TO SAVE 80 SHEKELS OR FOR THE ADVENTURE?
I was intended on not repeating my experience yesterday when I spent nearly 2 hours making the short trip from my office in Ramallah to my apartment in Jerusalem’s Beit Hanina office. The problem is that I could have made it in a lot less time by going the bypass road which I would be […]
The isolation of Jerusalem, another catastrophe
It all started as a nuisance in 1993. Twelve years later, this nuisance is becoming a major catastrophe for the over 200,000 Palestinians of East Jerusalem, following the abduction by Hamas activists of an Israeli soldier, who was later killed along with his captor in an Israeli army storming of the location where the captured […]
In search of an Arab ‘Gandhi’
For the past few weeks, Los Angles-based Palestinian director Hanna Elias has been very busy in Ramallah. He has been casting, auditioning and rehearsing with actors who will take part in an important movie. He needs to find some 120 voices in order to dub into Arabic the world-class movie Gandhi.
The people v the intelligence services
During the peaceful demonstrations in Lebanon last week, protestors carried huge photo posters of the heads of the intelligence services in Lebanon calling for their resignation or ouster. The thousands of protestors clearly broke the fear barrier by making such a public call against the dark forces that they accuse of running a police state.
Something to celebrate
A curious thing is happening in Lebanon and other parts of the Arab world. Democracy might be the rule of the people by the people, but once people take up this right, there is no telling what they will decide. Anti-US forces (like those of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah) are temporarily (at least in Beirut) putting […]
March 8th , Women’s Day, Good News from an unexpected source
Today is Women’s Day. In response to the call by the Director General of UNESCO, I decided, yesterday, to appoint Nahed Abu Toumeh as director for Al Quds Educational Television, for one day. I didn’t realize when I wrote the memo that Nahed would take the issue so seriously. She really got excited, came to […]
Global democracy: will it stand the test?
US President George Bush tickled the fancy of lovers of democracy the world over when he focused his inaugural address in Washington on the priority of fighting tyranny and standing up for the rights of people to liberty and freedom. While it is obvious that Bush will pursue this policy in regards to countries like […]
Abu Mazen’s greater jihad
I participated in the Palestinian presidential elections very early on Jan. 9. I drove to the village of Anata just outside the municipal borders of Jerusalem, showed them my ID card, got my right hand thumb inked and was given a ballot which I used to cast my vote. The ink, which some claimed could […]
The challenge to Mahmoud Abbas
Victory for Mahmoud Abbas in the Palestinian presidential elections will pose a huge challenge to the Palestinian leadership. By being voted chairman of the PLO executive committee hours after Yasser Arafat’s death, Abbas clinched the support of the organization that represents all Palestinians, including the diaspora.
Voting for Palestinian President
I left Amman very early to get to Ramallah for some work and a few interviews. My parents in law also wanted to go to Palestine and stay in Jericho. We left Amman at 7:30 and things went smoothly. My father in law, Odeh a Jordanian who lived many years in Jerusalem has a special […]