The rap on the blogosphere is that it’s all talk and no action. The Middle East Interfaith Blogger Network believes otherwise. Blogs can be a space for open dialogue, an opportunity to connect with people across borders, and a venue for organizing activism online and in the streets. Here’s a guide for what you can do to contribute.
Blogger: Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead
Article: Podcast #11 - Interview with Moroccan students about recent terror attacks in Casablanca
Originaly Posted On: 2007-04-16 14:47:08
For today’s podcast, I interviewed a few students from the Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco, where I was for the past week attending a conference, about how they feel regarding the recent set of suicide attacks in Casablanca.
(If you don’t know what happened in Casablanca recently, read this article.)
Awareness, Blog, Current events, Interviews, Islam, Media, morocco, Podcasts, Regional issues, Youth
Blogger: jerusalem wanderings
Article: Back from Petra - Part I
Originaly Posted On: 2007-04-17 13:31:00
I don’t know how many posts this trip to Jordan will turn out - but I guess the best place to start is from the beginning.
There were 11 of us in a minivan (which started out in Maghar up in the Galilee) going to the Jordanian border at Aqaba - 4 Moslems, 2 Christians, 1 Druze, 4 Jews. Of course, before the trip, everyone I know had been telling me “watch out” “be careful” because going into an Arab country is always scary for Jews who are, well, frightened of Arabs. I smile at these poor souls and say “thank you” for their warnings. But for me, the Jewish wanderer, it’s just another exciting and wonderful adventure into the unknown.
Four hours after leaving Jerusalem we ended up by the Israeli/Jordanian border. Passing over to Jordan from the Israeli side was uneventful. But when we got to the Jordanian side, they held our group for nearly three hours because one of the East Jerusalem women held Jordanian citizenship and Jordanians are not allowed through the Aqaba border (only the Allenby border near Jericho). It took alot of cajoling and persuading the border people that we needed to be at this conference tonight. We weren’t about to leave this poor woman behind as the rest of us were allowed entry.
I would have not have minded the long wait so much if this border had an exciting duty-free shop or a restaurant for God’s sake. One of the Moslem men told me that at the other border crossing at Beit Shean, there is a really big duty-free shop like the kind you find in Baghdad. Sorry, wouldn’t know ’bout that. Not yet, anyways. We wandered over to a place where a sign said “cafeteria” but when we walked in they seemed to stock only 4 different kinds of chocolate bars and some soft drinks.
“Any food here?” we asked.
The guy behind the counter smiled weakly and said “Food?” as if he hadn’t seen food since Turkish rule ended decades ago.
But the bathrooms were nostalgic for me because they were the no-toilet type - the “you squat and wash the poop down with water from a bucket” type that we all know and love from India.
I went to the bank to change money. There, lying on the couch, was the cashier/teller.
“Ahlan Wahsahlan” I smiled at him for guiltily disturbing his siesta. I gave him a whole bunch of shekels which he gave back to me in 58 Jordanian Dinars.
“You could have gotten a much better rate in East Jerusalem” said my friend. I’ll know for next time.
After I had done all my errands (after all, there was nothing much else to do there except perhaps buy more chocolate bars), I joined our group who had since settled in the border manager’s air-conditioned office, seated comfortably in ornate couches and plush seats - old and worn - they once saw a better day - but still ornate in the Arabic fashion. We joked around with him, teaching him a bit of Hebrew. He was very kind and pleasant and patient. This was probably the busiest day he had in months. Perhaps he was happy he had been kept busy because in the middle of his room, in front of his desk, was a 21″ t.v.. I especially enjoyed watching the Jordanian Action movie channel he had on. Plus, I added another word in Arabic to my stash of Arabic words that I know which was - Jowiz safar (passport).
Finally, after 2 1/2 hours of calls to the ministry of the interior and other assorted officials, Ms. East Jerusalem was let through and we were only too happy to be on our way to Petra in an old van - with as many flies as passengers.
It took two hours to get to Petra and we watched and photographed the sunset from the van windows. The desert changed to a more green mountainous terrain and when the sun set we got to the Petra Panorama hotel. All of us went to check in and when the reception people took a look at me and then their eyes went over their list of people they had to place in pairs in our respective rooms - they kind of mumbled between themselves and checked in others before me. What was going on??? Seems the event organizers didn’t recognize my Hebrew name and had me rooming with a guy.
“Is he young and cute?” I asked. In the end, they put me together with a Palestinian woman, which thrilled me somewhat because I felt it would be more meaningful to room with a Palestinian woman rather than with someone us Israelis have no conflicts with.
Blogger: Mideast Youth - Thinking Ahead
Article: India-Israel friendship
Originaly Posted On: 2007-04-17 08:58:18
In the news recently was that Hindi is being taught at Tel Aviv University and Hebrew University in Israel. Haifa University recently announced its plans to start a course in Hindi as well.
To the delight of Indian food enthusiasts Reena Pushkarna(owner of Tandoori ) has a chain of seven Indian restaurants, two in Jerusalem, two in Herzliah Pituach, one each in Eliat, Ramat Hachyal and Tel Aviv. Tandoori is a favourite not only among Indians but Israelis as well, particularly those who have visited India. Dignitaries and bureaucrats are regular visitors to Tandoori. Her food is also served at various official functions.
Her enterprise took an amazing twist when Reena started Israel’s only Kosher Indian restaurant in Jerusalem and Tiberias(Kohinoor).
Indian cuisine often relies on blending yoghurt with chicken which is a religious taboo for non-vegetarian Jews. Dietary laws of Judaism prescribe separation of milk and meat products. Both are never mixed or even cooked together simultaneously in the kitchen. Reena, therefore developed a substitute for milk/yogurt in parev milk (made of soybean powder). Even cheese is replaced by parev milk retaining the original flavour. It is difficult even for an Indian to make out the difference in taste.Taste of desserts like ice cream and kulfi made of parev milk is similar to the one made from cow milk. Fried cheese, one of the main constituents in gulab jamuns is also prepared out of parev milk. Israelis love gulab jamuns which they call cheese balls in honey syrup. Parev alternative created wonders and Indian food became much more popular among Israelis. Tandoori chain of Pushkaranas also served Kosher Indian meal for two years to first and business class passengers of EL AL the Israeli national airline.Reena has picked up cooks from places like Hyatt Regency in Delhi and Taj in Bombay. There are about 100 Indians and 150 Israelis on the staff. Visiting Tandoori is an experience in itself. Visitors are welcomed by young Israeli women waitresses/female attendants wearing ethnic Indian suits with long dupattas and bindis on there foreheads. Sporting a big smile on her face, like a good host, glamorous Reena goes to each table to entertain the guests educating them about Indian food and curries, how they are being prepared and how spices are marinated
India’s Ambassador Arun K. Singh to Israel spoke at an International Forum, Tel Aviv University awhile ago and here is an extract:
`One of the first things that strikes a visitor to Israel or for that matter to India is the sense of history and time. The land of Israel is of great antiquity and the source of rich spiritual values for a significant part of humanity. India and Israel are both heirs to great and ancient civilizations characterized by deep wisdom, humanism and philosophical traditions.
The India-Israel relationship is multifaceted and multidimensional. While our two nations are distinguished by different religions and cultures, yet in many ways they have much in common. Both countries emerged from foreign dominations as independent nations around the middle of the last century and embarked on a journey of building modern democratic societies based on representative democracy and freedom. Above all, India and Israel have an abiding commitment to democracy, and peace.
The ties between our two peoples go as far back as the times of the First Temple, when the first Jewish communities settled in India and developed and flourished over the ages. India is one of the few ancient and contemporary countries mentioned in the Bible (along with Persia, China, Egypt and Greece).
There is a spiritual kinship between these civilizations, as well as a historical interaction which is vividly embodied in the presence of Judaism and its adherents in India for over 1600 years. For thousands of Israelis, India has a legendary and mystical image.
The Indian Jewish community has flourished for centuries in peace and harmony, free to follow their way of life without encountering the slightest trace of anti-Semitic feeling. This is in keeping with the long-established and spontaneous tradition of mutual respect and assimilation, which is an integral and vital element of Indian culture and society. Almost all the major religions of the world including Judaism have enriched this great heritage of India. The Indian Jewish community has contributed handsomely to the building of modern India have contributed to enriching Indian culture and ethos. The migration of many members of the community to Israel in recent decades has served to build a strong cultural and emotional bridge between our two countries. Our affinities have been reflected in the esteem in which the Indian intellectual world has held the Judaic and Hebraic heritage. This has been reciprocated in the attention paid to Indian culture and civilization, and to Indology – ancient and modern, by Jewish scholars in the West and in Israel.
In an interview with the journal Jewish Standard in 1930, the great Indian poet and Nobel Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore recognized the historical logic of Jewish nationalism. He said that:”I regard Jewish nationalism as an effort to preserve and enrich Jewish culture and tradition. In today’s world this programme requires a national home. It also implies appropriate physical surroundings as well as favourable political and economic conditions”.
India and Israel were blessed with visionary leadership in the critical years after independence – leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Ben Gurion who built the foundations and institutions of modern, strong and democratic societies. On September 17, 1950, Government of India announced recognition of Israel. Early contacts included correspondence between President Rajendra Prasad and his Israeli counterpart, Chaim Weizman. David Ben Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, held Gandhiji in high esteem and saw him as an inspiration in the fight for freedom. I recall his words, following Mahatma Gandhi’s martyrdom, that “the example of Mahatma Gandhi’s life and teaching will always shine like a beacon to guide men of goodwill everywhere along the path of goodness and human worth”. President K. R. Narayanan, in a communication to President Katsav in April 2002 stated that “the development of India and Israel as vibrant democracies and centres of excellence in science and technology have created a natural partnership for bilateral cooperation and friendship”. One of our former External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, during his visit to Israel in June 2000 described the relations between India and Israel as “intuitive”.
A large number of ministerial and official visits have taken place, including the visits to India by President Ezer Weizman in January 1997, and PM Sharon in September 2003. These visits have led to several basic inter-governmental agreements for functional cooperation.
India and Israel have been actively involved the global campaign against terrorism and are committed to coordination with each other and other democracies against this menace. A bilateral Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism, established in 2002, has met regularly enabling the two sides to share experience, information and training techniques to deal with this global threat in a more effective manner.
A very important dimension in the relationship is at the level of people. The high priority that the two governments attach to the further strengthening of this relationship is matched by the deep affection and mutual respect, the two peoples have for each other. The Indian origin community in Israel constitutes an abiding bridge between our two countries even as they enrich the multicultural fabric of Israeli society. Israelis visit India in large numbers and for extended stays. Over 40,000 Israeli tourists visited India last year. Such visits create awareness, empathy and closeness at the people-to-people level while generating a mutual interest in each other’s cultures, history and traditions.
The nearly 70,000 strong Indian origin Jewish community in Israel provides a very important foundation for the relationship.
The Indian Jewish community in Israel is playing an important role in the development of this country. They are considered to be hard-working, skillful, reliable and a responsible community that has contributed not only in agriculture but also as an effective workforce in many of Israel’s industries. A number of members of the community are active in social and political fields.
Indian art, song, dance and therapy are becoming increasingly popular in Israel. A number of yoga classes and ayurvedic clinics have come up. Some municipalities have sponsored the classes in classical Indian dances and musical instruments.
Indian food is also becoming increasing popular in Israel and one can see a number of Indian restaurants in various parts of Israel.
About 40 scholars from all over the world took part in a unique month-long Sanskrit summer convention organized by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in July 2005 .
The World Hindi Day was celebrated in Israel on January 10, 2006 by the Embassy in association with the South East Asian Department of Tel Aviv University. The celebration drew about 300 India enthusiasts with students at the Tel Aviv University participating in a range of activities in Hindi.
Israeli movie producers have shown an interest in filming movies in Indian locales. Recently, an Indian musical and dance spectacle – “Bharati” – staged in Israel at several venues, was very well received here. In view of the increasing interest the world over, including in Israel, in Indian films, the Embassy organized an Indian film festival in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa in January 2006 and was highly successful and attracted huge audience.
The trade relations have grown significantly from less than $ 200 million in 1992 to $ 2.5 billion in 2005. While in the early part of the trade relations, the accent was on diamonds, followed by cooperation in agriculture, today, there is flourishing trade in hi-tech, software, telecommunications, biotechnology, medical equipment, machinery, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, among others. India is now Israel’s ninth largest global trading partner and second largest in Asia. Both sides have agreed to increase their bilateral trade to US $ 5 billion by 2007 and set up a Joint Study Group to examine an Economic Cooperation Agreement between the two countries. Its Report released during the visit of Mr. Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce and Industry of India provides a firm foundation to boost trade and economic tie and contains an Indo-Israeli Action Plan for Comprehensive Economic Cooperation This Joint Study Group Report spans a vast area covering not only the entire gamut of bilateral trade in goods and services but also the growing cooperation in science and technology, research and development
India and Israel are, each in their own way and in keeping with their cultures, responding to opportunities and challenges of recent times. Let me conclude by saying that the current millennium carries the hope of a new era of global peace and cooperation and India-Israel friendship can contribute to realizing this vision”
Blogger: View from Iran
Article: Eid is tomorrow…
Originaly Posted On: 2005-11-03 15:47:00
Woke up to stripes of snow on the mountains, rain-charged air, and fantastic after-rain light. It was the happiest I’ve felt in ages.
The end of Ramadan has been announced.
Rumor has it that AN is recalling ambassadors. Will they actually come back? Time will tell.
I do not have a clue about what is going on. The Iranian stock market is crashing. People are not making purchases. Iranians are preparing for sanctions. The regime is preparing for war.
No one wants sanctions… except, perhaps, the hardliners (which hardliners? I am sure there is a faction of hardliners that would prefer not to have sanctions.). Sanctions will be a boost for the hardliners who get stronger on depravation than they do on plenty.
AN promised economic reforms. How will those promises be met with sanctions? I was riding in a taxi when 20% pay raises were announced. “The prices have gone up 40%, but our pay is only going up 20%,” the driver told me. “You need 1 million tuman a month to have a life in Tehran, but all I make is 200,000.”
It’s hard to believe that the rial was ever worth anything.
Blogger: Baha’i Faith in Egypt
Article: Iran Abuses & Harasses Baha’i Children
Originaly Posted On: 2007-04-08 12:48:00
The Baha’i World News Service just published an article exposing an ominous component of the recent wave of persecutions of Baha’is in Iran. It is the flagrant abuse of Baha’i children in Iranian schools.
Baha’i schoolchildren in Iran increasingly harassed and abused by school authorities
NEW YORK, 5 April 2007 (BWNS) — Baha’i students in primary and secondary schools throughout Iran are increasingly being harassed, vilified, and held up to abuse, according to recent reports from inside the country.
During a 30-day period from mid-January to mid-February, some 150 incidents of insults, mistreatment, and even physical violence by school authorities against Baha’i students were reported as occurring in at least 10 Iranian cities.
“These new reports that the most vulnerable members of the Iranian Baha’i community — children and junior youth — are being harassed, degraded, and, in at least one case, blindfolded and beaten, is an extremely disturbing development,” said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations.
“The increasing number of such incidents suggests a serious and shameful escalation in the ongoing persecution of Iranian Baha’is,” said Ms. Dugal. “The fact that school-aged children are being targeted by those who should rightfully hold their trust — teachers and school administrators — only makes this latest trend even more ominous.”
Ms. Dugal said the Baha’i International Community has been aware of scattered reports of abuse directed at schoolchildren but has only recently learned that young Baha’is are now widely being forced to identify their religion — and are also being insulted, degraded, threatened with expulsion, and, in some cases, summarily dismissed from school.
“They are also being pressured to convert to Islam, required to endure slander of their faith by religious instructors, and being taught and tested on ‘Iranian history’ in authorized texts that denigrate, distort, and brazenly falsify their religious heritage,” said Ms. Dugal. “They are also being repeatedly told that they are not to attempt to teach their religion.”
According to Ms. Dugal, one Baha’i has reported that the school-age children of a relative in Kermanshah were called to the front of the classroom, where they were required to listen to insults against the Faith.
“Another student, accepted at an art institute, has been followed by the authorities and on three occasions seized, blindfolded, and beaten,” said Ms. Dugal.
“While a few of these may be isolated attacks, the extent and nature of this reprehensible activity has led the Baha’is in Iran to conclude that this is an organized effort,” said Ms. Dugal.
Of special concern, she added, was the fact that a high proportion of the attacks against high school students have been against girls.
“While the attacks reported to have taken place in elementary and middle schools were leveled evenly against boys and girls, those at the high school level targeted girls to a far greater degree: of 76 incidents, 68 were against Baha’i girls,” said Ms. Dugal.
Ms. Dugal added that the ages of the children and junior youth affected are as follows: at the elementary school level, grades 1-5, students 6 to 11 years old; at the middle school level, grades 6-8, students 11 to 13 years old; and at the high school level, grades 9-12, students 14 to 17 years old.
The reports of attacks on innocent Baha’i schoolchildren come at a time when a growing number of older Baha’i students seeking to enter Iranian universities have been expelled after being identified as Baha’is.
So far this year, at least 94 college-age Baha’i students have been expelled from institutions of higher education. That figure is up from 70 as reported in late February.
Since the Islamic Republic of Iran was established in 1979, the 300,000-member Iranian Baha’i community has faced ongoing and systematic persecution. In the early 1980s, more than 200 Baha’is were killed, hundreds were imprisoned, and thousands were deprived of jobs and education.
At the present time, more than 120 Baha’is are out on bail and awaiting trial on false charges, solely because of their religious beliefs and activities. Over the last year, as well, international human rights groups have expressed concern at the Iranian government’s efforts to step-up their covert monitoring and identification of Baha’is.
uno-bp-07 04 05 -1-IRANSCHOOLS-515-N
Below is a report aired in 1984 on ABC television network’s 20/20 program hosted by Barbara Walters:
Warning!
This film contains shocking and disturbing accounts and images.
Click on the image to view the program.
15 min 45 sec - Feb 23, 2007
Description: ABC’s 20/20 TV show - persecution of Iranian Baha’is - originally aired about 1980 [sic]. When Khomeini returned to Iran from exile in France he stated that he had two objectives. 1- the elimination of the Shah and 2- the elimination of the Baha’is. This TV report details some of the shocking details of the implementation of the plan to destroy the Baha’i Community of Iran. Amnesty International, in the early 1980s, listed the persecution of the Baha’is by the government of Iran as the most serious human rights violation on earth. The persecutions continue today.
video.google.com
Blogger: Point of no return
Article: Yemenite Jews caught up in sectarian strife
Originaly Posted On: 2007-04-07 18:23:33
Long feature by Ginny Hill of the Christian Science Monitor on the troubles facing Yemen’s tiny Jewish community:
“Sanaa, Yemen:Yahya Yousef Mousa (pictured left) is one of the several hundred Jews still living in Yemen. His grandparents refused to join the mass evacuation to Israel that followed anti-Jewish riots in 1948. Instead, they opted to continue a traditional life that their ancestors had peacefully pursued in Yemen for generations.
“But, in January, that peace was shattered when Mr. Mousa was confronted by masked gunmen from a Shiite sect that accused him of spreading vice and corruption. He and his neighbors were told to leave their homes in the northern province of Saada or lose their lives.
“Now, Mousa and eight Jewish families from the village of Salem are living in a secure residential compound in the capital, Sanaa. Their expenses are being paid by the Yemeni government, currently battling an armed rebellion mounted by the same Shiite group that threatened the Jews. “We are safe here, but we’re afraid we’ll be killed if we go back to our village,” Mousa says. “We want to stay here until conditions improve.”
“Only Mousa’s locks and skullcap visibly identify him as Jewish. He is dressed Yemeni-style in a long, white robe and shawl. He speaks Arabic, even praising Allah for his good fortune to be rescued and housed by Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.
“Yemen’s Jewish minority is clustered in small communities north of Sanaa. They are protected under Yemen’s constitution and identify strongly as Yemeni citizens. Though these good community relations are being tested by the expulsion of the Salem Jews, Mousa is still determined that he and his family will stay in Yemen.
“We haven’t had any help from the Israeli government,” he says. “And if they offer us a home, we will refuse because we are all Yemenis and we want to go back to our village.”
Blogger: View from Iran
Article: Happy Passover, Easter, and the Prophet of Islam’s Birthday
Originaly Posted On: 2007-04-07 10:47:00
Ahmadinejad covered them all when he signed the papers announcing the release of the 15 British sailors.
It was their clothes that were so interesting to me and Keivan: the woman, Faye Turney wearing a giant striped shirt with baggy pants and an over-sized blue shirt; the men in their standard-issue Hacoupian suits. It’s hard to imagine the process of dressing the British sailors. They had quite the array of outfits: their uniforms, the gym suits we saw them in while they sat in a room close to the location of Ahmadinejad’s press conference, then the suits and Faye’s really unfashionable outfit (clearly, shopping for her clothes was not done by Iran’s chic set).
Keivan has been speculating on how they were fitted for their outfits and who bought them. And the strangest part yet (at least for me) is the parting gifts. Who provides released foreign captives with parting gifts? They got pistachios too: not too shabby a parting gift at all!
Imagine, 5 years in Guantanamo and then you get a little party bag filled with Starbucks coupons and Gap t-shirts. “A mememto of your stay with us.”
And of course the British sailors were under psychological pressure… that comes as no surprise. What I find the most unnerving is that our (American) behavior at Abu Gharib and Guantanamo has completely robbed me of the right to be indignant. If Americans don’t agree with me, tell me why I am wrong.
Click on the New York Times multimedia link for a good slideshow of images
As usual, The Onion has the best take: Iran Releases British Sailors
Blogger: Cherguis’ whispers
Article: Drums of the Gnawas
Originaly Posted On: 2007-03-28 05:30:00
Gnawas are at the same time musicians, a brotherhood and somehow magicians. Descent of former black slaves, they are known for their hypnotic music, cymbals and drums….
Gnawas of Essaouira are the most well known, but they can be found everywhere in Morocco, with a World Music sound, or a deeply authentic one.
In Tazzarine, ithey are six brothers with deep voices that chant the blessings. They come sometimes in the Oasis, and you can see them walk through the desert, accompanied by the sound of their drums.
We light a fire, outside of our walls, with a big root of tamaris. And the night starts, the rythm quickens more and more, and suddenly stops. The leader hits his drum several times, very regularly, in the silence of the night, like before opening the curtain in the theater… and the music starts again.
Blogger: Chaldean Thoughts
Article: The Story of a Kidnapped Iraqi Christian Girl
Originaly Posted On: 2007-04-07 14:44:00
By Queen Amidala
Basra, Iraq
A few weeks ago, a 15-year-old Christian girl was kidnapped from the door of her home. The kidnappers were members of Al Sadr Army which is called Al Mahdi. Here’s what happened:
At 7:30 a.m. a group of people knocked on the door and the girl answered the door. They were prepared for her to answer the door and immediately kidnapped her. After a minute or two, her
