Ghetto Town Flavor
B-Boy of G-Town is comin’ up outta the hood. His hood is called Shuafat Camp, a sprawling refugee camp located on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The camp is surrounded by the eight-meter high concrete separation barrier. Even though all of the camp’s inhabitants possess Jerusalem ID cards (since their homes fall within the municipal boundaries […]
MDA and the Red Crystal
For 57 years, Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) was not a member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Due to explicit non-recognition by the international community, the lone national aid society with a Jewish symbol faced a thorough rejection of its red Star of David as a valid international […]
African Diaspora in the Holy Land
In a spacious, mellow room in Jeruaslem’s Old City, a crew of Arabic-speaking youngsters chats about football, oud, and Allah. Although these young Jerusalemites at the Qalawun Center consider themselves wholly Palestinian, there is something noteworthy that distinguishes most of the people in this community center from their coreligionists in East Jerusalem – African origin. […]
Unplugging Rights of Birth
Two unabashedly giddy Palestinian children toy with a massive padlock that hangs from a bulky steel gate. The boy, about six years old, throws his younger sister a nonchalant gaze as he removes the lock. The two pass through the gate, which is placed between an eight-meter high section of concrete security barrier and a […]
Reflections on Holy Land
This soil is cherished. The land upon which I am situated has inspired some of the most divisive conflict in human history. From the Knights of Templar and King Solomon to Canaanites and Hyksos, this turf has instigated bestial battle after senseless battle. What we refer to as Semites are likely a blend of Semitic, […]
World War IV Rumbles Onward
I must give credit to the neocons (and certain paleocons such as Huntington) for recognizing the onslaught of World War IV. Commentators most frequently compare this World War to World War II, due to the supposed similarities between fascism and Islamo-fascism, among other things. In the buildup of the American empire over the course of […]
3 Monotheisms = 3 Militarisms
The Iranian so-called “Holocaust cartoon contest” recently announced the winner of a $12,000 sum, for penning the most clever retort to the series of Danish caricatures of the Muslim uber-prophet, Mohammed. Jabbing at the Jewish faith in response to a secular Christian Western European nation’s bold assertion of press freedoms, this Iranian contest allowed for […]