مش منكوبين... على فلسطين الشباب

مُدخلة خبيزة (كل عام ونحن منكوبين) حلَت ضيفاً على العدد الأخير من مجلة (فلسطين الشباب)، مع رؤية جديدة لعنوانها لتصبح "مش" منكوبين. توقيتاً جيداً لنستعيد قرائتها في ظل هذه الأحداث. شُكر لطارق حمدان، رئيس تحرير المجلة

"فلسطين الشباب" هي مساحة مفتوحة لكل الشباب الفلسطيني سواء أكانوا في داخل فلسطين التاريخية المحتلة، أو في الشتات، مهمتها، أن تحتضن إبداعات الشباب في جميع الحقول. بالإضافة إلى كونها مساحة مفتوحة لكل الشباب الفلسطيني، ليتكلموا عن أنفسهم وقضاياهم ويعبروا عن آرائهم بكل حرية. هي ليست مجلة للكتابة المحترفة فقط، رغم وجود الكتابة المحترفة دوما على صفحاتها، وليست مجلة أدبية فقط، رغم توفر الأدب فيها، بل مجلة لمن يريد من الشباب أن يعرض تجربته، أو أن يقدم رؤيته على هذه الصفحات. إنها لسان من يريد من الشباب أن ينطق بواسطتها. وقسم التحرير في المجلة يعد بأن يعمل على كل مادة حتى تصل إلى القارئ بالشكل المناسب. رابط المجلة على فيس بوك

Why bombing Ashkelon is the most tragic irony?

By Robert Fisk/ The Independent
روبرت فيسك: لماذا قصف عسقلان هو السخرية الأكثر حزنا؟ ترجمة للمقال باللغة العربية هنا

"How easy it is to snap off the history of the Palestinians, to delete the narrative of their tragedy, to avoid a grotesque irony about Gaza which – in any other conflict – journalists would be writing about in their first reports: that the original, legal owners of the Israeli land on which Hamas rockets are detonating live in Gaza.

That is why Gaza exists: because the Palestinians who lived in Ashkelon and the fields around it – Askalaan in Arabic – were dispossessed from their lands in 1948 when Israel was created and ended up on the beaches of Gaza. They – or their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren – are among the one and a half million Palestinian refugees crammed into the cesspool of Gaza, 80 per cent of whose families once lived in what is now Israel. This, historically, is the real story: most of the people of Gaza don't come from Gaza.

But watching the news shows, you'd think that history began yesterday, that a bunch of bearded anti-Semitic Islamist lunatics suddenly popped up in the slums of Gaza – a rubbish dump of destitute people of no origin – and began firing missiles into peace-loving, democratic Israel, only to meet with the righteous vengeance of the Israeli air force. The fact that the five sisters killed in Jabalya camp had grandparents who came from the very land whose more recent owners have now bombed them to death simply does not appear in the story.

Both Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres said back in the 1990s that they wished Gaza would just go away, drop into the sea, and you can see why. The existence of Gaza is a permanent reminder of those hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who lost their homes to Israel, who fled or were driven out through fear or Israeli ethnic cleansing 60 years ago, when tidal waves of refugees had washed over Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War and when a bunch of Arabs kicked out of their property didn't worry the world.

Well, the world should worry now. Crammed into the most overpopulated few square miles in the whole world are a dispossessed people who have been living in refuse and sewage and, for the past six months, in hunger and darkness, and who have been sanctioned by us, the West. Gaza was always an insurrectionary place. It took two years for Ariel Sharon's bloody "pacification", starting in 1971, to be completed, and Gaza is not going to be tamed now.

Alas for the Palestinians, their most powerful political voice – I'm talking about the late Edward Said, not the corrupt Yassir Arafat (and how the Israelis must miss him now) – is silent and their predicament largely unexplained by their deplorable, foolish spokesmen. "It's the most terrifying place I've ever been in," Said once said of Gaza. "It's a horrifyingly sad place because of the desperation and misery of the way people live. I was unprepared for camps that are much worse than anything I saw in South Africa."

Of course, it was left to Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to admit that "sometimes also civilians pay the price," an argument she would not make, of course, if the fatality statistics were reversed. Indeed, it was instructive yesterday to hear a member of the American Enterprise Institute – faithfully parroting Israel's arguments – defending the outrageous Palestinian death toll by saying that it was "pointless to play the numbers game". Yet if more than 300 Israelis had been killed – against two dead Palestinians – be sure that the "numbers game" and the disproportionate violence would be all too relevant. The simple fact is that Palestinian deaths matter far less than Israeli deaths. True, we know that 180 of the dead were Hamas members. But what of the rest? If the UN's conservative figure of 57 civilian fatalities is correct, the death toll is still a disgrace.

To find both the US and Britain failing to condemn the Israeli onslaught while blaming Hamas is not surprising. US Middle East policy and Israeli policy are now indistinguishable and Gordon Brown is following the same dog-like devotion to the Bush administration as his predecessor.

As usual, the Arab satraps – largely paid and armed by the West – are silent, preposterously calling for an Arab summit on the crisis which will (if it even takes place), appoint an "action committee" to draw up a report which will never be written. For that is the way with the Arab world and its corrupt rulers. As for Hamas, they will, of course, enjoy the discomfiture of the Arab potentates while cynically waiting for Israel to talk to them. Which they will. Indeed, within a few months, we'll be hearing that Israel and Hamas have been having "secret talks" – just as we once did about Israel and the even more corrupt PLO. But by then, the dead will be long buried and we will be facing the next crisis since the last crisis."

ع الفاضي

آلات الموت الصهيونية النشطة جداً تعمل في الوقت الحالي على إبادات جماعية في غزة، ماضيةً في تطبيق البروتكولات المعروفة وفي وإرهابهم المحلل دولياً. أمَا أنا فأجلس في البيت مكتوف الأيدي كالعادة، مشاهد فاشل للأخبار الدموية... ماذا أفعل؟ ألطم؟ أبكي؟ أصرخ؟ أستغيث؟ يا عالم يا عرب..إه! شو هالهبل، طب ما حدا سامعني! بلاش بلاش، أفضل شيء ممكن أن أعمله هو الإنضمام إلى أقرب مظاهرة ضد العنف الصهيوني و و و، فلربما يشفى غليل القلب... بس يا عمي أنا مش صحبة مع المظاهرات! وآخر مظاهرة كنت فيها ما لقيت إلاَ هالشبشب طاير في السمى و وقع بنص وجهي مش عارف ليش و كيف، وراح تعبي ع الفاضي لأنه فلسطين ما إتحررت أولاً، وثانياً ما إطلعتش ع التلفزيون!! طيب شو رأيكم أولّع شمعة بشارع؟ أو أقف لحظة صمت وحداد؟ أو أقوم بجمع التبرعات اللتي سيمنعها أولاد صهيون من الوصول(غالباً)

ماذا أفعل؟ القهر يقتلني... هل أكتب هنا في مدونتي؟ يا الله! يعني شو هالحظ، اللي ما بكتب مقالة إلا بتكون شئم، على رأي كتير ناس! ولا بس بيحلا الكلام والهتافات وقت المصايب؟ ياسيدي، هات تنشوف

أخبار العربية تصف هذا العدوان بأنه أكبر مذبحة في الأراضي الفلسطينية منذ عام 1967! جد؟ واالله لا أذكر، ماشالله الأرشيف طفح بالمدابح، نتزكَر شو ولا شو! أما الجزيرة تقول "فصائل فلسطينية تتحدث عن مؤامرة تشارك فيها دول عربية" وارد جداً، فما الجديد؟ فمن أكثر براعةً من شعوبنا في الكيد والتآمر لنيل المراد؟ وتتحدث الجزيرة أيضاً عن موقف حماس وفتح المعاديين لبعضهما، ولكم يلعن أبوكم إنتوا الجوز! فكم أشعر بالخجل لكوني فلسطيني عندما أقرأ أخبار نزاعاتكم، كم أنتم أغبياء وتافهين، فأنتم أول المتآمرين على شعبكم المسكين منذ ان انشأتم فرقاً وتقسيمات لتسهيل مهمَات آل صهيون... إمحوها وإبدأوا من جديد يا أمةً ضحكت من جهلها الأمم! وما إتخافوا على جيوبكم، بندبرها

طب نرجع شوي للصهاينة، ولنذكّر إن نفعت الذكرى، ونستعين بقليل من أقوالهم على ألسنتهم، فيقول أوسكار ليفي أحد قادة الصهاينة فى كتابه الصهيونية : "نحن اليهود أوقدنا نيران الحرب الكبرى فنحن خدعنا الدنيا وأحرقناها، ولم تبدأ بعد ثورتنا النهائية، ولقد أوجدنا الطائفية والعنصرية وأصبحنا حكام العـالم وسـادته، فما يسمونه اليوم قوة إنما هو روحنا وفى أيدينا". وفى كتاب نحو صهيون يقول كورت مودزير : "نحن اليهود جعلنا كل شيء في العالم منحلا ومتعفنا وفاسدا فنحن الذيـن أشعلنا نيران الحرب وانتصرنا فيها وعرضّنا شعوب العالم للقتل" (المصدر) طبعاً هم يقولون اليهود، ولكن أنا أقصد هنا الإسرائليين والصهيونية "بس عشان التوضيح"

كثيرةُ هي الأقوال، ولكن أرى أن أكثرها حزناً وواقعية هو قول إتن: "عندما نستوطن الأرض(فلسطين) سوف يكون كل ما يسطتيع فعله العرب هو الجري كصراصير مخدرة في قنينة" فلربما لا فائدة من التحدث عن مجزرة سوف تُأرشف قريباً بجانب أخواتها، وستُنسى كما نُسي غيرها. فلأسكت عن الكلام المباح وأروح أنخمد أنام

موسيقى تصويرية (غزّة) ليوسف قعوار

7iber workshop: The Changing Face Of Jordan

I've attended 7iber workshop today On Social Networking in Jordan (bascially it was all about Facebook social networking), I would say it was excellent and very important, 7iber.com say it better in this cool report here.

Remembering Madonna: The Re-invention Tour

This is not new, but I just wanted to share this video and some photos from Madonna's concert, Back in 2004, Paris. The Re-invention tour/ concert was such a great experience. Sorry for the bad sound quality:

Photos: Recent exhibitions in Amman

Spaced: Exhibition by Leena Saoub
Dodi Tabbaa's exhibition
"Together Exhibition" by 26 European & Arab Artists
Anees Maani, first solo exhibition
Also, I'd like to share some photos, that I Took recently, at the outstanding Royal Automobile Museum.

Use the above direct links, or check out this slide show:

Video & photos from Darat al Funun: Mona Hatoum & Jane Frere

I took this video in Mona Hatoum's interesting solo exhibition at Darat AlFunun. Music by Buckethead.



Of Palestinian origin, Mona Hatoum is an internationally recognized artist known for her performances and video works of the 1980s and for her large-scale installations and sculptures which turn the familiar into uncanny situations that capture the experience of permanent exile. In 2004, she was awarded the Roswitha Haftmaan Prize and was the first visual-arts recipient of the prestigious Sonning Prize. More photos from the same exhibition:



Also a breathtaking installation art at Darat AlFunun by the Scottish artist Jane Frere, entitled RETURN of the souls: the Nakbah Project. Three thousand Palestinian figurines, each representing a Palestinian refugee in one display. This extraordinary work is part of an international artistic project exploring and documenting the history of Palestine during the late 1940’s. The process of production was through young Palestinian artists, trained by artist Jane Frere who then conducted a series of educational workshops in refugee camps, in Palestine and the region. Photos:

Between Amman & Vancouver: Interesting sound performance!

على مهلكم يا جماعة

حادث مؤسف إستوقفني مساءً في طريقي، سيارة خرجت عن الطريق بسبب السرعة الهائلة، وإصطدمت بعامود ثم تدهورت وإنقلبت. لم أستطع إلتقاط صور جيدة أو معرفة أي شيء عن السائق بسبب رفض الشرطة، بالرغم من محاولتي إقناعهم بأنني أفعل ذلك ليكون هذا الحادث عبرة للناس، لكن كان الرد: ظب كاميرتك وروح من هان، مش ناقصنا، بلا عبرة بلا حكي فاظي! يلاَ، مش مشكلة! لكن المهم أنّ العبرة تقول: في العجلة الندامة وفي التأني السلامة. تأكدوا دائماً من أن قيادتكم سليمة، هادئة، متزنّة وحذرة

The 20th European Film Festival kicks off in Jordan

11-27 November 2008

I'm so in love with this Festival :) Check out the schedule here
الأفلام مترجمة إلى العربية

"An array of different European cultures is on display in the two-week European Film Festival to be held in Jordan from November 11 till November 27, 2008. The European Film festival was able to develop a community of cinema lovers in Amman, throughout the last 20 years. it is for the 2nd year that the Festival offers the opportunity to Jordanians living outside Amman to attend screenings: in Salt, Irbid, Zarqa and Aqaba. 17 European Member States are contributing to this 20th Edition of the EU Film Festival. As France is currently holding the Presidency of the European Union, the French Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Denys Gauer, recalled that, since the creation of the festival 20 years ago, the European Union has extended from 15 to 27 countries, 17 of which are represented here in Amman. At the same time, the festival has gained in importance on the local scene, by reaching a wider public throughout the country.

Mr. Claus Heiberg, Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of the Delegation of the European Commission to Jordan, highlighted the power of film to convey values and visions of life. He said: " our objective is to share an experience and build concrete basis for dialogue ". He added: "We want to see materialise the slogan of the European year of inter cultural dialogue. It goes: dialogue is not about us and them; it is about you and me". Countries participating in this free-of -charge two-week festival are: Austria, Belgium, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden. Cinema goers will have the chance to enjoy some of the best movies produced recently in Europe. The Festival is organized by the Delegation of the European Commission to Jordan, the Presidency of the European Union - represented by the French Embassy to Jordan, 17 European Union Member States, in partnership with the Royal Film Commission – Jordan (RFC) and the Greater Amman Municipality.

This initiative comes in support of the Royal Film Commission’s efforts to widen exposure to film culture all over the Kingdom. "We value this European initiative and believe it is a means of drawing people from different cultures closer. Enhancing film culture and storytelling by audiovisual means are best achieved by showing quality films,” said Shadi Nimri, from the Royal Film Commission. This year, the Festival will open with a French movie for all ages “Asterix aux jeux olympiques”. Then, each day, two different European films will be screened at 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm at Al-Hussein Cultural Center (Ras al-Ain) in Amman. Screenings will also be held at Yarmouk University - Drama Department (Irbid), in Zarqa at the King Abdullah II Cultural Center, at the Salt Greater Municipality Hall and at the Aqaba Chamber of Commerce. Films will be shown in their original language, with English and/or Arabic subtitles. More information can be found on the Festival’s website: www.eufilmfestivaljordan.com"