Author Archives: Arab America

Thirteen-year-old Mohammed Quraiqe has gained notoriety as the “Picasso of Palestine” for his portraits and landscapes. A resident of the Shujaiya, the area hardest hit by Israel during its summer 2014 offensive against Gaza, Quraiqe often reflects images of war and suffering in his work. Quraiqe’s work has been exhibited in several countries, such as … Continued

When actress and comedian Maysoon Zayid made her television debut on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” in 2010, she was shocked to see a barrage of hateful comments posted about her online. Zayid is a Palestinian-American Muslim woman with c…

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

Recently we learned about the unfortunate Chen Hongzhi, a 25 year old Taiwanese who has “the memory of a fish,” as the headlines noted. Hongzhi suffers from an acute amnesia that enables him to retain memories for only 5-10 minutes. He maintains a daily diary in order to keep track of the course of his life, which is what differentiates him from the way Israel handles its relationship with the United States: we don’t even keep a diary.

The problem is not with our long term memory, which is superb: we remember what the biblical Amalek did to us as if they were here just a minute ago, we lambast Haman the Wicked in Congress as if he was a jihadist not far away and we relive Munich, 1938 anew every day, like Bill Murray in the immortal Groundhog Day. And our amnesia is acutely selective as well: every harm or insult directed at us is retained for generations but our affronts to others are erased on the spot.

Source: www.haaretz.com

Tour books for Middle Eastern and North African countries recommend that tourists show consideration for cultural codes, respect the locals and dress modestly. Not only when visiting mosques or churches, but in city streets and village alleyways as well. The most popular tourism sites, such as the pyramids in Egypt, are more accepting of visitors wearing short pants and skimpy dresses, according to the books. A group of Russian tourists apparently took that assumption a bit too far.

Earlier this month the newspaper Al-Masri Al-Youm reported on a short pornographic film that was shot in the area of the famed Giza pyramids, near the Sphinx, by Russian-speaking tourists. The clip has been online for over nine months and features salacious scenes, including oral sex. Clerics and others who consider the site an important part of Egypt’s local heritage and history were furious. The offensive clip was seen as an effort to undermine the country’s dignity.

Source: www.haaretz.com

The White House issued a passionate call for eventual Palestinian statehood on Monday as it stepped up criticism of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, for appearing to question a two-state solution to Middle East peace.

“An occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end,” Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Denis McDonough, told a conference of liberal activists in Washington. “Israel cannot maintain military control of another people indefinitely,” he added.

Despite Netanyahu’s efforts to distance himself from pre-election comments that appeared to rule out a Palestinian state, the US administration remains sceptical about his commitment to peace.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Mediaite  Matt Wilstein Before he dove into America’s municipal fine fiasco, John Oliver spent a couple of minutes tackling last week’s Israeli prime minister election and specifically Benjamin Netanyahu’s apparent flip-flop on a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Oliver posited that Netanyahu’s victory may have been due to his “last minute swing to the … Continued

Israeli human rights group B’Tselem today released two harrowing videos of heavily armed Israeli soldiers raiding the bedrooms of Palestinian children in the middle of the night.

The first video, above, is titled “Night search of Sameeh and Mai D’ana’s home, Hebron, 24 February 2015.”

The video was shot during a night raid on ten homes in the occupied West Bank city. B’Tselem does not say who shot the video, but typically the videos it releases are made by Palestinians.

After forcing the children – at least one as young as four – out of their beds, the video shows the soldiers in full combat gear, armed with rifles and hand grenades, photographing and interrogating them.

The father asks the soldiers why they are invading his home in the middle of the night.

Source: electronicintifada.net

Did you hear about the man who entered New Orleans’ airport with explosives and a machete? No? Well, you would have if he’d been Muslim.

Source: www.thedailybeast.com

In an open letter to the US President, a leading Palestinian calls for the US to step up peace efforts after the Israeli re-election of Benjamin Netanyahu

Source: www.independent.co.uk

For every LED light bulb sold in IKEA stores between February 3 and March 28, 2015, the IKEA Foundation will donate €1 to UNHCR to light refugee camps—making…

Source: www.youtube.com

A controversial pro-Israel student leader has conceded that the election victory of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make it much harder to stop the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign on US campuses.

“Netanyahu’s victory is also a victory for BDS,” Avinoam Baral, a University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) senior writes in a 20 March op-ed in Israel’s Haaretz.

“I have spent thousands of hours directly or indirectly fighting BDS on my campus – whether through my involvement on the board of Bruins for Israel or in student government, where I now serve as student body president,” Baral says.

Source: electronicintifada.net

Picture an Arab Man is a portrait series started in 2009 to capture young Arab men of diverse backgrounds.

Source: photography.jadaliyya.com