Author Archives: Arab America

BAGHDAD — When Gaith Mohammed, a young man in his twenties with a degree in accounting, went to see “American Sniper” during its opening week at Ba…

Source: www.nbcnews.com

A little-publicized report released during the final weeks of Israel’s summer offensive on the Gaza Strip last year accuses Israel of targeting water and wastewater infrastructure during the 51-day assault, despite having been provided the coordinates of all water and wastewater facilities.

Entitled Water Sector Damage Assessment Report, the paper by the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) meticulously documents $34 million in damages that have caused a humanitarian and environmental crisis throughout the Gaza Strip.

Yet the damage detailed in the report is likely incomplete as the team is unable to assess damage to pipe systems because most of the damage is underground and covered by massive amounts of rubble.

Source: mondoweiss.net

Furthermore, Muslim Americans, like myself, may feel a little more included with a mention. However, I immediately cautioned myself that the reference resulted from the tragic Charlie Hebdo backlash.

For the issues that I cover as a blogger, governance and economics in the Middle East and North Africa region, I totally lost playing Bingo. The terms I chose (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Drones, and Diplomacy) did not pop up in the satisfying combination on my Bingo sheet. For those who literally track presidential remarks point for point, I invite you to look at Politifact, and judge for yourself whether the points are seriously wrong, or just different interpretations.

Obama focused more on domestic issues than foreign policy concerns by emphasizing college affordability, imploring big companies to create apprenticeships at home, and referencing our NASA program’s space experiments and hopes for exploring Mars. I counted more references to “middle-class economics”, “new jobs” and “employment” than “Middle East”, “Russia”, or “China”. Hopefully, this means increased funding for the kind of 21st century infrastructure that supports education as well as increased research and development — and not the scary weapons kind.

On that note, drones received a mention — but not its corollary: high civilian death toll in countries like Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Specifically, the targeted drone strikes accidentally targeted 142 children, according to watchdog Reprieve.

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Source: www.youtube.com

Thanks to a collaboration between the Cultures of Resistance Network and the American Friends of SOAS (AFSOAS), two postgraduate scholarships will be available in 2015-16 at SOAS, University of London. Each scholarship is valued at £15,000 in total. Fees will be deducted from this amount and the remainder will be used toward maintenance. In addition, each scholar will benefit from a 20% reduction in their tuition fees, from free accommodation at International Student House (ISH) and food vouchers to be spent in the ISH restaurant.

The scholarships will benefit people from countries that have been affected by conflicts and extreme poverty. This program embodies the values of the Cultures of Resistance Network, which seeks to empower and enrich communities—especially those that have been affected by civil wars and foreign military occupation—through the promotion of human rights, justice for victims of war crimes, and the enrichment of civil society and robust grassroots democracy.

Security conditions permitting, scholars are expected to return to their home countries to apply their knowledge and skills for the betterment of their societies. In the case of refugees or those fearing repression and censorship in their home countries, we expect that they will seek employment/work/study abroad toward the aim of improving the future of their home country and that of its citizens. We hope that scholarship recipients will pursue careers that, among other things, promote universal human rights, international law, equal justice for all, and the enrichment of civil society and robust grassroots democracy.

NOTE: To apply, interested students must first submit a complete on-line application to their chosen course as soon as possible and then submit an application for the scholarship. Both of these are actually contained within the same on-line form/process, but it is important to note that the deadline for submission of applications to the scholarship is 17:00 GMT on Friday, March 20, 2015. Full details about the process can be found on the SOAS scholarships pages here.

Source: www.culturesofresistance.org

It is fair to say that we officially disapprove of infidelity. This is a Muslim country and adultery is considered the tenth greatest sin in Islam. But disapproval of something does not mean that it doesn’t happen. In fact, one of the chief complaints I received on social media about an earlier piece I wrote on rising levels of divorce in this country was that adultery was not cited as a significant reason.

“Most couples I know who are divorced is because of adultery, I’m surprised that wasn’t mentioned in the article,” was one Facebook comment.

“Men still looking for other woman (2nd or 3rd wife), affairs or sex partners,” was another.

“Facts missing (in your piece),” tweeted a third, “high men infidelity rate.”

Most of the social media responses that mentioned adultery were from Emirati women, prompting three questions: is it true that extramarital affairs are one of the main reasons for rising levels of divorce? And if so, are more Emirati men being unfaithful to their wives? Or is it that more women are unwilling to put up with such behaviour from their husbands?

Marriage counsellors privately admit that infidelity is one of the main reasons that couples are divorcing today. According to one counsellor, who asked not to be named, roughly half of all her cases end in divorce on grounds of infidelity. The problem is that in the past, men married and remarried quite easily because Islam allows four wives at any one time. But now, many women don’t accept this and refuse to be one of many wives. They consider this to be infidelity and an insult, explained the counsellor, and ask for a divorce. If there is a divorce, it may lead some men into relationships with multiple women.

The counsellor’s insights seemed to indicate that those social media responses to my article were right and adultery really was an important reason for rising divorce rates.

Source: www.thenational.ae

Palestinian-American 15-year-old Tariq Abu Khdeir, whose severe beating by Israeli police while he was in custody last summer was caught on video, has been cleared of all wrongdoing in Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday.

Following his beating, the American citizen was arrested and held under house arrest for nearly two weeks before being permitted to return home to Florida.

The incident took place after Tariq’s cousin, 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir, was burned alive and murdered by Jewish extremists in a Jerusalem-area forest. Protests and heavy clashes took place in East Jerusalem after Muhammad’s murder.

Tariq said he was watching the protests, three days after his cousin was killed, and trying to get away from the violence between Israeli police and protestors when he was chased by three officers, beaten and arrested.

Israeli police said the 15 year old took part in the protests, resisted arrested and was carrying a slingshot to throw stones.

The American Consulate in Jerusalem told the Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that Tariq has been cleared of all wrongdoing and is free to return to Israel to visit his family in occupied East Jerusalem.

Source: 972mag.com

You cannot judge a woman until you’ve walked a mile in her shoes… or in this case, her scarf.

Source: www.buzzfeed.com

Former Jordanian Crown Prince Hassan Bin Talal expressed his deep concerns regarding the reports that UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, had suspended aid to thousands of Gaza residents whose homes were destroyed during Israel’s most recent military assault, Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds reported on Tuesday.

In a statement, he called for the international community to support UNRWA programmes and offer the aid they have previously pledged for the over 100,000 homeless in Gaza.

“It is important to remind the world the size of the humanitarian crisis and the miseries our people experienced in Gaza,” he said.

“There was an international consensus on the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip and renovation of the houses damaged,” he said, pointing out the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Hassan called on the international community to not ignore the suffering of the people in Gaza.

Source: www.middleeastmonitor.com

While some singers may think that the Arab World’s largest record label “Rotana” is untouchable, Lebanese singer Amal Hijazi isn’t one of them!

The feisty artist proved it by filing a lawsuit against the music production company, following their failure to stick to the terms and conditions of their contract, reported Sayidaty.net.

“Rotana” is guilty of failing to produce a music album for the irritated singer, which clearly breaches the term stating that one complete album is to be entirely produced by them annually.

That, however, didn’t deter Amal from announcing a new single release on her Facebook page on Tuesday, “New single is coming very soon… Stay tuned.”

Source: www.albawaba.com

The Israel Defense Forces broke international law at least in some of the dozens of strikes it made against homes during the fighting in Gaza last summer, according to a report released this week by the human rights group B’Tselem.

The group came to its conclusions based on its examination of 70 incidents in which more than three people were killed in homes as a result of IDF strikes.

More than 70 percent of the people killed in 70 incidents examined by B’Tselem were non-combatants, according to the report, a copy of which was also given to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In these 70 strikes, 606 Palestinians were killed, B’Tselem says, including 93 children under age 5, 129 children ages 5 to 14, and 42 teens, ages 14 to 18. This figure also included 135 women ages 18 to 60, and 37 men over 60 years old.

“B’Tselem has not yet reached a determination regarding participation in the fighting by each of those killed, however it can already be determined that more than 70 percent were non-combatants,” the report stated with regard to the incidents it examined.

Source: www.haaretz.com