"'Gaza is a jail. Nobody is allowed to leave. We are all starving now'"
"Palestinians tell Blair: you are not welcome here"
For those that think that America is some 'saint' when it comes to fighting wars, and upholding human rights, I have this to say. There is nothing saintly about starting wars; and human rights?? How can human beings decide what rights we as humans are entitled to have?? Such rights should exist to the extent that those who are entitled to take our lives away from us say they should exist. As you can see, this effectively means that, for the Palestinians, Iraqis and Lebanese, it is America, Israel and the UK that decides what their rights as human beings are. God help the Arabs is all I can say. And yet, I fear that even God will have to go through them, the only axis of evil that I can see evidence of (US, Israel and UK), and gain their permission, before being able to help!
Here are a few more snippets of articles that may be of interest. Click the highlighted words to view the full articles:
"In October 1950, the first year of the Korean War, American soldiers massacred tens of thousands of innocent people in the North Korean city of Sinchon. In perhaps the most horrifying incident, US soldiers led 900 residents, including 300 women and children, into an air-raid shelter. After the victims passed three days in thirst and fear, the GIs poured gasoline into the dark, confined space and threw in a match"
"The head of Europe's human rights watchdog yesterday called for monitoring of CIA agents operating in Britain and other European countries, after President George Bush's admission that the US had detained terrorist suspects in secret prisons."
"In one bedroom, a picture of the late Pope John Paul II was found carefully torn into three pieces. "The picture was hanging on the wall, and we found the glass from the frame still intact, but the picture had been torn," said Tawfic. "For me it shows the Israelis don't like either Christians or Muslims, only themselves.""
Friday, September 08, 2006
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
To Be, Or Not To Be; An Engineer?
Paul Coelho was asked how he had decided he wanted to be a writer. Here's what he said:
"When I was fifteen, I said to my mother: 'I've discovered my vocation. I want to be a writer.' 'My dear,' she replied sadly, 'your father is an engineer. He's a logical, reasonable man with a very clear vision of the world. Do you actually know what it means to be a writer?' In order to answer my mother's question, I decided to do some research. This is what I learned about what being a writer meant in the early 1960s:
A writer always wears glasses and never combs his hair. Half the time he feels angry about everything and the other half depressed. He says very 'deep' things. He always has amazing ideas for the plot of his next novel, and hates the one he has just published. A writer has a duty and an obligation never to be understood by his own generation.. A writer understands about things with alarming names, like semiotics, epistemology, neoconcretism. When trying to seduce a woman, a writer says: 'I'm a writer', and scribbles a poem on a napkin. It always works. When invited to say what he is reading at the moment, a writer always mentions a book no one has ever heard of. Armed with all this information, I went back to my mother and explained exactly what a writer was. She was somewhat surprised. 'It would be easier to be an engineer,' she said. 'Besides, you don't wear glasses.' "
It made me laugh, because its something that myself and Ismaool were talking about the other night. The differences in how life, the world, problems and so on are approached depending on how your mind is trained. He's an engineer, I'm a lawyer, our approaches to life couldn't be any more different! Paul Coelho's mother was right when she wanted him to be an engineer. You know why? Because he's always going to be SURE. An engineer sees life as a set of right or wrong answers, there's nothing in between. There's no deliberation. There are formulas, equations, methods; follow them and you're on the right path. On the way to correctness, to excellence, to TRUTH. Ask me what truth is, and I tell you that it depends on whose side you're looking at it from. Truth in what sense? I ask you whether truth as a fact really does exist. In effect, I complicate my life. I don't think its a characteristic of all lawyers. In fact, my good friend P is a lawyer, and if you listened to our conversation over dinner last night you would realise that being a lawyer is in no way a hinderance to his being sure about anything. His background as a lawyer means that he is open to looking at a problem from many different points of view but it does not encourage him to complicate his life. Maybe it's just the philosophical writer within me. I always was very good at coming up with all those different 'meanings' that writers of classics intended. We all know they intended none of it. When they said the table was round, they meant the table was round. They weren't intending it to be a metaphor for the circle of life or something similar... Or did they?
See what I mean!
To be honest though, I think an education in the arts is far more beneficial in the long run. It may mean more complications, but it means you can think outside the box. Or it should mean that. For many, thats sadly not the case. But thats for another post.
"When I was fifteen, I said to my mother: 'I've discovered my vocation. I want to be a writer.' 'My dear,' she replied sadly, 'your father is an engineer. He's a logical, reasonable man with a very clear vision of the world. Do you actually know what it means to be a writer?' In order to answer my mother's question, I decided to do some research. This is what I learned about what being a writer meant in the early 1960s:
A writer always wears glasses and never combs his hair. Half the time he feels angry about everything and the other half depressed. He says very 'deep' things. He always has amazing ideas for the plot of his next novel, and hates the one he has just published. A writer has a duty and an obligation never to be understood by his own generation.. A writer understands about things with alarming names, like semiotics, epistemology, neoconcretism. When trying to seduce a woman, a writer says: 'I'm a writer', and scribbles a poem on a napkin. It always works. When invited to say what he is reading at the moment, a writer always mentions a book no one has ever heard of. Armed with all this information, I went back to my mother and explained exactly what a writer was. She was somewhat surprised. 'It would be easier to be an engineer,' she said. 'Besides, you don't wear glasses.' "
It made me laugh, because its something that myself and Ismaool were talking about the other night. The differences in how life, the world, problems and so on are approached depending on how your mind is trained. He's an engineer, I'm a lawyer, our approaches to life couldn't be any more different! Paul Coelho's mother was right when she wanted him to be an engineer. You know why? Because he's always going to be SURE. An engineer sees life as a set of right or wrong answers, there's nothing in between. There's no deliberation. There are formulas, equations, methods; follow them and you're on the right path. On the way to correctness, to excellence, to TRUTH. Ask me what truth is, and I tell you that it depends on whose side you're looking at it from. Truth in what sense? I ask you whether truth as a fact really does exist. In effect, I complicate my life. I don't think its a characteristic of all lawyers. In fact, my good friend P is a lawyer, and if you listened to our conversation over dinner last night you would realise that being a lawyer is in no way a hinderance to his being sure about anything. His background as a lawyer means that he is open to looking at a problem from many different points of view but it does not encourage him to complicate his life. Maybe it's just the philosophical writer within me. I always was very good at coming up with all those different 'meanings' that writers of classics intended. We all know they intended none of it. When they said the table was round, they meant the table was round. They weren't intending it to be a metaphor for the circle of life or something similar... Or did they?
See what I mean!
To be honest though, I think an education in the arts is far more beneficial in the long run. It may mean more complications, but it means you can think outside the box. Or it should mean that. For many, thats sadly not the case. But thats for another post.
So Now An Actual Language Is Offensive?
Did you hear about the guy who was prevented from boarding his plane in a New York airport until he changed his t-shirt? It's true. What was on his t-shirt that was so offensive? Perhpaps the stench of BO? Or maybe his breakfast? The words 'I Have A Bomb'? No. Simply, Arabic script. That's it. What's more, the translation was right underneath it in English.
Read HERE for the full story.
If you want to check out his blog, click HERE.
Read HERE for the full story.
If you want to check out his blog, click HERE.
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Maybe I Just Need Some Sleep
like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, i have tried in my way, to be free.
like a worm on a hook, like a knight from some old-fashioned book, i have saved all my ribbons for thee.
and if i, if ive been unkind. i hope that you will let it go by.
and if i, if ive been untrue, i hope you know it was never to you.
like a baby stillborn, like a beast with his horn, i have torn everyone who reached for me.
so i swear by this song, i swear by all that ive done wrong, i will make it, i will make it all up to you.
i saw a beggar, leaning on his wooden crutch, he cried to me, you must not ask for so much.
and a pretty woman, leaning in her darkened door, she said to me, hey why not ask for more.
Leonard Cohen "Bird On The Wire"
its really late, and this song is just going round my mind. its from memory, but i think the lyrics are right. im so stuck, i just dont know what to do. i dont know which direction to take. every moment i feel so close to a decision, so close to the path i should take, but then the next minute ive lost that grasp and im drowning in the abyss that is my thoughts. the problem is that ive become so caught up in the 'theory' of it all, that im almost incapable of taking action. afraid to go one way in case i should be going the other. remaining suspended in midair, treading the water of my mind, failing to get out into the battle that is the world.
maaybe thats the problem... or maybe i just need some sleep!
like a worm on a hook, like a knight from some old-fashioned book, i have saved all my ribbons for thee.
and if i, if ive been unkind. i hope that you will let it go by.
and if i, if ive been untrue, i hope you know it was never to you.
like a baby stillborn, like a beast with his horn, i have torn everyone who reached for me.
so i swear by this song, i swear by all that ive done wrong, i will make it, i will make it all up to you.
i saw a beggar, leaning on his wooden crutch, he cried to me, you must not ask for so much.
and a pretty woman, leaning in her darkened door, she said to me, hey why not ask for more.
Leonard Cohen "Bird On The Wire"
its really late, and this song is just going round my mind. its from memory, but i think the lyrics are right. im so stuck, i just dont know what to do. i dont know which direction to take. every moment i feel so close to a decision, so close to the path i should take, but then the next minute ive lost that grasp and im drowning in the abyss that is my thoughts. the problem is that ive become so caught up in the 'theory' of it all, that im almost incapable of taking action. afraid to go one way in case i should be going the other. remaining suspended in midair, treading the water of my mind, failing to get out into the battle that is the world.
maaybe thats the problem... or maybe i just need some sleep!
Long Before Consciousness Set In
"Phaedrus remembered a line from Thoreau: "You never gain something but that you lose something." And now he began to see for the frist time the unbelievable magnitude of what man, when he gained power to understand and rule the world in terms of dialectic truths, had lost. He had built empires of scientific capability to manipulate the phenomena of nature into enormous manifestations of his own dreams of power and wealth - but for this he had exchanged an empire of understanding of equal magnitude: an understanding of what it is to be a part of the world, and not an emeny of it."
exerpt from "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", Robert M. Pirsig
What a morning... Socrates, Aristotle, the Sophists, Plato, Phadreus and Leonard Cohen.
It feels like I'm about to grasp another piece of that jigsaw I've been trying to put together these last months. I still don't know what the finished picture will be.. but I'm sure when that last piece fits in, I'll be looking at something so familiar, I'll realise that it was I who cut the pieces, who painted upon them the images, and who decided what it would be, long before I was conscious of this fact.
exerpt from "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", Robert M. Pirsig
What a morning... Socrates, Aristotle, the Sophists, Plato, Phadreus and Leonard Cohen.
It feels like I'm about to grasp another piece of that jigsaw I've been trying to put together these last months. I still don't know what the finished picture will be.. but I'm sure when that last piece fits in, I'll be looking at something so familiar, I'll realise that it was I who cut the pieces, who painted upon them the images, and who decided what it would be, long before I was conscious of this fact.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Sometimes I Forget...
Ok, I'm going to go out on a limb here and ask....
What do I have to do to get to be a Blog Of Note?
For those of you who aren't bloggers, Blogger.com has a little popularity ladder going on (doesn't everyone!). Every now and then, they put someones little unknown blog on the top of that ladder on their list of Blogs of Note. What happens then? Well, hits skyrocket! Instead of your normal daily hits, which for me would be somewhere between 5 and 50 everyday, you can expect to get a few thousand!
What's the point? What do you gain? More readers, more comments, a larger audience. Does that matter? Well, it depends on the point of your blog. If you've got something to tell people, then a larger audience is what you're aiming to get.
This is the latest Blog of Note "Strangers Among Us".
Here's another, and another.
To be honest, i never wanted the point of my blog to be the number of hits... but it is so easy to get caught up in it. Occasionally, I do find myself comparing my blog to others and wondering what it is about their blog that makes Blogger think it worthy to be a Blog of Note. Perhaps what they percieve as quality of writing is not what I believe it to be. Or maybe what they're looking for is not quality at all, in which case, I'd rather not be considered a Blog Of Note thank you very much!
Or maybe I should just slap myself out of these rare fits of competitiveness. Most times, that's what I do. Apparently today though, it warranted a post. This will be the first, and last time, I promise.
What do I have to do to get to be a Blog Of Note?
For those of you who aren't bloggers, Blogger.com has a little popularity ladder going on (doesn't everyone!). Every now and then, they put someones little unknown blog on the top of that ladder on their list of Blogs of Note. What happens then? Well, hits skyrocket! Instead of your normal daily hits, which for me would be somewhere between 5 and 50 everyday, you can expect to get a few thousand!
What's the point? What do you gain? More readers, more comments, a larger audience. Does that matter? Well, it depends on the point of your blog. If you've got something to tell people, then a larger audience is what you're aiming to get.
This is the latest Blog of Note "Strangers Among Us".
Here's another, and another.
To be honest, i never wanted the point of my blog to be the number of hits... but it is so easy to get caught up in it. Occasionally, I do find myself comparing my blog to others and wondering what it is about their blog that makes Blogger think it worthy to be a Blog of Note. Perhaps what they percieve as quality of writing is not what I believe it to be. Or maybe what they're looking for is not quality at all, in which case, I'd rather not be considered a Blog Of Note thank you very much!
Or maybe I should just slap myself out of these rare fits of competitiveness. Most times, that's what I do. Apparently today though, it warranted a post. This will be the first, and last time, I promise.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Mother Tongue?
Last night, on the plane over to Abu Dhabi, I had a vision. I was watching “The Wind That Shakes The Barley”, and I realised something that had a profound effect on me. You know how some things just have an impact on you? A “Copernican Revolution” so to speak, where nothing changes, and yet, everything changes!
Copernicus stated that the earth moved around the sun. Nothing changed, and yet, everything changed!
Perhaps it was the combination of the movie and this book that I bought, the very interesting “Mother Tongue” by Bill Bryson…
I was sitting there, the lights of the cabin dimmed, my headphones on my ears, the shouts of the boys giving their lives to free Ireland from the British reverberating through my eardrums, and I realized, here I was, my mother Irish, my father Jordanian (originally Palestinian) and what language do I speak? English! What language? The language of the country that took my parents homelands away from its people. That placed Ireland and Palestine in the situations that they are in. Ireland – divided. Palestine – a hometown for the jews.
Therefore, I am going to learn Gaelic, and I am going to perfect my Arabic. Young men died for the freedom to speak Irish, and now, hardly anyone in Ireland speaks the language. Its a shame. I will persevere and I will speak the language that my Irish blood dictates I should speak. I will persevere and not stop until my Arabic is of the standard that my Arab blood says it should be.
Copernicus stated that the earth moved around the sun. Nothing changed, and yet, everything changed!
Perhaps it was the combination of the movie and this book that I bought, the very interesting “Mother Tongue” by Bill Bryson…
I was sitting there, the lights of the cabin dimmed, my headphones on my ears, the shouts of the boys giving their lives to free Ireland from the British reverberating through my eardrums, and I realized, here I was, my mother Irish, my father Jordanian (originally Palestinian) and what language do I speak? English! What language? The language of the country that took my parents homelands away from its people. That placed Ireland and Palestine in the situations that they are in. Ireland – divided. Palestine – a hometown for the jews.
Therefore, I am going to learn Gaelic, and I am going to perfect my Arabic. Young men died for the freedom to speak Irish, and now, hardly anyone in Ireland speaks the language. Its a shame. I will persevere and I will speak the language that my Irish blood dictates I should speak. I will persevere and not stop until my Arabic is of the standard that my Arab blood says it should be.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Exams...Oh Crap!
Well folks, I probably won't be posting for the next week. Heading up to Dublin tomorrow to sit those dreaded exams.
For the next week I will be holed up in a hotel room surrounded by papers, papers and more papers; caffeine tablets to keep me awake; ginger nut biscuits (because I read somewhere that ginger boosts brain power); and if I had one, I have no doubt I would be in possession of a lucky horse shoe too. Nevertheless, I am horse-shoe-less, and feeling quite jumpy at the mo.
I don't know if it's nerves, or denial, but I wasn't able to do very much studying today. I mean, really, not very much at all. 5 hours tops. Crap, the day seems so long until its actually upon you. Oh well, I think I'm taking this very well actually.
I'm just going to go in there and answer the questions.
If I put down what they're looking for, then brilliant!
If I don't...
*deep breaths*
...well, let's not consider that option. I shall assume that I will be putting down what they want.
And maybe I'll put a few smiley faces at the bottom of the paper to be on the safe side. You know, project the whole professional, intelligent, law student attitude they're looking for.
Absolutely. Brilliant Idea.
Now, if you'll excuse me... I can't seem to find my pink pen!
For the next week I will be holed up in a hotel room surrounded by papers, papers and more papers; caffeine tablets to keep me awake; ginger nut biscuits (because I read somewhere that ginger boosts brain power); and if I had one, I have no doubt I would be in possession of a lucky horse shoe too. Nevertheless, I am horse-shoe-less, and feeling quite jumpy at the mo.
I don't know if it's nerves, or denial, but I wasn't able to do very much studying today. I mean, really, not very much at all. 5 hours tops. Crap, the day seems so long until its actually upon you. Oh well, I think I'm taking this very well actually.
I'm just going to go in there and answer the questions.
If I put down what they're looking for, then brilliant!
If I don't...
*deep breaths*
...well, let's not consider that option. I shall assume that I will be putting down what they want.
And maybe I'll put a few smiley faces at the bottom of the paper to be on the safe side. You know, project the whole professional, intelligent, law student attitude they're looking for.
Absolutely. Brilliant Idea.
Now, if you'll excuse me... I can't seem to find my pink pen!
Friday, August 18, 2006
A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
So you've heard the latest?
Israel doesn't want to accept peace-keeping troops that do not recognise the state of Israel.
Israeli UN envoy Dan Gillerman made clear Israel's unhappiness with some of the contributors. "It would be very difficult if not inconceivable for Israel to accept troops from countries who do not recognise Israel, who have no diplomatic relations with Israel," he told the BBC. He said they would be "very happy" to accept troops from Muslim countries they have friendly relations with. "But to expect countries who don't even recognise Israel to guard Israel's safety I think would be a bit naive," he said.
I ask, what about guarding Lebanon's safety?? Oh, of course, how could I forget? Lebanon is an Arab country...who needs to protect the Arabs? It's the Arabs that are destroying infrastructure, and slaughtering innocents. Yes, that's right. So, let's forget about them, and concentrate on protecting Israel. The land of democracy, and equality and a policy of non-violence.
I think I'm going to be sick!
His comments were dismissed by Malaysia, which, along with Indonesia, has a Muslim majority population.
"We're going to be on Lebanese territory ... We're not going to be on Israeli territory," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.
Exactly!
Where is the Lebanese Government? Do they not have a say in what troops are stationed on Lebanese soil??
And you know the worst thing? People are going to start saying "Yeeeaahhh...Israel is right! Why DON'T these countries recognise it?" And the worlds attention is going to be distracted from the issue at hand, that is, the protection of a country and its people (I'm talking about Lebanon!), and be shifted to an issue that has nothing whatsoever to do with the situation. An issue, in fact, that has no doubt been raised as a sort of "wolf in sheeps clothing" to allow this violence to continue.
Let's just hope we're not that stupid!
Israel doesn't want to accept peace-keeping troops that do not recognise the state of Israel.
Israeli UN envoy Dan Gillerman made clear Israel's unhappiness with some of the contributors. "It would be very difficult if not inconceivable for Israel to accept troops from countries who do not recognise Israel, who have no diplomatic relations with Israel," he told the BBC. He said they would be "very happy" to accept troops from Muslim countries they have friendly relations with. "But to expect countries who don't even recognise Israel to guard Israel's safety I think would be a bit naive," he said.
I ask, what about guarding Lebanon's safety?? Oh, of course, how could I forget? Lebanon is an Arab country...who needs to protect the Arabs? It's the Arabs that are destroying infrastructure, and slaughtering innocents. Yes, that's right. So, let's forget about them, and concentrate on protecting Israel. The land of democracy, and equality and a policy of non-violence.
I think I'm going to be sick!
His comments were dismissed by Malaysia, which, along with Indonesia, has a Muslim majority population.
"We're going to be on Lebanese territory ... We're not going to be on Israeli territory," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said.
Exactly!
Where is the Lebanese Government? Do they not have a say in what troops are stationed on Lebanese soil??
And you know the worst thing? People are going to start saying "Yeeeaahhh...Israel is right! Why DON'T these countries recognise it?" And the worlds attention is going to be distracted from the issue at hand, that is, the protection of a country and its people (I'm talking about Lebanon!), and be shifted to an issue that has nothing whatsoever to do with the situation. An issue, in fact, that has no doubt been raised as a sort of "wolf in sheeps clothing" to allow this violence to continue.
Let's just hope we're not that stupid!
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
What Loyalty Means
There's this guy I know...let's call him "X".
X grew up in America.
His parents are Arab.
He's currently finished his masters from a top US university, and is working as a paralegal in a well-known law firm. He plans to go to law school and then hopefully begin working for the US Government.
Since I've known him, which is about 7 years, X been trying to perfect his Arabic. He speaks it as much as he can, and is always going on about the Arabic food he eats with his parents and the Arabic things they do together. All in all, he proudly tells everyone who will listen that he is ARAB!
Brilliant isn't it?
Well it would be, if it wasnt so hypocritical.
You see, something that I should tell you about X is that he hasnt been to visit his family in the Middle East in a couple of years. His parents are always begging him to go with them and he refuses. In fact, he told me that he will continue to refuse until he finally gets that job with the US Government. Huh? That was my reaction. It could be 10 years before the job even comes up! Why? For what reason? Is it because he's too busy? Apparently not. Too broke? Again, answer in the negative. The reason he refuses to go to the Middle East, the country and area that he so proudly claims lineage to, is because he DOES NOT WANT A TRIP "HOME" TO JEOPARDISE HIS CHANCES OF WORKING FOR THE US GOVERNMENT!!!!! He said that before the US Government employs anyone, they run a complete check. If they found that he had visited the Middle East in the near past, then they would refuse to give him a job. And he accepts this!
Now, call me crazy, but isn't that a little bit hypocritical? So here he is telling the world that he is Arab, even though his accent and mentality are so very American, and yet, he then shys away from the connection for the sake of a job that he might not even get! Is America now putting conditions upon being Arab?? Can he not see that by abiding by this informal rule he is indirectly affirming their beliefs, and the beliefs that they insist on imposing upon the world, that being connected to the Arab world can only mean trouble. If that was him, I would tell them to take their job and shove it where the sun don't shine. How dare they restrict his access to the Arab world by a faint threat of future limitations upon his job choices! America will argue that as a Government employee one's first priority must lie with America. That the safety of America prevails. That by accepting to work for the Government, one has to accept limitations upon rights that one would otherwise have taken for granted. The 'right to travel' must take a back seat to the safety of the USA. This no doubt will include keeping away from 'terrorists', and countries where they come from. Fine, if that's the way they want it, they have every right. But perhaps X should stop and ask himself where his priorities lie. There are plenty of jobs out there, and I for one would prefer a job that paid a little less, if it meant I kept my dignity.
I am disgusted with his attitude to the situation. Will this attitude help the world as it stands? No, it will not. It is an attitude that merely affirms America's place to dictate what the world can or cannot do. X, you should be ashamed of yourself, and I have every intention of telling you this next time we speak. Don't call yourself an Arab, because one of the best traits of Arabs is their loyalty. And you my dear, I'm not even sure if you know what loyalty means!
X grew up in America.
His parents are Arab.
He's currently finished his masters from a top US university, and is working as a paralegal in a well-known law firm. He plans to go to law school and then hopefully begin working for the US Government.
Since I've known him, which is about 7 years, X been trying to perfect his Arabic. He speaks it as much as he can, and is always going on about the Arabic food he eats with his parents and the Arabic things they do together. All in all, he proudly tells everyone who will listen that he is ARAB!
Brilliant isn't it?
Well it would be, if it wasnt so hypocritical.
You see, something that I should tell you about X is that he hasnt been to visit his family in the Middle East in a couple of years. His parents are always begging him to go with them and he refuses. In fact, he told me that he will continue to refuse until he finally gets that job with the US Government. Huh? That was my reaction. It could be 10 years before the job even comes up! Why? For what reason? Is it because he's too busy? Apparently not. Too broke? Again, answer in the negative. The reason he refuses to go to the Middle East, the country and area that he so proudly claims lineage to, is because he DOES NOT WANT A TRIP "HOME" TO JEOPARDISE HIS CHANCES OF WORKING FOR THE US GOVERNMENT!!!!! He said that before the US Government employs anyone, they run a complete check. If they found that he had visited the Middle East in the near past, then they would refuse to give him a job. And he accepts this!
Now, call me crazy, but isn't that a little bit hypocritical? So here he is telling the world that he is Arab, even though his accent and mentality are so very American, and yet, he then shys away from the connection for the sake of a job that he might not even get! Is America now putting conditions upon being Arab?? Can he not see that by abiding by this informal rule he is indirectly affirming their beliefs, and the beliefs that they insist on imposing upon the world, that being connected to the Arab world can only mean trouble. If that was him, I would tell them to take their job and shove it where the sun don't shine. How dare they restrict his access to the Arab world by a faint threat of future limitations upon his job choices! America will argue that as a Government employee one's first priority must lie with America. That the safety of America prevails. That by accepting to work for the Government, one has to accept limitations upon rights that one would otherwise have taken for granted. The 'right to travel' must take a back seat to the safety of the USA. This no doubt will include keeping away from 'terrorists', and countries where they come from. Fine, if that's the way they want it, they have every right. But perhaps X should stop and ask himself where his priorities lie. There are plenty of jobs out there, and I for one would prefer a job that paid a little less, if it meant I kept my dignity.
I am disgusted with his attitude to the situation. Will this attitude help the world as it stands? No, it will not. It is an attitude that merely affirms America's place to dictate what the world can or cannot do. X, you should be ashamed of yourself, and I have every intention of telling you this next time we speak. Don't call yourself an Arab, because one of the best traits of Arabs is their loyalty. And you my dear, I'm not even sure if you know what loyalty means!
Monday, August 14, 2006
noone, not even the rain
ee cummings once said
"We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit."
Tonight I don't want to think of war. Tonight I don't want to think of pain, and sadness, and hunger and death. I don't want to think of statutes, and cases, and neverending notes. I just want to sit and enjoy the silence. I think tonight of what Oscar Wilde once said, that "Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace." Yes, tonight I want to read something, not because I have to, nor because it will afford me any tangible benefit; But, just for its own sake. For its beauty, and its poetry, and its simplicity and truth. To appreciate it. To sink slowly into its soft sweet rivers of emotion, and feel the shivers run down my spine. The aftertaste of its meaning lingering upon my tongue, the scent of its words clinging to my skin. I'm so sick of objectivity, impartiality and sensibility!
some ee cummings...
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skillfully,mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands
"We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit."
Tonight I don't want to think of war. Tonight I don't want to think of pain, and sadness, and hunger and death. I don't want to think of statutes, and cases, and neverending notes. I just want to sit and enjoy the silence. I think tonight of what Oscar Wilde once said, that "Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace." Yes, tonight I want to read something, not because I have to, nor because it will afford me any tangible benefit; But, just for its own sake. For its beauty, and its poetry, and its simplicity and truth. To appreciate it. To sink slowly into its soft sweet rivers of emotion, and feel the shivers run down my spine. The aftertaste of its meaning lingering upon my tongue, the scent of its words clinging to my skin. I'm so sick of objectivity, impartiality and sensibility!
some ee cummings...
somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skillfully,mysteriously)her first rose
or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Stupid War, and Stupid Exams!
I cannot wait for these exams to be over. Just so I can put my time and energy into something I actually think is worthwhile. That is, the ending of the atrocities being waged on the Arab world today. I am not naive enough to think that my actions alone can put an end to the madness, but I'll tell you this much, I have to try and do something.
Lubna Hussein claims that "Justice Is Dead; At Least If You're Born An Arab." Click here to read her excellent article.
Exams start in just 7 days. One minute I'm worried, the next I'm as cool as a cucumber. Although last week I did have a dream that I went into the Company Law exam unprepared. She kept calling my name to come up and sit the exam, and I kept asking for a little more time as I frantically scribbled down the last of my notes. In the end she cancelled the whole exam because I had held everyone else up with my time-stalling antics. Ah well, its inevitable isnt it that my subconscious fears will manifest themselves in my dreams. What really annoys me is the fact that as a student you're supposed to memorise case after case after case. Show me ONE lawyer that will advise his client or present a case to the court without consulting his case books, and I will show you a pig that can fly! It just isnt done, and personally I think it's stupid to think that as students we should be measured by our abilities to commit to memory facts which are written down in a million and one text books. We're people, not machines. Education is not, and should not, be measured by our ability to recite facts and information. Computers can do this; are they educated? I sure as hell am not going to go in there and reel out the cases. I refuse to. I'm actually going to try and put some insight into my answers. Which is probably not what they're looking for, but I really don't care at this stage. I'm just going to go in there and answer the questions. Why should there be only one way to do something? Let's do it my way shall we? :) [as I type I know that such an attitude will probably only lead to failure in the stiflingly traditional arena that is our legal education. The question remains, will I eventually cave and resort to the tried and tested methods of answering?]
I personally don't even think that we should have exams anyhow. But then, that could just be my bias talking, as Im going to have to go in there in a week and sit those very exams whose usefulness I'm currently questioning! I'd better get back to the books as to be honest, none of the examiners are going to give a crap about what I have to say about the said exams, and I'm really just wasting my time here. Later.
Lubna Hussein claims that "Justice Is Dead; At Least If You're Born An Arab." Click here to read her excellent article.
Exams start in just 7 days. One minute I'm worried, the next I'm as cool as a cucumber. Although last week I did have a dream that I went into the Company Law exam unprepared. She kept calling my name to come up and sit the exam, and I kept asking for a little more time as I frantically scribbled down the last of my notes. In the end she cancelled the whole exam because I had held everyone else up with my time-stalling antics. Ah well, its inevitable isnt it that my subconscious fears will manifest themselves in my dreams. What really annoys me is the fact that as a student you're supposed to memorise case after case after case. Show me ONE lawyer that will advise his client or present a case to the court without consulting his case books, and I will show you a pig that can fly! It just isnt done, and personally I think it's stupid to think that as students we should be measured by our abilities to commit to memory facts which are written down in a million and one text books. We're people, not machines. Education is not, and should not, be measured by our ability to recite facts and information. Computers can do this; are they educated? I sure as hell am not going to go in there and reel out the cases. I refuse to. I'm actually going to try and put some insight into my answers. Which is probably not what they're looking for, but I really don't care at this stage. I'm just going to go in there and answer the questions. Why should there be only one way to do something? Let's do it my way shall we? :) [as I type I know that such an attitude will probably only lead to failure in the stiflingly traditional arena that is our legal education. The question remains, will I eventually cave and resort to the tried and tested methods of answering?]
I personally don't even think that we should have exams anyhow. But then, that could just be my bias talking, as Im going to have to go in there in a week and sit those very exams whose usefulness I'm currently questioning! I'd better get back to the books as to be honest, none of the examiners are going to give a crap about what I have to say about the said exams, and I'm really just wasting my time here. Later.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
A Tyranny Approved By Conscience...
It was Lewis who once said:
"Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive...Those who torment us for our own good, will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
"Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive...Those who torment us for our own good, will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
Friday, August 11, 2006
Thursday, August 10, 2006
A Sad State Of Freedom
A SAD STATE OF FREEDOM
You waste the attention of your eyes,
the glittering labour of your hands,
and knead the dough enough for dozens of loaves
of which you'll taste not a morsel;
you are free to slave for others-
you are free to make the rich richer.
The moment you're born
they plant around you
mills that grind lies
lies to last you a lifetime.
You keep thinking in your great freedom
a finger on your temple
free to have a free conscience.
Your head bent as if half-cut from the nape,
your arms long, hanging,
your saunter about in your great freedom:
you're free
with the freedom of being unemployed.
You love your country
as the nearest, most precious thing to you.
But one day, for example,
they may endorse it over to America,
and you, too, with your great freedom-
you have the freedom to become an air-base.
You may proclaim that one must live
not as a tool, a number or a link
but as a human being-
then at once they handcuff your wrists.
You are free to be arrested, imprisoned
and even hanged.
There's neither an iron, wooden
nor a tulle curtain
in your life;
there's no need to choose freedom:
you are free.
But this kind of freedom
is a sad affair under the stars.
Nazim Hikmet
Translated by Taner Baybars
You waste the attention of your eyes,
the glittering labour of your hands,
and knead the dough enough for dozens of loaves
of which you'll taste not a morsel;
you are free to slave for others-
you are free to make the rich richer.
The moment you're born
they plant around you
mills that grind lies
lies to last you a lifetime.
You keep thinking in your great freedom
a finger on your temple
free to have a free conscience.
Your head bent as if half-cut from the nape,
your arms long, hanging,
your saunter about in your great freedom:
you're free
with the freedom of being unemployed.
You love your country
as the nearest, most precious thing to you.
But one day, for example,
they may endorse it over to America,
and you, too, with your great freedom-
you have the freedom to become an air-base.
You may proclaim that one must live
not as a tool, a number or a link
but as a human being-
then at once they handcuff your wrists.
You are free to be arrested, imprisoned
and even hanged.
There's neither an iron, wooden
nor a tulle curtain
in your life;
there's no need to choose freedom:
you are free.
But this kind of freedom
is a sad affair under the stars.
Nazim Hikmet
Translated by Taner Baybars
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Let The People Speak
Sri Chinmoy said
The madness of this world
Cannot be conquered
By the sadness or the power
Of the world,
But only by the oneness
Of the world – hearts
He also said
Anger says:
"I can destroy
The whole world."
Peace says:
"Not when I work
Inside you.
Can words really help the children who are being blown to pieces? Whose dreams and hopes for their futures are shattered by the pressing of a button in a tank not far away. The little girls who one day dreamt of getting married, having children; who dressed their dolls and made make-believe tea. The little boys who dreamt of growing up to be like their father; who played football outside their homes, their biggest problem being that their team didnt win that day.
All those dreams gone. Those innocent smiles wiped away. Their small hands in death still reaching outwards for their mothers hands. A mother who probably died clutching her child to her breast, trying to protect him or her from the bullets raining down upon them.
It's a sad day for the world that we can just sit by and let this go on. That with all our claims of being compassionate, of being civilised, of being the protectors of Human Rights, we accept that this is happening and choose not to do anything.
And yet, what can be done? If the majority of the worlds people are opposed to this, if most countries proudly call themselves democratic, then surely it should be the will of the people that reigns supreme. Is that not the essence of democracy? Or is democracy only democracy when its convenient for it to be so? There is nothing democratic about using the blood of children to stain the roads red. I say ask the people. Ask them if they want this war to continue. Listen to the people and hear what they say. If you can show me a majority of the world that supports this violence, then and only then can you show me a war that has been waged democratically.
The madness of this world
Cannot be conquered
By the sadness or the power
Of the world,
But only by the oneness
Of the world – hearts
He also said
Anger says:
"I can destroy
The whole world."
Peace says:
"Not when I work
Inside you.
Can words really help the children who are being blown to pieces? Whose dreams and hopes for their futures are shattered by the pressing of a button in a tank not far away. The little girls who one day dreamt of getting married, having children; who dressed their dolls and made make-believe tea. The little boys who dreamt of growing up to be like their father; who played football outside their homes, their biggest problem being that their team didnt win that day.
All those dreams gone. Those innocent smiles wiped away. Their small hands in death still reaching outwards for their mothers hands. A mother who probably died clutching her child to her breast, trying to protect him or her from the bullets raining down upon them.
It's a sad day for the world that we can just sit by and let this go on. That with all our claims of being compassionate, of being civilised, of being the protectors of Human Rights, we accept that this is happening and choose not to do anything.
And yet, what can be done? If the majority of the worlds people are opposed to this, if most countries proudly call themselves democratic, then surely it should be the will of the people that reigns supreme. Is that not the essence of democracy? Or is democracy only democracy when its convenient for it to be so? There is nothing democratic about using the blood of children to stain the roads red. I say ask the people. Ask them if they want this war to continue. Listen to the people and hear what they say. If you can show me a majority of the world that supports this violence, then and only then can you show me a war that has been waged democratically.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
On A Bright Orange Post-It On My Wall...
Written on a bright orange post it, stuck on the wall above my study desk, is something that my sister Dana wrote for me last year during my finals. It’s a little rhyme that has successfully proved to be a motivating influence on me when it comes to my studying. “A day at the books, Instead of on looks, Will not lead to ponour, But a first class honours!” Granted she made up the word ‘ponour’ to get something to rhyme with ‘honour’, but I’ll tell you this much, that word has taken on a whole meaning of its own. It’s a perfect description for so many different emotions, situations and outcomes, that to be honest I’m even thinking of submitting it to Websters for next years edition! I never used to need any sort of motivation. Believe it or not, I used to have no problems when it came to sitting down at the books. In fact, when I was younger, I was known throughout my school as “The Genius”. I think that from the ages of 5 to 15, anything less than a 95 was considered tragically bad! I got a final year mark of 100% in 8th grade Maths. A teacher once pulled me aside and said “Zena, I don’t believe that any student should be given 100%. So, even though you have gotten full marks in all the exams throughout the year, I’m going to give you a 98%”. Understandably, I didn’t really have many friends at that point. When you’re 14 and you’re answering all the questions in class, getting top marks in all exams, every teachers pet, and even helping some teachers correct the classes exams, you’re not very high on the popularity stakes. Nevertheless, for reasons completely unconnected to my floundering popularity, I changed schools at 15 and suddenly the strangest thing happened. I began to be embarrassed by my high grades. Other things started to creep up the priority ladder. Fast forward 7 years and Dana has to start writing poetry to get me to actually sit down and study! Go figure! You see, last year during my finals, I had taken to writing poetry instead of studying. Come to think of it, I had taken to a lot of things instead of studying. One day Dan decided to lay down a study programme for me. Apparently, in one day I was supposed to get done what I would have probably taken a week to get around to doing. If I remember correctly I laughed out loud. I did get started on it; but that was about it. You see, it was very hard to explain to her that in Law, there’s no such thing as the “right answer”. There’s no such thing as being “finished” studying! No matter how much you read, there’s always so much more reading that you can do. It’s literally never ending! A friend of mine had a nervous breakdown because quite simply, the more that she did, the more she realised she had to do! Half the battle of Law is won by being able to adequately utilise your power of BS-ing, and by being able to portray the illusion that you know what you’re talking about. That’s how a lot of people got through it. In fact, judging by how much work I did at the beginning of the course, I’m pretty sure that’s how I got through first year. And second year if we’re being honest here! And between us, my ability to BS was nowhere near as good as it is now. The problem with me is that I know that I could have gotten a first class honours if I wanted to. I knew that if I sat down and did the work everyday, I could get that first class honours. You see, intelligence is not enough. If you’re intelligent, you can get moderate marks by doing no work. Likewise, if you’re not very intelligent, you can get those marks by studying systematically on a daily basis. I know a lot of not very intelligent people who achieved good marks that way. However, you will never achieve outstanding grades unless you have both intelligence, and the routine of regular study. That, my dear friends, is the sad but true fact. Anyhow, so a half hour later she passes by my room to find me writing poetry, or playing the guitar, or something like that. Rather than lose faith in me, as most would, she decided she just needed to change tactics. Communicate to me in a form that I would pay heed to. And so she wrote a rhyme. And there it stayed, for when I was sitting there churning through the stagnant pool of precendent that is Company law, and when my eyes were closing on those final days of 3am cram sessions. I never did need it for Juris though. Which reinforces my theory that, when you’re doing something you thoroughly enjoy, the only motivation you need comes from within. The post-it has kind of lost its stickiness now, and the orange is slowly but surely getting duller, but that poem is still there. Any time that I think I might do my eyebrows, or straighten my hair, I think of that poem, and I somehow manage to get a little bit more done! Thank you Dana.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
How Can We Stand By And Allow This To Go On?
Robert Fisk: 'How can we stand by and allow this to go on?'
Published: 31 July 2006
They wrote the names of the dead children on their plastic shrouds. " Mehdi Hashem, aged seven Qana," was written in felt pen on the bag in which the little boy's body lay. "Hussein al-Mohamed, aged 12 Qana", "Abbas al-Shalhoub, aged one Qana.'' And when the Lebanese soldier went to pick up Abbas's little body, it bounced on his shoulder as the boy might have done on his father's shoulder on Saturday. In all, there were 56 corpses brought to the Tyre government hospital and other surgeries, and 34 of them were children. When they ran out of plastic bags, they wrapped the small corpses in carpets. Their hair was matted with dust, most had blood running from their noses.
You must have a heart of stone not to feel the outrage that those of us watching this experienced yesterday. This slaughter was an obscenity, an atrocity yes, if the Israeli air force truly bombs with the " pinpoint accuracy'' it claims, this was also a war crime. Israel claimed that missiles had been fired by Hizbollah gunmen from the south Lebanese town of Qana as if that justified this massacre. Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, talked about "Muslim terror" threatening " western civilisation" as if the Hizbollah had killed all these poor people.
And in Qana, of all places. For only 10 years ago, this was the scene of another Israeli massacre, the slaughter of 106 Lebanese refugees by an Israeli artillery battery as they sheltered in a UN base in the town. More than half of those 106 were children. Israel later said it had no live-time pilotless photo-reconnaissance aircraft over the scene of that killing a statement that turned out to be untrue when The Independent discovered videotape showing just such an aircraft over the burning camp. It is as if Qana whose inhabitants claim that this was the village in which Jesus turned water into wine has been damned by the world, doomed forever to receive tragedy.
And there was no doubt of the missile which killed all those children yesterday. It came from the United States, and upon a fragment of it was written: "For use on MK-84 Guided Bomb BSU-37-B". No doubt the manufacturers can call it "combat-proven" because it destroyed the entire three-storey house in which the Shalhoub and Hashim families lived. They had taken refuge in the basement from an enormous Israeli bombardment, and that is where most of them died.
I found Nejwah Shalhoub lying in the government hospital in Tyre, her jaw and face bandaged like Robespierre's before his execution. She did not weep, nor did she scream, although the pain was written on her face. Her brother Taisir, who was 46, had been killed. So had her sister Najla. So had her little niece Zeinab, who was just six. "We were in the basement hiding when the bomb exploded at one o'clock in the morning,'' she said. "What in the name of God have we done to deserve this? So many of the dead are children, the old, women. Some of the children were still awake and playing. Why does the world do this to us?"
Yesterday's deaths brought to more than 500 the total civilian dead in Lebanon since Israel's air, sea and land bombardment of the country began on 12 July after Hizbollah members crossed the frontier wire, killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others. But yesterday's slaughter ended more than a year of mutual antagonism within the Lebanese government as pro-American and pro-Syrian politicians denounced what they described as " an ugly crime".
Thousands of protesters attacked the largest United Nations building in Beirut, screaming: "Destroy Tel Aviv, destroy Tel Aviv," and Lebanon's Prime Minister, the normally unflappable Fouad Siniora, called US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ordered her to cancel her imminent peace-making trip to Beirut.
No one in this country can forget how President George Bush, Ms Rice, and Tony Blair have repeatedly refused to call for an immediate ceasefire a truce that would have saved all those lives yesterday. Ms Rice would say only: "We want a ceasefire as soon as possible,'' a remark followed by an Israeli announcement that it intended to maintain its bombardment of Lebanon for at least another two weeks.
Throughout the day, Qana villagers and civil defence workers dug through the ruins of the building with spades and with their hands, tearing at the muck until they found one body after another still dressed in colourful clothes. In one section of the rubble, they found what was left of a single room with 18 bodies inside. Twelve of the dead were women. All across southern Lebanon now, you find scenes like this, not so grotesque in scale, perhaps, but just as terrible, for the people of these villages are terrified to leave and terrified to stay. The Israelis had dropped leaflets over Qana, ordering its people to leave their homes. Yet twice now since Israel's onslaught began, the Israelis have ordered villagers to leave their houses and then attacked them with aircraft as they obeyed the Israeli instructions and fled. There are at least 3,000 Shia Muslims trapped in villages between Qlaya and Aiteroun close to the scene of Israel's last military incursion at Bint Jbeil and yet none of them can leave without fear of dying on the roads.
And Mr Olmert's reaction? After expressing his "great sorrow", he announced that: "We will not stop this battle, despite the difficult incidents [sic] this morning. We will continue the activity, and if necessary it will be broadened without hesitation." But how much further can it be broadened? Lebanon's infrastructure is being steadily torn to pieces, its villages razed, its people more and more terrorised and terror is the word they used by Israel's American-made fighter bombers. Hizbollah's missiles are Iranian-made, and it was Hizbollah that started this war with its illegal and provocative raid across the border. But Israel's savagery against the civilian population has deeply shocked not only the Western diplomats who have remained in Beirut, but hundreds of humanitarian workers from the Red Cross and major aid agencies.
Incredibly, Israel yesterday denied safe passage to a UN World Food Programme aid convoy en route to the south, a six-truck mission that should have taken relief supplies to the south-eastern town of Marjayoun. More than three quarters of a million Lebanese have now fled their homes, but there is still no accurate figure for the total number still trapped in the south. Khalil Shalhoub, who survived amid the wreckage in Qana yesterday, said that his family and the Hashims were just too "terrified" to take the road out of the village, which has been attacked by aircraft for more than two weeks. The seven-mile highway between Qana and Tyre is littered with civilian homes in ruins and burnt-out family cars. On Thursday, the Israeli Army's Al-Mashriq radio, which broadcasts into southern Lebanon, told residents that their villages would be "totally destroyed" if missiles were fired from them. But anyone who has watched Israel's bombing these past two weeks knows that, in many cases, the Israelis do not know the location in which the Hizbollah are firing missiles, and when they do they frequently miss their targets. How can a villager prevent the Hizbollah from firing rockets from his street? The Hizbollah do take cover beside civilian houses just as Israeli troops entering Bint Jbeil last week also used civilian homes for cover. But can this be the excuse for slaughter on such a scale?
Mr Siniora addressed foreign diplomats in Beirut yesterday, telling them that the government in Beirut was now only demanding an immediate ceasefire and was not interested any longer in a political package to go with it. Needless to say, Mr Jeffrey Feltman, whose country made the bomb which killed the innocents of Qana yesterday, chose not to attend.
Published: 31 July 2006
They wrote the names of the dead children on their plastic shrouds. " Mehdi Hashem, aged seven Qana," was written in felt pen on the bag in which the little boy's body lay. "Hussein al-Mohamed, aged 12 Qana", "Abbas al-Shalhoub, aged one Qana.'' And when the Lebanese soldier went to pick up Abbas's little body, it bounced on his shoulder as the boy might have done on his father's shoulder on Saturday. In all, there were 56 corpses brought to the Tyre government hospital and other surgeries, and 34 of them were children. When they ran out of plastic bags, they wrapped the small corpses in carpets. Their hair was matted with dust, most had blood running from their noses.
You must have a heart of stone not to feel the outrage that those of us watching this experienced yesterday. This slaughter was an obscenity, an atrocity yes, if the Israeli air force truly bombs with the " pinpoint accuracy'' it claims, this was also a war crime. Israel claimed that missiles had been fired by Hizbollah gunmen from the south Lebanese town of Qana as if that justified this massacre. Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, talked about "Muslim terror" threatening " western civilisation" as if the Hizbollah had killed all these poor people.
And in Qana, of all places. For only 10 years ago, this was the scene of another Israeli massacre, the slaughter of 106 Lebanese refugees by an Israeli artillery battery as they sheltered in a UN base in the town. More than half of those 106 were children. Israel later said it had no live-time pilotless photo-reconnaissance aircraft over the scene of that killing a statement that turned out to be untrue when The Independent discovered videotape showing just such an aircraft over the burning camp. It is as if Qana whose inhabitants claim that this was the village in which Jesus turned water into wine has been damned by the world, doomed forever to receive tragedy.
And there was no doubt of the missile which killed all those children yesterday. It came from the United States, and upon a fragment of it was written: "For use on MK-84 Guided Bomb BSU-37-B". No doubt the manufacturers can call it "combat-proven" because it destroyed the entire three-storey house in which the Shalhoub and Hashim families lived. They had taken refuge in the basement from an enormous Israeli bombardment, and that is where most of them died.
I found Nejwah Shalhoub lying in the government hospital in Tyre, her jaw and face bandaged like Robespierre's before his execution. She did not weep, nor did she scream, although the pain was written on her face. Her brother Taisir, who was 46, had been killed. So had her sister Najla. So had her little niece Zeinab, who was just six. "We were in the basement hiding when the bomb exploded at one o'clock in the morning,'' she said. "What in the name of God have we done to deserve this? So many of the dead are children, the old, women. Some of the children were still awake and playing. Why does the world do this to us?"
Yesterday's deaths brought to more than 500 the total civilian dead in Lebanon since Israel's air, sea and land bombardment of the country began on 12 July after Hizbollah members crossed the frontier wire, killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two others. But yesterday's slaughter ended more than a year of mutual antagonism within the Lebanese government as pro-American and pro-Syrian politicians denounced what they described as " an ugly crime".
Thousands of protesters attacked the largest United Nations building in Beirut, screaming: "Destroy Tel Aviv, destroy Tel Aviv," and Lebanon's Prime Minister, the normally unflappable Fouad Siniora, called US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ordered her to cancel her imminent peace-making trip to Beirut.
No one in this country can forget how President George Bush, Ms Rice, and Tony Blair have repeatedly refused to call for an immediate ceasefire a truce that would have saved all those lives yesterday. Ms Rice would say only: "We want a ceasefire as soon as possible,'' a remark followed by an Israeli announcement that it intended to maintain its bombardment of Lebanon for at least another two weeks.
Throughout the day, Qana villagers and civil defence workers dug through the ruins of the building with spades and with their hands, tearing at the muck until they found one body after another still dressed in colourful clothes. In one section of the rubble, they found what was left of a single room with 18 bodies inside. Twelve of the dead were women. All across southern Lebanon now, you find scenes like this, not so grotesque in scale, perhaps, but just as terrible, for the people of these villages are terrified to leave and terrified to stay. The Israelis had dropped leaflets over Qana, ordering its people to leave their homes. Yet twice now since Israel's onslaught began, the Israelis have ordered villagers to leave their houses and then attacked them with aircraft as they obeyed the Israeli instructions and fled. There are at least 3,000 Shia Muslims trapped in villages between Qlaya and Aiteroun close to the scene of Israel's last military incursion at Bint Jbeil and yet none of them can leave without fear of dying on the roads.
And Mr Olmert's reaction? After expressing his "great sorrow", he announced that: "We will not stop this battle, despite the difficult incidents [sic] this morning. We will continue the activity, and if necessary it will be broadened without hesitation." But how much further can it be broadened? Lebanon's infrastructure is being steadily torn to pieces, its villages razed, its people more and more terrorised and terror is the word they used by Israel's American-made fighter bombers. Hizbollah's missiles are Iranian-made, and it was Hizbollah that started this war with its illegal and provocative raid across the border. But Israel's savagery against the civilian population has deeply shocked not only the Western diplomats who have remained in Beirut, but hundreds of humanitarian workers from the Red Cross and major aid agencies.
Incredibly, Israel yesterday denied safe passage to a UN World Food Programme aid convoy en route to the south, a six-truck mission that should have taken relief supplies to the south-eastern town of Marjayoun. More than three quarters of a million Lebanese have now fled their homes, but there is still no accurate figure for the total number still trapped in the south. Khalil Shalhoub, who survived amid the wreckage in Qana yesterday, said that his family and the Hashims were just too "terrified" to take the road out of the village, which has been attacked by aircraft for more than two weeks. The seven-mile highway between Qana and Tyre is littered with civilian homes in ruins and burnt-out family cars. On Thursday, the Israeli Army's Al-Mashriq radio, which broadcasts into southern Lebanon, told residents that their villages would be "totally destroyed" if missiles were fired from them. But anyone who has watched Israel's bombing these past two weeks knows that, in many cases, the Israelis do not know the location in which the Hizbollah are firing missiles, and when they do they frequently miss their targets. How can a villager prevent the Hizbollah from firing rockets from his street? The Hizbollah do take cover beside civilian houses just as Israeli troops entering Bint Jbeil last week also used civilian homes for cover. But can this be the excuse for slaughter on such a scale?
Mr Siniora addressed foreign diplomats in Beirut yesterday, telling them that the government in Beirut was now only demanding an immediate ceasefire and was not interested any longer in a political package to go with it. Needless to say, Mr Jeffrey Feltman, whose country made the bomb which killed the innocents of Qana yesterday, chose not to attend.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Justice Fatty?
I think its safe to say that you've been studying that little bit too hard when you start dreaming about a well known Judge!!
Justice Carney was walking towards me, and I said, oh there's Justice Fatty! And he said, "Did you just call me Fatty?". I answered, "Oh no, I said there goes Justice Carney. I said Carney!"
I think it'll be a good thing when these exams are over!
Justice Carney was walking towards me, and I said, oh there's Justice Fatty! And he said, "Did you just call me Fatty?". I answered, "Oh no, I said there goes Justice Carney. I said Carney!"
I think it'll be a good thing when these exams are over!
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
My Darling Bimbo
I was 16 years old when I got the chicken pox. In fact, I had to do my O'Levels in a room all on my own because I had them at the time. Needless to say, it wasn't that great a time. I was thinking today, and my thoughts wandered to a time back then when I was feeling at my most, shall we say, unattractive? One night laying in bed I remember how disgusting I felt, how spotty and ugly and horrible I was feeling, how I felt that noone would ever want to be anywhere near me. And as is usually the case in these kind of circumstances, I wasn't able to see the end of my chicken-pox ANYWHERE on the horizon. My cat Bimbo was laying on my pillow next to me that night; my spotty, calamine-lotion covered body disgusting even myself. I remember closing my eyes with the weariness of it all, when all of a sudden, for the first time and probably the last time, Bimbo leaned over and gently placed her forehead against mine; As if to say "Don't worry Zena, I don't think you're disgusting, and I will always want to be near you."
It still makes my heart melt thinking about it.
And some people don't like cats!!
It still makes my heart melt thinking about it.
And some people don't like cats!!
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