Thursday, January 29, 2009
Friday, December 19, 2008
President-Elect Obama: We Need a Change in Israel/Palestine Policy
The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is organizing a petition of organizations and individuals to President-Elect Obama calling for a change in U.S. policy toward Palestine/Israel to support human rights, international law, and equality for all. Sign the petition today.
Read and sign the petition by clicking here.
Read and sign the petition by clicking here.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Secret Love (final part)
<<- Continued from here
The gossips: "She's knocked up, she has health problems, she's too short, she's too tall, she is a cold person, he is marrying a whore, he only cares about himself, he thinks he's a foreigner". Jordanians need to get something better to do with their time. I guess on the bright side we are providing them with lots of entertainment.
Some of the valuable advices directed to my fiance:
"Come here and I'll show you a girl who is even better looking than her"
"You have to take the opinions of other people, just like when you buy a car you show the car to other people."
"Just live away from her. Come to Jordan for 2 years, and I am sure you'll forget her. This is what I did and in a month I completely forgot my ex"
Live in Jordan! As if we didn't have our share of long distance!
My mom breaks into tears and says in a shaking voice "I feel sorry for you that things have to be this hard. I am jealous of those who things just work for them".
"I don't feel sorry for myself" I replied "Having him and having experienced love like this completely overshadows the pain that I go through due to the problems. I am a lot luckier than all those people you're jealous of"
My mom didn't think so, but she was touched that I do.
The threats and the rumors are growing out of control, and we don't see an end in sight. At this point, we realized we have to do something, we need to take some control over the situation, otherwise it will just keep escalating backwards. We put a wedding date! One month from today we will be married. Obviously it will be a small wedding. After this, there will be no more stuff to fight about, talk about or be threatened about. It will all be done, and people will just have to make their own choices of whether to attend or not to, and whether to speak to us or not to. (And whether to kill us or not to!). It will be final soon. Waiting is only making things worse.
My dad: 7atitina ta7t el-2amr el-waqe3 (Tu me mets devant le fait accompli!)
Me: I wish we have another choice.
We were in a difficult position. Maybe we didn't handle every detail, every action and every conversation perfectly. But, overall I think we did well. We did our best. We were patient. We explained our position many times.
My parents thought I was making the wrong decision. But, they thought that since I'm insisting, they will have to help me out to get the least possible damage out of it. They decided to attend the wedding. They flew in for the 3 days around my wedding. It was all the support I wanted. It was the first time they get to know my fiance, and the first time they see how well we work together. And they were impressed! If only his parents were here, if only they would give me the chance to get to know me and get to see us together, I'm sure they too will be impressed.
His parents chose to continue the protest. "You can't make us do things we don't agree with. And I don't agree with this marriage"
My fiance replied "I'm not asking you to agree. And I'm not asking you to marry a Muslim. I am the one who is getting married so I am the one who gets to chose. I am only asking you to accept my choices"
Nice shot, but this concept is too foreign anyway.
My fiance's dad urged him (and still does) to talk to a wealthy well-positioned far relative (obviously christian) for advice on this matter. Do we speak gibberish when we say 'It's our choice'? It doesn't make any sense to me to speak to this guy about my life choices because he has some money! Have I been living here for way too long that my mentality is becoming too foreign?
I guess we had a different perspective on the matter; we saw it as our choice. But others saw it as their choice, the extended family's choice and the entire Jordanian population's choice. After all, we are the ones who have to deal with the consequences of our choices, not the whole Jordanian people. I often ask myself why do I love Jordan this much, when Jordan doesn't love me back?
It was a memorable day! Some family and many friends attended the wedding. Our friends realized how special this day was to us and what a bold step we were taking. They threw in several surprises for us on that day. We had had very little time to prepare for it, which gave them a lot to play with. They surprised us with a poster, video taping, photo shooting and speeches. Oh, the wedding speeches were quite touching! You would have to be there.
To this day I get butterflies in my tummy when I look into his eyes. To this day, I find it difficult to say goodbye when I leave him every weekday morning to go to work. I fantasize about the man whom I am already married to.
The gossips: "She's knocked up, she has health problems, she's too short, she's too tall, she is a cold person, he is marrying a whore, he only cares about himself, he thinks he's a foreigner". Jordanians need to get something better to do with their time. I guess on the bright side we are providing them with lots of entertainment.
Some of the valuable advices directed to my fiance:
"Come here and I'll show you a girl who is even better looking than her"
"You have to take the opinions of other people, just like when you buy a car you show the car to other people."
"Just live away from her. Come to Jordan for 2 years, and I am sure you'll forget her. This is what I did and in a month I completely forgot my ex"
Live in Jordan! As if we didn't have our share of long distance!
My mom breaks into tears and says in a shaking voice "I feel sorry for you that things have to be this hard. I am jealous of those who things just work for them".
"I don't feel sorry for myself" I replied "Having him and having experienced love like this completely overshadows the pain that I go through due to the problems. I am a lot luckier than all those people you're jealous of"
My mom didn't think so, but she was touched that I do.
The threats and the rumors are growing out of control, and we don't see an end in sight. At this point, we realized we have to do something, we need to take some control over the situation, otherwise it will just keep escalating backwards. We put a wedding date! One month from today we will be married. Obviously it will be a small wedding. After this, there will be no more stuff to fight about, talk about or be threatened about. It will all be done, and people will just have to make their own choices of whether to attend or not to, and whether to speak to us or not to. (And whether to kill us or not to!). It will be final soon. Waiting is only making things worse.
My dad: 7atitina ta7t el-2amr el-waqe3 (Tu me mets devant le fait accompli!)
Me: I wish we have another choice.
We were in a difficult position. Maybe we didn't handle every detail, every action and every conversation perfectly. But, overall I think we did well. We did our best. We were patient. We explained our position many times.
My parents thought I was making the wrong decision. But, they thought that since I'm insisting, they will have to help me out to get the least possible damage out of it. They decided to attend the wedding. They flew in for the 3 days around my wedding. It was all the support I wanted. It was the first time they get to know my fiance, and the first time they see how well we work together. And they were impressed! If only his parents were here, if only they would give me the chance to get to know me and get to see us together, I'm sure they too will be impressed.
His parents chose to continue the protest. "You can't make us do things we don't agree with. And I don't agree with this marriage"
My fiance replied "I'm not asking you to agree. And I'm not asking you to marry a Muslim. I am the one who is getting married so I am the one who gets to chose. I am only asking you to accept my choices"
Nice shot, but this concept is too foreign anyway.
My fiance's dad urged him (and still does) to talk to a wealthy well-positioned far relative (obviously christian) for advice on this matter. Do we speak gibberish when we say 'It's our choice'? It doesn't make any sense to me to speak to this guy about my life choices because he has some money! Have I been living here for way too long that my mentality is becoming too foreign?
I guess we had a different perspective on the matter; we saw it as our choice. But others saw it as their choice, the extended family's choice and the entire Jordanian population's choice. After all, we are the ones who have to deal with the consequences of our choices, not the whole Jordanian people. I often ask myself why do I love Jordan this much, when Jordan doesn't love me back?
It was a memorable day! Some family and many friends attended the wedding. Our friends realized how special this day was to us and what a bold step we were taking. They threw in several surprises for us on that day. We had had very little time to prepare for it, which gave them a lot to play with. They surprised us with a poster, video taping, photo shooting and speeches. Oh, the wedding speeches were quite touching! You would have to be there.
To this day I get butterflies in my tummy when I look into his eyes. To this day, I find it difficult to say goodbye when I leave him every weekday morning to go to work. I fantasize about the man whom I am already married to.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The Love of War
The federally budgeted military expenditure of the United States Department of Defense for fiscal year 2009 is 515.4 billion. At the same time the U.S Sentate approved a $700 billion financial bailout package.
Here's a thought. Lose the love of war, stop paying the pentagon and start saving the economy.
If saving the economy is not all that interesting, here are other ways to spend 515,400,000,000 other than buying weapons:
- Desalinize enough seawater so all Africans could drink safely until 10,000 AD.
- Cover New Hampshire and Vermont in gold leaf.
- Send everybody from South Ossetia into space.
- Buy 100 McDonald apple pies for every single person in the world.
- Buy 438 pounds of rice for every man, woman and child in Africa.
Here's a thought. Lose the love of war, stop paying the pentagon and start saving the economy.
If saving the economy is not all that interesting, here are other ways to spend 515,400,000,000 other than buying weapons:
- Desalinize enough seawater so all Africans could drink safely until 10,000 AD.
- Cover New Hampshire and Vermont in gold leaf.
- Send everybody from South Ossetia into space.
- Buy 100 McDonald apple pies for every single person in the world.
- Buy 438 pounds of rice for every man, woman and child in Africa.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Conflicting Interests regarding an Economic Recession
The current U.S. economic recession is affecting countries all around the world. There is less spending by U.S. consumers and companies reducing demand for imports from other nations. The drop in the U.S. stock prices is dragging down markets elsewhere, and the crisis of the U.S. subprime-mortgage market has pushed up credit costs worldwide and forced European and Asian banks to write down billions of dollars in holding. A GDP decrease has been confirmed by experts in several countries already. No one knows how long the recession is going to be nor the extent of it. Some economists say it will be as bad and worse than the Great Depression of 1929, and some economists say it will be equivalent to the tech bubble burst in 2000.
John Gray's article talks about not only a US recession, but a US's fall from power. He says that the global financial crisis will see the US falter in the same way the Soviet Union did when Berlin Wall came down. He says it will be the end of the American dominance era. This is not a ridiculous thing to say, if history taught us anything it is that every empire collapses, no exceptions. The only question is when. I, among many others in the world, would be happy to see a more balance in the political powers. I would be quite happy to see China, India and other countries step up and create other powers. As for the war in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other disasters around the world, a balance in world powers can only be beneficial, at least on the long term.
On the other hand, how will a US collapse affect people around the world short term, including me and you. As I mentioned earlier, a US collapse will most definitely cause a recession in so many places, so no matter where we live chances are we will be affected. Unemployment rise, GDP drop, investments shrinking, risk of lay offs, working longer hours to compensate of employees who aren't hired...etc. When I consider my personal life, a risk of a US collapse scares me.
What is it going to be? A recession, a depression or a collapse? Only time will tell, but let me hear your opinions. Also, do you welcome a U.S. collapse?
John Gray's article talks about not only a US recession, but a US's fall from power. He says that the global financial crisis will see the US falter in the same way the Soviet Union did when Berlin Wall came down. He says it will be the end of the American dominance era. This is not a ridiculous thing to say, if history taught us anything it is that every empire collapses, no exceptions. The only question is when. I, among many others in the world, would be happy to see a more balance in the political powers. I would be quite happy to see China, India and other countries step up and create other powers. As for the war in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other disasters around the world, a balance in world powers can only be beneficial, at least on the long term.
On the other hand, how will a US collapse affect people around the world short term, including me and you. As I mentioned earlier, a US collapse will most definitely cause a recession in so many places, so no matter where we live chances are we will be affected. Unemployment rise, GDP drop, investments shrinking, risk of lay offs, working longer hours to compensate of employees who aren't hired...etc. When I consider my personal life, a risk of a US collapse scares me.
What is it going to be? A recession, a depression or a collapse? Only time will tell, but let me hear your opinions. Also, do you welcome a U.S. collapse?
Monday, November 10, 2008
Separate Is Never Equal
I was reading "Separate Is Never Equal: Stories of Apartheid from South Africa to Palestine, Fall 2008 National Tour" on the internet and started wondering how something that sounds so basic to me is actually very disputed.
When it comes to the israeli-palestinian conflict, I am a supporter of a one-state solution. In this solution, arabs and jews live in the same state where the same laws apply to both. They attend the same schools, live in the same neighbourhood, enjoy the same rights, go to the same clubs, same universities and interact with one another all the time. I know there is currently so much hatred between the two, but I think if a one-state solution is implemented the hatred will go with the next generations. And both people will have equal human rights and learn to live together in peace. I realise this is not going to happen, as Israel (the stronger side who currently has the upper hand) wants to be an all-jewish state. Also, israeli's are happy with the status-quo as they are not currently suffering like the palestinians are.
When I discussed this with my relative, who have lived in Palestine, he completely disagreed with me. He pulled out the "Break the bones" video on uTube and said to me "sorry, but I can't live with those people!" I agree the vedio is brutal, but I am still not convinced. I argue people are the same everywhere. There is no such thing as an evil population and a good population. But, there is unchecked power and corrupt politicians. If the israeli soldiers were taught better, this wouldn't have happened. For example, you can't say that the Tutsi in Rwanda who have led a genocide and killed 100,000 Hutus are evil people. An entire nation's people can not be all bad or all good. It's the politics that lead to that, not the individual's genetic composition!
Hence, I say, yes we can live with each other if we try. We are all people in the end.
"Separate is never equal" applies to many other things as well. For example, you can't have different schools for boys and girls and claim equality. If there is equality they would be going to the same schools.
Blacks in north america have fought for a long time to get equal rights including attending same schools. Back then, whites argued that black people have smaller heads and smaller brains and are therefore not capable of attending the schools of normal-headed white people. The other day I was watching Steve Pakin's show where they were discussing new public schools that are to be available only for black people. However, this time the blacks were asking for this. They argued that not enough black history is being taught in public schools, and this will allow them to have their own curriculum where they can learn more about their history. Needless to say, I found this very absurd. Fighting to be separate! I can understand arguing for more black history to be included in the cirriculum for everyone, but I don't understand the separate schools. Unfortunately, it does seem to be something that will be implemented.
When it comes to the israeli-palestinian conflict, I am a supporter of a one-state solution. In this solution, arabs and jews live in the same state where the same laws apply to both. They attend the same schools, live in the same neighbourhood, enjoy the same rights, go to the same clubs, same universities and interact with one another all the time. I know there is currently so much hatred between the two, but I think if a one-state solution is implemented the hatred will go with the next generations. And both people will have equal human rights and learn to live together in peace. I realise this is not going to happen, as Israel (the stronger side who currently has the upper hand) wants to be an all-jewish state. Also, israeli's are happy with the status-quo as they are not currently suffering like the palestinians are.
When I discussed this with my relative, who have lived in Palestine, he completely disagreed with me. He pulled out the "Break the bones" video on uTube and said to me "sorry, but I can't live with those people!" I agree the vedio is brutal, but I am still not convinced. I argue people are the same everywhere. There is no such thing as an evil population and a good population. But, there is unchecked power and corrupt politicians. If the israeli soldiers were taught better, this wouldn't have happened. For example, you can't say that the Tutsi in Rwanda who have led a genocide and killed 100,000 Hutus are evil people. An entire nation's people can not be all bad or all good. It's the politics that lead to that, not the individual's genetic composition!
Hence, I say, yes we can live with each other if we try. We are all people in the end.
"Separate is never equal" applies to many other things as well. For example, you can't have different schools for boys and girls and claim equality. If there is equality they would be going to the same schools.
Blacks in north america have fought for a long time to get equal rights including attending same schools. Back then, whites argued that black people have smaller heads and smaller brains and are therefore not capable of attending the schools of normal-headed white people. The other day I was watching Steve Pakin's show where they were discussing new public schools that are to be available only for black people. However, this time the blacks were asking for this. They argued that not enough black history is being taught in public schools, and this will allow them to have their own curriculum where they can learn more about their history. Needless to say, I found this very absurd. Fighting to be separate! I can understand arguing for more black history to be included in the cirriculum for everyone, but I don't understand the separate schools. Unfortunately, it does seem to be something that will be implemented.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Oh my God! A Palestinian!
I was making small talk with familiar faces in the coffee room at work when one says "Can you believe those palestinians", and he points at an article in the newspaper titled: Israel army studies 'abuse video'. "What do you mean those palestinians?! The article is talking about a palestinian who is being humiliated by a group of Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint" I protested.
"Huh?!" He sounded confused. At this point, I realised he probably didn't really read the article or cared what's in it. Maybe he just saw the headline and thought it was a good conversation starter.
"I am palestinian" I declared proudly.
"Palestinian! Oh my god! I have never met a palestinian before" He was over excited. It was like I am a creature from outer space. He turned a bit red and continued "I mean it is so wonderful to meet a palestinian! But, I didn't think it would be like that...or look like that.". Okay now, I'm a little freaked out. What was he expecting? Horns, sharp teeth sticking out of my mouth, a hook instead of a hand?
"Huh?!" He sounded confused. At this point, I realised he probably didn't really read the article or cared what's in it. Maybe he just saw the headline and thought it was a good conversation starter.
"I am palestinian" I declared proudly.
"Palestinian! Oh my god! I have never met a palestinian before" He was over excited. It was like I am a creature from outer space. He turned a bit red and continued "I mean it is so wonderful to meet a palestinian! But, I didn't think it would be like that...or look like that.". Okay now, I'm a little freaked out. What was he expecting? Horns, sharp teeth sticking out of my mouth, a hook instead of a hand?
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