On International Affairs:
With the Israeli withdrawal, there is a lot to say in the Jordanian blogosphere about Palestine, both in relation to the withdrawal and otherwise. Biesan describes the withdrawal as “a historic day for the Palestinian people and for Gaza in particular”. Meanwile, Sugar Cubes reports that Israeli exports to the Arab world rose 48% in 2004, saying, “I don’t understand why we need to import such products at all!”
Biesan also says that she was so excited to see “the donation made by Al Amaari Refugee Camp in the West Bank city of Ramallah to Hurricane Katrina survivors”, then she notes the lack of importance given to such a significant incident saying, “If one Palestinian made a politically incorrect statement concerning the Katarina tragedy, the news would have been all over the media… this was a positive move from the Palestinian refugees it hardly made its way through the international media.”
Echoing Biesan's thoughts on the one-sidedness of American media, Deeb Dweik says that he was “a little pissed off” when he heard about an American article that claims that the killing of Mohammed Durra, which helped spark then intifada, was “an almost perfect media crime”.
Lulu of CafeLulu writes a thought-provoking post in remembrance of the 1982 massacre in the Sabra and Shatilla Palestinian refugee camps by Israel, saying, “For how long will Palestinian deaths be ignored and swept under the rug, only rarely making it to the sidelines of reported news?” Sabbah of Sabbah's Blog has a post on the failure of the UN to set a global definition of “terrorism“.
This month also marks the launch of PalestineBlogs.net by Sabbah, a blog that is dedicated to pro-Palestine advocacy through the presentation of news and views of the blogosphere.
On local events:
Wednesday the 14th marked the 6th Jordanian Bloggers meet-up. The 7th Jordanian Bloggers meet-up will take place on the 2nd of October.
Roba of And Far Away reports about the Royal Film Commission's screening of 13 short movies directed by young Jordanians, ” I was deeply impressed by the fact that some of the shorts were pivoting around significant social criticism that I have never seen portrayed in such a medium before.” Wael Attili talks about the exhibition by architect Sahel Hiyari at Darat al Funun saying, “I was quite impressed with the daring ideas and design experience in his work.”
Eman of AquaCool brings forward two new local projects, one being the construction of a a path for bikes in King Abullah 2nd Street and the inauguration of three-star hotel located in the heart of Madaba. She also mentions “Follow the Women” ride for peace which will be passing by Jordan.
Ahmad Humeid has taken the initiative to “GPS Amman” as as a wikipedia-like effort, so it would be great if people with the following expertise can help:
- Someone out there with wiki experience could set up a wiki for this.
- If someone knows of similar GPS wikis to learn from.
- Someone tell us how GPS users can then ‘use’ the data collected.
Jordanian Thoughts:
Lina Ejeilat has a thought provoking post wondering where students are when it comes to activism- “apathy and indifference are a plague among young people in our society.” Linda Haddad, meanwhile, wonders if Jordanian courts are too lenient. On a lighter note, Natasha Tynes writes about her baseball experience.
Ahmad Humeid's Mix Up Arabia is also back with another episode.
