Gulf News web editor Adam Filnter plunges headlong into the blogosphere to find out what bloggers from the Middle East and beyond have on their minds
Star blog: Nakba is our holocaust
Palestinians are still being killed, maimed, tormented, humiliated and deported. Palestinian homes are still being demolished; Palestinian farms and orchards are still being bulldozed and decimated; Palestinians are still being blockaded and starved in ways reminiscent of the holocaust. And above all, Palestinian land is still being stolen and raped by Zionism.
Today in every junior high school in America, students read Anne Frank, while in every high school Elie Wiesel's Night is requisite reading. This is the man who says brazenly that he readily identifies with Israeli crimes and that he couldn't bring himself to say bad things about Israel.
The victims of the first Kristallnacht enjoy the world's approbation and sympathy, while at the same time having succeeded in demonising an entire people, for whom Kristallnacht still remains a night without end.
Israel, as Spanish Philosopher Santiago Alba-Rico wrote two years ago, may not be the most unjust and criminal State in History, but it is the one that has been at it for a longer period of time and with greater impunity.
And Palestinians may not be the most oppressed people in the history of mankind. But they are undeniably the most uninterruptedly tormented people in modern history.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2008/05/18/the-nakba-is-our-holocaust/
An Israeli soldier stands in front of Palestinian demonstrators wearing black to commemorate Nakba (catastrophe) in the village of Maasara, near the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
Sixty years on
This week we "celebrated" 60 years of exodus, death, dispossession, defeat, and loss while the Israelis celebrated their 60th year of so called independence. They also managed to get some American entertainment to mark their joyous occasion.
I've been meaning to write more about this topic (and others) but time isn't as available as in the past, and as some readers such as IYM wanted to see some pictures of historic Palestine; I write this post to you all.
The problem in Palestine/Israel is a complex one and cannot be given justice in one measly post. This is just a snap shot of things on my mind rather than a chapter from history.
http://bujassem.blogspot.com/
Reality
Ray Hanania is an Arab Christian, a Palestinian, and I must say that if there's any one particular thing I like about him then it's his pragmatism. Unlike many - Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims - he embraces the reality.
Check out his article "60 years and going nowhere - Palestinians must embrace reality: The One-State Solution is the No-State Solution". I agree with his important overall point.
http://www.sudanesethinker.com
Claim to fame
I was watching the movie Syriana recently together with friends. I had missed it when it was released in Dubai two years ago but had heard good things about it, so when a friend organised a screening to show off his home cinema system I was looking forward to it.
I read up on it on Wikipedia - which was probably a very good thing to do - because I doubt anyone could follow the plot without directions.
Knowing that several scenes had been filmed in Dubai I was looking forward to see how the director had managed to weave Dubai into the storyline. Obviously, that's a tough feat. The Royal Mirage hotel really does pull off Marbella, but being the nicest hotel in town I had expected nothing less from it.
There is a scene where the Matt Damon character drives out into the desert to meet Prince Nasir at his desert residence. He walks up to the palatial tent when all of a sudden someone shouts:
"Hey that's mine! I can't believe it! Bloody hell - I did that! That's my design! I did those tent chalets! I'm famous!"
That's me of course, shouting. Matt Damon doesn't shout, he just grins his All-American college jock grin.
Fact: Prince Nasir's dig was portrayed by one of the "presidential suite" chalets at the Al Maha Desert resort near Dubai. I was the Assistant Project Architect on this job from 1997 to completion in late 1998. Although I hadn't been involved in the concept design, I had been responsible for the detail design and supervision of the chalets and the main building.
http://some-like-it-not.blogspot.com/
The Excelsior Hotel
Going through a drawer full of old paperwork I came across a gem. A brochure from 1978 promoting the Excelsior Hotel in Deira.
We'd had some rain and the photographer thought the reflection of the hotel in the water was worth shooting. Dubai's first inland waterfront property?
From the same brochure here's what it really looked like:
It's all changed so much I can't locate the site now but it was behind where Al Ghurair City now stands. That wasn't built at this stage. A couple of streets away was the brand new apartment block that I lived in, which was top floor right with views down to the Creek. Wow!
http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
Addicted to cinema
Ever since I moved to Dubai I have watched more movies in cinema then any other time period. The reason I reckon is same as I explained in one my earlier posts. It's because when you go in the mall that has a cinema, it's hard to resist the temptation of watching the latest release.
As a matter of fact, I have watched at least four movies just in May. Now that might not be a lot for someone people who watch a movie every day of the week, but for me that's certainly unusual. I feel like I am the middle of a never ending film fair. But I am loving it. Soon there will be a time when I would have watched all movies showing at the cinema. That's when I'll think of something else to do. In the meanwhile, I have fallen in love with caramel popcorn.
http://umarsiddiqi.com/blog/
