Layalee Falasteeniyeh

Last night I had the pleasure of attending "Layalee Falasteeniyeh" at the University of Waterloo in Kitchener, Ontario. The evening gala showcases Palestinian talent in music, poetry and other cultural arts. The show was produced by the Students for Palestinian Rights (SFPR), a student group at the University that spreads awareness of the ongoing events in Palestine in an effort to educate the local youth.

Though the show's venue changed from one building on campus to another, and started about an hour late, no one seemed to mind when the music started and everyone was singing and clapping along to the rhythm of the Oud and the Dumbek, an Arabic Tablah. The show featured Palestinian celebs like Bassam Bishara, born in Ramah village (north Galilee, Palestine), the lead vocalist for the Arabesque Dance Company Orchestra. Other notables included Jawqet El Sheik Imam, and a number of local students who enamoured the audience with beautiful and comedic poetry that they penned themselves. But the most notable persons in attendance were a group of young men, Palestinian, Lebanese and some others, who were definitely larger than life. This cheering squad of students made some of the songs their own when they began singing entire verses of some of Bishara's songs and became louder than the singer's microphone enhanced voice. Though the professional entertainment was a pleasure to here, these were the true stars of the night.

I spoke with one of them during one of the breaks, amid the bustling mini-bazaar that was set up, selling posters, paintings and keffiyehs. He said rarely do him and his friends find time to get out and live this life where they can appreciate thier heritage. Though being from Lebanon, he said he still felt an emotional attachment to the people that are fighting the fight and wanted to meet more of 'his people'.

Many came out to the event from all over southern Ontario. People from Toronto, Hamilton, Mississauga, and other areas brought entire families and many children to the evening production making the shows third run in as many years, a complete success. Hopefully, the next show will be even bigger and draw more people to come out and live the experience that has made Layalee Falasteeniyeh a huge hit.

Trouble with Blogs

So lately I've been having some trouble posting to my blog, I think it's a result of switching over to the new google based accounts. For anyone that does want to see recent activity, check out Laila El-Haddad's Blog Raising Yousef, there's a link at the left handside. Check out the comment board from the latest post, I've been having an actual discussion with someone about the Palestinian issue, a great relief from some other people I get who get off with a great virtual shouting match. This person is actually an intellectual with real concern and not with the Israel 1: Palestine 0 attitude.

In some disturbing news out of Iraq, a Sunni mosque in Haswa had its minaret blown off and aresenists set fire to the place. The Aljazeera network covered this and said that it seemed to be a revenge attack for the destruction of a Shia mosque the day before. This really paints a bad picture for the Muslims in Iraq. The war there intensifies everyday and the mentality of some of these militias is degrading. No Muslim whether they are Sunni or Shia would ever burn a mosque down, it is a place of prayer and worship. These elements inside Iraq are part of the local militias that are run by crooks and theives and promise a good life for those who would join them. It is a despicable act and if they think that God will reward them, they are seriously mistaken, and insane.

And now to the local crooks, gas prices across the GTA are at an all time high ($106.5/L). All though the refinery that caught fire has been back online for weeks now, the prices at the pumps remain fixed. Seems like everyone profited from the March break travel season, except those travelling. I think it's time we get legislation into Parliament to cap the price of gas. Or we can always stop selling at least a portion of Alberta's gas to America and keep our own prices down, but then who would profit from the taxes and tarrifs. Food for thought, atleast that's not taxed here.

You have the Right to Remain Silent

Yesterday the new Palestinian Unity government held its first meeting. Some members were present physically, some by video conference and some not at all as they are still held captive in detention centers across Israel. The new government has ministers from the two rival factions of Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas' (Abu Mazen) Fatah. Brutal acts of agression between the two are slowly dying down and hopefully this will be a pre-cursor to the full cessation of violence between military members of both groups. The situation in Gaza has seen some bloody days with rival members shooting and killing each other for 'infringement' of the others turf. At least now, Prime Minister Haniya will be seen by some as not the leader of an underground rebel group, as the media has enjoyed portraying him as, and as a person commited to getting the rights and freedoms that the Palestinians deserve but have been denied.

Which brings me to a comment made by a US department spokesperson, and shared by Israeli Prime Minister Olmert, after Haniya stated that he will continue to fight the occupation. The objection is to the new unity government's "reference to the right of resistance" and that it is "disturbing and contradicts the Quartet principles of renunciation of violence". Actually what is happening is that the Israeli government doesn't have a clear cut excuse this time, and the smoke screen machine is on the fritz. What they essentially mean, or what this translates into, is that they are equating the renunciation of violence to the act of resisting an illegal occupation. A renunciation of violence to the normal person refers to the act of indiscriminate killings, seizures and torture of people (the exact definition is yours to debate, I'm just trying to prove a point). The Israeli's would like it to mean that the act of resisting an occupation is illegal. Imagine that.

I'm relieved to see that the situation didn't spiral out of control as these 'matrix masters' tried to turn Palestine into another Iraq, to be left in turmoil while having it's oil syphoned off. Russia, France and Norway have all given green lights for recognizing the new government. Let's see if Canada reclaims its soul after cutting off funds to the Palestinians, although PM Harper has taken other actions that keep him from gaining anymore respect amongst local Canadians.