The Nomad and the Olive Branch

I apologize for not posting as of late, and I know this topic is way out of date now. Life has a tendency of getting in the way of less important endeavors like blogging, not to say that what I'm about to address is of little significance compared to living your daily routine day by day. Considering what is going on these days, I'm sure you'd be surprised as to why I am posting this now as opposed to day it started. Well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... I'm back, and what I'm about to say and show you is not pretty, nor for the faint of heart, if you know what I mean. Last January, the Gaza Strip, an area no larger than Washington, D.C. and populated by 1.5 million Palestinians of whom at least 80% live below the poverty line and can not sustain or transport themselves [ 1 ], has been under attack by the Israeli army. The casualties number in at least 1,000 Gazans killed, mostly civilians and roughly half of the total being children [ 2 ]. Since the conflict...

The title of this post barely describes the despair and distrust that many Palestinians now have for the main political parties, Hamas and Fatah. This wave of conflict in Gaza that has just fired up was started by Fatah's targeting of Hamas members and politicians, along with their compliance and collaboration with Israeli soldiers in kidnapping such politicians and other innocent people that may have entered in the way of these soldiers. But now, Israel seems to only watch the conflagration that is firing up in both Gaza and the West Bank, definitely benefitting from this new discord and discontent. Personally, I am disappointed and disgusted that both parties sink to such a new low, and it looks like that they're not going to recover. Hamas responds to the attack on PM Haniya by killing Fatah members in the street and throwing them off the tops of buildings, while Fatah joins this bashfest and does the same. Fatah and Hamas make it worse by fighting each other in the open, an...

The Zionist P.R. is abuzz with news of a Mickey Mouse moniker on Al Aqsa television, Hamas's equivalent of Hizbullah's Al-Manar, telling children to "annihilate the Jews" and that one day Muslims will rule the Earth. I actually fell for the P.R. that spewed it out, until my sister found the video on YouTube and was considerate enough to show me. After watching it, I concluded that the video was heavily butchered and the translation was waaay off.Why do I say that? First, the translator was MEMRI, the same organization that made a pitiful translation and coverage of the Wafa Sultan debate . MEMRI is known for snippetting MidEastern media output and horribly translating what is being said on Arab television. Second, even if MEMRI did turn out to be a "reliable" source, there were many translation mistakes evident, as well as quotes that were taken out of context. At 00:18 , "Farfur" (فرفور, a play on the Arabic word that means "mouse") gi...

About a year ago, I decided that I had enough of reading opinions and propaganda outlets, so I started a blog of my own and posted on it. It wasn't until I realized that what I wrote and saw and had feedback on had more of an effect on my outlook on things than what I read that I began to obtain a clearer state of mind that saw things for what they were and not for what I wished them to be. Apparently, I'd have lived in more of a bubble if I read more than I blogged. I guess it was because blogging itself made me actively read, as opposed to passively read, all materials and pieces of information out there that existed on the net and elsewhere, and thus it helped me process this information more and more as I actually engaged in producing feedback to what I read and came across. Perspectives do change over time, and that's guaranteed, but I never expected mine to change so drastically over a course of 365 days. Allow me, then, to reflect on how my perspectives have changed ...