July 02, 2009

Gaza filmmaker tackles rape taboo

Rape, incest and sexual assault are some of the biggest taboos in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (and the broader Arab/Muslim world for that matter).

Palestinian rape victims who get pregnant are sometimes forced -- by society, social workers and even relatives -- to marry their attackers so as to not sully the family name.

One Gaza-based filmmaker is now trying to bring some rare attention to this issue with a short film on the subject.

The Los Angeles Times blog, Babylon & Beyond has the story of Basma Abualila, the journalist and filmmaker who has produced a 10-minute film, "A Call at Night," that documents the tale of one Gaza woman who says she was drugged and raped by her ex-boyfriend.

Faced with the shame and the possibility of being a social outcast (some Palestinian women have even been killed in so-called "honor killings" in such situations), she begs her rapist to marry her.

Eventually, with the aid of a social worker who threatens to reveal the rape, he agrees.

Now she is waiting for the child to be born.

"I cannot call my life a life," the anonymous woman says in the film.

The challenge of confronting this issue is clear in the only comment right now on the video on the YouTube page:

"this a byproduct of the so called western values that have been imported," writes socalmaverick. "she [the filmmaker] seem to neglect the fact that the so called 'victim' had a boyfriend despite it being morally wrong in that society, yet when she suffers one of the consequences of such relationships such as being raped or getting pregnant and having a kid out of wedlock in a tight net society."

June 30, 2009

Israeli prez's 'Little Rascal' homage

Israeli President Shimon Peres makes an unlikely appearance on the New York gossip Web site Gawker with this unintended Little Rascal - Alfalfa homage. (Courtesy of the Israeli Government Press Office...)

Will Arab states join Israel to fight Iran?

It would be a massive harmonic political convergence if Arab nations decided to join forces with Israel to contain Iran and its push for greater regional power.

The idea is steadily being pushed by Israeli officials who see a unique window of opportunity.

But how likely is this unlikely alliance?

Jeffrey Goldberg addresses that question in this month's Atlantic.

"The definitive Middle East cliché is, of course, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.'" Goldberg writes. "Well, it turns out that today, more than at any other time in the ruinous 100-year encounter between Arabs and Jews on the strip of land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, the two parties in the dispute have a common enemy: the Shia Persian Islamic Republic of Iran."

As appealing as the idea might be to some, the chances of this alliance emerging now seem remote.

"It might be too late, of course, to forge a Sunni-Jewish alliance, though not because the two parties hate each other; hate has never stopped the formation of pragmatic alliances in the Middle East," writes Goldberg. "It might be too late because the Arab enmity for Israel in the wake of last December’s Israeli attacks in Gaza might make it impossible for Arab governments to be seen entering even a tacit alliance with Israel."

“It’s a good time in theory for something like this, but it won’t happen now unless Israel makes certain strategic decisions to bring real compromises to the table,” Abdel Monem Said Aly, of Cairo's al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies told Goldberg. “It is a difficult situation because Iran has presented itself as a guardian of Islamic and, in particular, Palestinian interests by taking the maximum stands, however hollow. If Israel and the Palestinians can be seen making progress, there is a chance. But this requires Israel to rethink its strategic priorities.”

June 29, 2009

Former LAT reporter challenges Arab-Israeli 'balance'

As virtually everyone reading this blog knows well, reporting on the Arab-Israeli conflict is one of the most trying journalistic challenges in the world.

Emotions run high. Readers see bias in every story. In fact, readers who support Israel sometimes see pro-Palestinian bias where Palestinian supporters see a pro-Israeli slant.

Rarely do those of us who try to navigate through this journalistic thicket discuss the difficulties.

Now, former Los Angeles TImes reporter Ashraf Khalil is offering some serious candor.

Ashraf, a friend who was one of the many talented reporters to be laid off as a result of the economic implosion of the newspaper industry, has written a journalistic exploration of the challenges facing reporters covering the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Calling it a "sobering glimpse" of Jerusalem journalism, Ashraf focuses on his frustrating attempts to report on an incident last year at the Israel-Jordan border where Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer said he was assaulted by Israeli security.

"In the end," Ashraf writes, "the truth of what happened to Mohammed Omer was sacrificed on the altar of the false deity known as 'balance.'"

As Ashraf notes, it was impossible to divine "the truth" of the incident because there were competing versions and few independent views.

In the piece, Ashraf sought to focus on an underlying problem: Israeli investigations of such allegations tend to fall short of being thorough. In this case, Ashraf writes, the Israeli investigators didn't talk to Mohammed or the medic who first treated the Gaza journalist.

I remember talking with Ashraf about this issue and encouraging him to pursue the story.

But because the details were so murky, Mohammed's case was probably not the best one to shine a spotlight on this issue.

There are other examples of Israeli investigations relying almost exclusively on talking to their own people and ignoring the Palestinians.

"The resulting article, while it went much further than any other report, still leaves me feeling dissatisfied," Ashraf writes. "It feels like it was written by a diligent and conscientious robot..."

"Reading it again more than a year after the incident, it’s still frustrating and dispiriting," he concludes. "What’s worse is the suspicion that if I had stayed on in Jerusalem and was presented with similar abuse allegation, I might not have taken up the case with such tenacity. Knowing how these things turn out, it simply wouldn’t have been worth the effort."

(Photo: Ashraf Khalil in Jerusalem)

June 28, 2009

Iran's revolutionary rooftop poetry

Check out this piece at The Huffington Post on the revolutionary poetry coming out of Iran.

The piece highlights this emotional video featuring a woman doing what The Huffington Post describes as a kind of free-form poem as protesters in the blackness beyond shout "God is Great" from the unseen rooftops of Tehran.

The Huffington Post piece also notes other poems written about the unsettled instability in Iran, including poems about Neda, the young Iranian who has become an icon.

This one was written by Iranian-American poet Sholeh Wolpe.

I Am Neda

Leave the Basiji bullet in my heart,
fall to prayer in my blood, and hush, father
-- I am not dead.

More light than mass,
I rise through you, breathe with your eyes,
stand in your shoes, on the rooftops,
in the streets, march with you
in the cities and villages of our country
shouting through you, with you.
I am Neda--thunder on your tongue.

June 26, 2009

Michael Jackson in the Middle East

The death of pop star Michael Jackson has, at least for the moment, overwhelmed virtually all other global news. Iran what? South Carolina governor who? Even the death of Farrah Fawcett has been overshadowed by the death of America's quirky king of pop music.

And, of course, there is a Middle East angle to the story.

In one of the less-well-known chapters of the pop star's life, Michael Jackson spent nearly a year, off-and-on, in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain.

Bahrain became something of a refuge for Jackson after his 2005 trial on child abuse charges ended with acquittals on all charges.

While the jury cleared Jackson, the entertainer lived with a cloud of doubt that shadowed his life until the end.

While Jackson found some refuge in Bahrain, his quirky behavior was still on display in the Persian Gulf.

In 2006, Jackson was photographed at a Bahrain mall wearing full black covering worn by conservative Muslim women in the Gulf. Was he trying to hide from the media -- or was it just Michael being Michael?

Jackson was a guest of the Bahrain king's son, who eventually sued Jackson for breach of contract in a case ultimately settled out-of-court.

As Juan Cole notes at Informed Comment, Michael's brother Jermaine converted to Islam and offered his younger brother guidance on being a Muslim.

Last year, Michael Jackson reportedly converted to Islam, though it was denied at the time by his attorney.

The issue of his conversion is a topic of conversation over at Talk Islam, where people are wondering if Jackson will receive a traditional Islamic burial.

As a tribute to Jackson's global appeal, check out this clip of a group of young Saudi men in traditional dress with an MJ dub added after-the-fact...

And, while we're on the subject of unconventional admiration for Jackson, one of my favorites is this rendition of "Thriller" done by 1,500 members of a Philippine prison.

The clip has already been viewed about 24 million times...

UPDATE: In one of the many tributes to MJ, the Philippine prisoners unveiled their own this weekend. This one is nine-minutes long and includes the other songs the inmates performed as part of their routine...

Israel-Hamas prisoner deal "imminent?" Probably not...

It has been three years since Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured by Palestinian militants from Gaza who staged a well-planned cross-border raid on an Israeli military compound.

The anniversary is coinciding with a new round of stories in the Israeli media suggesting that Shalit's freedom from captivity in Gaza is "imminent."

Reports like these pop up in the Israeli media about once every three or four months.

Israeli journalists rely on anonymous sources who reportedly suggest that a "breakthrough" has been made and that only a few details need to be hammered out.

Like the larger Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the devil is in the details. And that's why these reports about Shalit's imminent freedom have always proved to be false.

In March, outgoing Israeli PM Ehud Olmert tried to make a last-minute deal with Hamas for release of Shalit, but the talks collapsed because the two sides could not agree on the details.

One of these days, these reports may prove true. But the things left to be sorted out are not small, technical provisions; they are major issues that have prevented an agreement.

Israel and Hamas leaders still have to agree on which Palestinian prisoners should be freed from Israeli prisons. They have to agree on whether the prisoners can return to their homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, or if they should be exiled - as has been done in past prisoner exchanges.

Shalit's freedom is said to be part of a "mega-deal" that will include PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his frail Fatah party reconciling with Hamas, presumably leading to a new unity government, an agreement from Israel to lift its crippling economic restrictions on goods entering Gaza, and release of Palestinian prisoners serving time for attacks on Israel.

At present, the Israeli media is divided in its coverage of the reported breakthrough.

Haaretz has been reporting news of the "imminent" transfer of Shalit. (Although Haaretz reports that Shalit could be transferred to Egypt "within hours" have already been replaced by reports of a deal "within days.")

Maariv suggested this morning that a deal might be coming... some day. The Jerusalem Post referred to "escalating rumors" of Shalit's imminent release. And Yedioth Ahronoth downplayed the story entirely...

A woman walks past a painting of Gilad Shalit at a protest tent in Jerusalem. (AP photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

A Palestinian woman walks past a wall painting of Gilad Shalit in the Gaza Strip. (AP photo/Khalil Hamra)

Syria's secret (hummus) deal with Israel

Yedioth Ahronoth's Nahum Barnea reports today on an unnamed American businessman who ferried secret Syrian hummus from President Bashar Assad to Jerusalem where then-Israeli PM Ehud Olmert ate the culinary peace offering without having it tested by security...

Hummus from Damascus
Yedioth Ahronoth
By Nahum Barnea

In February 2007, the secret negotiations between Israel and Syria began under the auspices of the Turkish government.

Shortly afterwards, a North American businessman visited Damascus. He was invited to a long meeting with Bashar Assad. Ehud Olmert’s name arose in the conversation. The American tried to convince Assad that Olmert’s intentions were serious. Along the way, he told Assad that one of Olmert’s favorite foods was hummus.

The businessman was scheduled to leave his hotel the next day at 9:00 AM. At 8:55 AM, a Syrian officer knocked on his door. He was holding a jar filled with Syrian hummus.

“This is for the Israeli prime minister,” he said.

The man took off from Damascus to Amman, and from there to Israel.

That afternoon, the jar was brought to the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem. Olmert instructed [staff] not to subject the jar to security checks; it was a gesture of trust.

Olmert, his chief of staff Yoram Turbowicz and the political adviser Shalom Turjeman—all three shared in the secret. They sat around the jar and ate heartily.

It could be said that a dark deal was devised here: hummus in exchange for the Golan. But there was no deal: Assad sent hummus, but secretly built a nuclear facility in northern Syria; Olmert ate the hummus, but secretly gave instructions to attack the facility. The strike was carried out in September.

Now there is a new government in Jerusalem, and it has not yet experienced the taste of Damascus hummus.

If Assad wants to renew the negotiations, he should get the chickpeas ready.

Veggies for Middle East peace

PETA, the group that recently made headlines by condemning President Obama for his ninja-worthy fly killing skills (something the group denounced as an "executive insect execution"), is renewing its push for Middle East peace.

According to the PETA blog, the group best-known for its provocative, semi-nude "go vegetarian" ads is hoping to post a billboard in the region with a simple message: Give Peas A Chance!

"Nonviolence begins on your plate," reads the ad, which includes Hebrew, English and Arabic. "Go vegetarian."

"I know what you're thinking—choosing falafel over lamb chops isn't going to create peace in the Middle East overnight," PETA wrote on its blog. "But if we can inspire people to relate to the animals who wind up on their plates, maybe we can also inspire them to relate to the people on the other side of the barriers."

Originally, PETA said it was asking the Israeli military for permission to put the posters on both sides of the walls that divide Israelis from Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

(PETA very easily could come over and post the ad on the Palestinian side of the separation walls that are favorite forums for graffiti artists around the world, but no matter...)

Now PETA says it wants to post the veggie ad campaign on billboards in the region.

There are plenty of places PETA could find cheap billboard space for the ad.

Israel is already getting props from PETA for a new bill that would ban some fur products made with the skins of dogs, cats and rabbits. (The bill is drawing the ire of Haredi Jewish leaders who fear that the bill could prevent them from buying their traditional shtreimel fur hats...)

Before weighing in on the Obama fly killing controversy, which comedian Stephen Colbert denounced on his show as a "shocking abuse of executive power," PETA unveiled a new ad featuring the granddaughter of Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara.

With her fist in the air and two bandoliers of carrots strapped over her naked chest, Lydia Guevara urges people to "join the vegetarian revolution" in an ad set to appear in Argentina this fall.

 
Photo courtesy of PETA

June 24, 2009

Gaza doctor's tribute to slain daughters

Five months after an Israeli strike in Gaza killed three of his daughters and a niece in a chilling story that unfolded live on Israeli television, Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish has set up a new on-line tribute to his family.

Daughters for Life tells the story of his family tragedy during Israel's three-week military offensive in Gaza. And it makes a poignant plea for reconciliation.

"To be militant doesn't work," Abuelaish says on the Web site. "People only lose from it. We have to open our minds."

Last month, Abuelaish accepted a special award from a relatively new group called Survivor Corps, which helps survivors of global wars. Below is his short acceptance speech.