Whenever election time comes around and all the candidates become poised in partisan battles the urge for people to label their peers liberal or conservative becomes more appealing.
I always find this cycle tiring because friends, family and readers try to slap some sort of label on me and they almost always fail miserably. Generally the […]

The following is a musical composition for the 60th anniversary of Israel’s creation, which is the Palestinian catastrophe. I didn’t write any of it. It is a mixture of two songs: “Flower of Cities” or Zahrat al-Mada’in by the Rahbani brothers, sung by Fairouz, and “Jerusalem of Gold” or Yerushalayim Shel Zahav composed and performed […]

A Saudi University professor is facing flogging and imprisonment for breaking the law. He was caught having a cup of coffee with a lady who was not related to him in a coffee shop. He is actually facing an eight month prison sentence and 150 lashes!
I was shocked when I read the news of his […]

From: http://news.bahai.org/story/632
“Six Bahá’í leaders in Iran were arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison yesterday in a sweep that is ominously similar to episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Bahá’í leaders were summarily rounded up and killed.”
More on this later, I wanted to get the word out on these arrests that happened […]

Baroness Haleh Afshari, PhD is a renowned Middle Eastern scholar. I read a chapter in her book, “Women and Politics in the 3rd World” and I was surprised by some of the things I read. The author makes several persuasive points about the emerging, or I should say re-remerging form of Islamic feminism. But first, […]

Just wanted to let everyone know that the BBC did a radio special on the group (ADAMA - Abu Dis and Maaleh Adumim) I started.
The broadcast can be listened to here:
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/heart_and_soul.shtml 

On Sunday 11-5-2008 the State Security Court in Damascus stated its verdict on the Syrian blogger Tariq Baiasi who was held in detention since 7-7-2007. Tariq was detained for leaving a comment on websites disfavored by the Syrian government. Free Tariq Campaign condemned the State’s verdict and asks for freedom to the Syrian blogger:
The State […]

I’ve only been involved in the Palestinian conflict for 32 years, at least consciously. So many other Palestinians have been involved since the inception, more than 60 years. And here we are. Where we were yesterday and 10 years ago. Nothing new. Same old stalemate. What’s the problem?
Part of the problem, in my opinion, is […]

A New York Times correspondent in Cairo has been putting together a series on Arab youth for the American media giant. The series, called “Generation Faithful” is an eye-opening opportunity for those of us who do not qualify as Arab youth, as well as an eye opening experience for Arab youth to realize how other […]

The recent violence across Lebanon started when Lebanon’s government was to take legal action against a private communication network established by Hezbollah in the country.
Hezbollah has escalated violence by seizing control of mostly Muslim west Beirut and routed rivals. The Lebanese army was left observing from the sidelines. The army is formed by, among others, […]

Five years ago the war in Iraq started. We were told we would be living in a free democratic state, that finally, after 3 decades, we would have a saying into were our money and wealth would go. We would develop a free, democratic and prosperous country. As Iraqi activists we were determined to rebuild […]

A lead op-ed in the New York Times today by Edward N. Luttwak draws attention to Obama’s irtidad, his decision to leave the Muslim faith he was born into. According to Islam, which defines the children of any Muslim father as Muslim themselves, Obama’s conversion to Christianity is an act of apostasy. “Indeed,” […]