Author Archives: Arab America

Maz Jobrani caught the acting bug playing Li’l Abner in a junior high school play. Eddie Murphy made him fall in love with comedy. Jobrani tried a conventional career path, studying political science at Berkeley and starting a Ph.D. at UCLA. He even joined a fraternity. He eventually chucked it all to perform.

The snag was that he is Muslim. And born in Iran.

Jobrani’s journey reflects both the problems and the potential in using comedy to bridge the cultural chasm produced by Islamic extremism. In growing numbers, America’s Muslim comedians are using a sassy brand of humor to reach across the abyss. In the United States, their shticks both ridicule extremism within their own faith and challenge American stereotypes of Muslims.

They’re also exporting stand-up, a distinctly American form of comedy, back to the Islamic world. They perform. But they’re also teaching it. Comedy turns out to be a sly way of challenging autocratic rule and a potent antidote to the sophisticated social media campaigns of the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

Jobrani recounts the emergence of America’s Muslim comedians in his new book I’m Not a Terrorist But I’ve Played One on TV. He’s also taken the story on a nation-wide comedy tour. (He performs this weekend at the Warner Theater in Washington and at Caroline’s on Broadway in New York.)

Source: www.theatlantic.com

Chief Palestinian negotiator to the peace talks responds to remarks PM made in which he appeared to step back from support for the creation of a Palestinian state.

Source: www.jpost.com

Six Palestinian sisters from the Gaza Strip have taken the art of Palestinian embroidery and turned it into a source of income in spite of the crippling Israeli blockade which is entering its eighth year.

Noor, Nadrin, Budoor, Basma, Aya and Heba are The Six Flowers.

The gifted sisters learned the basics of embroidery while at school, an art that they practiced throughout college and which they used to make gifts for their friends and family.

Budoor told Quds Net: “We wanted to have our own project and, as sisters, we decided to have our own logo that unites us and represent our work at exhibitions and to the public.”

Both Noor and Nadrin are university graduates. Noor graduated from the Faculty of Computer Science while Nadrin studied Interior Design at Al-Aqsa University. After graduating, both sisters were unable to find jobs in Gaza and decided to join their sisters in the project.

Nadrin used her academic background to bring a modern touch to the pieces, using bright colours and new ideas.

Meanwhile, Budoor, being an active civil society volunteer, helped spread the word about The Six Flowers.

Two of the sisters are still university students who spend their free time helping their sisters with their work.

The sisters not only make traditional pieces, they created items for modern use including iPad and laptop covers, table cloths and bags.

They use social networking sites such as Facebook to market their products and try to participate in exhibitions held in the Gaza Strip.

Their dream is to have a shop dedicated to the sale of their items and to employ Palestinian women to help them earn a living.

Source: www.middleeastmonitor.com

Over five thousand civilians have now died in eastern Ukraine, and one and a half million people have been displaced, through no fault of their own. They are the victims of the stand-off between the West and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Though the Kremlin’s accusations of a “Western-backed neo-Nazi coup” in Ukraine are propaganda exaggerations, like all good conspiracy theories they have a kernel of truth.

Since the end of the Cold War there have been increasingly provocative attempts by Brussels and Washington to bring Kiev into the Western fold, often using covert means or economic incentives. While the “Euromaidan” revolution in Ukraine certainly did not end well for Putin, with a new EU-backed government now ruling over “Little Russia”, his subsequent hugely violent reaction was unforgivable.

Russia’s takeover of Crimea was a near bloodless affair, but what has happened in eastern Ukraine is a demonstration of Putin’s ruthlessness, especially that he feels the need to prove his mettle. His invasion has caused civilians to flee as refugees but many, particularly the elderly and the impoverished, are stuck between the opposing factions. Hospitals are running without electricity and water is scarce, as is food. Bullets fly overhead. Little Russia has become “Little Syria”.

Last month President Barack Obama’s national security chief, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, told a Senate Committee that he “supports arming Ukrainian forces against Russian-backed separatists.” Critics say that it is naïve to assume that Putin will cease military operations just because the Ukrainian army is better armed, given that the country is equivalent in strategic importance to Russia as Mexico or Canada is for the US (not to mention Cuba).

Source: www.middleeastmonitor.com

The Egyptian authorities yesterday opened the Rafah crossing to allow the bodies of two women who died in an Egyptian hospital to enter Gaza, a senior Palestinian official said.

Director of the Gaza’s Department of Crossings, Maher Abu Sabha said: “The Egyptian authorities opened the Rafah crossing on Thursday temporarily in order to allow the crossing of the two dead women who passed in Egypt while receiving treatment.”

The Egyptian authorities close the Rafah crossing, the main gateway between the Gaza Strip and the world, and open it only for humanitarian cases.

Relations between Egypt and the Palestinian authorities in the Gaza Strip under Hamas control have strained since the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi in June 2013 and the subsequent attacks against security headquarters in the Sinai Peninsula on the border with Gaza Strip.

Source: www.middleeastmonitor.com

“Whatever one’s view of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, there now appears to be broad consensus that President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry came across as petty, petulant, and defensive in their reactions. The President’s partisans continue to argue that Netanyahu had it coming — but did he? Obama is hardly the first president to have personal friction with the leader of a close ally, but the George W. Bush and Bill Clinton White Houses never engaged in primary-style opposition campaigns the way this White House did with Netanyahu. This was not only because the Bushes and Clinton were more gracious with their counterparts, but also because they understood the importance of leadership relations to the national interest.

Source: foreignpolicy.com

A New York jeweler says DJ Khaled owes him more than $100,000 for unpaid jewelry.

Source: www.designntrend.com

“It’s that time of year when activists, envoys, politicians, and their aides are putting final touches to their International Women’s Day events. March 8 may be just another day for most Americans, but in some parts it’s a very big deal. Presidents and prime ministers will soon be affirming that equality for women means progress for all. Speeches are being polished, mission statements are making the rounds, and draft documents are being examined in excruciating detail.

This year also happens to be “Beijing+20” — or 20 years since the watershed U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. So, anyone who’s anything in the women’s movement wants everything to be bigger, better, brighter. At the United Nations’ New York headquarters, a high-level international women’s conference will bring together officials and activists from across the world for a two-week extravaganza that will include marches and celebratory events featuring, I’ve been told, the likes of Hillary Clinton, Bill de Blasio, Michelle Obama, and “top musical artists.”

By the time the international news teams descend on Manhattan, journalists will have exhausted everything they have to say about the three missing London schoolgirls who are believed to have crossed the Turkey-Syria border into the self-declared Islamic State “caliphate” — which, in case you were wondering, will not be represented at the U.N. conference. Kadiza Sultana, 16, Shamima Begum, 15, and Amira Abase, 15, boarded a London-Istanbul flight on Feb. 17, joining a wave of women and girls heading for the Syria-Iraq badlands controlled by the Islamic State.

But who knows, something miraculous could happen to the three teenage girls who dominated the British headlines for several days. They may be found; they may realize that the jihadi El Dorado is actually Hell on Earth; they may miss their mummies. Until then, we can only wring our hands and hope and pray.

Source: foreignpolicy.com

Ali is sure that he will pack his bags to leave the Kingdom at the end of this year and head to the United States or a European country to enroll in the King Abdullah Scholarship Program, where the Ministry of Education will take care of his expenses for the whole period of his studies. His cousin Basem is packing too, but to go to Egypt to join military service, now that he is turned 18.
For some people this can sound strange, but the reality is that Ali was born to two Saudi parents, while Basem has a Saudi mother and an Egyptian father. Their paths will eventually separate, and Basem’s situation (having a Saudi mother and a foreign father) can’t even be compared to the years before the late King Abdullah issued decrees giving rights to Saudi women who are married to foreigners.
Many Saudi women married to foreigners said the law still doesn’t fathom their situation and hasn’t done them justice, just because they are women, which increases their burden. Many women in this situation claim that the common thought in the Kingdom is that they are being punished for marrying a foreigner.
The demeaning glances, even though they are less intense now, are accompanied by verbal comments, women say. Most of them who made the decision of marrying foreigners looked for family stability, which should be guaranteed by the system for everyone in the country, whether man or woman.
The number of Saudi females married to non-Saudis currently stands at 700,000, representing around 10 percent of the overall population. The Ministry of Justice issued a report in 2012 stating that the number of Saudi women who marry foreigners is on the rise.
The report revealed that 13,117 Saudi women married foreigners in 2012, a much higher number compared to the 2,583 Saudi men who married foreign women the same year.
Rawan, who married a non-Saudi in 2008, describes her life as chaotic. Her suffering is embodied in the fact that she has to cross the border to renew the visa. She often pictures herself as lost between borders, living in a tent in the desert. “I can’t count the number of times I traveled from Saudi Arabia to Dubai, to renew my husband’s visa, under the title husband to Saudi citizen and the father of a Saudi citizen,” she said.
During her pregnancy, she had to travel to Dubai for one day, and it was impossible to board the plane when she was eight months’ pregnant. “I had no choice but to go through land ports and then to the embassy. This coincided with the Haj season, and the embassy doesn’t renew visas at that particular time,” she added.
Rawan’s suffering wasn’t limited to issuing a visa, which can only be renewed three times, she also fought to register her son in kindergarten. “I suffered while looking for a kindergarten prepared to take my child without a residency visa, and all of them stressed the importance of bringing his residency ID before he finishes kindergarten,” she added.
She describes her situation as sad and funny at the same time, pointing to the guardianship issue. “Before my father died, he was my guardian, and now I am married but my brother is my guardian. He is the one who finalizes my travel permit procedures, not my husband. After I got married, I received a marriage contract with the following statement written on the periphery, ‘It is essential to go to Civil Status Department to transfer her name to the husband’s register.’ When I went to Civil Status Department, they told me I need to bring my husband’s residency visa number to be able to transfer my name to my husband’s register,” she said.
Rawan’s suffering echoes with the other 700,000 Saudi women married to foreigners. They said decisions issued by the late King Abdullah works in their favor and eases their suffering, but the system doesn’t consider them as citizens. For these women, one of their saddest realities, is the fact that they can’t give their children the nationality even though they live in their country.
In recent years, Saudi children born to foreign fathers were able to study in government schools and universities, but they won’t be allowed to enroll in the scholarship program. They have the right to work and be treated like Saudis when calculating Saudization rates, but at the end of the day he isn’t a citizen, unlike Saudi children born to a foreign mother and a Saudi father. They have the right to get aid from the labor Ministry’s Hafiz program, but they don’t have the right to receive nationality, in addition to the problems surrounding the iqama.

Source: www.arabnews.com

Saudi Arabia — Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday sought to reassure Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states that the negotiation of a nuclear accord with Iran would not lead the Obama administration to let down its guard against any Iranian interference in the region.

With the Saudi foreign minister by his side, Mr. Kerry said at a news conference here that the administration was committed to standing up to Iran’s “intervention.”

“We are not seeking a grand bargain,” Mr. Kerry said, offering the assurance that the administration was not pursuing a broader rapprochement with Iran that could come at the expense of its Arab rivals. “We will not take our eye off of Iran’s other destabilizing actions.”

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But it was clear from the remarks of the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, that Arab nations are acutely worried about Iran’s effort to exercise influence in the region and the prospect that it could grow as economic sanctions are lifted as part of a nuclear deal.

Source: www.nytimes.com

The terror group ISIS “bulldozed” the ancient Nimrud archaeological site near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Thursday using heavy military vehicles, the government said.

A statement from Iraq’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities didn’t elaborate on the extent of the damage, saying only that the group continues to “defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity” with this latest act.

Nimrud is a 13th century B.C. Assyrian archaeological site located on the Tigris River just south of Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, which was captured by the ISIS in June. The extremists, who control a third of Iraq and Syria, have attacked other archaeological and religious sites, claiming that they promote apostasy.

Earlier this week a video emerged on militant websites showing Islamic State militants with sledgehammers destroying ancient artifacts at the Mosul museum, sparking global outrage.

Last year, the militants destroyed the Mosque of the Prophet Younis — or Jonah — and the Mosque of the Prophet Jirjis, two revered ancient shrines in Mosul. They also threatened to destroy Mosul’s 850-year old Crooked Minaret, but local residents surrounded the structure, preventing the militants from approaching.

ISIS has imposed a harsh and violent version of Islamic law in the territories it controls and has terrorized religious minorities. It has released gruesome videos online showing the beheading of captives, including captured Western journalists and aid workers.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Bret Stephens, the Wall Street Journal columnist, says he was “almost grateful” for the attack on the kosher supermarket in Paris in January in which four Jews were killed because it demonstrated that Europe has a problem with anti-Semitism.

Now with the attack on the kosher supermarket, I think [the anti-Semitism is] at last out in the open, and in that sense I’m almost grateful that this happened, that at last I think Europe is coming to recognize that it has a real problem with anti-Semitism that can’t be denied or can’t be passed off as a function of a reaction to Israeli policy.

Stephens, a neoconservative who is also deputy editorial page editor of the Journal, said the attacks on the supermarket and the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo proved that the rightwing understanding of terrorism is right: it comes out of a “clash of civilizations,” because Arab and Muslim societies have fundamental differences with the west on such core values as freedom of speech. The attacks disproved the leftwing view of radical Islamism: that these attacks grow out of western policies in the Middle East, from support for Israel to the invasion of Iraq.

Stephens makes his comments at minute 36 of this video broadcast on C-Span last weekend from a panel on the French terrorist attacks on February 18 at the French-American Foundation in New York (which cost $50 a head to attend). Here is the entirety of his analysis of the January 9 attack on the kosher supermarket, in which Muslim extremist Amedy Coulibaly killed four Jewish hostages before he was killed by police:

The attack on the kosher supermarket or the kosher grocery I think also ought to be an occasion for a certain amount of clarity. I started covering the Middle East when I was based in Brussels for the Wall Street Journal in the late 1990’s and early part of the last decade. And even then and especially after the outbreak of the so-called second intifada in the fall of 2000, I sensed that there was a great deal of anti-Semitism on European streets and it was anti-Semitism coming in both a kind of vulgar and high-tone variety, the vulgar variety which is the sort you would encounter if you walk through my largely Muslim neighborhood in downtown Brussels towards the canal but also a high-toned variety which typically went by the anti-Zionist catchphrases, but anti-Zionist catchphrases that had a weird reflection in traditional anti-Semitic tropes. Just to give you an example of what I mean, I’ll never forget shortly after the outbreak of the Second Intifada, The Economist had an editorial — one of their leaders, and the Economist is a serious magazine, maybe the best magazine in the world — there was a line that said Israelis are a superior people — I’m not sure if I’m quoting this exactly but I’m getting the spirit of it largely right– the Israelis are a superior people, their talents are above the ordinary, but they must curb their greed for other people’s land. And I thought, Boy, if that’s not an antisemitic trope: those clever Jews, superior, but greedy.

There was a great deal of that. It was very hard to sit in Brussels and have dinner time conversations with the class of commissioners and foreign policy people in Brussels and not get a great deal of this. So now with the attack on the kosher supermarket, I think it’s at last out in the open. and in that sense I’m almost grateful that this happened, that at last I think Europe is coming to recognize that it has a real problem with anti-Semitism that can’t be denied or can’t be passed off as a function of a reaction to Israeli policy.

Stephens’s comments are reminiscent of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying in 2008 that the 9/11 attacks on the U.S. had been good for Israel. “We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq,” he said, because these events “swung American public opinion.”

Source: mondoweiss.net