Lots has happened

...since I last wrote.

The Israelis have a new government but everything is still the same, the Occupation's absolute disregard for the lives of Gazawi civilians has never shown itself as explicitly in recent memory as it did this past week, as of 11am this morning I officially became an agent, and the World Cup is here and Ivory Coast is going to make some tidal waves (that'll inshallah drown out all the colonisers).

Are you ready?

The Basilica of the Annunciation in my hometown Nazareth attacked

On Friday at around 5pm, the Church of the Basilica in my hometown Nazareth was attacked by 3 Jewish people - Haim Eliahu Habibi, 44, his wife Violet and their daughter Odelia, 20.

I was at the Basilica soon after the bombing happened, and stayed around till approximately 10:30pm when the police finally left Nazareth.

I took some good pictures of the event and the protest march held on Saturday and will upload them soon.

In the meantime, Ehud Olmert's (Israel's acting PM) use of the incident to instigate divide between the Christian and Muslim populations in Nazareth is plain despicable. Nevertheless, this policy of 'divide and conquer' appears to be official governmental policy towards the Arab population here.

To treat Druze as non-Arab, to inflame tensions over the Sha'ab il-Diin square in Nazareth so as to pit Christian against Muslim, to portray Muslims as barbarians and Christians as being more peace-loving; this has always been official policy of the State so as to weaken a popular movement against the State's discriminatory strategies and to lower the voice of a united Arab people. However, no one is fooled.

When we marched on Saturday in protest of the bombing - we marched through the Sha'ab il-Diin square which was previously covered up since it was a source of tension between Christians and Muslims in Nazareth. But marching through the now uncovered area is very symbolic and very indicative of chants that roared through Nazareth the last few days,

Wahideh wahideh wataniya, islamu u masihiyyeh

Is Israel for real?

My colleagues and I were responding to some queries from an Irish solidarity group and we compiled the following information about the Palestinian Arab minority for them.

So I'll share some real facts about the Palestinian minority living in Israel:

Real fact 1: Since 1948 till today, there have been 700 new Jewish communities established, but not a single Arab community, despite the fact that the Palestinian minority has increased by 750 percent (from approximately 160,000 in 1948 to 1,200,000 in 2004).

Real fact 2: Although the Palestinian minority constitutes 18% of the population, they live on only 2.4% of the land. The land given to the Jewish community is 800% more that for the Arab community. In the Galilee, where the Palestinian minority constitutes 72% of the population, they live on only 16% of the lands.

Real fact 3: The Arabs live mainly in three (old) villages and three main Arab cities. The infrastrucure is extremely substandard due to government fund allocations for development being discriminatory. The villages are overcrowded and houses are built without permits (as they are very hard to obtain if you are of Arab ethnicity), and it therefore comes as no surprise that thousands of Arabs have built their houses 'illegally'.

"I've no particular biases towards or against Israelis"

For real.

I take serious issue with specific governmental policy within the State, general policy in the Occupied Territories and information policy internationally. But I have no particular bias against Israelis. And I told this to one of the security staff at the Jorden Valley border-crossing during my 6 hour detention - "I've no particular biases towards or against Israelis. But treatment like this is humiliating and insulting, and it steals me of my dignity."

I looked him in his eyes and spoke with unreserved sincerity. He stood for a couple of seconds, nodded, and stepped away. I think he saw what I saw.

In any event - in my show of not being against Israelis / not being an anti-semite, I've decided to post an anti-Semitic cartoon. Relax! These are taken from boomka and come in response to an Iranian newspaper saying they will launch an anti-semitic cartoon contest after Danish papers posted about the prophet Mohammad (saw). Boomka has therefore launched a new anti-Semitic cartoons contest - this time drawn by Jews themselves! “We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!”

They stole my dignity for 6 hours and criminalised all things Arab

I returned to Israel's Jordan Valley border crossing at 730am this morning. After 2 hours of detention/extensive searching/questioning (in addition to the same that I encountered yesterday for 4 hours), I was grudgingly let through.

Let through after being made to feel inhuman for having affiliations to 'enemy ethnicities/religious inclinations'. Not their words, mine. But if they were to word their discriminatory actions, I suppose it would probably sound like that.

I'm a Canadian; but because of my travel to the Gulf, my Arab background and my work in human rights, I was subjected to treatment I would wish on nobody. It was insulting and it stole my dignity. It made me strip my pants to my knees, walk around the building without shoes and jacket when external temperatures stood at 7 degrees, it went through personal messages and contacts on my cellphone unrelated to 'security', it refused to speak with Canadian Foreign Ministry Officials that I was in contact with, it made fun of Arabs, Muslims and the Middle East, and it made it a crime to speak Arabic.

Shu sawee?

Denied entry on ethnic grounds

I'm now in Irbid, Jordan because after a 4 hour detention the Israeli authorities decided they wouldn't let me in through the Jordan Valley Border crossing. So they've told me to sleep the night in Jordan and return to the border crossing tomorrow and try again.

Will try to keep the world updated on the blatant religious/ethnic discrimination by the Israeli state, which I have had the displeasure of experiencing for the 4th time in 5 months. This last time has definitely been the worst.

Dahab was, well, golden

Drove here

Slept here

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I was in Dahab, Egypt's Sinai last week for 5 days.

It was a good break. And the Red Sea is really a sea like no other.

Swam here

The secret wish, in the not too distant future, is to be lost somewhere inbetween.

Black and Blue

My only sin

Is in my skin

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What did I do

To be so black and blue?

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Louis Armstrong's words at a time and a place where I have never felt more racially profiled in my life.

Ariel Sharon is not feeling well

Jalal al-Rafai, al-Dustour (Jordan)

My date with the kamanche and classical Iranian music

Last month (I've been slow with the posting I know) I met with the Kamanche (کمانچه) and classical Iranian music in Haifa. I could do with a second date right about now.

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The kamanche is the only bowed string instrument in classical Iranian music. That night in December it was played by Mark Eliyahu; also on feature was Amir Shahsar, flutist and vocalist. One of the biggest things I took from the event (put on by Beit Al-Musica) was the tension between these two individuals. They were both tremendous artists in their own right, but it seemed that the stage on that night was just not big enough for the two of them.

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But they managed to tie it together well. And along with the Palestinian artist, Samir Makhoul on oud, some Tajik musicians, and a dancing queen stepping to Sufi rhythms, the sounds produced had my undivided attention.

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I'm willing to share December's date with the rest of you because music like this is too good to be kept to just one person - but I need your assistance: outside of putfile, how else can I do this?

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Mark Eliyahu on Kamanche

Amir Shahsar on flute

Amin Elayev (on Tajik percussion) looking over at Eliyahu doing his thing