News of the blogosphere…

Laila from Raising Yousuf reports that the big day of elections is less than two weeks away. She has been recruited by the Guardians Unlimited to write about the elections in a series of posts.

From Ramallah Online, in Palestinian village of Al-Walaja people still live under the same conditions caused by Al-Nakba nearly 54 years ago. The Isreali military forces attackd the village and bulldozed Palestinians properties declaring the area to be a closed military zone.

From KABOBfest, the Palestine Solidarity Movement will hold its fifth annual conference at Georgetown University, Washington, DC from the 17th – 19th of Febreuary, 2006. The spokesperson of PSM, Nadeem Muaddi said the divestment from Israel has become a national concern.

Norwegians activists are under attack from Israel's supporters in the US and Condoleeza Rice threatens with serious political consequences.

What we talk about…

On Ariel Sharon‘s health condition:

SteamedPenguin at the beginning, was afraid Sharon would die quickly, then he was afraid Sharon would live.

KABOBfest's blogger Will‘s post number 400 was also about Sharon, Will says he was surprised not to see any news about Sharon‘s health on Yahoo frontpage sidebar.

Laila of Raising Yousuf wonders what will Sharon say when he meets all his peaces on his final day, what will he say to his Maker?

Sugar Cubes compared the poor media coverage of Arafat's sickness and death to the excessive focus of MSM on Sharon‘s health and hospitalization. From Arafat to Sharon and recently Abramoff, who decides what's a top story?

Photo Credit: Raising Yousuf

From peacepalestine, in a letter from Al Jazeera camerman who is improsined in Guantanamo, Sami Al-Hajj, he asks a question which he can not get out of his mind, why are they punishing him?. Sami was tied to a wire out in the cold, standing all day on his feet just because he asked to go to the bathroom, feeling desperate he eventually soiled his trousers “to the enjoynment of the soldiers and whores watching“.

SteamedPenguin, thinks that Taliban = USA : “So I figure a dark hegemonical backwards empire beating up against misogynist, homophobic, anti-education, anti-progress goat-fucking clowns equals itself out.”

Sugar Cubes tried to shed some light on blogging in Arabic.

Read nasrawi talking about his date with Kamanche.

The little things that matter…

Haitham Sabbah has started a campaign to ask blog services to recognize and list Palestine in their countries category. If a blog service does not recognize Palestine intentionally the pledge states that its supporters will not use it.

From Sugar Cubes, Arab-American author and radio show host Samar Jarrah appeared on a Fox News‘ segment called “Your Turn” as a special guest on “Dialogue Between Arabs and Americans” to talk about her book “Arab Voices Speak to American Hearts”, you can read a review of her book here. Samar did a fabulous job tackling different controversial topics of interest to the average American when it comes to Islam and the Arab World. She explained the difference between Islam and culture and talked about women in Islam. About Palestine, Samar says that Arabs still have the question of Palestine in their hearts even after september 11, the Afghanistan and war on Iraq, and they are still looking for a peacefull solution for the Palestine-Isreal conflict. Read the written interview here

From Sabbah's Blog, a member of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation are trying to educate the U.S. public by airing Public Service Announcements (PSA’s) on several TV stations. The campaign aims at educating the American public on the human rights conditions in the holy land of Palestine and the daily misfortune Palestinians are going through. Imagine Life, as a Palestinian Campain has also made a complimentary film called Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land.