Hamas : Identified

December 12, 2008.
Death roll hits close to 300.

They say they are targeting Hamas. Apparently, Hamas looks like this now:

And Israel announced......this is just the beginning.

"Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) will deepen and widen its offensive in the Gaza Strip as much as needed...The Israeli minister explained "there is a time for cease-fires and a time to fight, and now is the time to fight."

Welcome to Palestine

Hundreds of bodies lay sprawled across the burning streets. Blood lines the sidewalks, decorated by the various trinkets that were once a part of someones existence. Body parts are scattered, like litter. As men walk over the bodies, they help the ones that are closer to life. Those who survived the attacks. I never thought men could cry in such agonizing pain, I thought to myself as a man fell to his knees in blood-curdling screams yelling at the sight of the disaster. Could that be his brother he is standing over? Tears swelled in my eyes as I watched the most beautiful baby girl with a mass of blond curls whimpering as she takes her last breath of air on a makeshift hospital bed. Her little hands clung to her purple coat, limp and helpless. Where is her mother? I thought to myself. I couldn't shake the feeling that the sounds of sirens, wailing, and blasts in the background were the last sounds of life to this little girl. Probably sounds filled her life, as well.

This is genocide. Welcome to Palestine.

December 27, 2008 Israel attacks Gaza, Palestine and kills at least 225 men, women and children and injures 750 others. In one day. Bloodiest day since 1967.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the operation to "obliterate Hamas will continue as long as it takes". To "obliterate" Hamas, meaning, destroying every dying thread left in the war grounds known as Palestine. Release 30 missiles and wipe out families, homes, schools, hospitals (or at least what is LEFT of these), to find and demolish Hamas.
When will it stop? The people of Palestine have no where to turn to - literally. The wounded could barely get medical attention.
"We lack everything, we lack medical equipment, we lack anesthesia, we lack bandages, we lack fuel for ambulance vehicles, we lack medicine, everything," cries Muawiyah Hassanein head of Gaza's Ambulance and Emergency Department. U.S.-supplied high technology Israeli weaponry versus poorly-funded, underdeveloped Hamas artillery.

The 100 tons of bombs came mid-morning, when all schools and offices were up and running with children and their working families. Not the typical night attacks that Palestine is used to. Strategic move.
This is genocide.

And the global reaction? Condemnation. A word. A slap on the wrist. Their Arab neighbors watched in shock and horror and "condemned" Israel for such a horrific act. Really, to save the 6-six year old dying girl who is being carried miles down because there are no available or working ambulances, she's going to need a little more than your disapproval, fellow Arabs.

Here are a few of these reactions (obtained from The Saudi Gazette):
"President Abbas demands that the Israeli government stop this aggression immediately to spare our people its painful effects.." Aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
"Egypt condemns the Israeli military attacks.." Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak
"...Whilst we understand the Israeli government's obligation to protect its population we urge maximum restraint to avoid further civilian casualties. We also call on militants in the Gaza Strip to immediately cease all rocket attacks on Israel" British foreign office
"...The raids against innocent people are unforgivable and unacceptable" Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman
"We are very concerned at the events in Gaza. We call for an immediate ceasefire.." Spokesman for EU foreign policy chief
"The IDF will continue its operations against terror in accordance with constant status assessments by the IDF Chief of General Staff. This operation will be continued, expanded and intensified as much as required" Israeli Defense Force statement


The Arab community is so afraid of their political future and relations with the West, a simple "bad, bad, Israel" will have to suffice. The West, obviously with very strong Israel ties, did not call for an end to the attacks. They did however call for Hamas to stop their attacks. Never once did they mention the hundreds of civilians lining the streets of the slaugther house of Palestine. "Hamas' continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop...The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza," in a statement made by White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.



They have absolutely no one. Arab world, gone. Muslim world, no where to be found. The United Nations? Forget about it. The United States? Yea, right.

This is genocide.

It baffles me how a people could be ignored for so long? They are forced to leave a land that has been their home for centuries. They are protecting their religious site, the third Holy site of Islam - Al Aqsa Mosque. It is the responsibility of the Muslim world to help. Where is the action? Words cannot save.

Their lives are destroyed. With no medical care, little food, and no protection, they are forced to escape into bordering countries, primarily Egypt and Jordan. Once there, they are subject to the ill-mannered treatment of unwanted refugees, again finding it difficult to integrate into society and access public services (i.e. hospitals etc). Living in constant fear and struggle.

Sometimes I believe that this is the fate of the Palestinian people. They've been fighting for thousands of years. In 608 B.C. Palestine was attacked by an Egyptian force under the Pharaoh and in 597 B.C. the city was invested and fell victim to a severe famine. Then another wave of struggle was brought on by the rebellion of King Zedekiah.

This is genocide. And right now, God is their only hope.

The shoe felt across the world

It was as if the ENTIRE world was watching the same joke in different languages. Versions of what happened were recreated, videos posted, jokes passed around. Protesters riled the streets chanting the victory of a hero.
On the 14th of December, 2008, the President of the United States George W. Bush got not one, but two shoes hurled at him during a press conference in Iraq.

Just as fast as George Dubyah ducked, the world turned into a frenzy of emotions.

From Malaysia's foreign minister calling it the "best show of retaliation so far..that remarkable reporter who gave President bush his final farewell last week" and adding that it was "the best weapon of mass destruction to the leader who coined the phrase 'axis of evil' to denote Iran, Iraq, and North Korea"
... to media sources in North Korea saying he "deserved it" and "likened his demeanor to a cock soaked in the rain" (aligned with a Korean proverb);
.. to a more grassroots reaction of thousands of protesters in countries like Pakistan and Iraq,
...to an Egyptian man even offering his 20-year-old daughter as a wife to the 28-year-old Iraqi journalist known as Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the shoe throw was symbolic.

In the Arab world to reference a shoe as an insult to someone is probably one of the most disrespectful forms of expression. "Adeek bil gazma" literally meaning "I'll give it to you with a shoe," is just what al-Zeidi did to the U.S. Commander in Chief.

The incident ignited such a powerful global reaction, I can't help but feel a little pity towards the man who is now by far the most hated man in the world. The crazy part is, he knows it, too.

An official portrait of the U.S. president was unveiled in the Washington D.C. National Gallery today to which he jokingly remarked: ""I suspected there would be a good-sized crowd, once word got out about my hanging."

He has no idea.

Within hours of the press conference, gamers went to work and now there are several dozens different websites launched where the avid shoe thrower can go and actually try his or her luck at hitting President Bush: http://kroma.no/2008/bushgame, http://www.sockandawe.com, and flash.vg.no/grafikk/bush/kast_sko.html to name a few.

There was also a wide reaction of not-so-pleased audience members who think the shoe throwing incident was disrespectful and unnecessary. Now, I can understand where these feelings come from. You have an official visiting your country, it would be proper to act in a civilized way so as not to create a scene, start a negative chain of events, things of that sort - basic courtesy and common sense - I mean I would never do such a thing. The possibility of spending 15 years in prison? I think I'll pass.

..However...

being responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, displacing thousands more, creating a surge of fear and constant anxiety across the globe, that beats disrespect. I'm not speaking on behalf of al-Zeidi , but I can imagine that he, along with many many other Iraqis (and other nationalities for that matter) was just fed up, angry, and washed out with the turmoil that his country has been through for the past 4 years. And then seeing you there, Mr. President, standing in front of him claiming "the war is not over, yet" "peace is still to come" - empty words to a man who has probably seen family and friends killed or disappear, it's just not a very common sense or logical moment in time. He just flipped and threw his shoes at your head calling you a dog.

Not very classy and not very tactful and he's probably going to pay the price (if he hasn't already). But I think in order to understand why the shoe left his feet and almost landed on George Bush's face, you must put yourself in al Zeidi's place.

By far on the list of my "Oh my God! 2008 moments" (Coming soon)

Under the veil of racism

Racism is a complex and ugly concept that one usually associates with the trying times of African American slavery in the early 1900s. It comes as a shock to many people, especially to my peers in the United States, when I mention that a certain level of racial discrimantion exists, pretty strongly, in the Arab world. A few have said to me: "but how come? Arabs aren't really white, so they can't really be racist." Oh, but they can. See, they're not black.

I can't put my finger on when it was exactly that I realized my being black made me stand out from amongst my Arab friends through middle and high school. I fondly remember an incident in 1991 living in the harsh winterland of Helsinki, Finland. My family was most definitly a striking difference to the regular Finnish blond haired blue eyed, fair-skinned family. We were riding on the bus heading into town. My father is on the dark end of the "color spectrum" (I say color spectrum, because its significance will be later explained in this post). A little Finnish girl gazed up at this dark man with her bright blue eyes and courageously rubbed my father's arm. She inquisitvely looked at her hand, in pure amazement that the "black" did not rub off.

It wasn't that moment, though.

There was this time, when, in high school, I was sitting with a group of my friends in the hallway. One of the boys, a regular jokester, made a very loud, very funny comment, apparently, saying to me: "Noon, what do YOU know? You're a maid, anyways!" Abda was the word he used. Technically meaning, a slave, referring to Black slaves. The laughter that vibrated across the hallway was strange. It wasn't the attacking, intending to hurt ME. It was that the joke was just sincerely FUNNY to these people. That's where the prejudice is a little different. It's just....accepted.

Speaking purely from my experience in Saudi Arabia, now. I don't care what anybody says. Racism exists. It's stench stretches across the Saudi man's disgusted gaze at "the help" - whether it be a Filipino maid, or an Indian driver; it exists on the words of the young boys driving by my car yelling "ya Asmarani!" (a fond way of saying: Hey black one!); it exists in the thousands of commercials emphasizing the beauty of fair skin; it exists in the obsolteness of a darker skinned Arab singer; and through nonchalant abda jokes.

It's funny because it's not a concept Arabs - whether dark skinned or not - really think about or discuss. Or, perhaps, the more correct thing to say is that it is not KNOWN that the issue is being talked about, given widespread integrated media censorship.


I remember two incidents in Lebanon and Egypt in which, upon passing by some locals, something to the effect of: "oh how pretty she is, too bad she's Black" - was shouted towards me. Now, the strange thing is in some cases, like the above, is that these locals were acutally sincere in their comments, and I know to them, its not a matter of racism. It's a matter of preference. Fair skin in the Arab world is historically a sign of beauty. So, as much as I wanted to shout back at the ignorance of random discriminatory messages, I hold myself back because it's a cultural thing. I told myself not to get upset when, oddly enough, Arabs would enthusiastically say "show us a rap!" or "do that new Janet Jackson move!" My response always upset them, yielding a "what kind of a Black person are you anwaysys?" All I could think to myself was - "the kind that's from Sudan."


If we venture past the Middle East into the Black Continent, or Africa, it is quite ironic that you will also come across a different kind of race issues. Speaking particularly on Sudan, now. Sudan - its root "sood" means "black" - so "land of the Black". One would think the racial pride radiating from the "land of the Black" is widespread. However, that is not quite the case. Society places a lot of emphasis on women's beauty, strongly dependent on the lightness of the skin! It is very common to find a Sudanese woman who uses special creams to bleach her skin or uses enormous amounts of makekup to ligthen their complexion creating a clown-like appearance. Even within families, it is quite common to play favorites among the daugthers of lighter complexion, who usually are awarded for their "beauty" by being a hot commodity for marriage. Now, this is not a trend that is characterized in each family in Sudan and, nowadays with the overarching channels of media and the new generation of globalized youngsters, it is not something that is as apparent as the past. But the concept of the "color spectrum" totally exists. You hear it on the old Sudanese women's random comments rambling that "it's fine she's not THAT dark" or "she's fair-skinned; absolutely beautiful!"


There's a fine line between a preference of race and then the outward disrespect. I turned on my TV during the holy month of Ramadan a couple of months ago (September-ish) and, like many ex-patriats living in the region, was surprised at what I was watching. Recently awareness campaigns have taken a step forward and produced several ads like the following:

Translation: “Put it. Don’t you understand me? Put the rice! DAMNIT! Go, get out of my face.”
“What’s wrong with her, doesn’t she understand?”
“She’s abnormal.”

Translation:


Scene 1: "Rahma! Come here! What's wrong with this ironing? Looks horrible, like your face! Just like your work, horrible!"


Scene 2:"Sir, can I get my salary? I haven't gotten my salary for 2 months."

"You're annoying me! I told you, I have no money. You want me to go steal for you or what? There are some people that haven't received their salary for 3 or 4 months!"


Scene 3: "God damn you! Hurry up! Where the hell did you come from anyway?!"


Scene 4: "Excuse me sir, I would like to get your permission to go visit my daughter and check up on her at the hospital."

"What do you mean you would like to be excused? Work is work. After the shift, you can go check on her. Am I responsible for your family as well?"



Scene 5: (text) Those who do not show mercy


"Oh God, show mercy on me, please. Help me, my Lord, I am weak."

(text) Will not be shown mercy.

These "Rahma" ads or "Mercy" ads have just recently been widely circulated across the Middle East. Incidents like the ones presented in the two advertisements, are largely common within the Arab world and are reflective of how some maids and drivers are treated in households. Whether their message has proven effective is hard to tell, however, I strongly beleive that the initiative in producing such strong public service annoucnements is a great first step. The cultural image of race is something that is quite complex. It is quite embedded within society, I don't know if we need a Martin Luther King Jr. to rile up the masses in order to confront the issue or an Erykah Badu to break the mold, but I think that the first step in uncovering the racism that exists in the Arab world would be in not pretending the veil has nothing to hide. Indeed mentalities are difficult and seemingly impossible to change, however, I am enthusiastic to see how the sands of time that blew through the decades of slavery unveiling an African American president, will blow through the deserts of our history, as well.