tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11709090764821027052024-03-08T22:57:53.732+02:00Gaza, out of the blue.Blogging from Gaza, London, and the rest of the world.
Yasmeen Elkhoudary ياسمين الخضريYasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-20321194459692238882016-12-05T12:02:00.000+02:002016-12-05T12:02:06.352+02:00Published in Aljazeera English: "In Gaza, we aren't mourning Clinton's loss"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barack Obama, none of them tried to allay Palestine's misery. Hillary wouldn't have either. <div>
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Read full article <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/11/gaza-aren-mourning-clinton-loss-161117123959810.html">here</a>. <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nPX_DmTCs7w/WEU6wA0AiqI/AAAAAAAADIM/zRZLsBlgHIIjEadvXI3YEnDBFt0zMxKYgCLcB/s1600/clinton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="178" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nPX_DmTCs7w/WEU6wA0AiqI/AAAAAAAADIM/zRZLsBlgHIIjEadvXI3YEnDBFt0zMxKYgCLcB/s320/clinton.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; text-align: start;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Hillary Rodham Clinton is pictured with Yasser Arafat's wife Suha at the Beach refugee camp in Gaza on December 14, 1998. [AP]</span></i></span></td></tr>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-74222244944254465992016-06-26T00:32:00.000+03:002016-06-26T00:35:29.169+03:00اسرائيل و"النصف شيكل"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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إسرائيل و"النصف شيكل"<br />
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أتذكر حينما كان للنصف شيكل قيمة كبيرة في حياتنا، حيث أنه كان يسوى الكثير عندما كنا أطفال.. وقضينا الكثير من الوقت في الصف ونحن نظلل تلك الالة الموسيقية الغريبة بقلم رصاص على ورقة وضعناها فوق العملة بكل دقه.. ولكنه فقد قيمتة السوقية مؤخرا ولم نعد نحن نراه بنفس العين الطفولية.</div>
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ولكن ما هي قيمة النصف شيكل بالنسبة لإسرائيل؟</div>
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كما هو حال كل ما يمثل إسرائيل من رموز وصور وشعارات مقتبسة من تاريخ ألفه الكيان العبري كما يروق له، نجد أن لعملة النصف شيكل قصة تجسد حال الكيان بأكمله.</div>
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تبدأ القصة في عام ١٩٨٠ حين قام تاجر اسرائيلي مهووس بجمع الأختام الاثرية يدعى روبين هشث بالتبرع بختم نادر الى متحف اسرائيل، يحمل نقشاً لآلة القيثارة ونصا باللغة العبرية القديمة يقول: "يعود لِ مادانا، بنت الملك". انقلبت إسرائيل رأسا على عقب. تسارع علماء الاثار الإسرائيلين في تفسير الختم -مع الأخذ بعين الإعتبار أن شين كان قد إشتراه من أحد محلات الآثار (إسرائيل تجيز التجارة بالقطع الاثرية ولكن هذا موضوع ليوم اخر) من دون أي معلومات عن المكان الذي وُجد فيه الختم (هذا يقلل من قيمة الاكتشاف حيث أنه يجرد القطعة الأثرية من سياقها التاريخي ويترك المجال للتخمين). أجزم العلماء أن الختم يعود للقرن السابع قبل الميلاد، الحقبة التى تدعى "حقبة مملكة يهودا" حسب التوراه، وهي الحقبة التى يزعمون أن بناء الهيكل المفترض حدث خلالها. أجزم العلماء أيضا أن الختم يعود لأميرة يهودية تسمى مادانا، بنت الملك (لا شئ أكثر من النصف المنقوش، كلا؟). استغرب العلماء من غموض هويتها: فلم يذكر اسمها في التوراة ولم يذكر اسم اباها (الملك) على الختم. من هي إذا؟</div>
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لا يهم. المهم أن الختم "أثري" ومنقوش بالعبرية. احتفل متحف اسرائيل بكنزه الجديد في حفل خاص افتتح خلاله معرض دائم عن النصوص والنقوشات العبرية "والتى هي دليل مادي نادر يمثل العصر الذهبي (عصر الهيكل) في تاريخ اسرائيل."</div>
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في عام ١٩٨٤، كانت إسرائيل تعاني من التضخم المالي وقررت أن تعتمد الشيكل الاسرائيلي الجديد. قام البنك المركزي باستدعاء لجنة مكونة من علماء آثار، علماء نقديات أثرية، وعلماء في التوراة، لإختيار التصاميم الجديدة للشيكل. حظيت العملة الذهبية الكبيرة، النصف شيكل، بشرف ختم مادانا. (من الجدير بالذكر أن العلماء الاسرائيلين يدعون أن كلمة "شيكل" كلمة عبرية قديمة مستوحاة من التوراة وهي كلمة ترمز الى وزن نقدي، ولكنها في الأصل تعود الى اللغة الأكادية القديمة في بلاد ما بين النهرين منذ ما يقارب ٣٠٠٠ عام قبل الميلاد). </div>
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بينما كان بنك إسرائيل يحضر لإطلاق العملات الجديدة ويصيغ النصوص التى تبرر انتقاء الرموز المختلفة ومدى أهميتها كأدلة على التاريخ اليهودي، جائت باحثة آثار مختصة بالآلات الموسيقية تدعى باثا باركاي بمعلومات صادمة للبنك: ختم مادانا هو ختم مزور. بررت باركاي تفسيرها بثلاث اسباب رئيسيه:</div>
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١. رسمة القيثارة غير منطقية وغير متناسبة مع الالات الموسيقية في العصور القديمة، ورجحت أن القيثارة كانت سوف تقع لو تم العزف عليها بالشكل المنقوش في الختم. </div>
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٢. جوسيف فلافيوس، مؤرخ يهودي مختص بالحقبة المذكورة، كان قد أشار الى وجود قيثارة في الهيكل، ولكن جل ما قاله فلافيوس معرض للشك حيث أنه عاش بعد الحقبة المذكوره ب ٧٠٠ عام ولا يوجد دليل على صحة أي من أقواله.</div>
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٣. تقول بايار أيضا أنه من المستحيل نشر إسم أميرة في القدس في العام السابع قبل الميلادي مع الة موسيقية، حيث أن النساء اللواتي كان يعزفن على الالات الموسيقية في الأغلب جواري غانيات.</div>
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لم يكترث البنك لما قالته بايار واستمر في طباعة عملات النصف شيكل وتوزيعها في السوق ابتدائا من العام ١٩٨٥. حاولت أن تتحدث مع العالم افيجاد، أهم خبير أختام في اسرائيل في ذلك الوقت، حيث أنه هو من أقر بأهمية الختم، ولكنه رفض اللقاء بها. كذلك الأمر رفضت "مجلة استكشاف اسرائيل" نشر مقالها حول الموضوع. وعندما ألقت بايار محاضرة حول الموضوع خلال مؤتمر في فرنسا، تم وصفها بالخائنة لتشكيكها بالتاريخ اليهودي. </div>
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أخيرا، أشار ارون كمبينسكي، رئيس رابطة علماء الاثار في اسرائيل، في مقال مقتضب في جريدة القدس العبرية الى صحة اكتشاف بايار، وأيده العديد من العلماء، حتى قررت ادارة متحف اسرائيل بسحب الختم من المعرض في عام ١٩٩٣ من دون أي اعلان عن السبب. </div>
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البحث الكامل في الموضوع أجرته New Republic على هذا الرابط: </div>
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<a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnewrepublic.com%2Farticle%2F130814%2Fisraeli-national-symbol-fake&h=qAQG2yRqS" rel="nofollow" style="color: #365899; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">https://newrepublic.com/article/130814/israeli-national-symbol-fake</a> </div>
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أترك التعليق لكم... ولكني أود الاشارة الى شئ مهم. بينما تصارع اسرائيل التاريخ بحثا عن أدلة زائفة تألف من خلالها تاريخ يربطها بأرضنا، نصارع نحن من أجل البقاء. ولكن أحد أهم مقويات البقاء هي المعرفة بالتاريخ والحفاظ عليه. في سبيل المقارنة أعرض عليكم هذه المعلومة: كانت مدينة غزة من أول مدن الشرق القريب-القديم التى صكت نقودها الخاصة في القرن الخامس قبل الميلاد. لا نحتاج لتأليف الحقائق وادعاء التبريرات، فالدليل موجود أمامنا: هذه بعض الصور لعملات غزة المسمية بPhilisto- Arab وهي تعود لحقبة الحكم الفارسي (الأخمينية) في غزة. كانت مدن عسقلان وإسدود أيضا تنتج عملات مشابهة في نفس الحقبة، وكان هذا بداية تحول نوعي في اقتصاد وتجارة افلسطين القديمة وتحول النظام النقدي من قطع فضة صغيرة الى نقود وعملات. متى نُدرك هذه الحقائق الموثقة حين نتحدث عن تاريخنا ولا نكتفي فقط بالاشارة إلى الجنيه الفلسطيني أو الليرة الفلسطينية؟</div>
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Gaza: from Sand and Sea أمثله من عملات غزة القديمه. المصدر: </div>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-64057537379368196912016-05-19T20:51:00.000+03:002016-05-19T21:11:35.292+03:00First post from London: reflections on the 'nothingness' of the Palestinian Museum<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">As the Palestinian Museum was opening in Birzeit last night after twenty years of waiting, I was headed to an event called: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/264750083862599/">"Space and Memory in the War-Torn City"</a>; which featured "</span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">eight short films exploring people’s relationships with cities in the Arab world that are being altered and destroyed by conflict.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">" Quite fitting.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It so happened that the event took place at the same time that the opening of the PM was being broadcasted online. What a shame, I missed the livestream!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Worse still, I missed the opening. I was unable to attend the actual opening in Birzeit.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As one among millions of Palestinians who currently live abroad, I was unable to attend the Palestinian Museum's opening due to travel, border, and movement restrictions that deprive us from visiting our country.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Coincidentally, I had a long conversation today with someone who's doing research about a specific topic related to the political scene in Palestine. She asked me many questions, but a particularly banal question struck me: "how did Israeli occupation affect your life?" Seriously, how do you answer a question like that? I paused for a minute and reflected on my life, struck by how much our generation has already witnessed: from my earliest encounter with an Israeli soldier who confiscated my battery-run toys on Rafah Border sometime in the early 90s, to last night, when I couldn't attend the opening because, essentially, the toy confiscation mentality still runs our lives. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Back then, 4 year-old me, crying my heart out on the border, I was totally convinced that the soldier loved my brand new, unopened toys, so much that he wanted to take them for his children. He was jealous.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today, as I'm in the final stages of completing my masters degree in Cultural Heritage Studies, and having conducted a lot of research on the politics of cultural heritage in Palestine, I'm convinced that my reasoning with the soldier's behaviour applies to his government's actions with our cultural heritage.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Watching the short films at the event last night, I was reminded -visually- of how similar cities in the Middle East are, in terms of both their physical and mental landscapes. I was profoundly struck by how </span>similar<span style="font-family: inherit;"> they are in terms of their destroyed, and empty, landscapes as well. </span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2hdlAP3tw18/Vz4BdzfR31I/AAAAAAAAC5U/Hb9EyDxCx4EMb3No5zAIvEeT4kLvg_wtgCLcB/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-05-19%2Bat%2B19.09.20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2hdlAP3tw18/Vz4BdzfR31I/AAAAAAAAC5U/Hb9EyDxCx4EMb3No5zAIvEeT4kLvg_wtgCLcB/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-05-19%2Bat%2B19.09.20.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Left: Beirut (wikipedia.com) Right: Gaza (Anas Elkhoudary)</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Emptiness and destruction, relatively speaking, can testify to something. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Though I was unable to attend the opening in person last night, for some abstract reason, I felt that the emptiness of the museum sent a comforting message to those of us out here. It might have been a message of unity: and perhaps this was the only means by which we could be united; that we could all, essentially, see the same thing: nothingness.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In a positive way.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Twenty years of <b>waiting</b> for the museum to open. And when it did open, it was empty. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Waiting results in nothing, but taking matters into our own hands will. At the museum and beyond. </span><br />
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-15974959543280429532014-07-28T17:44:00.001+03:002014-07-28T22:02:29.693+03:00Interview with CNN<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was invited by CNN on July 27 to speak to the News about "Life in Gaza" amid the ongoing Israeli offensive. I accepted, and was on air at 1:40 AM Jerusalem time/6:40 PM EST time. Prepared to speak about life in Gaza, I was shocked -well, not really shocked, what else can you expect from CNN- that all the questions were about Hamas.<br />
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A couple of hours later, CNN published the interview on Youtube. But guess what? They only published about 1/4th of it, the part where the anchor starts his question by "What's life like in Gaza?" It seems that the people at the CNN News Room read the tweets that my friends and I critisized them with- they whole itnerview had nothing to do with life in Gaza. Notice that they rudely cut me off when I spoke about my Canadian friend, who's house was targeted and who survived miraculously.<br />
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Luckily, my uncle was watching the interview and had recorded it!!<br />
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Here's the complete interview,<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/MvF3nabR5Fc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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And here's the interview that CNN wants you to see.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/HA_TxgHIEBQ/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/HA_TxgHIEBQ&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/HA_TxgHIEBQ&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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So much for freedom of speech.<br />
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Unfortunately, this case is but one of many incidents where international media strives to sabotage the Palestinian narrative by linking it to propaganda that they had already brainwashed their audiences with.<br />
Mind you, Palestinians are also not given as many platforms or opportunities as Israelis, and when that is done, restrictions are imposed, as seen in this video.<br />
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-62877427523839831072014-07-27T22:00:00.001+03:002014-07-27T22:04:15.889+03:00For AJE: Gaza child: Three wars old<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<em><span lang="EN-US">To a child in Gaza:</span></em></div>
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<em><span lang="EN-US">- "How old are you?"</span></em></div>
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<em><span lang="EN-US">- "Three wars, and still growing."</span></em></div>
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<em><span lang="EN-US">- Sara Naim Khatib</span></em></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">On November 21, 2012, during the second Israeli offensive on Gaza, I wrote an <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/11/2012112111117878510.html" style="color: #fb9d04; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">opinion piece</a> for Al Jazeera "Steal what you will from the blueness of the sea and the sand of memory".</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">Today, I could have asked Al Jazeera to simply republish the same article, with minor changes in the family and children's names, and some new photos. Back then, we thought that what was happening was a testimony to the old history-repeats-itself concept.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">But today, even that rhetoric has lost its redundant meaning: The fact that history repeats itself makes it sound fitting for Gaza to be hit by an Israeli offensive every other year, with the same circumstances that include a seemingly everlasting siege, dire political and economic situations, new Egyptian regimes' complicity, worsening Arab negativity, the Palestinian Authority's total detachment and pathetic stance against Israel, and so on.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Like many children her age, Sara has survived three horrific offensives against Gaza. In fact, every single child above the age of six has witnessed the three offensives, or at least those who were lucky enough to have survived the three. I remember my great grandmother, who only witnessed the first offensive in 2008, saying that it was the worse of any attacks on Gaza - and she had seen many: the Ottoman, the British, the Zionist. What will Sara and other children her age compare these offensives to when they talk to their grandchildren?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">With ceasefire talks in the air and various parties calling on Gaza to accept the proposed ceasefire agreement in an effort to stop the death of civilians, it seems that our martyrs had lost their lives only to be added in a generous death toll of civilians that can be bargained with by different sides.<span style="color: magenta;"> </span>However, if this ceasefire agreement is only valid for two or three years until Israel is ready to launch a fourth offensive, we don't need it.</span><br />
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<strong><span lang="EN-US">2017</span></strong></div>
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<em><span lang="EN-US">To a child in Gaza:</span></em></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">
<em><span lang="EN-US">-"How old are you?"</span></em></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">
<em><span lang="EN-US">-"I have lost count."</span></em></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">It's the year 2017, the centennial of the Balfour Declaration, the spark that ignited all the wars that count as days of our lives. It's the year 2017, the centennial of World War I, for which Gaza was a hot spot. The British Army, led by Edmund Allenby, fought three battles with Gaza en route to Jerusalem. The people of Gaza, their cactus groves, and the Ottoman army won the first two battles, keeping the British away from Palestine.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The only way the British won the third battle was with the help of traitors, and that was how Allenby occupied Jerusalem. From then on, a trail of countless wars and massacres followed Palestinians wherever they went.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">It's the year 2017, and on the calendar of war, we read about the likelihood of a new Israeli offensive. Will it happen, or will it not? In the past year (2016), Gaza ran out of drinkable water. In five years, the World Cup will be held in an Arab country. Will the electricity problem be solved by then so we can watch it without interruptions? Ah. We must ask <a class="internallink" href="http://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/press-releases/gaza-2020-liveable-place" style="color: #fb9d04; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Gaza 2020</a>. Wait a second; Gaza will turn into an unlivable place even before we get to watch the World Cup in an Arab country?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">We do not have to wait long before announcing a water or electricity crisis in Gaza - we already suffer from both. With a rapidly increasing population comes a rapidly decreasing habitat, and decreasing agricultural and industrial lands.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">We might make it through this war alive, only to prepare for the next one, while continuing to live under a suffocating Israeli-Egyptian-PA blockade. But there is one thing we know for sure: Our dignity is nourished by our suffering. We are currently witnessing an unmatched sense of solidarity, unity and communal support in Gaza and in Palestine in general - certainly more genuine than the acclaimed "unity" in the failed coalition government.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">We are able to provide for ourselves and to remain strong like we always have. We have lost all faith in support from the world or from the Arabs, who decided to summon up in an "emergency" Arab League meeting eight days through the offensive. That is to say, we wake up in Gaza every morning to say, "We in Gaza are well, how is your conscience doing?" </span></div>
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<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20.15999984741211px;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20.15999984741211px;">http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/07/gaza-child-three-wars-old-2014716505446437.html</span></span></div>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-74074316650587666692014-07-26T15:54:00.003+03:002014-07-26T15:58:51.496+03:00Morning hallucinations from Gaza هلوسات ساعات القصف الاولى<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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English text below</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FynppQfx8tA/U9Ok456loyI/AAAAAAAABSA/4VzOy3Sm9k4/s1600/qasffff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FynppQfx8tA/U9Ok456loyI/AAAAAAAABSA/4VzOy3Sm9k4/s1600/qasffff.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>هلوسات ساعات القصف الاولى</i></td></tr>
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<i>أعتذر عن عدم استخدام الحركات لتشكيل الحروف</i></div>
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<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">الساعة في غزة تشير الى الخامسه صباحا ولم
يغمض لي جفن. أخذ كتابي الى الشباك وأجلس تحته في محاوله يائسه لالتقاط ما أمكن من
أشعه الشمس الأولى, نظرا لأن الكهرباء لم تزرنا منذ 35 ساعة. أقرأ, بناءا على
نصيحه ملائكيه, كتاب "كافكا على الشاطئ" باللغه الانجليزيه, (سوف أحاول
ترجمة الاقتباس بما يوفى للمعنى)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">"الطائرة المتلئلئه التى رئيناها في
السماء ذكرتنا للوقت قصير بالحرب, ولكن سرعان ما عدنا الى الاستمتاع بوقتنا. كانت
السماء صافيه من دون أي غيوم أو رياح, كل شئ كان هادئ من حولنا: لم نكن نسمع غير
زقزقه العصافير. بدت الحرب وكأنها في مكان بعيد جدا ليس له أي علاقه بنا. غنينا
الأغاني ونحن نتسلق التله وكنا نقلد العصافير أحيانا. عدا عن حقيقة أن الحرب لا
زالت مستمرة, كان صباح مثالي"<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">سرحت في التفكير ب"الهدنه الانسانيه"
التى مفروض أن ترى النور بعد ثلاث ساعات. هل يمكن ساعتها أن نطبق ما قرأت على
أطفال غزة الذين اعتادوا الان على زقزقه الطائرات وموسيقى الحرب المدمرة؟ هل
سيتمكنون من نسيان كل ذلك وتذكر صوت زقزقه العصافير وأغاني الأطفال, لمدة الهدنه
الانسانيه؟<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">يقاطع أفكاري صوت انفجار عنيف يهز منزلنا مثل "خشخيشه" في يد طفل صغير.أتفاجئ بأن أخي لا يزال مستيقظ. يأتي ليتمنى لي أن
"أصبح على خير" قبل أن ينام. يستمع ويسمعني معه عبر راديو صغير الى
أخبار جريمة قتل 20 شخص من عائلة النجار في خان يونس. تصبح على خير يا عمر. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">بعد أن تنتهى هذه الحرب, لا أريد أن أرى
راديو صغير أبدا طالما حييت. لا يأتي هذا الجهاز الا بأخبار الموت, ولديه قدرة ملعونه
على التحكم بوجه من يمسكه كجهاز الهاتف المحمول, الى مفعم بالغضب, مهموم من الحزن,
محتل بالخوف, و, أحيانا, ملئ بالأمل. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">اذا, كافكا. نعم. هل سيهنأ للأطفال الاستمتاع
بالهدنه غدا (أو اليوم؟) أي هدنه, ياسمين, اخر انفجار حدث قبل دقائق, فقط قبل
أخبار المجزرة الجديدة في خان يونس. انسي. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">5:36 يرن الهاتق, قلبي يقع. هل أنا على وشك
استقبال اخبار مروعه, ام تهديد بالاخلاء؟<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">أسوء. رفعت السماعه وسألت "مين؟؟"
بكل ما استجمعت من قوة. رد علي صوت واحد (بالفلسطيني "مسمج") وقال أنه
"فاعل خير من تونس" مع أصوات ضحك حوله. قاومت وبشدة الرغبه الملحه في صب
كل ما خزنت من جنون خلال ال19 أيام الماضيين عليه وأقفلت السماعه وفصلت التليفون.
قررت أن أحاول النوم مجددا, ولكن دون فائدة. الساعة الان 6:53 صباحا- وما زلت أسمع
صوت الزنانه (ما العجب في ذلك؟ لم تأخذ بنت الكلب راحة منذ أسابيع) وأصوات قذائف
مدفعيه في الشمال. 37 ساعة من دون كهرباء.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ولكن من يأبه للكهرباء؟ قبل ساعات علمت أن
واحدة من أعز صديقاتي في غزة نجت بفرق ثواني –ومحض صدفه- من صاروخ وقع في المنطقة
التي كانت تجلس فيها مع أخيها وزوجته قبل ثواني. قبل عده أيام فقد أحد زملائي في
وظيفتي السابقه أمه وزوجته الحامل بالشهر الثامن وأبنيه بي غارة اسرائيليه عمياء.
الكثير من أقاربي وأصدقائي أخلوا بيوتهم نظرا لتدمير جزئي أو كللي أحاط ببيوتهم.
تتذكرين ذلك الشاب الذي قابلناه في ذلك الاجتماع؟ استشهد بالأمس. وتلك الفتاه؟
استشهد أخاها. الخ. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">ما أريد قوله هو التالي.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">اخر مرة سمعت الأخبار. كانت حصيله الشهداء قد
وصلت 850. أكثر من ثمانمائه وخمسون شهيدا في غزة. شهداء من دون أسماء, لو أحببنا
ذلك أو كرهناه. نعم. مجرد رقم يتقامر به على طاولة السياسه. أو يستخدم للاعلانات
الخيريه. غصه عابرة في القلب. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">وهؤلاء الذين لا زالو على قيد الحياة أيضا
مجرد رقم (الساعة 7:01, وأخيرا زارتنا الكهرباء) 1.8 مليون انسان يعيشون على 365
كيلو متر مربع من الأرض. احصائيه جميله وسهله التكرار. </span><span dir="LTR"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
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<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">أنا واحده ممكن بقوا على الحياة. جسديا. ولكن
عقليا وحسيا, ميته كحجر. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">لا, نحن لسنا بخير.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">بعد أقل من ساعة –لم تتوقف المدفعيه بعد-
يفترض أننا سوف نستطيع الخروج لرؤويه ماذا فعلت اخر 19 يوما بنا وبمدينتنا الجبارة
(7:05 والضرب يتزايد)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">لا شئ سيلحم جراحنا. لا شئ يدعو للفخر مثل
جراحنا. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">غزة: خلال حياتنا, فشلت في توفير كماليات للترفهه مثل كهرباء منتظمه وحريه السفر. فشلت في اعطاء عقولك النيرة سببا للبقاء. فشلت في
توفير أماكن امنه لأطفالك للعب, حتى السطوح وشاطئك الوحيد لم يكن امنا. فشلت في
توفير أي فرص لشباباك (7:14, الضرب مستمر وبقوة). وفشلت بتوفير أي نوع من أنواع
الامان لأي أحد يعيش على أرضك!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">أيها العالم, لهذه الأسباب وغيرها –أسباب أسوء,
ان كا في وسعكم التخيل- اسمحوا لنا بمسائله انسانيتكم, بدلا من أن تنصحونا باثبات
انسانيتنا أمام العالم.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">لهذه الأسباب, ولجميع الأشياء التى تأتي
الحياة في غزة من دونها, يوجد حب غير قابل للتفسير أو التكسير بيننا وبين مدينتنا.
غزة فشلت على العديد من الأصعجه ولكنها نجحت في اعطائنا أكثر من ما تظنون, ببساطه
لأنكم لا تدركون. هو نوع من الحب لا يمكن تفسيره بالكلمات. ربما بمكن تفسيره
بالذكريات- السعيدة والحزينه (والكثير منها من المتعلق بالحروب), ربما, بالبيارات
والأشجار, بالبحر وشطه وصدفاته, بالعائلة والأصدقاء. بشعور الخوف المضحك الذي
ينتابك عندما تسمع طائرات تحلق في السماء وأنت خارج غزة, أو القصص التى ترويها عن
الحياة بدون كهرباء حين ينقطع النور, أو الرعشه المربكه التي تنتابك حين تسمع كلمة
"المعبر"- وكل نكت الغزازوة والفلسطينين بشكل عام.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">هو ربما لا شئ من ذلك كله. لا أعرف ما هو.
ولكنني أعرف أنني مديونه لغزة, مدينتي الأم, الى الأبد- لكل القوة التى منحتني
اياها. أعرف أنني أتكلم بأسم رقم ال1.8 مليون, وأرواح ال850 شهيد وجميع الشهداء
الذين سبقوهم, حين أقول أن غزة علمتنا أسس الصبر على أصولها. الصبر والتحمل,
المثابره و التحمل.. ليست مجرد كلمات. الكرامة: غزة حمتنا بها عندما فشلت أسقفها
بذلك. التحمل: غزة علمتنا اياه حين قام العالم بسجننا. المرونه والتحمل: غزة توسلت الينا
بالتحلي به حين قصفت محطات كهربائها. الصبر: غزة أطعمتنا اياه حين حرقت أشجارها.
الصمود: غزة سلحتنا به, وأسمتنا جند فلسطين. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">لا شئ يمكنه أبدا أن يشعرني بالفخر الذي أشعره
لمجرد كوني فلسطينيه من غزة. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(7:37 باقي 23 دقيقة على "الهدنة
الانسانيه"- القصف المدفعي يشتد. أسمع دجاجة تبيض في الأفق. فقدت الاتصال
بالنترنت. وقت النوم. أي هدنة؟)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" dir="RTL" style="text-align: right;">
<span lang="AR-EG" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-language: AR-EG; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">(8:44 لم أنم. الكهرباء قطعت مجددا. أسمع
زقزقه العصافير وزن الزنانات). </span><span dir="LTR"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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It’s 5:00 AM in Gaza and I’m unable to sleep. I pick up my book and read
under the window, catching the lazy sun rays, given that we haven’t had
electricity for about 35 hours by now. I happen to be reading “Kafka on the
Seashore.” A few pages through, I find myself reading: <br />
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“The glittering airplane we saw way up in the sky reminded us for a
moment of the war, but just for a short time, and we were all in a good mood. There
wasn’t a cloud in the sky, no wind, and everything was quite around us- all we
could hear were birds chirping in the woods. The war seemed like something in a
faraway land that had nothing to do with us. We sang songs as we hiked up the
hill, sometimes imitating the birds we heard. Except for the fact that the war
was still going on, it was a perfect morning.” <br />
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I thought for a moment of the ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ that was due to
start in about 3 hours. Would the same paragraph apply to the young children
who by now are too accustomed to the chirping of planes and the terrible songs
of war? Would they be able to forget all that and remember the chirping of
birds and the children’s songs for the duration of the humanitarian ceasefire? <br />
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My thoughts are interrupted by an Israeli bombing that shakes our two
story house like a rattle in the hand of a little baby. To my surprise,
my brother is still awake. He comes to wish me a ‘good’ night before he goes to
sleep. Stuck to his ear is a small radio that bewitches his face as he tells me
that 20 people from Al Najjar family were collectively murdered in Khan Yonis. Good
night, Omar. <br />
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I never want to see a small radio again in my life. It bears nothing but
news of death and has the ability to bewitch the face of its holder (often
holding it like they’d hold a cellphone) to fuming with anger, torn with
sadness, ridden with fear, and rarely, filled with hope. <br />
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Back to Kafka. Yes. So would the children in Gaza enjoy the ceasefire
tomorrow? What ceasefire, Yasmeen, the last explosion you hear was minutes ago,
just before you heard news of a new massacre in Khan Yonis. Ok. Nevermind.<br />
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5:36 The telephone rings and my heart automatically sinks. Am I about to
receive terrible news, or ‘evacuation warnings’?!<br />
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Neither. The voice on the other end of the line claims to be a “philanthropist”
from Tunisia. Can’t really hear him well, and don’t really want to either. I feel
the urge to let out the madness of the last 19 days out on him, but I decide to
hang up. And go to sleep. But here I am. Its 6:53 AM and I can hear the drone
(goes without saying. It hasn’t had a rest in weeks) and what sounds like tanks
shelling in the North. 37 hours without electricity. <br />
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But who cares about electricity. A few hours earlier I found out that
one of my close friends in Gaza miraculously survived a missile that hit the
spot where she, her brother and his wife were sitting 30 seconds earlier. I’m still terrified. A few days ago, my
colleague in a previous job lost his mother, 8-month pregnant wife, and two
sons in an airstrike. Countless relatives and close friends had to leave their
houses because of partial or total damages. And then stories like, remember
that guy we met at that meeting one time? Israel killed him last night. And that
girl? She lost her brother. And the grievances go on. </div>
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What I’m here to say is the following. <br />
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Last time I had access to news, the death toll had hit 850. More than
eight hundred and fifty people killed in Gaza. Martyrs who are, whether we like
it or not, NAMELESS. Yes. Merely a number tossed around the gambling table of politics,
or used for attractive charity PR. A passing pinch in the heart. </div>
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Those who are still alive are also a nameless number; (7:01 AM: electricity
finally visited us) an impressive 1.8 million people living on 365 sq km of
land. The kind of statistic that makes you sound too knowledgeable for your own
good.<br />
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I’m one of those who are still alive. Physically, yes, but mentally,
emotionally, as dead as a stone.<br />
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No, we’re not fine.<br />
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In less than an hour (shelling has not stopped yet), we will theoretically
be able to go out and see for ourselves what the last 19 days (7:05 shelling is
intensifying) have done to us and to our glorious city. <br />
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Nothing will ever heal our wound. Nothing will ever make us more proud
than this wound. <br />
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Gaza, throughout our lives, you have failed to give us extravagant
luxuries like regular electricity hours or the ability to travel freely. You have
failed to give a reason to many of your brightest minds to stay. You have
failed in providing your children with safe playgrounds- or even rooftops or even
your beach! You have failed in giving your youth (7:14, more intense, F16s
joined the party) jobs or opportunities. You have failed in giving anyone
living on your land a safe haven! <br />
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Dear world. For the aforementioned reasons and more -worse reasons, if
your imagination allows it- allow me to question your humanity, as opposed to
you kindheartedly asking us to remind the world of our humanity. <br />
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It is for these reasons, for the many things that a life in Gaza lacks,
that there exists an inexplicable, never yielding love for our city. Gaza has
indeed failed to give us all of that, but it has succeeded in given us a lot
more than you know, because you simply don’t know. It is a kind of love that can not be explained
in words. It can be explained in memories, both sad and happy (and mostly of
wars), perhaps, in land groves and trees, in the seashore and its beautiful
seashells, in the family and friends. In the funny feeling of fear when you’re
abroad and hear a plane flying on low altitudes, or the stories you would tell
about living without electricity when someone mistakenly turns off the light in
the room, or the eerie chill you get when you hear the word “Rafah”, or the
countless jokes that only a fellow Gazan or Palestinian would get. <br />
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It’s probably none of that. I don’t know what it is. But I do know for a
fact that I am forever indebted to Gaza, my hometown, for the strength it has
given me. I know I speak for the nameless 1.8 million, including the souls of
the 850 martyrs, and the thousands of souls we lost to freedom over the years,
when I say that Gaza has taught us the morals of patience like no other. Patience
and durability, resilience and perseverance, are not words I’m randomly
throwing in. Dignity: Gaza protected us with it when its rooftops failed to.<br />
Perseverance:
Gaza taught us to master when the world imprisoned us. Durability: Gaza begged
us to have when its power plants were bombed. Patience: Gaza fed to us when its
trees were burnt. Resilience: Gaza equipped us with, and named us the soldiers
of Palestine. <br />
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Nothing that I ever do in my life will ever make me as proud as I am -by
the mere fortune- of being a Palestinian from GAZA. <br />
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(7:37 AM, 23 minutes to ‘humanitarian ceasefire’- Shelling even more
intense. I can hear a chicken laying an egg. I have lost internet. Time to
sleep. What ceasefire?)<span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span dir="LTR"></span><span dir="LTR"></span>(8:44 AM, still up.
Electricity just went off again. I can
hear birds chirping , drones buzzing).</div>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-24283237847792753242014-04-12T10:14:00.000+03:002014-04-12T22:07:31.338+03:00Ancient Gods of Gaza: Apollo and Zeus in statue<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Ever since an ancient (at least 2000 years old) and extremely rare metal statue of Apollo was found in Gaza last summer, Gaza came under an unfamiliar media spotlight (albeit for scattered stories about its history). The statue, of which the discovery details remain disputed, is extremely rare, since very few statues of the time were made in metal/bronze. It is also beautifully impeccable, judging only from the few photos that were shared with the world: the statue remains 'hidden' somewhere in the Strip of Gaza.<br />
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This historic discovery was not the first in Gaza, but due to a long que of news about alleged 'terrorism' and the likes, little has been said about the city's impressive history. I will be posting a list of sources that talk about the history of Gaza from the earliest antiquity, but for now, there is one story that I would like to allude to:<br />
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In 1879, Palestinians living in Tell Ajjul (تل العجول) about 20 km south of Gaza stumbled upon a 4x1x.7 meters yellow sandstone structure, which turned out to be the largest known statue of Zeus in the world (since the destruction of "Zeus of Olympia" in 5th Century AD). The statue was seized by the Ottoman authorities that were ruling Gaza at the time and sent to Istanbul. Ever since, the statue has been displayed in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum as "Zeus of Gaza." Zeus's left arm has probably drowned in the deep sands of Gaza. We can now at least be assured that when our descendants find it, Gaza will make it to the news in positive light again.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cU_Rj-0uAdk/U0jm2Q9niuI/AAAAAAAABNs/R-O5mSHHiTk/s1600/Zeus+of+Gaza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cU_Rj-0uAdk/U0jm2Q9niuI/AAAAAAAABNs/R-O5mSHHiTk/s1600/Zeus+of+Gaza.jpg" height="400" width="235" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Zeus of Gaza. <a href="http://antikforever.com/Syrie-Palestine/Philistins%20Arameens/gaza_ascalon.htm">Source</a></i></td></tr>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-63177530445575119632013-12-27T19:17:00.001+02:002014-02-15T10:43:35.816+02:00وداعاً دكتور اياد... Farewell Dr. Eyad<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">(English below)</span></i></div>
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كيف لشخص قضى حياته في علاج الأمراض النفسيه لأفراد مجتمع أنهكت السنين ما تبقى من عقله وأفقدته صوابه وحطمت نفسيته, شخص رأي وسمع وعالج حالات لم يتخيلها سيجموند فرويد في أشنع أحلامه, أن يكون هو ملجأ الأمل الوحيد لذات المجتمع؟ كيف؟ هل الأمل ضريبة دفعها له المجتمع مقابل العلاج؟ هل التحصن بالأمل شرط من شروط ممارسة المهنة؟ أم هل كان يستمد الأمل في المستقبل من ألم الحاضر؟</div>
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لا أذكر متى تعرفت على دكتور اياد السراج, حيث أنه كان صديق مقرب لوالدي منذ سنوات كثيرة واعتدنا على زياراته وجلساته دوماً. كنت أهوى أن أنصت للحديث الذي يدور بين والدي ودكتور اياد, لأني كنت ألاحظ أن والدي يدخل في أبعاد وزوايا ونقاشات بطريقة ندر ما شهدته يتبعها مع أشخاص اخرين. كانت وكأنها أحاديث تدور في عالم اخر.</div>
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التحقت بالمدرسة الأمريكية الدولية في غزة عام 2000, وكان دكتور اياد رئيس مجلس ادارتها. لم تكن المدرسة مجرد مدرسة, بل كانت أيضا بمثابة حقل تجارب لسياسات سوف تتبعها الأطراف المعنية لاحقأ على مستوى أكبر: الاحتلال هاجم المدرسة العديد من المرات ابتدائاً من عام 2001 وقطع عنها الموارد, السلطة الفلسطينينة تجاهلت المدرسة وفقدت الاهتمام بها بعد أن تم الهجوم عليها عام 2007, حكومة حماس أزالت أنقاض المدرسة وتنتظر بناء مدرسة بمساعدة قطرية فوق الأرض الفارغة. باختصار, مأساة المدرسة بين عامي 2001-2007 كانت نموذج مصغر لمستقبل غزة حتى يومنا هذا.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d5RxTpDHE4Q/Ur21OsO3WLI/AAAAAAAABKM/B9NshcynILY/s1600/group+photo+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-d5RxTpDHE4Q/Ur21OsO3WLI/AAAAAAAABKM/B9NshcynILY/s640/group+photo+1.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">دكتور اياد خلال حفل تخرج أول وفد من المدرسة الأمريكية في غزة ٢٠٠٦ -تصوير جورج عازر</td></tr>
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خلال هذه السنوات كان دكتور اياد هو القائد الميداني للمدرسة بكامل أفرادها. لم يتمكن سواه من تخليص المدرسة من المشاكل والتعقيدات التى لم تنقطع أبداً. كان يحارب من أجل المدرسة،والأهم من ذلك أنه كان يحارب من أجل العلم في جميع أشكاله. كان يحب أن يشرك الجميع في اتخاذ القرار وحل المشاكل. أذكر مثلا أنه صدف والتقينا في القاهرة في وقت كانت تمر به المدرسة بظروف مالية صعبة كادت أن تؤدي الى اغلاقها، فقام دكتور اياد بالتنسيق لاجتماع يجمعنا كادارة مجلس الطلبة في المدرسة مع رجل الأعمال المصري ناصف سويرس، الذي أبدى اهتمام بالمساعدة. وفعلا، قام سويرس بكتابة شك بالمبلغ المطلوب لحل الأزمة في نهاية الاجتماع وانحلت المشكلة.</div>
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لم ينقطع دعم دكتور اياد واتصاله المستمر خلال سنواتي الدراسية في العلوم السياسية في الجامعة الأمريكية في القاهرة. كان يشجعني وزملائي على الابداع في جامعاتنا والعودة الى فلسطين كي نحقق ما يمكن ان نحققه من أحلامنا، عله يعود ببعض الفائدة على الوطن. عندما عدت الى غزة وصدمت بواقع حطم أحلامي باستكمال الدراسة العليا في مجال الدبلوماسية والالتحاق بالسلك الدبلوماسي، كان دكتور اياد هو أكثر من ساندني على مواجهة الواقع وعدم الانحباط، واقناعي بأن السياسة هي، ربما أبعد طريق عن الوطن، وأن علينا أن نجد بديل، وكنت أرى فيه خير مثال على ذلك، فما أبعده عن السياسة وما أشد تأثيرة على القضية. </div>
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بنائا على ذلك, تطوعت في مركز أبحاث "تيدا" الذي أنشئه دكتور اياد في غزة عام ٢٠١٠ كأول مركز أبحاث استراتيجيه في غزة. كان أحد الأهداف الرئيسية للمركز هو كسر الحصار الفكري المفروض على غزة، من خلال التواصل مع مفكرين عالميين مثل نعوم تشومسكي ورشيد خالدي، وايجاد حلقة وصل بين طلاب من غزة وطلاب من جامعات حول العالم، والتنسيق لزيارة أشخاص مهتمين ليتعرفوا على غزة بكامل معالمها. لاحقاّ، في صيف ٢٠١٠ أسست مجموعة منا مبادرة ديوان غزة الثقافية التطوعية، والتي تعتمد على روح المبادرة والطاقة الايجابية والتطوع كموارد تشغيليه، فأسسنا نوادي كتاب، سينما، تصوير، فلك، مناظرة، محاورة، واليوم لا تزال المبادرة قائمة من دون أي دعم مادي وأصبحت تضم المئات من شباب وشابات غزة المهتمين بالتنمية الثقافية. كان دكتور اياد أحد أكبر الداعمين لديوان غزة، فكان يتصل بنا بشكل شبه يومي لمناقشة الأفكار والمقترحات، ولتوصيلنا بأشخاص مهتمين بالمبادرة، فالفضل يعود لدكتور اياد رحمه الله لاعتماده علينا في ديوان غزة لتنظيم فعالية استضافة المفكر نعوم تشومسكي في غزة، وتنظيم المؤتمر الأول للعدوان الاسرائيلي على غزة، والكثير من الفعاليات الاخرى. </div>
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لم يتردد دكتور اياد يوماّ في ابداء النصيحة والارشاد، وما استطاع من مساعدة لنا، حيث أنه كان يرى أن نشاطنا أيضا يصب في اتجاه كسر الحصار الثقافي والفكري عن غزة. كثيراً ما أحبطنا ويأسنا, فكان يمدنا بأمل مجهول المصدر وكأنه يربيه في حوض أزهار في حديقة منزله, ويؤكد لنا (كنوع من الدعم المعنوي) أنه يستمد الأمل من الشباب, ونحن الذين كنا نلجأ اليه ونحن يائسين! يبدو لي الان أن ما فعله دكتور اياد هو تعليمنا من دون أن نشعر على أن نبحث عن الأمل دائما في أي موقف وأن لا نفرط به أبداً, فهو فعلاً من الأشياء القليلة التى لا زلنا نمتلكها.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;"><i>دكتور اياد خلال حفل تخرج أول وفد من المدرسة الأمريكية في غزة ٢٠٠٦ -تصوير جورج عازر</i></td></tr>
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لذلك, لن أدع الحزن يخيم على فراقك يا دكتور مهما كان صعب وأليم. لا وقت لدينا للحزن, فأنت قضيت عمرك لاخر لحظه فيه وأنت تدافع عن القضية التي تبنيتها منذ شبابك, فما حجتنا نحن الان؟ نعدك بأن نبقى نحارب حتى ننهض بغزة التي أحببناها سويأ الى المستوى الذى طالما حلمنا به ورسمنا تفاصيل ملامحه. وسوف يكون "علي" هو أول وأقوى المحاربين. </div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14pt;">How could it be that a person who
spent his life diagnosing the psychological suffering of a community driven to
insanity by long years of suffering, a person who saw and heard psychological
cases that Segmun Freud could not have imagined in his wildest dreams, be the
only source of hope for the same community? Was hope the treatment fee paid to
him by society? Or was hope a professional condition? Was he able to derive
hope in the future from the present pain?</span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">I met Dr. Eyad many years ago, as
he was a close friend of my father for as long as I could remember. To my young
ears, their conversations always seemed to take place in a different world.
They would dive into discussions on intricate topics under many themes, but
most importantly, Gaza was always the highlight of their conversations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">I became a student at the
American International School in Gaza when it first opened in 2000, with Dr.
Eyad as the Chairman of its BOD. The school wasn’t only a school: it was more
like a micro experiment lab for policies and politics that would later expand
to the whole Strip: the Israeli occupation attacked the school many times
starting in 2001 and prevented supplies from entering (books, etc), and
eventually bombed it in 2008, the Palestinian Authority ignored the school and
disregarded its responsibility as an authority after 2007, and the Hamas
government removed the rubble that the school turned into and is waiting for
Qatar to build a new school on the land. In short, the school from 2001-2007
was a micro example of today’s Gaza.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">During those years, Dr. Eyad was
the only person we could count on for solving the school’s endless problems. He
used to fight not only for AISG, but for education everywhere, and would teach
us how to fight along. I remember that we, a group of AISG students, and Dr.
Eyad were in Cairo coincidentally at a time when the school was facing a dire
financial situation that might have led to its closure. Dr. Eyad then arranged
for a meeting between us and Egyptian businessman Nasef Sawiris, during which
we discussed the situation with Sawiris. At the end of the meeting, Sawiris
vowed to help and he wrote us a check with the amount required to overcome the
problem. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Dr. Eyad’s support and contact was
constant as I became a student of political science at the American University
in Cairo. During those years, he would encourage my AISG alum classmates and
myself to excel at university and to return to Palestine in order to pursue our
dreams, and hopefully contribute to improving the situation. When I returned to
Gaza and my dreams of becoming a diplomat were shattered by the reality of the
situation, Dr. Eyad gave me immense help and advice on dealing with reality and
avoiding depression. He convinced me that politics is probably the least
effective path in improving the situation, and that we must find an
alternative. Of course, he was the best example of that: so far from politics,
yet more effective in his field and in improving the situation than most, if
not all, of our politicians.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Accordingly, I volunteered at
Tida, a strategic studies center that Dr. Eyad established in Gaza in 2010- the
first of its kind. One of the center’s main objectives was to break the mental
siege that is imposed on Gaza through connecting with intellectuals from around
the world, such as Noam Chomsky and Rachid Khalidi, and by connecting students
from Gaza with students around the world. Later in 2010, a group of my friends
and I started “Diwan Ghazza”- an unofficial voluntary cultural imitative that
uses passion and positive energy instead of money to run several clubs,
including book exchange, film, photography, astronomy, and debate clubs, which
are attended by hundreds of people in Gaza. Dr. Eyad was one of the biggest supporters
of our initiative- despite his illness, he would call us on an almost daily
basis to discuss ideas and suggestions. Through Dr. Eyad’s support, we were
able to organize a talk for Prof. Chomsky with Diwan Ghazza, as well as several
other activities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">Never did Dr. Eyad hesitate to
give advice and guidance to us along the way, as he saw that our activities
also aimed at breaking the mental and cultural sieges on Gaza. At times, when the
gloom of the situation got the better of us, he would provide us with hope from
an anonymous source, as if he grew it in his backyard. He would insist that he
derives hope from young people, yet we would go to him in a state of utter
depression! Now when I think of it, it seems like Dr. Eyad indirectly taught us
how to seek hope even in the most dark situations and to never let go of it, as
it is one of the very few things left in our possession. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;">With that said, I will not allow
sadness to be the theme of your parting. We have no time to be sad. You spent
your life, until the very last minute, fighting for the cause you adopted since
your young years, so what is our excuse? We promise you to get to the Gaza that
we long envisioned and imagined, and dreamed of together. </span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="color: #222222; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: major-bidi; mso-hansi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-bidi;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-13813508067965905422012-11-26T21:47:00.000+02:002013-10-09T14:03:43.985+03:00Published by Aljazeera: Steal what you will from the blueness of the sea<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The world should start looking at our cause with its brains and not with its donations.</div>
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The millions that were "spent by different world powers on rebuilding Gaza", rehabilitating its homes, schools and hospitals, creating emergency and early recovery programmes, "have all gone to waste" [REUTERS]</div>
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Continue reading here: <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/11/2012112111117878510.html">http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/11/2012112111117878510.html</a></div>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-76043560306566828172012-11-20T21:42:00.001+02:002016-07-16T19:58:02.703+03:00A Hopeful Week in Gaza<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: , "helvetica" , "helvetica" , "san serif"; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><em style="font-family: 'AvenirNextLTW01-MediumI 721278', sans-serif;">[Note: This article was written prior to the ongoing attacks on Gaza].</em></span><br />
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While the world was busy following an election that will probably result in nothing but more negative interventions in our futures, Gaza was immersed in a long week of events and accomplishments.<br />
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People usually imagine that living in Gaza, our lives revolve around conflict and our futures are in the hands of whoever is running the Middle East. Little do they know about the unraveled potential in this city, and the magnificent history it sits upon.<br />
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That said, what else happens in Gaza and is not covered by the media? It’s the good news. Allow me to share with you a few examples of good news made in Gaza, all in just over a week.<br />
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Continue reading on: <a href="http://www.fairobserver.com/article/hopeful-week-gaza">http://www.fairobserver.com/article/hopeful-week-gaza</a><br />
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">*[This article was originally published by Fair Observer on November 19, 2012].<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-37188129980498216762012-11-17T21:25:00.002+02:002013-11-28T11:56:39.507+02:00Deep political analysis of the current situation in Gaza. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Here's what I think.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">غزة، قط بسبع أرواح. روح للأرض، روح للبحر، روح للسماء، روح للقضية، روح للماضي، روح للمستقبل، و روح للانسان.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Gaza, like a cat, has seven souls. A soul for earth, a soul for the sea, a soul for the sky, a soul for the cause, a soul for the past, a soul for the future, and a soul for the human.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">And Gaza will survive this time, like it always does.</span><br />
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-23048083794511197372012-10-15T15:14:00.001+02:002012-10-15T15:25:28.000+02:00Rehabilitation Centre for the Visually Impaired- Gaza<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Because this city will continue to give, and never ask for anything in return...<br />
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I'm heading to UNRWA's Rehabilitation Centre for the Visually Impaired-#Gaza to celebrate its golden jubilee. This amazing center, which runs under UNRWA, has been helping visually impaired in children enjoy life for the past 50 years. An asylum providing educational and rehabilitation services for 150 'different' kids, right in the middle of a crazy city.<br />
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More info and pictures to follow..<br />
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-81094523966638109032012-10-10T15:06:00.003+02:002013-11-28T11:57:52.767+02:00Gaza's Pink Fighters <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Its a doubtless fact that only a marginalized minority in the world relates anything but negativity to "Gaza". But how many of the overwhelming majority remember that the people of Gaza are vulnerable to other issues faced by humanity, such as, cancer, and, more specifically, breast cancer?<br />
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Few. And its shocking because cancer is the second cause for death in the Gaza Strip. Today, there are 11,000 cancer patients in Gaza, not counting those who have not been diagnosed yet.<br />
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<span class="long-title " dir="ltr" id="eow-title" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" title="Women Die Waiting - Breast Cancer in the Gaza Strip"><span style="font-size: small;">Women Die Waiting - Breast Cancer in the Gaza Strip</span></span></h1>
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So this month, Gaza celebrated Pink October by launching an extensive awareness campaign, calling on women to get early screening and protection. The campaign also featured:<br />
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<b><span style="color: #ea9999;">Making the largest pink ribbon in the work, ON GAZA'S BEACH!</span></b></div>
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And we did! The organization behind this amazing initiative is called the Aid and Hope Program for Cancer Patients Care. It's led by Eman Shannan, a survivor of the disease. Running on a low budget provided by several Palestinian private sector institutions, the team (75% of the staff are patients or survivors of breast cancer) made the ribbon using a 1.4 kilo long pink cloth, breaking the Guinness Record, on the beach. </div>
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Its a message to the world, and more importantly, to ourselves. Living in Gaza takes a fighter, but a fighter with cancer? A female fighter with cancer? Fighting off the disease and its provider (the occupation) with abnormal resilience, hope, and will. Israel's war machines, the #1 provider of Cancer cells in Palestine, do not only destroy buildings or human lives, they also cause slow death and prolonged suffering, embodied in cancer. </div>
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It might destroy a human body, but it would take a lot more to destroy a Palestinian soul, and it never will.</div>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-8295141771220949702012-09-14T22:04:00.000+03:002013-11-28T12:04:41.272+02:00A glimpse of Gaza's Old City today!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A reflection of Old Gaza's sky on one of its walls.</div>
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انعكاس سماء غزة القديمة على أحد جدرانها</div>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-26131546699168760832012-08-21T21:38:00.002+03:002013-11-28T12:02:32.305+02:00The sun through a Mashrabeyya..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Gaza, August 20, 2012.<br />
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-74098720625159410952012-07-15T22:24:00.000+03:002013-11-28T12:01:48.329+02:00This Gazan Morning :) صباح غزاوي<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“إن البلبل (أو الهدهد) لا يحوك عشاً في القفص كيلا يورث العبودية لفراخه”</span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">― جبران خليل جبران</span><br style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">"The nightingale does not make his nest in a cage lest slavery be the lot of its chicks" - Jubran Khalil Jubran</span></td></tr>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-40451124392826410252012-06-22T01:22:00.000+03:002013-11-28T12:00:33.572+02:00Gaza, "City of Shepherd Kings"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Yup. That's what Gaza was called 4000 years ago. </div>
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Find below a screenshot of an article published by "London News" in the 1920's, titled </div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #f1c232;">"4000 year old jewelry: Goldwork of the age of Shepherd Kings, Gaza (2000-1500 BC).""</span></span></div>
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by <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;">Petrie, W. M. Flinders Sir. </span></div>
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This is the Gaza I proudly belong to!</div>
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p.s. I'm doing more research on the topic and will be publishing it within a bigger Gaza cultural heritage and history preservation project that I'm working on.</div>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-41355127313515923942012-06-20T11:47:00.001+03:002012-06-20T11:57:07.638+03:00Note/Apology!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I must apologize for having been an inactive blogger for the last two months. Swamped with work, busy with a new project, and adjusting to a slightly different lifestyle. I'm thinking outloud here- would it be ok if I blog about random, non-Gaza/Palestine related things? I won't give examples until I figure out the answer.<br />
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Last night's midnight hallucinations- Israeli Apaches woke us up around midnight. The whole city was up in anticipation, fear (yes, its ok to be scared), while a toddler (Hadeel El Haddad) was assassinated by the Israelis. Fifty people were being murdered in Syria. Meanwhile in Egypt: Egyptians were divided between Shafik and Morsi, and Mubarak's death or survival. Spare us the drama, please? Who cares if he's dead/alive/resurrected/incarnated? What significant difference is that going to make at this stage?<br />
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On Egypt: my friend posted this hilarious comment this morning:<br />
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<span dir="rtl">النهارده يوم سعيد جداااااا فى تاريخ مصر..اللى انتخب مرسى فرحان لأن مرسى كسب واللى انتخب شفيق فرحان لأن شفيق كسب. و اللى قاطع فرحان لان طنطاوى لبس الكسبان السلطانيه.<br />اللى بيكره مبارك فرحان لأنه مات<br />و اللى بيحبه فرحان لأنه لسه عايش<br />ربنا يباركلنا فى الحشيش المصرى طويل التيلة</span></div>
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<span dir="rtl">It roughly translates into:</span></div>
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<span dir="rtl">Today is a very happy day in Egypt's history. </span></div>
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<span dir="rtl">The people who elected Morsi are happy because Morsi won, and the ones who elected Shafiq are happy because Shafiq won. The ones who boycotted are happy because Tantawi/SCAF is the winner. </span></div>
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<span dir="rtl">Whoever hates Mubarak is happy because he died, and whoever likes him is happy because he's still alive. Long live Egyptian hash! </span></div>
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</div>Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-5055912533984794282012-06-20T11:44:00.004+03:002012-06-20T12:07:02.106+03:00My contribution to the Guardian's "Gaza live blog"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2012/jun/08/gaza-live-blog?CMP=twt_gu#block-10" title="Link to update 10"><span style="color: #005689; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">9.50am:</span></a></span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">As part of today's
Gaza Live blog, young Gazans bloggers talk about their lives. First up is</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> <b><a href="http://yelkhoudary.blogspot.co.uk/"><span style="color: #005689; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Yasmeen el Khoudary</span></a></b> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">(left).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">What's it like to live
in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>? I get
that question so often that answering it becomes tiring. But what is it really
like to live in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>?
Here, I'm going to try to answer the question in five main points.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">The political and
economic situation in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>
is unbearable. With 64 years of Israeli occupation, five years under Israeli
physical, political and economic siege, five years of political and geographic
division between Hamas and Fatah/Gaza and the <st1:place w:st="on">West Bank</st1:place>,
we have enough problems to fill the world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Simultaneously,
unprovoked Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip remain relentless. I don't have
figures, but I have personal experiences. A couple of nights ago, my usual
bedtime lullaby was playing - a series of loud explosions, followed by the
buzzing of Israeli spying drones. The following morning's news revealed that <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> bombed a house in one of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>'s refugee camps–for no apparent reason-
leaving seven injuries, including four children.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">There is never a
guarantee of safety in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>,
a truth that does a great job messing with our heads and stability. Not all of <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city>'s 1.5 million inhabitants were injured and/or
suffered the pain/loss of a relative or a friend, but each and every person in <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city> is a direct victim of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s unwavering psychological
warfare on the Strip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Yet, the bigger
threat/problem is isolation. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s
policies deliberately aim at keeping the Gaza Strip physically isolated from
the world, and also lagging behind in the fields of economic, industrial,
educational, technological, cultural development. While the results of the
latter speak for themselves, the former has dire consequences that include a
blindfolded generation with almost no exposure to the outside world, and a
world with no exposure to a population that it plays a major role in
determining the fate of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Conclusion? Despite everything, hope exists.
There's nothing easier than giving up on living in a place like Gaza/Palestine,
but the real challenge lies in persisting, loving, and believing in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>. A common saying
here goes: "Love Gaza and it will love you back." To that end, my
friends and I found our own way of loving <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city>
collectively:<a href="http://www.diwanghazza.com/"><span style="color: #005689; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Diwan Ghazza</span></a>,
hosted by <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>'s
only Museum (<a href="http://www.almathaf.ps/museum"><span style="color: #005689; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Almat'haf</span></a>),
we organise independent activities that we feel Gazan youth need, using
ourselves as indicators. We started Gaza's first book, film, and photography
clubs, launched a contest for Palestinian bloggers, in addition to several
other activities, using nothing but each other's books, DVDs, and cameras, and
the cultural thirst of no less than 200 young Gazans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.5pt;">Almat'haf is part of a
greater effort to save all that remains from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>'s glorious past led by my father, Jawdat
Khoudary. An exhibition about <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city>'s history is
travelling around Europe, and a book about the most important pieces in
Khoudary's collection displayed in the Museum and the Exhibition was published
in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> last
month after 5 years of research. We have also finished renovating an 800+ year
old house in <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city>'s <st1:placename w:st="on">Old</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype> and will turn it into <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>'s first cultural
heritage preservation centre. Despite everything, we will keep working towards
restoring the glory that once existed in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>.</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 2.7pt;"> </span></div>
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</div>Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-64026778503965839682012-04-02T21:35:00.000+03:002012-06-20T11:46:50.221+03:00Written for AlterNet: "The Toulouse Killings: Not In Palestine's Name"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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How one Palestinian living in power-starved Gaza views the killings in Toulouse.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 25px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 25px;"> </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.alternet.org/authors/15952/">http://www.alternet.org/authors/15952/</a>
</div>Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-52492218189284842402012-03-13T14:54:00.000+02:002016-07-16T19:59:48.332+03:00Voice of Sanity- Rest in Peace, Mahmoud Darwish...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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With #GazaUnderAttack and all the stress, anxiety and sorrow that entailed, I almost forgot about the birthday of my absolute favorite poet, politician and human, Mahmoud Darwish. What Darwish did during his lifetime and left behind for <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Palestine</st1:city></st1:place>, a legacy of timeless words that will outlive him forever, was something that all of our politicians combined could not even attempt. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dr. Sarraj in my school's graduation, 2006</i></td></tr>
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I hope this doesn’t sound too melodramatic. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As a Palestinian, I always felt that Darwish was my best representative. For one, he spoke on behalf of what we, the people, thought and felt. In times of political distress and confusion (approx. 99% of the time in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>), nothing made sense but his poems and articles. I never expected any of our politicians to explain the situation, because more often that not, they were the key players in a "behind the scenes" plot in which we were always the losers. But Darwish was one of us, not one of them. He was the only one willing to talk to us, and he was the only one we wanted to hear. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Today, I feel lost. Political distress and confusion are the fog that fills our skies, and Darwish is not here to lead us through the mess. He is not here to explain to us the insanity that we're living in. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Much to my dismay, I never met Mahmoud Darwish in person. But I always felt like we knew each other, that we had a strong friendship built on understanding and similar beliefs. I only knew Darwish through his words, and they, alone, were the prism through which I continue to see the world today.</div>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-54732376433163994342012-03-13T14:32:00.000+02:002012-03-13T14:32:03.556+02:00Interview with BBC World Have Your Say #WHYS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/worldservice/whys/whys_20120313-1143a.mp3">Podcast of BBC World Have Your Say- Gaza and Israel</a><br />
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Above is a link to the podcast of the "BBC World Have Your Say" which I was part of today. The participants were Nader and myself from Gaza, and two Israeli participants from Tel Aviv and Sderot.<br />
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Comments welcome! </div>Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-70312947587271974482012-02-28T14:12:00.007+02:002013-11-28T12:20:28.797+02:00Diwan Ghazza & the Gaza Book Club<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="color: #222222;">It's quite surprising to see that people are quite surprised to hear that there's a book club in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>, but I guess that's exactly why we started Diwan Ghazza. Let me tell you our story.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222;">A group of my friends and I are fed up with the way the world regards <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> (with the usual media coverage on the negative side of life here) and disregards the other face: the historic, the beautiful, the educated, and the inspirational. We decided that <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> is a city no less capable than other cities, and the fact that we have gone through so much should add to our credit. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> breeds thinkers, and the only thing it teaches them is that they should do the thinking themselves. There are no cultural centers, theatres, cinemas or –updated- public libraries in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>, but that wasn’t going to stop us. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222;">So we decided to put our thoughts, time and energy into creating a group that we would be proud of belonging to. Its quite funny actually, that whenever people ask us what "Diwan Ghazza" is, our answer, "we're a group of friends interested in knowledge and in improving Gaza's image in the world", they don't get it. How can we not be a registered society or an NGO?! Why are we not asking for funding?! How can you not have an office!?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222;">But Diwan Ghazza is much simpler than that. We're not willing to be subject to boring NGO or donor regulations. Why should we seek to become "officially registered" and ask for donations when we can do great work without any money?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222;">Our first activity was the <a href="http://ibashar.wordpress.com/2011/07/31/gazatweetup-2/">first <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city> Tweet-Up</a> in July 2011, which gathered about 30 tweeps from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>, many of them meeting for the first time. We discussed everything from our role and responsibility as <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> Tweeps to future activities by Diwan. Later, we organized an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=263162413727160">online tweet up with Frode Mauring</a>, </span><em><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-style: normal;">Special Representative</span></em><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #222222;"> </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #222222;">of the Administrator in the occupied<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><em><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; font-style: normal;">Palestinian territories </span></em>. <span style="color: #222222;">We also organized several <a href="http://blogg.ud.se/tillfalligt-uppdrag/2011/12/13/everybodys-space-but-nobodys-territory/">meetings between youth activisits</a> in <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city> and UNDP and other diplomats, including a diplomatic and cultural mission from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sweden</st1:place></st1:country-region>. </span>. <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Simultaneously, <span style="color: #222222;">in July 2011 I became the <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city> Coordinator for the amazing <a href="http://palestineworkshop.org/"><st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city> Writing Workshop</a></span><a href="http://./">.</a> We organized several writing e-workshops (generously hosted by the British Council), which were attended by an array of students and professionals who greatly benefited from the experiences of renowned authors from around the globe. <span style="color: #222222;">Later, we started the <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city> Book Club Chapter with two novels: <a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1953127866">"Zabelle" </a></span><span style="color: #222222;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zabelle-Nancy-Kricorian/dp/0871137054">by Nancy Kricorian</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Road-Damascus-Robin-Yassin-Kassab/dp/0241144094">"The Road from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Damascus</st1:city></st1:place>" by Robin Yassin-Kassab</a></span><span style="color: #222222;">. We also had a very insightful discussion of Zabelle with Nancy Kricorian after reading the novel, and are looking forward to a discussion with Robin Yassin Kassab soon!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222;">Our group started growing, and more and more people became interested in Diwan Ghazza and in the book club. But we didn't want to limit ourselves to English books or to novels, or to a small group of people. Neither did we have an updated library or bookstore option. Thus, we decided to start the Diwan Ghazza Book Exchange Club. And we did. <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222;">Our first meeting was in January, and was attended by 18 people, and yielded over 25 books. From books about <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>'s Christian history, to Charles Dickens, to Sahar Khalife, the books were a beautiful assortment. We met again last week, with more people and more books (we did not count, but the pile was HUGE). This time, Ahmed Matar's poetry, fresh books about the Egyptian revolution, and Paulo Coelhos' books were among the collection. We swapped books again, but were left with a huge pile. Thankfully, the place that hosts our events, <a href="http://www.almathaf.ps/">Almat'haf Hotel</a> (<st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>'s first museum of archeology and cultural house) offered to host our mini library in the hotel's business center. Anyone who's interested can check out our virtual shelf on <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/62778.Diwan_Ghazza_Book_Club">Good Reads</a></span> but our only condition is that you write a book review!<span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222;">And by doing that, we are slowly building a model to show that a LOT can be done in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city> without any donations. All you need is genuine commitment and mutual interests. I hope I was able to answer your questions about Diwan Ghazza, our book club and on how we're attempting to restore our <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city>, to which <a href="http://www.nnrh.dk/RR/rr-pdf/82.7-11.pdf">Choricius of <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city></a> (491-518 AD) once belonged, and established <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city>'s <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Rhetoric-</st1:placename></st1:place> a beacon of knowledge during the Late Antiquity!</span></b></div>
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<b><i><span style="color: #222222;">About Diwan Ghazza: we are a group of friends who seek to show the world a better image of <st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city> (an image that exists, but has been ignored for so long), by: empowerment through knowledge and by providing a venue for youth to speak out about <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Gaza</st1:city></st1:place>'s forgotten face. Our name, Diwan in Palestinian culture is the guesthouse of families, where relatives and friends gather to talk and discuss issues. Our Diwan is a venue for exchanging and discussing ideas, thoughts and knowledge. <a href="http://www.diwanghazza.com/">Www.diwanghazza.com</a> , <a href="http://www.facebook.com/diwanghazza">www.facebook.com/diwanghazza</a> <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: #222222;">Our team is composed of 5 ambitious Palestinians from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>: <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b>Ola Anan: <a href="http://fromghazza.blogspot.com/">fromghazza.blogspot.com</a>/</b><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b>Jehan Al Farra: <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"><a href="http://palinoia.wordpress.com/">palinoia.wordpress.com</a></span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Bashar Lubbad: <a href="http://ibashar.wordpress.com/">ibashar.wordpress.com/.</a></b><b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b>Omar Ghraieb:<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> <a href="http://gazatimes.blogspot.com/">gazatimes.blogspot.com/</a></span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b>Yasmeen El Khoudary: <a href="http://yelkhoudary.blogspot.com/">yelkhoudary.blogspot.com</a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-34475469057737139762012-02-20T22:42:00.000+02:002016-07-16T20:04:39.400+03:00Glorious past, Green future!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I took this picture today from an old house in Gaza's Old City. The foreground shows remnants of a rooftop room (the rest of the house is currently being renovated, stay tuned for details!) and in the background is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mosque_of_Gaza">Omari Mosque of Gaza</a>.Wild flowers stemming out of proud remnants give me hope for a brighter future!</div>
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Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1170909076482102705.post-47999098456749575042012-02-18T23:05:00.000+02:002012-02-18T23:05:28.776+02:00Gaza's Multifaceted Winter: Unprecedented cold, Unavailable heat, and Unrelenting souls.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I saved this post as a draft on 23/1/2012, about a week after I posted a picture of <a href="http://yelkhoudary.blogspot.com/2012/01/white-gaza.html">hail covering Gaza</a> as a result of an unusual winter this year. It was a really cold night, but we were all thrilled about the heavy rain and the beautiful hail that was storming through the region.<br />
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That day, a friend of mine posted the following prayer on Facebook: اللھُم ابسط دفئ رحمتك على من لا مأوى لهُ من هذا البرد<br />
which translates into something along the lines of: "God, please lay the warmth of your mercy on those who have no shelter from this cold."<br />
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Here in Gaza, we were (and today, are) THRILLED about the beautiful rain that has a way of making everything extra beautiful- the people, the sea, the trees, the spirits. This year, however (not unlike past years)- this beautiful winter is accompanied by a very political electricity shortage. Heavy rain usually means that people are going to stay at home, huddling in front of some source of heat- an electric heater (only when there's electricity- 6/24 hours per day), or maybe a gasoline heater (only when Israel/Egypt/the skies pump enough gasoline into the Gaza Strip).<br />
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Imagine? You're sitting at home, the weather is 6 Celsius degrees of winter, no source of heat, no electricity = a lot of time wasted, a lot of curses uttered, and a lot of contemplation happening.<br />
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So amid chilly contemplation I remembered a story that I read a long time ago. It was a story of a homeless single mother and her son. Their house consisted of a single roofless room, protected by a door. One day, it started raining like crazy. The mother, feeling helpless towards her shivering child being soaked in rain, broke the door away from the wall and placed it on the roof, stopping the rain from soaking her and her child. Her son looked at her and said, "I wonder what the poor people who have no door do at times like this!"<br />
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Here I recall a more personal story. I was talking to someone (the caretaker of a large family in Gaza) about the ongoing rainy weather. He said that he didn't like rain, to which I answered, shocked, "how can anyone not LOVE rain! Its a beautiful gift from the sky!" He simply told me: "Before I built my current cement house, we used to live in a house covered with iron sheets. Rain reminds me of the difficult times when my family would get washed and soaked from the heavy leaking rain in our small house."<br />
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I remember how bad I felt more than I remember the details of the story. The moral of the story/blogpost is- YES, its too cold, YES, we're suffering from a terrible electricity situation, but there are people who are now SHIVERING- not far away from where we are, in Gaza. I don't have numbers or statistics, but what I know for sure is when we run to the roof/garden to "dance in the rain" or try to capture the most beautiful photographs with our fancy cameras, others -only a few kilometers away- are praying to God to stop the rain, or are trying to find a door to protect their heads from the rain while we worry about electricity. </div>Yasmeen El Khoudaryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00311409332883595721noreply@blogger.com4