More pictures of Women’s March today in Tahrir

Sexual harassment in the Arab world has always been taboo, the Egyptian women are now speaking up. As an Arab woman, I can’t explain to you how beautiful it feels to see fellow Arab women standing up together collectively.

As a feminist Arab woman, I always believed that we Arab women are own worst enemy. The Egyptian women are changing my mind. Egypt is having a feminist moment, and I’m loving it.

Power to Egyptian women. They’re giving the phrase “Em Il Donya” a whole different meaning.

Free women, free the world. No society that mistreats its women and doesn’t give them their right will ever be free.

Free me as a Jordanian woman. Give me the right to give my kids my proud Jordanian nationality.

Free me as a Jordanian woman. Denounce laws like the one involving honor crimes.

Free me as a Jordanian woman. Stop staring at me like a sexual object.

Free me as a Jordanian woman. Stop planting the seeds of misogyny and patriarchy in our children’s brains.

Free me as a Jordanian woman. Enforce harsher laws against sexual harassment.

Free women, free the world.

Related:
Two Simplistic Solutions to Fixing Some Problems in Jordan
Rest in Peace, Myriam Achkar: A Call Against Sexual Harassment in the Arab World
You’re So OUTRAGEOUS!

Mustafa (back row, in white) with his family at home during happier times

Another Palestinian death.

One after the other, after the other, after the other.

This time it’s Mustafa, who was a 28 year old activist from the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh. Mustafa was critically injured after Israeli soldiers fired a tear gas canister straight at his face, and died at a hospital after his treatment was delayed by the occupation forces who had invaded the village to repress the weekly demonstration.

But there have been thousands of other Mustafas who gave up their lives for Palestine. I must be honest and admit that it wasn’t Mustafa that sparked this post, it was Avital Leibovivch, the official Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson to the international press.

She had tweeted the following in response to why her army murdered Mustafa:

When I first saw the tweet, I really couldn’t believe my eyes. I spent five minutes trying to figure out if the account was fake. I mean, the Israeli PR machine is genius. It’s unfortunately not like them to say something so dumb.

But it can’t be fake, I realized, as she has that blue icon next to her name. That proves that it really was from the official Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson to the international press.

And the official Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson to the international press REALLY said that they MURDERED Mustafa because he was using a slingshot against an armored vehicle, most likely a tank.

Oh, my god. Mustafa was murdered because of this tiny slingshot.

Mustafa was murdered because of this tiny slingshot.

I want to hold his mother and father, and cry. Mustafa was murdered because of this tiny slingshot.

I want to hold his sister and little brothers, and cry. Mustafa was murdered because of this tiny slingshot.

I want to hold his fiancee, and cry. Mustafa was murdered because of this tiny slingshot.

Mustafa. You were murdered because of this tiny slingshot. And all you were doing was protesting against the blatant theft of your home.

I’ve never met Manal nor Alaa. But I’ve been in touch with them online for years, from my very early days of blogging.

These two have been inspiring to me, although my inspiration first revolved around their passion for open technology.

Then the Arab world evolved. And they started inspiring everyone, and not just about technology.

Today, Khaled Abd El Fattah was born. But Alaa is behind bars for being the good guy. He missed the birth of his first child. He wasn’t with Manal as she brought Khaled into the world.

But Khaled is a lucky boy, he does have Manal and Alaa for parents, after all.

Mabrook. We all share your joy, regardless of where we are.

Like most Palestinians, I know what it’s like to have a family member in an Israeli jail. Often the reasons Palestinians get tossed into jail in the first place have more to do with lack of justice; name mix-ups, random bad luck, minor rebellion, perhaps. Often, they are held without charges, and tried without the right of defense.

Freedom came to 1,027 Palestinians yesterday. In exchange for one.

Of course, the higher the ratio, the better for us. But it still shocks you. The value of one human life, versus 1,027. It makes you rethink your entire moral framework, it makes you wonder about your life’s stance on nonviolence, on peace, on discussions.

In exchange for one Israeli soldier:

96 Palestinians prisoners were freed to the West Bank.

334 Palestinian prisoners were freed to Gaza.

50 Palestinians were freed into Jerusalem, the Golan heights, and other Israel-occupied territories.

Of the 477 prisoners released yesterday, 247 of them will be returning to their homes.

203 will not be allowed back to their homes in the West Bank, but will have to remain in Gaza.

40 will not be allowed to stay in Palestine at all, but will have to live in exile in Turkey, Qatar, and Jordan.

I found these stories on a Facebook group. It is worth translating the
stories of some of these 1,027 nameless Palestinians, exchanged for
Gilad Shalit.

This Palestinian woman has two sons and four grandchildren in Israeli jails. When she was asked, “Were any of your family members released?” She said, “No, but all Palestinians are my children”.

Father and son.

As this released prisoner hugged his dad after years behind Israeli bars, he asked where his mother was. But his mother had died six years ago.

Released prisoner Irina Sarhaneh with her daughters.

Released prisoner Qahira AlSaadi, who was supposed to spend six lifetime sentences.

Mokhles AlBarghal holding his mother for the first time in years.

Released prisoner Fakhri AlBarghouthi

Ahlam AlTamimi from Hamas and Nezar AlTamimi from Fateh were married when they were both in Israeli jails.

Released prisoner with his son.

Another father greets his son.

Nael AlBarghouthi was only 19 when he was tossed into an Israeli prison. 34 years later, he is released at 52.

Ashraf Muashar was the man who kidnapped one soldier by the name of Gilad Shalit, and thus sent back 1,027 Palestinians, mostly civilians, to their families.

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(Design by Mohamed Mousa)

I generally tend to find English much more expressive than Arabic, but some Arabic phrases really hit the nail on the head.

One of my favorite phrases is “farfatat rohi”, which could literally be translated into “my soul has come undone”, or “my soul has crumbled”, or “my soul has been broken into a million little pieces”.

It simply means that you are frustrated to the point of numbness. The mental image in my head is awesome, of a million little pieces of light that are throbbing dully, trying to reconnect, but being unable to.

Mfarfeta rohi. My soul is numb.

Here, my aunt would say, “Allahoma tawelek ya roh”, which translates to “may God make you a little longer, oh, soul.”

Arabic really can be extremely expressive. What’s your favorite Arabic phrase?

As I was looking at this week’s installment of The Atlantic’s “World War II” special, I found myself automatically stopping by this image, due to the interesting nature of the outfits.

Then I discovered that this photograph was shot in Palestine in 1940. The caption reads: “Arab recruits line up in a barracks square in the
British Mandate of Palestine, on December 28, 1940, for their first drill under a British solider.”

Notice a few interesting things about the clothing in this photograph:

- All of these men are wearing espadrilles, which I find exceedingly fascinating. From Wikipedia: “The term espadrille is French and derives from the Catalan name for the shoes which derives from esparto, a tough, wiry Mediterranean grass used in making rope.” No slippers, no boots, no sandals.

- The diversity in outfits is fascinating. Some men are wearing the umbaz, some are wearing suits, others are wearing pants and t’s, and a few are wearing the sherwal. Unfortunately, I am not aware of the social implications of different outfits in the Palestine of old.

- The 7ettas (headwear) are interesting. The second guy on the left is wearing it like a sailor, I suppose. Or maybe not. I was surprised to see Petra natives wearing the 7etta tied that way too in these photographs by Amer Sweidan. So I guess not sailors. Desert dwellers? Cool people? Who knows? The other three next to him are wearing it in the more traditional way. They’re wearing very diverse outfits with the 7etta.