Silent bombs..

What do we call Anabeeb elbotagaz?

When trying to think of what it means and how to say it in another language, doesn't it strike you as odd that you can not come up with anything that does not involve saying gas, tube, or compressed?

If you live (or lived in Egypt, even for a week) then you must have made its acquaintance..

According to a report on "Al-Masry Al-Youm", anabeeb elbotagaz are considered to be silent bombs, literally, causing the death of many people over the past few months..

But what can we do? Introduce monitoring and evaluation visits by volunteer groups to the various storage units around the nation? Or do we try to activate the installment of natural gas? What??

I am sorry.. WHAT did you say????

Is Al-Aqsa mosque responsible from the Palestinians ONLY????
What classifies a grand spiritual and historical symbol such as
the Al-Aqsa mosque as property of (and therefore liable for protection by) any particular group of people?

Why would Sheikh Al-Azhar say that? Or did he really say it?

I do have issues with several of the Sheikh's opinions and views... but I'd rather check this latest incident before adding it to my list of issues with the PhD holdern and Azhar educated sheikh..

Will look more into it though, but for now, here is a brief summary of what he said and the response he recieved..

الناصرة ـ القدس العربي ـ من زهير اندراوس: عقب سماحة قاضي قضاة فلسطين الدكتور تيسير التميمي عما جاء علي لسان مفتي الازهر الشريف بأن حماية الاقصي من مسؤولية الفلسطينيين، بالقول: يعني اعتقد ان فضيلة شيخ الازهر يعيش في اوهام وبعيدا عن ارض الواقع، مع ان رسالة الدكتوراه لفضيلة شيخ الازهر تمحورت حول اليهود وبني اسرائيل، اذكر شيخ الازهر بصلاح الدين الايوبي، هل هو فلسطيني، وبقطز وبالظاهر بيبرس وبنور الدين زنكي، بكل ابطال الأمة من السلف الصالح، علي شيخ الازهر ان يراجع معلوماته الدينية والتاريخية قبل ان يتكلم بهذا الكلام الذي احبط النفوس.

Confucius and digging up graves..

I could not sleep at all last night.. Here is why..

I watched Hany Abu Assad's film, "Paradise Now", the other day and kept thinking about the arguments the director made on both ends...

On one hand, it is clear that life in Palestine to many men and women is hopeless, senseless, and lacking of any goal but to end the occupation.

On the other hand, how can they ever surpass the powerful Israeli army forces if they keep killing themselves in suicide bombings?

Ironically the movie was attacked and censored by both the Palestinian Minister of Culture and a number of Israeli writers and groups (representing the victims of suicide bombings).

According to Wikipedia..

The filmmakers faced great difficulties making the film on location. A land mine exploded 300 meters away from the set. Whilst filming in Nablus, Israeli helicopter gunships launched a missile attack on a car near the film's set one day, prompting six crew members to abandon the production for good. Paradise Now's location manager was kidnapped by a Palestinian faction during the shoot and was not released until Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's office intervened. In an interview with the Telegraph, Hany Abu-Assad said, "if I could go back in time, I wouldn't do it again. It's not worth endangering your life for a movie"

I read that the chinese philosopher and reformer Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC) once said:
"Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves"

So, are we digging up our youth's graves everyday by implanting the ideas of self-sacrifice for one's nation? Or is this the only option given to people under occupation in our world?

And.. What do people under occupation have to say to that? Is this even eligible for consideration in our current state worldwide?

أحبّائي...إستمعتُ إلى رسالتِكم وفيها العِزُّ والإيمان

Here we go...

Instead of going on and on about what I intend to post here, I thought I'd give you a little preview to save us all some time. After a minute and half of very intense consideration, I could not think of a better choice for my first post on this particular blog. The lyrics below are derived from a Hassan Nasr Allah speech, written by the well-known poet Ghassan Mattar, composed by Ziad Boutros, and delivered by the impeccable Julia Boutros.. If you can not read Arabic but wish to learn about the song, the video is a great alternative

Enjoy..

أحبّائي..إستمعتُ إلى رسالتِكم وفيها العِزُّ والإيمان
فأنتم مِثلما قُلتُمْ رجالُ اللهِ في المَيدان

ووعدٌ صادقٌ أنتُم وأنتُم نصرُنا الآتي
وأنتم من جبالِ الشمسِ عاتيةٌ على العاتي

بِكُم يتحرّر الأسرى بِكُم تتحرَّرُ الأرض
ُبقبضتِكم بغضبتِكم يُصان البيت والعِرض

ُبُناةُُ حضارةٍ أنتم وأنتم نهضةُ القيمِ
وأنتم خالدون كما خلود الأرز في القِممُ

ِوأنتم مجدُ أمَّتِنا وأنتم أنتمُ القادة
وتاجُ رؤوسِنا أنتم وأنتم أنتُم السادة

أحبّائي..

أقبِّلُ نُبْلَ أقدامٍ بها يتشرَّفُ الشَّرفُ
بِعزّةِ أرضِنا انغرسَتْ فلا تكبو وترتجفُ

بِكُم سنغيِّرُ الدُّنيا ويَسمعُ صوتَنا القدر

ُبِكُم نبني الغدَ الأحلى بِكُم نمضي وننتصرُ