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[AS
ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO
READ GOOD ARTICLES IN FULL: HELP
SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and
conversations) THAT EMPOWER
DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE &
PEACE... and hopefully
Palestine]
http://news.yahoo.com/arabs-israel-risk-arrest-arab-idol-show-143214862.htmlArabs from Israel risk arrest for 'Arab Idol' show
MAJD AL-KRUM, Israel (AP) — Their goal is to win Arab Idol, the Arab world's premiere television song competition.
But the
journey Manal Mousa, 25, and Haitham Khalaily, 24, have taken from their
villages in Israel to the competition in Lebanon could comprise a
television drama of its own — featuring travel to an enemy country,
Israeli security interrogations, and the complicated identity crisis of
Israel's Arabs.
The two singers are competing for more than just fame: they want to be a part of the cultural world that has been largely off limits to them because of the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict.
"This
is a chance for Haitham," said Waheeb Khalaily, Haitham's father, in
his home in Majd Al-Krum, a village in the Galilee, in northern Israel.
"For the Arab world and the whole world to hear him and say that he
represents a Palestinian people that clings to its land."
In
the bitter conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors,
Arab-Israelis are stuck in the middle. Though citizens of the Jewish
state, they share the ethnicity, language and culture of the
Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Arabs
who remained in Israel after its creation in 1948, and their
descendants, today make up 20 percent of the population. Many identify
as Palestinians rather than Israelis, watch Arab satellite television
and dream of traveling throughout the Middle East. But their Israeli
citizenship bars them from most Arab countries because Israeli passport
holders are prohibited entry....READ MORE
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The Hand That Feeds Bites Back
Israel and Suha Arraf Differ on Nationality of ‘Villa Touma’
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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/movies/israel-and-suha-arraf-differ-on-nationality-of-villa-touma.html?emc=edit_tnt_20141018&nlid=67297737&tntemail0=y&_r=0
“Villa Touma,” a darkly comic fable directed by a Palestinian-Israeli
screenwriter, Suha Arraf, had been experiencing an identity crisis well
before it got to Canada. At the Venice Film Festival a week or so
earlier, Ms. Arraf (“Lemon Tree”)
listed the film as “Palestinian,” and in doing so kicked up a media and
bureaucratic storm. Since most of her financing came from Israeli state
sources, the political establishment argued that “Villa Touma” should
have been considered Israeli. The Israeli Film Council demanded the
return of more than $500,000 Ms. Arraf raised from the Israeli Film
Fund, the Economic Ministry and the national lottery.
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The
response online and in the Israeli press to Ms. Arraf, was not,
generally speaking, kind. “It was crazy,” Ms. Arraf said in Toronto.
“They said I stole Israeli money, they said I’m a whore, of course, and a
suicide bomber.” She continued: “When I talk about it here, and people
hear about the story, they start laughing and ask me to write a comedy
about it. A comedy. Nobody would believe me if I wrote the script.”
Set
in 2001, the film tells of three Christian sisters who have cloistered
themselves since the 1967 Six-Day War inside their once-elegant Ramallah
home in the West Bank (though, aside from some exteriors there, the
film was largely shot in Haifa, Israel). When a niece comes to live with
them, their insular existence starts to dissolve. Featured are the
Palestinian actresses Nisreen Faour, Ula Tabari and Maria Zreik, along
with Cherien Dabis, the Palestinian-American director (“Amreeka”), making what she called a long-delayed acting debut.
“It
was so refreshing,” she said of Ms. Arraf’s script. “It’s about a world
we’ve never seen, a segment of Palestinian society that’s just lost.
It’s about women’s lives, their intimacy. The humor was there, the
pacing was there.”...READ MORE
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GIGI HADID
Fashion Model, USA
“My dad was born in Palestine and immigrated at a very young age. I think the most inspiring thing about my parents is that they came from nothing and through hard work and determination they both reached their goals…they always taught me the importance of making a name for myself regardless of the past success of my family, be financially independent, and using my success to help the less fortunate.”
Read more about Gigi Hadid at Palestinian Surprises website: http://bit.ly/1vP1UCO
Fashion Model, USA
“My dad was born in Palestine and immigrated at a very young age. I think the most inspiring thing about my parents is that they came from nothing and through hard work and determination they both reached their goals…they always taught me the importance of making a name for myself regardless of the past success of my family, be financially independent, and using my success to help the less fortunate.”
Read more about Gigi Hadid at Palestinian Surprises website: http://bit.ly/1vP1UCO
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| Sherri Muzher is a journalist, scholar, and activist who has dedicated much of her writings to dispelling Palestinian stereotypes, clarifying myths, and presenting the Palestinian perspective... Muzher was born and raised in Michigan. Her parents left the Occupied West Bank in 1969 with hopes of brighter days for their future children... Escape to a World of Palestinian Surprises |
The Palestinian Surprises website and facebook page are tools for the
Palestinian people to recognize and publicize the best of their
achievements in Diaspora and the homeland, and to show our rich culture,
heritage and history. These achievements are in science, education,
politics, music and every aspect of Palestinian life! Palestinian
Surprises is thus also a resource to dispel negative stereotypes of Palestine and of Palestinians.
