mac has just vanished. I guess i will stick in my free world.

When i started this blog i promised myself to minimize the amount of “political” or Palestinian-conflict related articles here so that i can give people an insight into the life of an ordinary Palestinian sampled out of the millions of us. I swear i have 4 articles in my draft folder none of which are about politics. But as much as i try to move past it .. my identity is the world’s inconvenient truth.

It is frustrating. It is depressing. But who am i to complain; i am living a good life, i can eat, i can sleep, i am temporarily studying in the united states, and i am not living the stark reality of occupation (at least on a daily basis). I have it made. But i am still suffocating inside.

Where ever i go, what ever i do, what ever i read or see .. my people are being ignored. Our life and death are meaningless. Our plight and suffering is silenced .. worse yet, turned against us. We are unseen, unheard, and untold of. Like someone wrapped a blanket around your head so you can no longer see or hear, then told you the world is as i tell you .. it looks as i describe, and it sounds as i claim.

We are never mentioned in the media (especially u.s media) except as causers of trouble, and the ones at fault. Everything is our fault. On the news, and in the movies. On the internet, and on the street. We are epitomized as all that is wrong and evil in this world. … “Everything that remotely resembles us should be shunned and abolished”. They tell me we do not want peace. They have the nerve to say that our culture instills hatred of others in us. They speak on our behalf, then judge us, then prosecute us. ….. All is told that if it weren’t for us, there won’t be conflict in the region. If it weren’t for us and our savage ways, there would be peace. I just watched an “unbiased” “debate” about the Israeli-Palestinian, and that was its conclusion. It concluded that our culture is a culture of terror; that our occupation is not an occupation but an act of self-defense; that we have been offered the means to good life; that we have been offered statehood but we rejected it. What nerve!

I am half a world away from home, and i am still surrounded by this. I can’t escape it … it is all around me. I am suffocating inside.

I seem unwelcomed in this world….

I am one Palestinian too many.

I am one Arab too many.

To all who is out there .. i am sorry my life is such an inconvenience… i am sorry my identity is such an inconvenience.

Thanks Shaikr for this funny cartoon.

<a href="http://imuslim.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/wear-your-kaffiyeh-with-pride-day/"><img src="http://files.za3tar.net/comic_kaffiyeh.jpg" border="0" title="Wear Your Kuffiyeh With Pride Day"/></a>

I think this is a cool event to participate in, specially if you are in the united states. Over 500 people have signed up for this event, and i am adding myself to the list. Are you in ?

While some of his points might be valid, i respectfully disagree with most of them. Privacy and security leaks seem to be his biggest issues. However, the fact of the matter is that most Arab internet services do not collect private information about their users anyway. While Qwaider might have had search engines, email providers, and social networking sites on his mind, the fact is that most Arab sites do not require anything “real” besides an email address to log in. Questler, Ikbis, Yamli, G.ho.st, all blog aggergators,  all the Digg-like sites, and pretty much most of the online applications that you can think of fall under that rule. If providing an email address is your issue, then how is this any different than providing your email address to small internet startup anywhere in the world? Do not use the Google/Yahoo/Facebook/MySpace argument of privacy in numbers, but think of any internet startup with a still small number of users. If you can trust that startup not to share your email address, then you should be able to trust Arab startups as well. Personally, i do not trust either. I am a privacy freak. That is why i have disposable “anonymous” email addresses that are POP accessible from my real address.

So my first point is that privacy should not be a blocking factor because most sites do not even require/record any private information.

The author also argues that international companies that pump millions into their online presence offer higher quality and more reliability than those with limited budgets in the Arab world. Although huge funding helps you provide higher quality and reliability, this is not a deterministic behavior. This is as true on the international scene as it is on the local scene. Otherwise most international startups would not have succeeded in the first place –because regardless of their funding, they have less funds than big giants. For example, how did YouTube (as a startup) provide a higher quality video hosting service than Google Video (before their acquisition). Yes, more money can help you provide higher quality products, but this is not a sufficient condition. Additionally, let’s not forget the complex and sophisticated hosting platforms that ensure startups receive a highly reliable hosting platform for a relatively low-cost. Examples include Amazon EC2 and the multitude of VPS and dedicated hosting services that boast three-nines and five-nines uptime & backup. So, you do not need millions of dollars and your own hosting farms to provide a reliable service to your small user set.

Finally, regarding sustainability. You pose the question of “how would you know that the company would be there in a few months or years time”. This question is valid for any internet startup not just Arab ones. Why did people go to Facebook when it first came out instead of just sticking with MySpace ? How do some startups continue to challenge the big name companies ? Regardless of the locale, people would choose startups over big name companies if they felt that they provide a better service. After all, not all startups provide an application with a totally new concept. In fact, many startups provide applications and services that have existed before, but they provide them in a better fashion. This has been the success factor behind places like SalesForce, YouTube, Facebook, Zoho, Zimbra and many others.

I am not saying that all Arab online startups are good, or that all of them are trustworthy. I have previously stated that i believe that unfortunately many of the Arab online startups lack originality in their ideas (which in my opinion is one their main obstacles). However, i simply disagree with mass labeling Arab startups as untrustworthy. As a part-owner of an Arab startup firm with online presence, and having deep connections with a bunch of other Arab online startups, i can tell you that most people take the security and privacy of their clients very seriously, and that some have taken the measures to hide sensitive client information even from themselves. Qwaider, if you were to start an online company, wouldn’t you take these issues into concern ? I bet your answer is yes, and so is the answer of many others.

Finally, let’s not forget that big international companies like Google, Yahoo, and Facebook have had many privacy complaints. Afterall, Facebook does keep countless personal information about you, your friends, and your likes and dislikes, yet there privacy slate is not clean. Don’t forget that Facebook never deletes anything that you do on their site, and exposes your personal information to third-party applications. So, how can you trust those applications ? Similarly, Google keeps track of your search history, email, documents and many other private information, and there have been many privacy concerns voiced by people. With all of Google’s might and money, there were still some exploits that exposed people’s entire address book to hackers and such. Additionally, Google’s Image Labeler can actually construct a profile of you complete with your age, gender, interests, and even sexual orientation in just a few interactions. Privacy and trust are the big issues these days, but money and fame do not buy you neither privacy nor trust.

This airplane was caught in “cross winds” so that is why it is drifting sideways:

This one has a severe case of cross winds and a bunch of other stuff:

This is just one risky / stupid takeoff

This one catches you by surprise:

Finally, this one is just plain stupid. He is asking for it

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.

Anyway, my kuffiyeh is pretty worn out. So i asked my friend to bring me one with him. Being from Jerusalem, he is allowed to travel from the Ben Gurion airport in Tel-Aviv, and so he did. If you don’t know, Arabs (even Israeli Arabs) are treated to extra searches in that airport, and every item and every bag is inspected at least twice by hand.

So unfortunately, when they saw the kuffiyeh, they decided it was too dangerous to carry on the plane (even though it is just a piece of cloth) and they took it away. I didn’t know that they would do that, but then again, should i be surprised ?! I don’t think so.

Ahh .. so now it seems i will be stuck with my old kuffiyeh. At least it could stand as a testament to the Israeli war on clothing.

I think this is still true today. Anyone can whip up a web application in a matter of days, creating a differentiating experience is a bit more tricky and definitely needed. I think this is even more important for many of the Arabian online startups that are providing services that are essentially the same (or highly similar) to American and global ones. In this scenario, you definitely need an incentive to attract people to your application. You simply can not offer the same exact services, and nothing more, and yet expect people to flock to your app.

The folks at Ikbis seem to believe in this as well. So far they have launched a bunch of competitions (the Ramadan one, the airplane one, the singing one), and now, they have launched their own comedy/variety show (called Ground Zero). …. it’s not all sweet-&-dandy .. they have their issues but that’s another story

Anyway, Ground Zero is quick weekly show that has 3 segments: Doblage (Film Dubbing), Lost in Translation, and new movie releases. It is a quick weekly refresher from your hectic life, so go ahead, give it a try

Here are the 2 published episodes so far:

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

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

Thank you for your wonderful contributions to the Blog About Palestine Day event. Thank you for leading by example, and raising awareness about Palestine, the Palestinians, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and many other things.  Grassroots initiatives like this exemplify how we can truly do something amazing when we work together.

Unfortunately, the timing of this event coincided with my final exams schedule. So, i was only able to read very few of the contributed articles. I have just finished my last final exam, and have only one remaining project writeup to submit. I anticipate to be done either tonight or tomorrow morning.

As soon as i finish, i will resume reading the entries and compile a harvest list of all that articles that were written.

Until then,

Sure, the inhabitants of the land of Palestine and their descendants are by definition Palestinian. But being a Palestinian also entails an identity “package” of history, culture, common knowledge, and common experiences. This shared identity package is evolving with time, and is truly hard to explain. Yet, it is what really makes Palestinians Palestinians. Being Palestinian is not just about blood and ancestry, it is about you being part of the collective Palestinian experience regardless of where you are, be you in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Europe, America, or the moon.

So in this article, I would like to go through some snapshots of the experiences that all together form my Palestinian identity, and define me as an average Palestinian.

~~ My Grandparents ~~

My father and his family come from a village called Sobbarine (صبارين). Today, nothing remains of that village. Sobbarine used to be located on the hills near Haifa. My grandparents, and the rest of the village, used to farm their fertile land and mostly live off of what they produce. My grandfather was a very strong man; people used to talk about how he once beat a wolf with his bare hands. Around 1944, my grandparents got married, and by 1948 they had two sons and a daughter.

When the violence escalated in 1948, people in Sobbarine were terrified of the impending attack by Jewish gangs. They have heard of what happened to many other villages (such as the Massacre of Dier Yassin) and were scared for their lives.

Although some of the villagers have started fleeing, my grandfather being the tough man that he was, decided to stay with his house and land. Unlike him, my grandmother was scared for her life, and the lives of her three young children. After long discussions, my grandfather agreed to leave, and so they did.

A couple of days later, my grandmother decided to go back to her house to pick up some stuff, as there still were some people in the village. Her luck did not help her this time, and one of the Jewish gangs entered the village and started winding up young men and teenagers before she could flee.

Scared for her life, my grandmother ran and crouched inside a “taboon” (طابون) (a big clay outdoor oven traditional in Palestine) so as to hide herself from the gang. From her clay oven, my grandmother saw the gang members lining up the collected men on the edge of the hill, shooting them, then dumping their bodies into the “wad” (small valley between hills). At this point, my grandmother was certain her death is imminent.

The next day however, the gang left the village, and the few remaining terrified women left Sobbarine never to return to it again. My grandmother caught up with my grandfather who was heading inland away from the sea.

Scared to go to the populated areas, my grandparents along with other villagers camped for a few days in the woods near a village called “Um El-Fahim” (أم الفحم). Unfortunately the group did not have any food supplies with them, and edible material were very hard to come by. So the only way for those people to stay alive was to search for undigested grains in animal feces to eat. Fifty years later, my grandmother was recalling this story to me with a clear feeling of shame and indignity. She contrasted to me the dramatic life change that took place over the span of a few days. Going from living a dignified life as self-sufficient farmers, to searching for undigested grains in animal feces. Oh the inhumanity!

My grandparents settled in a city called Jenin, in what later came to be known as the West Bank. Having lost everything, they had to restart their lives from scratch.

~~ My Father ~~

Fast forward Nineteen years, my Dad was a young boy in sixth grade working in a farm in Jenin to help support his family. My dad was not as strong as my grandfather, but he was just as stubborn and twice as fearless. It was the 1967 war, and Israel was yet to capture the West Bank. On that fateful day, my father was in the field collecting tomatoes when he noticed fighter jets in the sky, and tanks on the ground. A major battle was about to take place near Jenin. Being the stubborn kid that he was, he decided to stay in the field and finish collecting those tomatoes even though all the other kids had ran away in fear.

Finally satisfied with his harvest, he went back home. But his family were nowhere to be found. They had escaped their home and took refuge in a nearby cave. My grandmother in that cave was worried sick about him, so she asked one of the older boys in that cave to go search for him one more time. Luckily, that boy found my dad and lead him to the cave. Ironically, my grandmother later recalled that she was happy that he had collected those tomatoes as their stay in that cave extended and people in the cave got to feed on them.

Fast forward another ten years. My father is now a young man in love. His fiancé (my Mom) unfortunately lives in Nablus, which is about one hour away from Jenin. I say unfortunately because at that time my father was under “city arrest”. He was not allowed to leave the city of Jenin. This was his punishment for being a “political activist”, for you see, even displaying the Palestinian flag was a punishable crime. Being the hopeless romantic that he was, he bought a gray trench coat, a tall black umbrella, and some reflective sun glasses to disguise himself and would regularly sneak from Jenin to Nablus to meet my mother and come back.

These items still exist in our household today. My dad has repeatedly tried to make me wear that coat despite my continuous complaints that I will look like an out of place 70’s character in it. I will keep these objects for their sentimental values, but I doubt I will ever wear any of them.

~~ Me ~~

After marrying my mother and finishing his doctoral studies, my dad relocated to the city of Ramallah in the West Bank to live and work. I grew up in Ramallah during the 1990’s. We lived in an apartment in a 3-story building, which used to be considered tall in Ramallah back in the very early 90’s. My earliest memories include the fresh fruits and vegetables market (the hissbeh), Israeli soldiers setting up surveillance points atop our building and the building next to us (as they usually did for tall buildings), our neighbor down the street being shot to death by IDF soldiers, and my dad getting shot in the back with a rubber bullet by the IDF –which although thankfully did not kill him, gave his back a “slipped disc”.

I might not have witnessed full-fledged Arab Israeli wars as my parents and grandparents have, but I grew up in the time of checkpoints, travel permits, and moving restrictions. You needed to obtain a special permit to go visit Jerusalem, and another (much harder) one if you wanted to visit “the inside” (Haifa, Yafa, Tel-Aviv, Nazereth ..etc). There were checkpoints at the entrances of Jerusalem and sporadically through out the West Bank, but people used to be able to get around them. However, sneaking past those checkpoints had severe consequences if caught. So I never snuck. I guess I am not as fearless as my father and grandfather were.

These movement restrictions were not just between West Bank cities, or the West Bank and Jerusalem, but they also included (and were magnified at) the West Bank’s only exit for the Palestinians, which was the Allenby/King Hussein Bridge between Jericho and Jordan across the Jordan river. Travel difficulties seemed to also follow you even outside Palestine. In airports your Palestinian Passport used to warrant you an extra search, or an extra round of questioning, or some mysterious delay during which nothing seemed to be happening.

But I didn’t know any better. I used to think that is normal. I used to think that in this day and age, it does take about a day to cross borders. My grandfather from my mother’s side was a taxi driver back in the 60’s and 70’s. He used to take people from Nablus and Jerusalem to Amman, Beruit, and Damascus. He used to say that it took him only an hour and a half to reach Amman from Nablus, and about 7 hours to reach Beruit, and 10 to reach Damascus. Geographically on the map, these numbers make sense. But to me they were astonishing. For one, I was born into a world were I could not travel to Syria or Lebanon simply because I was a Palestinian. Even then, how can you freely and easily cross borders in less than a day ?!

Today, Israel’s separation wall/barrier is placed inside the West Bank deeper than all the checkpoints used to be. Entrance to Jerusalem requires an extra special permit that is awarded to the extremely lucky. The movable checkpoints inside the West Bank turned into monstrous fixed checkpoints with what looks like human cages, and new “movable” checkpoints sprouted between the old checkpoints. Nowadays even traveling inside the West Bank by car requires a permit (which are even harder to get). Last holiday season, in order to go visit our relatives, we had to apply for two permits, and we still spent a total of 3 hours on checkpoints (even though our relatives live merely 1.5 hours away from our home in Ramallah).

These checkpoints, movement restrictions, and separation wall affect many Palestinians on a daily basis. They impede people on their way to work, to schools, to the universities. They restrict the movement of patients, and has cost thousands of Palestinians their lives because they couldn’t receive proper medication and treatment. They impede businesses in conducting their transactions. They prevent many farmers from transporting their produce to city markets. They are even forcing families to grow up in isolation as it becomes harder and harder for people to connect, and we are in this 21st century.

But this is normal, or at least that is what you get to think. Regardless of the obstacles, life has to go on. Before you know it, checkpoints just become a fact of life for you. You only appreciate how messed up things are when you go out and see how to rest of the world is functioning.

~~ Conclusion ~~

For us Palestinians, only two things have remained consistently true during the past 60 years; First, life for ordinary people only gets worse every year. Second, from the minute you are born in Palestine, you are immediately a suspect, and you are continuously treated so for as long as you live. No one in the world can condone mass punishment of civilians, but punishing suspects is not a big deal.

We must be suspects! Otherwise what explains 60 years of Israel’s direct violation of numerous UN resolutions without any consequences. We must be suspects, otherwise what explains our denial of basic human rights. For me and my family, the only crime that we are suspect of is simply existing!

These stories are not unusual for Palestinians. As a matter of fact, i come from a blissed family; My parents were able provide us with food and shelter, and none of my relatives was killed. Unfortunately however, the stories of average Palestinians are much grimmer still.

~~ What Happened to These People ~~

• My grandfather died in 1994. Until his very last day, the memories of Sobbarine stayed vivid in his mind. After his death, his will had only one request: to be buried near the cemetery’s front door so that he’ll be the first leave and go back to Sobbarine.
• My grandmother is still alive, but the last of her three children who were born in Sobbarine died this winter. She still remembers our village through their memories. Nowadays her only wish is a fistful of Sobbarine’s earth.
• My father has dedicated his life to our upbringing and to assist in enhancing the lives of other Palestinians. Despite receiving many lucrative offers to leave the country, he insists on staying and working for his people till the end.
• As for me, the future is still a blank page. I am finishing my education and preparing to follow on the footsteps of my dad dedicating my life to the well being of Palestine and the Palestinians.

**Final Note: It was really hard to pick just one Palestinian topic to write about. There were so many things that i wanted to talk about. I picked my subject, then changed it, then changed it again until i decided on this. Even with this, i didn’t know, which experiences should i have talked about. The choice was not getting any easier. How could it ?! The daily experiences of any Palestinian is enough to write encyclopedias let alone articles.

In my article i tried to talk about how three generations of our family struggled in doing very basic things just because we are Palestinians. Yet still, i am pacing around my room thinking, were these snapshots enough ? I don’t know. What do you think ? I am really interested in your opinion.

Tomorrow is Blog About Palestine Day. So far, the response has been truly amazing. This event was kicked off exactly two weeks ago (on May 1st), and yet so far more than 200 people are known to have signed up for the event. The event got picked up and reported on by the “Global Voices Online” as well as “Now Public“. Mainstream media outlets such as the BBC World and AlJazeera English have also been contacted. Blog aggregators such as the Qwaider Planet and Dwwen have supported the initiative and advertised about it to their readers. The Facebook event also has about 150 people who have signed up for it (and growing).

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
• Maioush
• Cinnamon Zone — Ola
• Sharifo
• Mona’s Corner
• Life Thought’s — Summer
• Talking Virtually To Myself — Loolt
• Dandoon
• Visions — Hala Taha
• Hani Obaid
• Black Iris
• 7aki Fadi
• And Far Away
• Rebellious Arab Girl
• My Own World — Sim SIm
• Ola from Gaza
• FaRaH M
• Don’t Call Me Sheikh — Basem
• Ahmed Badrah
• Jar of Juice — KJ (+ Moogle + Peter + many others)
• Black Ice — Batoul
• 3aloosh
• Words from inside 48 — Yasmina
• Attending the World (ATW)