Monday, January 28, 2013

A Tale of Two Maryam’s (Part II)

Marie was a beautiful Palestinian woman from Haifa who, like any young woman of the 1930’s, aspired to marry a good man and raise her own family. She met Youssef, a young Lebanese man From Bkassine who had immigrated to Palestine with his family in search of a better life. Under the British Mandate, immigrants to Palestine were given the choice of having the Palestinian citizenship or keeping their Lebanese nationality, but they could not have both. Youssef’s family chose the Palestinian citizenship: It made life easier since they lived permanently in Palestine and ran a successful restaurant business in the Horse-and-Carriage Square (Sahet El-Hanatir) in the heart of Haifa.

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Monday, January 21, 2013

A Tale of Two Maryam’s

(The first of two installments)

This is a true story that began when Palestine existed as an entity under the British Mandate, and shared soft borders with Lebanon, Syria, Transjordan and Egypt. Life then was very simple and decisions were made short term, although they bore lifelong consequences. Most stories passed on through the generations speak of basic plans for weeks or months, never years or decades, let alone one’s entire life or the life span of their descendants. No one from that distant past had imagined, even in their wildest dreams, life’s upcoming twists and turns.

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Monday, January 14, 2013

Nonviolent road to Palestine

The Palestinian struggle for statehood has been for the most part a violent one. Whether one agrees or disagrees with its violent path and the goals it achieved, it is important to remember that Palestine today is at the verge of becoming once more a part of the international community after seven decades of being denied that right and privilege.

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Monday, January 7, 2013

My Dear Brothers… I Understood You… Who Are You?

The Syrian Opera House is probably the most significant part of President Bashar al-Assad’s latest speech. A venue very fitting for a staged performance by Syria’s strongman as he put on a well-scripted show to say nothing new and offer no substance to a people suffering through the worst political and military crisis in its history.

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