John L. Knight

Selma Gurbuz (Turkish, b. 1960)

2010-04-14T05:11:00.003+01:00

Title		Kedili doga, nature with cats
Medium		acrylic on canvas
Size		60.8 x 113 in. / 154.5 x 287 cm.

Title		Moonlit nudes
Medium		oil and velvet tape on canvas
Size		61.8 x 109.4 in. / 157 x 278 cm.

Title		Figurative composition
Medium		mixed media on canvas
Size		59.8 x 108.7 in. / 152 x 276 cm.

Source: artnet

Bagpipes and Kaffiyas: Palestine

2008-12-24T16:48:00.003Z

Palestinian bandsmen play in front of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the West Bank on the day most Christians celebrate Christmas Eve. (Photo: Kevin Frayer/AP)

Source: BBC

Banksy

2008-08-26T16:38:00.000+01:00

Heavy Metal in Baghdad

2008-08-22T15:09:00.003+01:00

http://heavymetalinbaghdad.com/

Afdhere Jama: Illegal Citizens: Queer Lives in the Muslim world

2008-07-28T04:16:00.004+01:00

About the Book: In Illegal Citizens: Queer Lives in the Muslim world, Afdhere Jama chronicles the struggles of thirty-three lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people in twenty-two countries. The majority of these people live in countries where it is illegal to have same-sex relationships. Caught between the modern world of the internet and the severe laws they face, many risk everything by meeting, having sex, or falling in love with other queers.
About the Author: Afdhere Jama was born and raised in Somalia. At the age of seventeen, he came to America after a devastating civil war in his country. He is the editor of Huriyah, a bi-lingual queer Muslim magazine distributed in nineteen Arabic-speaking countires with an English version online. His writings on queer sexuality and Islam have appeared in publications all over the world. His first book, a poetry volume titled At Noonday with the Gods of Somalia, was published in 2004. He lives in California.

http://www.salaampress.com/

Amazon UK | US

Waltz with Bashir (Israel)

2008-07-23T16:30:00.001+01:00

http://waltzwithbashir.com

[Ari] Folman's "Waltz With Bashir" is a remarkable, haunting and intense work, quite unlike any animated film I've ever seen. Hand drawn in a crude, colorful underground-comics style, it captures Folman's struggle to recapture his lost memories of what he saw and what he did during Israel's ill-fated 1980s war in Lebanon, when he was a young draftee. Folman says that for many years he had no clear memories of his time in Lebanon, although he knew he had seen combat and that he had witnessed the Sabra and Shatila massacres of September 1982, when pro-Israeli Lebanese Christian militiamen carried out a near-genocidal campaign of murder in two Palestinian refugee camps.
While trying to work his way out of a severe depression, Folman contacted many of his former military comrades, along with a psychiatrist friend and a neurologist who specializes in memory impairment. The film combines pieces of these interviews with fragmentary episodes drawn from these men's memories, dreams and perhaps fantasies, all of them (until the utterly devastating last scenes) delivered in the same animation style. At least in part, the subject of "Waltz With Bashir" -- the title refers to Lebanese president-elect Bashir Gemayel, whose assassination inflamed Lebanese Christians to widespread anti-Muslim violence -- is the unreliable and fantastic quality of memory itself. One friend's dream about being pursued by a pack of wild dogs seems just as real or unreal as another's eerie memory of a firefight in a remote orchard against a shadowy opponent -- a boy of 11 or 12, who blows up an Israeli tank with an RPG before being killed himself. (Folman was involved in this battle, but apparently still cannot remember it.)

Oddly, the adventure-comics presentation of Folman's memory excavation lends it less rather than more power. (As he has said, the alternative was to shoot a bunch of middle-aged men talking.) His resurrected war stories really are exciting adventures, but also terrible, nightmarish and finally pointless ones. Dredging up these dreadful memories may have been therapeutic for the men involved, but the point of "Waltz With Bashir" is bigger than that. It's a provocative, strange and arresting film, whose unusual blend of style and substance should reach a large worldwide audience.

Source: Salon

Breaking the Veils: Women Artists from the Islamic World [II]

2008-07-15T03:44:00.003+01:00

Fahda Bint Saud. (Saudi Arabia, 1953). Woman-1. (1992). Watercolor on paper. (86 X 64 cm).

Mounira Nusseibeh. (Palestine, 1943). Kneeling in Front of the Mosque. (1983). Mixed media on canvas. (151 X 100 cm)

http://www.artreachfoundation.org/veils/

Morteza Katouzian, Iran

2008-07-15T03:38:00.002+01:00

"The Red Alert" (1980) Oil on canvas, 80x60 cm

http://www.persia.org/Images/Katouzian_art/art.html

Junoon [Pakistan]: Allah Hu live at Central Park

2008-07-11T23:49:00.001+01:00

www.junoon.com

Exhibition: The Lure of the East: British Orientalist Painting, Tate Britain [London]

2008-07-11T08:14:00.005+01:00

The Lure of the East: British Orientalist Painting, Tate Britain, London
4 June - 31 August 2008

Shahrad Malek Fazeli, Iran

2008-07-11T06:32:00.004+01:00

Untitled, oil on canvas, 105 x 84cm, 2004

Retirement with Quran, oil on canvas, 80 x 60cm, 2002

http://www.shahradmalekfazeli.com /

Breaking the Veils: Women Artists from the Islamic World

2008-07-10T18:49:00.003+01:00

Breaking the Veils: Women Artists from the Islamic World

Houria Niati. (Algeria, 1948). Violence and Power. (1988). Oil pastel on paper. (110 x 80 cm).

Suad Attar. (Iraq, 1939). The Blue Paradise. (1989). Oil on canvas. (85 X 100 cm).

http://www.artreachfoundation.org/veils/

Louis Armstrong, Cairo, 1961

2008-06-30T04:31:00.006+01:00

© Bettmann/Corbis photo

In 1961, Satchmo visited Cairo as part of the America's 'Jazz diplomacy' against the Soviet Union.

See Fred Kaplan's NYT article on the subject, and its contemporary reincarnation.

See also Penny M. Von Eschen's Satchmo Blows Up the World: Jazz Ambassadors Play the Cold War Harvard University Press.

Monir Farmanfarmaian, Iran

2008-06-18T10:16:00.004+01:00

Monir Farmanfarmaian, Iran

The Lady Reappears. 2008
Mirror mosaic
150 x 80 cm

Source: Nafas

Hadeel A. Dhaher

2008-05-29T18:42:00.002+01:00

Hadeel A. Dhaher

http://www.myartinfo.com/browse/profile/HADEEL

Under The Bombs a film by Philippe Aractingi

2008-04-18T04:44:00.004+01:00

Under The Bombs a film by Philippe Aractingi

Observer

It's a wry, tragic road movie, shot in the war zone while the smell of cordite hung in the air and smoke still rose from shattered buildings. Revealing, occasionally darkly comic, Under the Bombs is raw, painfully vivid, full of sharp detail and extremely moving.

Guardian

...a heartfelt road movie, with lacerating images of Israel's recent war in Lebanon. Paradoxically, by appearing in a fiction feature, these images achieve a reality that is never fully conveyed in television news reporting. With remarkable resourcefulness, Aractingi has simply taken his actors, camera and crew into the destroyed landscape and partly improvised a heartwrenching film from what he has found there. Nada Abou Farhat plays Zeina, a haughty, wealthy and beautiful woman who arrives in Beirut from Dubai in the summer of 2006, after the Israeli Defence Force's catastrophically misjudged bombardment of southern Lebanon. Desperately, she begs for a taxi driver to take her to a village in the south, to discover what has happened there to her young son. The only person who agrees is Tony (Georges Khabbaz), who appears to be louche, unreliable, in it for the cash. But Zeina's desperate quest opens a long-buried wound in Tony: his relationship with a fugitive brother who, during the last war in 1982, joined the collaborationist South Lebanese Army. Zeina and Tony are the oddest of odd couples, and I suspect Aractingi was never entirely sure how much sexual tension there should really be between them. But these human nuances are not as important as the vision of Lebanon's extraordinary, almost surreal landscapes of destruction and hurt.

BBC

Shot without a formal script during the middle of Israel's 33-day bombardment and invasion of Lebanon in the summer of 2006, the poignant Under the Bombs is a heartfelt road movie from Lebanese writer-director Philippe Aractingi. It tracks a wealthy Shiite woman Zeina (Nada Abou Farhat) and a Christian taxi driver Tony (Georges Khabbaz), who are travelling from Beirut to the devastated south of the country in search of Zeina's young son Karim and her sister.

Zeina and Tony make for an unlikely pairing, given their differences in class, religion and gender, and she initially sits in the back seat of his Mercedes and brushes aside his attempts at friendly conversation. When they reach the village of Kherbet Selem and discover that Zeina's family home is in ruins however, Tony vows to continue the search for Karim with his passenger, and she in turn reveals more about her own life.

About Farhat and Khabbaz are the only professional actors in Under the Bombs: all the supporting characters, whether they are refugees, soldiers, nuns, foreign journalists, Hezbollah supporters or aid workers, play themselves. Together with the news footage that's incorporated into the story, the casting gives the film a powerful authenticity. Aractingi isn't interested in political sermonising, but in showing the impact of this war on Lebanon's infrastructure and its civilian population. The film's credits are dedicated to "the suffering of the innocent", and the ending to Zeina's quest is appropriately wrenching.

http://www.underthebombs.com/

Khirbet Khizeh by S. Yizhar

2008-04-17T04:06:00.008+01:00

Khirbet Khizeh by S. Yizhar

This 1949 novella about the violent expulsion of Palestinian villagers by the Israeli army has long been considered a modern Hebrew masterpiece, and it has also given rise to fierce controversy over the years. Published just months after the end of the 1948 war, Khirbet Khizeh (the “kh” pronounced like the “ch” in “Bach”) was an immediate sensation when it first appeared. Thousands of Israeli Jews rushed to read it, the critics began to argue about it, and a Palestinian journalist in Nablus described it as a sign that the Israeli army had a conscience and that peace was possible.

Since then, the book has continued to challenge and disturb. The various debates it has prompted would themselves make Khirbet Khizeh worth reading, but the novella is much more than a vital historical document: it is also a great work of art. Yizhar’s haunting, lyrical style and charged registration of the landscape are in many ways as startling as his wrenchingly honest view of one of Israel’s defining moments. Despite its international reputation, the book has never before been translated into English. Nicholas de Lange and Yaacob Dweck’s expert rendering captures with grace Yizhar’s elusive prose, while David Shulman’s afterword makes the book’s contemporary relevance powerfully clear. Khirbet Khizeh is an absolute must for anyone interested in Middle Eastern literature and history.

Harum Scarum: Elvis Presley School of Foreign Policy?

2008-01-23T22:30:00.000Z

Harum Scarum: 1001 Swingin' nights

Elvis brings his Big Beat to Bagdad in a riotous rockin' rollin' adventure spoof!!!

Elvis in a land of Arabian daze and nights.

"Go East Young Man," sings show-biz star and martial arts wiz Johnny Tyrone. To hear is to obey. A clandestine group called the Assassins kidnaps Johnny and whisks him to a remote Arabian realm isolated from the world for 2,000 years.

Sheik meets desert chic...

The kidnappers want Johnny to use his finesse to kill a desert king.

Johnny a hitman?

No, he's a hit, man a top singer of songs like Kismet, Harem Holiday and nine more, all part of the jammin,' swashbucklin' fun of Harum Scarum.

Flavia Codsi, Lebanon

2008-01-22T03:46:00.000Z

No Fly Zone

Jammal's Choice

Les Dormeurs

Source: ArteEast

Santa's Ghetto @ Bethlehem

2007-12-08T00:50:00.000Z

http://www.santasghetto.com/

Tawfiq Salsaa and Banksy

'Jerusalem'

it's a perfect scale model of Jerusalem carved out of local olive wood by a wise old man entirely from memory. It took three years to complete and then Banksy turned up and stuck a bunch of miniature watch towers all over it. 'Collaboration' would be the nice way to put it, 'a flaming liberty' might be nearer the mark.

Banksy @ Bethlehem

2007-12-05T19:49:00.000Z

This Banksy exhibit has sparked controversy. This wounded cherub work has been mistakenly identified as Jesus by some, despite denials by Banksy's PR people.

Source: BBC

Nox Magazine [Amman]: Top 10 Arab Rappers

2007-09-27T00:07:00.000+01:00

Top 10 Arab Rappers

With Arab hip hop in the ascendancy, we asked artists, labels, managers and fans to nominate the best Arab rappers across the world The results from our exhaustive research are...

10. Ramallah Underground
9. Timz
8. Omar Offendum/ NOMADS
7. The Philistines
6. Salah Edin
5. Narcy
4.Arabesque
3.Cilvaringz
2.Patriarch
1.DAM

Nox Magazine

Film: Meeting Resistance

2007-08-31T14:49:00.000+01:00

Meeting Resistance: A film by Steve Connors and Molly Bingham

MEETING RESISTANCE is a verité-style non-fiction feature-length film set in the streets, alleyways and ubiquitous teashops of the Adhamiya neighborhood of Baghdad. It enters the physical and psychological heart of the "insurgency" against the American occupation. Photojournalists/directors Steve Connors and Molly Bingham spent ten-months among the insurgents there to create this exclusive, unique, and at once horrifying, compelling and insightful film about their lives, motivation, and goals.

MEETING RESISTANCE focuses on eight "insurgents", each with his or her own tale and reasons for opposing the American-led occupation, yet all people who within days of the fall of Baghdad were arranging themselves into resistance cells, finding the money and weapons to fight against the American military. The film witnesses how they began to organize themselves, reveals why they have decided to violently oppose the occupation of the country, and hears in their words the underlying ideological foundations to their fight and how and why those have changed over time.

MEETING RESISTANCE is a fascinating journey through a tumultuous period with diverse members of the Iraqi resistance. Their personal stories as well as their ideological ones are at once dramatic, eye-opening, and concerning - and they challenge the notion that those opposing the occupation are simply "dead enders," "common criminals," "Al-Qaeda operatives" and "die-hard Ba'athis."

Directors Steve Connors' and Molly Bingham's unsurpassed access and visually stunning cinematography makes this film a one-of-a-kind; essential viewing for audiences around the world concerned with a deeper understanding of the current situation in Iraq, and with the human condition of resistance.

THE CHARACTERS

The Teacher

In his late forties is married with three children. This quiet, philosophical man is active in the resistance. Never a member of the Ba'ath party - which he loathed - he is a family man who has devoted his life to teaching. During the fighting around the Abu Hanifeh mosque in Adhamiya on April 9th and 10th 2003 The Teacher helped out by guiding foreign volunteer fighters through the backstreets of his neighborhood. He was shamed by their willingness to fight and die for Iraq while most Iraqis - especially the Ba'ath party members - failed to stand in defense of the country. The Teacher described his pre 2003 war life as secular. However after a brief period of 'shock' after the war he joined an Islamic group and began working with them as a weapons procurer.

The Wife

With a husband and two sons involved in fighting the Americans The Wife lives in a permanent state of poverty and fear. She doesn't know whether they'll all come home and when they do she has little to put on the table. In addition to being a wife and mother she also works in the resistance as a courier carrying messages and sometimes weapons between groups.

The Wife is Shi'a.

The Traveler

Left home when he was just a teenager to fight alongside the Palestinians, and did so for the next twenty years. Although a long-time member of the Ba'ath party, he quit in the mid 1990's because of political corruption at the district level. The Traveler is now too old to do much in the way of actual fighting in Iraq but his skill and experience - honed in the years of fighting a guerilla war against the Israelis - are very much in demand. He works as an organizer, strategist and consultant to a number of resistance cells in Baghdad and the provinces.

The Traveler is Shi'a.

The Fugitive

A young man in his mid-twenties. Before the US led invasion he had deserted from the Iraqi army but later volunteered to fight in the resistance. After receiving training in Ramadi he became the commander of a small squad of fighters operating outside of Adhamiya.

The Warrior

A former special-forces officer in his mid thirties, he was one of twenty-three survivors of a 1,000 man strong suicide unit sent to Kerbala and Najaf to put down the Shia insurrection in 1991. Having successfully completed their mission the twenty-three survivors returned to their Baghdad base only to be charged with dereliction of duty - for surviving - and sentenced to death. Their sentences were commuted to life in prison on appeal. The Warrior was released 3 1/2 years later during a general amnesty having suffered extreme torture. While his experience bred in him a great hatred of the Ba'ath party, Saddam Hussein's reputation as a leader remained untarnished. After his release he refused to return to the military though they sought him - but when Iraq was invaded in 2003 The Warrior re-joined his old army unit. When the initial fighting was over he slept for a couple of days then started his own resistance cell. In addition to organizing, training and leading his own group, he works with other groups as a roving consultant.

The Republican Guard

A career officer who served right up to the end of the US invasion in the elite Republican Guard formation of the Iraqi Army. As a mid-rank staff officer the Republican Guard witnessed the collapse of the army and the regime from the inside. As the fighting at Baghdad airport came to a close his commander ordered the officers to carry out suicide attacks. Instead they chose to go home in order to perhaps fight another day. The Republican Guard is in his early thirties, married with children. He is Sunni, married to a Shi'a woman.

The Imam

A young, thoughtful family man who was jailed under Saddam on suspicion of being a Wahabi - a charge that he denies. The Imam worked as a shopkeeper before becoming a junior Imam at a mosque. He studied the Koran - passing the required tests - in order to take up a position as head in his own mosque. The Imam calls for Jihad against the occupation believing there is no choice but to do so, as it is prescribed in the Koran and the teachings of Mohamed. Although he denies any direct involvement in the movement, he provides spiritual guidance to his congregation on the subject of Jihad and its 'correct implementation'. He understands and reflects on the inherent conundrum - the fact that he believes that he must preach Jihad in spite of the damage that the fighting inflicts on the country.

The Imam comes from a mixed Sunni-Shi'a family.

The Syrian

A young man from small town Syria who answered the call to Jihad that came from his local mosque. Having persuaded his family to give their blessing he volunteered through the mosque. After testing The Syrian's determination his Imam put him in touch with people who would facilitate his entry into Iraq. Once in Iraq he was taken under the wing of an Iraqi fighter who provided him with 'on-the-job' training and a place in a community of like-minded people.

The Syrian is Shi'a.

The Professor

A lecturer in political science at Baghdad University, The Professor is a native of the western Iraqi city of Falluja. In 2003 he undertook a research project in his hometown to identify and analyze the make-up and structure of the resistance movement in that area. By attending funerals and interviewing the families of men who were killed fighting against coalition forces, The Professor was able to learn about the backgrounds and motivation of those who chose to fight. Adhamiya has strong tribal, social and economic ties to Falluja and the results of The Professor's research were in line with the discoveries made in the course of the making of Meeting Resistance.

The Lieutenant

A junior officer in the paramilitary Fedayeen Saddam, The Lieutenant fought with his unit at Baghdad airport and in the Adhamiya district in early April 2003. In his mid-twenties, he comes from a family with a long history of Iraqi military service. Parts of his unit reconstituted at the end of April 2003 after purportedly receiving orders in a letter from Saddam Hussein.

http://www.meetingresistance.com

Lilia Zaouali: Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World

2007-08-31T05:21:00.000+01:00

Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World: A Concise History with 174 Recipes by Lilia Zaouali.
Translated by M. B. DeBevoise, with a Foreword by Charles Perry. University of California Press.

Vinegar and sugar, dried fruit, rose water, spices from India and China, sweet wine made from raisins and dates--these are the flavors of the golden age of Arab cuisine. This book, a delightful culinary adventure that is part history and part cookbook, surveys the gastronomical art that developed at the Caliph's sumptuous palaces in ninth-and tenth-century Baghdad, drew inspiration from Persian, Greco-Roman, and Turkish cooking, and rapidly spread across the Mediterranean. In a charming narrative, Lilia Zaouali brings to life Islam's vibrant culinary heritage.

The second half of the book gathers an extensive selection of original recipes drawn from medieval culinary sources along with thirty-one contemporary recipes that evoke the flavors of the Middle Ages. Featuring dishes such as Chicken with Walnuts and Pomegranate, Beef with Pistachios, Bazergan Couscous, Lamb Stew with Fresh Apricots, Tuna and Eggplant Purée with Vinegar and Caraway, and Stuffed Dates, the book also discusses topics such as cookware, utensils, aromatic substances, and condiments, making it both an entertaining read and an informative resource for anyone who enjoys the fine art of cooking.

Amazon US UK

Atil Kutoglu: Fashion Designer

2007-08-18T01:33:00.000+01:00

Atil Kutoglu to redesign headscarf for Abdullah Gul's wife.

A Vienna-based stylist is to redesign the wardrobe of the wife of Turkish presidential aspirant Abdullah Gul, including her Islamic headscarf which upsets secularists. "Hayrunnisa Gul has asked me to redesign her headscarf along with her whole wardrobe in a style that suits everyone, from the most modern to the most conservative," Atil Kutoglu told AFP Friday.

"I am to submit next week a range of around 10 samples combining Hollywood glamour with the seriousness which matches her position," Kutoglu said in a telephone interview from Turkey.

Turkish-born Kutoglu's clients include Hollywood actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Atil Kutoglu

Launched in 1992, Kutoglu’s label stands for exotic, richly textured clothes with a Turkish flavor. That translates into lots of tunic necklines, genie pants, and spice-market colors. But there are always modern twists, such as the merging of luxe materials with funkier ones—leather with rich brocades, denim with mousseline and velvet. The designer, although born in Turkey, is based in Istanbul, and he has become a favorite among European royalty.

Sources: Daily Star [Lebanon], New York Magazine

http://www.atilkutoglu.com

Lebanese Cartoon: "Turkey: Sweeping Victory For Erdogan's Party"

2007-07-29T01:44:00.000+01:00

Source: Al-Mustaqbal, Lebanon, July 24, 2007

Iraqi Border Fort

2007-07-29T01:29:00.000+01:00

Greshan Border Fort, Iraq

Wonderful medieval lego-style architecture.

Dome of the Rock & Baseball!

2007-07-28T17:42:00.000+01:00

Very interesting juxtaposition, Dome of the Rock and Israeli baseball, showing the appropriation of a Palestinian national and Islamic religious symbol for the promotion of an Israeli institution.

As usual, the Dome of the Rock is used as a signifier for the Jerusalem as an Israeli/Jewish city.

On a similar usage, from the 1930s see this post.

Incidentally there is no Jerusalem-based baseball team. The closest being the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox

http://www.israelbaseballleague.com/

The Palestine Rapperz: Gaza

2007-07-13T01:54:00.000+01:00

PR's lyrics are full of death (by falling bombs, Israeli Mossad agents or feuding Palestinian gangs) and set to an ominous, rumbling beat that sounds like an approaching Israeli tank. "Traditionally, Palestinian songs are all about love," says one member, Mohammed al Farra, whose rap handle is D.R., the Dynamic Rapper, "but our reality in Gaza is about suffering. Gaza is like a big prison, and we get our message across with rap music." At concerts, PR ignites a dervish-like frenzy among Palestinian teenagers. When they sing, "Just because we're Palestinians/ America and everyone suspects us of being terrorists/ But all we're asking for is freedom," the crowd erupts with the same raw energy you see in the Gaza showdowns between Palestinian and Israeli forces.

The Hunger

Sources: Time, VII Photo Age ncy

www.myspace.com/palrapperz

Hugh Kennedy: The Great Arab Conquests: How The Spread Of Islam Changed The World We Live In

2007-07-12T02:15:00.001+01:00

The early followers of the Prophet owed their astounding success in spreading the faith to intelligence and restraint as well as to zeal.

AN AGGRESSIVE Bedouin horde, drunk on religion, sweeps out of the Arabian peninsula—on the way burning the great library of Alexandria—and, through wholesale massacre and forced conversion, imposes Islam on a vast area stretching from Spain to the fringes of China. If this is your mental picture of the rise of Islam, dimly remembered from some long-ago history lesson, take note: it is in almost every respect wrong.

Hugh Kennedy sets out to explain an historical puzzle. How could Arab forces, relatively small in number and with no particular superiority in weaponry, have pulled off such an apparently impossible feat? In the century that followed the death of the Prophet in 632, they challenged two established empires (the Byzantine and Sasanian). They conquered Syria in eight years, Iraq in seven, Egypt in a mere two and Spain and Portugal in five. At the same time, they pushed deep into Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. How did they do it? Why did they not meet stronger and more sustained resistance? And, no less of a mystery, how did the empire they created endure?

By painstakingly reconstructing the series of Arab conquests, Mr Kennedy paints a picture strikingly at odds with the popular clichés. “The Muslim conquests”, he writes, “were far from being the outpouring of an unruly horde of nomads.” The Bedouin of Arabia were tough and highly mobile, fired by tribal honour and love of booty as well as by zeal for Islam. They were led by intelligent men from the Meccan elite who knew they had to channel the “frenetic military energies of the Bedouin” outwards, or else face a real risk of implosion.

These leaders also seem to have grasped that to have based their conquests on mass killings and conversion by the sword would have been a fatal mistake. There were massacres, but they were not the norm. If conquered peoples paid tribute and did not make trouble, they were largely left alone.

Local people were incorporated into the new administrative class. Existing religions—Christianity in Syria and Egypt, Zoroastrianism in Persian-ruled areas, Hinduism and Buddhism farther east—were not persecuted. Large-scale conversions came much later; at the time there was little or no pressure on the conquered people to convert. As for the sack of the Alexandrian library, that, says Mr Kennedy, is a discredited myth.

The Arabs were also lucky in their timing. Mr Kennedy speculates that, had they got going a generation earlier, success would probably have eluded them. As it was, disarray within the Byzantine and Sasanian empires helps to explain why the Arabs met little serious resistance there.

But this was not everywhere the case. The early Muslim armies met their fiercest opposition from the Turks of Central Asia. And, on the other side of their empire, they conquered the Berbers of North Africa but alienated them through the brutalities of the slave trade, which sparked the great Berber rebellion of 741.

Source: The Economist

Kirkuk Photo Album

2007-06-28T21:31:00.000+01:00

A broken down Iraqi army tank that children have painted on as a colourful protests against war. It sits in the middle of the road from Kirkuk to Suleimaniya.

From the 'Kirkuk Photo Album' by Peshrew Shwani, a Kurdish journalist in Kirkuk, and his friend, Salar Ardalani.

Source: BBC

Documentary: “It’s Not a Gun” [Palestine]

2007-06-28T01:09:00.000+01:00

“It’s Not a Gun” chronicles the establishment of a music association for the children of Palestine.

Violinist Ramzi Aburedwan walks through a Palestinian refugee camp. His music association, Al Kamandjati, introduces Palestinian children to the art of live music. What does it mean for people to have music while living under military occupation? (Photo courtesy of CPFF).

It’s Not a Gun chronicles the triumphs and travails of al-Kamandjâti (the violinist), a summer music school in Ramallah for Palestinian children. Soaring spirits prevail through the film’s plentiful music, while the school’s founder, violinist Ramzi Aburedwan, and his multi-national cohorts face daily problems ranging from obstruction at checkpoints to efforts by vigilante religious extremists to shut them down.

Read more: Electronic Intifada Ramallah Online

SlingShot Hip Hop: The Palestinian Lyrical Front

2007-06-27T01:44:00.000+01:00

SlingShot Hip Hop is a documentary film that focuses on the daily life of Palestinian rappers living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel. It aims to spotlight alternative voices of resistance within the Palestinian struggle and explore the role their music plays within their social, political and personal lives. Coming Soon.

http://www.slingshothiphop.com/

Reem Kelani, UK/Palestine: Sprinting Gazelle

2007-06-26T16:55:00.000+01:00

As Nazarene Women Crossed the Meadow(Qata'en an-Nasraawiyyaat)

Reem Kelani is a Diaspora Palestinian singer, musician and broadcaster. She was born in Manchester, raised in Kuwait and is now based in London. Her father comes from Ya’bad near Jenin in the West Bank and her mother from Nazareth in Galilee.

In her music, Kelani does not separate the personal from the collective, or the sacred from the secular. Songs of love, harvest, weddings and separation mix freely with songs of praise and meditation. She views her musical journey as both historical and political, personal and collective. She seeks to point out suffering and to highlight celebration. Her journey is a musical one through the written and oral history of a people who are proud of their collective sense of poetry, stories, music and existence.

Mawwaal (Variations on Loss)
[Mahmoud Darwish]

More audio clips and purchase the CD at:
http://www.reemkelani.com/

Rusafa Courthouse, Baghdad: the 'Second Green Zone'

2007-06-25T13:36:00.000+01:00

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing construction of five such courthouses throughout Iraq. The Karkh Courthouse is nearing completion in western Baghdad and the others are in Mosul, Basrah and Erbil.

“These facilities are critical to enforcement of the rule of law,” explained Navy Cmdr. Joseph Mauser, the Corps of Engineers’ security and justice sector lead in Iraq. As an interim measure, a temporary courthouse has opened at Rusafa.

“As the case load continues to grow, having a permanent facility with sufficient capacity becomes increasingly important,” Mauser said.

Apart from the courthouse complex itself, Rusafa also will have a facility where up to 5,400 accused individuals will be housed awaiting their arraignment or trial dates. The entire area is surrounded by concrete barriers similar to the International Zone located on the other side of the Tigris River, and the many involved in the project have started calling it a second Green Zone -- this one the “Rule of Law Green Zone.”

Source: MNF-I

The facilities provide the Iraqi government with the security and space needed to ensure the future of Iraq is free from criminal tyranny and increases their ability of maintaining a more democratic society.

Sadradeen Ameen, Kurdish/Iraqi/US

2007-06-22T20:28:00.000+01:00

The search for a paradise that has disappeared,
the reflections on the simple and invisible things of this world,
the depth of substance of creatures,
and a penetration into the profundity of the human spirit...
This is my particular world.

My paintings are expressions full of modernity;
they are also childish dreams in color,
expressive of the sweet passing of the beauty,
the symbols and the myths of old civilization.
The creatures of my work are mythical poems
illuminated by the charm of my country which comes from the distant past--
part of it still found in nature, the other part already perished.
It is pure, personal discovery.

I am inspired
by ancient civilization and religious myths, fables and popular art.
I look to the art of children and the designs of ancient cave-dwellers.
I look for new horizons that have no ending.
My world seems strange to many people,
but it is real, and has the taste of modernity.
When I paint, I feel that I live in an ancient world,
or like a child who has just begun
to learn to paint with total happiness.

http://www.sadradeenameen.com

Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak

2007-06-21T23:18:00.000+01:00

Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak

Death Poem

By Jumah al-Dossari

Take my blood.
Take my death shroud and
The remnants of my body.
Take photographs of my corpse at the grave, lonely.

Send them to the world,
To the judges and
To the people of conscience,
Send them to the principled men and the fair-minded.

And let them bear the guilty burden, before the world,
Of this innocent soul.
Let them bear the burden, before their children and before history,
Of this wasted, sinless soul,
Of this soul which has suffered at the hands of the “protectors of peace.”

Humiliated In The Shackles

By Sami al Hajj

When I heard pigeons cooing in the trees,
Hot tears covered my face.
When the lark chirped, my thoughts composed
A message for my son.
Mohammad, I am afflicted.
In my despair, I have no one but Allah for comfort.
The oppressors are playing with me,
As they move freely around the world.
They ask me to spy on my countrymen,
Claiming it would be a good deed.
They offer me money and land,
And freedom to go where I please.
Their temptations seize
My attention like lightning in the sky.
But their gift is an empty snake,
Carrying hypocrisy in its mouth like venom,
They have monuments to liberty
And freedom of opinion, which is well and good.
But I explained to them that
Architecture is not justice.
America, you ride on the backs of orphans,
And terrorize them daily.
Bush, beware.
The world recognizes an arrogant liar.
To Allah I direct my grievance and my tears.
I am homesick and oppressed.
Mohammad, do not forget me.
Support the cause of your father, a God-fearing man.
I was humiliated in the shackles.
How can I now compose verses? How can I now write?
After the shackles and the nights and the suffering and the tears,
How can I write poetry?
My soul is like a roiling sea, stirred by anguish,
Violent with passion.
I am a captive, but the crimes are my captors'.
I am overwhelmed with apprehension.
Lord, unite me with my son Mohammad.
Lord, grant success to the righteous.

Jumah al Dossari:

Arrested in Pakistan and held in solitary confinement since 2003, Jumah al Dossari's mental wellbeing is worrying his lawyers. The 33-year old Bahraini national has tried to kill himself 12 times since his incarceration in Guantanamo. On one visit, his lawyer found him hanging in a bedsheet noose, with a deep gash in one wrist. In a letter Mr Dossari wrote in 2005, he said: "The purpose of Guantanamo is to destroy people and I have been destroyed."

Sami al Hajj:

An Al-Jazeera cameraman, Sami al Hajj, a Sudanese, was visiting his brother in Damascus after the 11 September attacks when he got a call asking him to go to Pakistan to cover the impending war in Afghanistan. Instead, he ended up in Guantanamo where he claims he has been severely and regularly beaten, scarring his face.

Source: The Independent, 21 June 2007.

Ghassan Kanafani, Palestine, 1936-1972

2007-06-20T23:45:00.000+01:00

The Horseman, by Ghassan Kanafani
Accompanied by a 17-year-old niece, Palestinian Guerrilla Leader Ghassan Kanafani, 36, walked out of his apartment in a Beirut suburb, sat down at the wheel of his Austin 1100 and turned on the ignition. The car disintegrated in a horrendous explosion that killed the occupants and shook the neighborhood. Ten pounds of plastique had been stuffed under the right front fender; a hand grenade that served as detonator was wired to the ignition. Acre-born Novelist Kanafani (Men in the Sun, That Which Remains for You), an exile from his homeland since 1948, was an ideologist and spokesman for the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. (Time, 24 July 1972)

It was reported at the time 'that a piece of paper had been found at the site bearing the Israeli emblem of a candlestick and the sentence in English: "With the compliments of the Israeli Embassy in Copenhagen."(The Times, 10 July 1972, p. 5)

Three collections of Kanafani's literary works are available in English:

Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories

Palestine's Children: Returning to Haifa and Other Short Stories

All That's Left to You: A Novella and Other Short Stories

Kanafani's work The 1936-39 Revolt in Palestine, along with more about the author, is available online.

Christians in Kurdistan

2007-06-20T23:44:00.000+01:00

St. Joseph's Church, Ainkawa

Caramel - سكر بنات, directed by Nadia Labaki

2007-06-19T17:43:00.001+01:00

'Caramel' tells the story of five Lebanese women from different generations and religious backgrounds who meet in a Beirut beauty salon. They use the 'Caramel' in the title to wax their legs.

The feature film concentrates on the five women. Layal, played by Nadine Labaki, works in the beauty salon in Beirut along with three other women. Each one has a problem: Layal has an affair with a married man, Nisrine, a Christian is set to wed a Muslim, Rima is lesbian and Jamal frets about growing old.

Labaki describes the filmmaking process:

"The film came from personal questioning I have about Lebanese women [who] are an example of emancipation, of liberty, of independence for other regions in the Middle East. Lebanese women are really doing what they want in their lives. But at the same time, there is this struggle with their traditions, their religion, their education. It is still a little bit rigid. So it is a struggle between these two worlds.

"When you think about Beirut, normally you see a grey picture, you see smoke, you see buildings that are destroyed, you see women crying in the street. This is what comes to your mind when you see the word Beirut. And I wanted to change that. I wanted to make a film that was colorful and about warm people, because this is also our reality. I think I come from a generation that doesn't want to look back, that doesn't want to talk about war anymore. It wasn't easy in my case, because I finished the shoot and a week later the war broke out again. So I had a huge feeling of guilt. Why was I making a film about life when my country was at war? But then I thought maybe this was my way of struggling, of resisting: making films about life [in a time of war].

Sources: Blogging Beirut, Ya Libnan, Premiere

Palestinian Cartoon On Recent Events

2007-06-18T23:45:00.000+01:00

Source: Al-Quds, Jerusalem, June 16, 2007

Afghan ketubah (Jewish Marriage Contract)

2007-06-17T10:34:00.000+01:00

From the Sacred Texts exhibition at the British Library.

Afghan Ketubah, Herat, Afghanistan, 1889
BL Or. MS 15893
Copyright © The British Library Board

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/

Ain al Hilweh Refugee Camp, Lebanon, 1983

2007-06-16T11:16:00.000+01:00

Ein el-Hilweh is the largest Palestine refugee camp in Lebanon, both in area size and population. It is situated near the town of Saida 45 km south of Beirut. There are 45,337 registered Palestine refugees.

Source: UNRWA

Damaged Lebanese Refugee Camp, 1983
In the Ein Hilwe Refugee Camp, outside of Sidon, Lebanon, a car drives down a dusty street amid reconstruction of damaged buildings in the aftermath of an invasion by Israel.

U834109| RM| © Bettmann/CORBIS

Mecca and Medina

2007-06-15T22:32:00.000+01:00

From the Sacred Texts exhibition at the British Library.

Depiction of the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina. India, 19th century
BL Or. MS 16211, ff. 14v–15
Copyright © The British Library Board

Depiction of the Ka‘bah, Singapore, 1900
BL 14620.g.28, p. 2
Copyright © The British Library Board

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/

Islamic Punk: The Taqwacores by Michael Muhammad Knight

2007-06-15T10:43:00.000+01:00

The Taqwacores by Michael Muhammed Knight (no relation).

[...taqwacore—a blend of the Arabic word for piety, taqwa, and "hard-core," the English word for musicians who want to be taken very seriously.]

Set in a Muslim punk-house in Buffalo, New York, this novel explores the twin identities of punk and Islam in their many varieties and degrees of orthodoxy. The story here is primarily with the characters -- such as Umar, the straight-edge Sunni; Rabeya, the burqa-clad riot grrl; Jehangir, the dope-smoking mohawked Sufi (who plays rooftop calls-to-prayer on his electric guitar) -- and their collective articulation of a heresy-friendly, pluralist Islam. Full of punk references (real and invented) and enough Arabic phrases to fully deck out your skateboard, The Taqwacores is a great introduction to the cracks in the surface of mainstream Islam with a peculiarly American face.

Brian Whittaker, for the Guardian:

I'm a bit apprehensive but I hope British Muslim organisations will be sensible about it and think twice before protesting. They complain - rightly - about being stereotyped in the media, and The Taqwacores is a powerful antidote to that (which is one good reason why it should be read and circulated as widely as possible).
The book is an easy, funny read but, at another level and without labouring the point, it's also profoundly challenging. It addresses - in a way that's shocking but ultimately positive - questions of identity that are faced, to some extent, by all young Muslims growing up in the west.

Of course, there will be people who insist that the characters in the book are not "true" Muslims. I'm guessing, but I think this is the main point Knight wanted to raise. How do you define a "true" Muslim? On what grounds? And does anyone have the right to judge?

Thanks to Ted Swedenberg

Mohamed Abla, Egypt: Cairo...Portraits of a City

2007-06-12T23:59:00.000+01:00

http://www.zamalekartgallery.com/

Mohammed Muhraddin, Iraq

2007-06-11T23:16:00.000+01:00

http://www.muhraddin.com

Cartoon: "Terrorism"

2007-06-11T22:23:00.000+01:00

Source: Al-Hayat, London, June 11, 2007

U.A.E. Cartoon On Turkish Military And Iraq

2007-06-11T22:19:00.000+01:00

On the officer's uniform: "Turkish Army." Under the steak: "Iraq."

Source: Akhbar Al-Sharq, U.A.E., June 11, 2007

"Operation Iraqi Freedom"

2007-06-10T12:22:00.000+01:00

This picture appeard on the 'Official Website of Multi-National Force Iraq'. At the very best it's very bad PR!

Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division out of Fort Lewis, Wash., question a female local, southwest of Baghdad, Iraq, while patrolling several small clusters of homes with the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) out of Fort Drum, N.Y. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Chris McCann, 2nd BCT PAO.

Ibrahim al Nashashibi [Palestine/US]: The Muses of Jerusalem

2007-06-10T03:46:00.001+01:00

http://www.alnashashibi.com/

Zeppelin over Jerusalem, 1931

2007-06-09T18:45:00.000+01:00

Both these pictures were, I believe, taken by the Armenian photographer Elia Kahvedjian.

Mohamed Abla, Egypt: Cairo...Portraits of a City

2007-06-09T12:17:00.000+01:00

http://www.zamalekartgallery.com/

Mohamed Abla, Egypt: Cairo...Portraits of a City

2007-06-09T12:11:00.000+01:00

http://www.zamalekartgallery.com/

Wissam al Haddad, Iraq

2007-06-09T11:50:00.001+01:00

http://www.wissamalhaddad.com/

Gustav Bauernfeind, [Germany, 1848-1904]: Jaffa, Recruiting of Turkish Soldiers in Palestine, 1888

2007-06-08T09:52:00.000+01:00

This painting, which addresses issues of class and religion in the late Ottoman Empire, is the masterwork of this German artist who devoted himself to Orientalist themes. Bauernfeind began his first journey to the Middle East in 1880, after learning about the region from his brother-in-law, a missionary in Beirut. Two more extensive trips in the 1880s took him through Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. In 1898 he settled in Jerusalem, where he lived until his death. From the time of his first visit, Bauernfeind was captivated by Jaffa, and in an 1885 letter to his sister he described several aspects included in this painting: "[. . .] what I saw here during the departure of the military conscripts, with the women chasing after them in dinghies far out into the sea, and holding up their infants so that they often could be rescued only at extreme peril; or the scene in the streets where aged fathers wanted to embrace their sons for the last time, and were beaten off with cudgels by the rough soldiery—would also furnish material for some interesting pictures."

These actual events witnessed, inspired the present picture, a panoramic scene that extends from the closely observed crumbling seawall at left to the ocean vista on the right, anchored in the middle by a trading ship whose sail is emblazoned with the Islamic crescent. By the late 19th century, the Ottoman army had been reorganized along European lines into a professional corps manned by volunteers and conscripts. On the seawall, Ottoman officers in modern uniform meet with a man, perhaps the provincial bureaucrat in charge of Jaffa's conscription.

http://www.daheshmuseum.org

The Divide: Virtual Exhibition

2007-06-07T21:24:00.000+01:00

Excellent virtual exhibition on...

Waving PLFP ("Popular Liberation Front of Palestine") flags, Palestinian youth demonstrate against the separation walls in the West Bank city of Qalqiliya. The demonstration takes place on the international day commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall. Photo: Ahikam Seri, 2003.

Nermine El Ansari [Egypt]: Constructions

2007-06-07T19:14:00.000+01:00

http://www.occidentalism2007.com

Abdul the Damned, 1935

2007-06-07T12:17:00.000+01:00

One of the finest British films of the mid-1930s, "Abdul the Damned" is the epic dram set in turn-of-the-century Turkey. Fritz Kortner is absolutely charismatic as the ruthless paranoid ruler who begins killing everyone he suspects of treachery against him. The despot's loyal chief of police enacts the leaders bloody whims until he too stands accused of conspiracy and is sentenced to die. The Viennese actress offers to join the despot's harem to save her lover.

A wonderful period piece, with some surprising subtlety in the portrayal of Sultan Abddul Hamid II. I enjoyed this film much more than I thought I would.

This film is difficult to purchase on it's own, but can be bought in conjunction with Chu Chin Chow (!) also starring Fritz Kortner.

Amazon US UK

Baghdad Blues: Sam Greenlee

2007-06-07T11:54:00.000+01:00

"If we lose Iraq, we lose the Middle East." These words, which could have been spoken by a Republican member of Congress today, are in fact spoken by a character in Sam Greenlee's 1976 mass-market paperback novel Baghdad Blues. The novel's main character, Dave Burrell, is an African American from Chicago, a trained Arabic speaker, and part of the small enclave of American diplomats stationed in Baghdad during the July 1958 Iraqi revolution that brought Abdel-Karim Qassem to power.

The back cover describes the protagonist like this: "Dave Burrell is a young recruit officer in the U.S. Information Bureau who admires the rebels and secretly supports their views. His white colleagues, champions of the Iraqi government, are too busy drinking martinis and being 'liberal' to care." It is as if "Shaft" has been set down in Paul Bremer's Green Zone.

Abdul Ameer Alwan, Iraq

2007-06-07T01:27:00.000+01:00

Madarat Art Gallery, Baghdad

2007-06-06T09:45:00.000+01:00

Baghdad Gallery Owner Hopes Culture Can Dispel Hate

The cafe at the Madarat Gallery is a place where artists and bohemians gather to talk about culture, politics and the indispensability of art.

Many have concluded that their lives as artists were better under Mr. Hussein.
“One million times better,” said Noori al-Rawi, 82, a painter, curator and art scholar who founded four museums in Baghdad and is regarded by many in the Iraqi art world as one of the pioneers of modern Iraqi art.

Hit City, Anbar Province, Iraq

2007-05-30T23:53:00.000+01:00

The peaceful, bustling marketplace in the Anbar city of Hit as seen during a Saturday, May 26 walkabout.

US Embassy Baghdad

2007-05-30T16:51:00.000+01:00

The new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will be the world's largest and most expensive foreign mission...

As an outpost, this vast compound reeks of one thing: imperial impunity. It was never meant to be an embassy from a democracy that had liberated an oppressed land. From the first thought, the first sketch, it was to be the sort of imperial control center suitable for the planet's sole "hyperpower," dropped into the middle of the oil heartlands of the globe. It was to be Washington's dream and Kansas City's idea of a palace fit for an embattled American proconsul -- or a khan.

Syrian Cartoon: "Unanimous Approval"

2007-05-29T23:19:00.000+01:00

Source: Baladna, Syria, May 16, 2007

Scott McCleod on the Syrian 'election':

No surprises here. Bashar "won" by a little less than that in 2000. And the actual number itself is meaningless because -- do I even have to say it? -- the books are completely cooked. I mean, really, if turnout was 95 percent as officials claim, that means the government counted about 20 million paper ballots in around 36 hours.
No, the depressing part about the referendum was the Stalinist-style campaign that preceded it and which will continue through to the inauguration.

Six Day War

2007-05-29T20:38:00.001+01:00

What right had the British, in 1917, to promise the Jews a national home in Palestine? Why did the Palestinians reject partition in 1947? Why did Israel colonise the territories after 1967? Why did the Americans let Israel get away with it? Why did the Arab states leave the refugees to fester in camps? The Palestinians are terrorists, Zionism is racism, Israel's enemies are anti-Semites. Yasser Arafat should have accepted Israel's “generous offer” at Camp David in 2000. But, hang on, Israel's offer was not so generous...

Irbil: Naz City Apartments

2007-05-29T16:21:00.002+01:00

A view from the tenth floor of the new Naz City Apartments in Irbil, located near the new state-of-the-art convention center and Irbil International Airport. A group of international investors traveled the stable northern region of Iraq and continued to meet with local business leaders, members of chambers of commerce and key government officials as some arranged for return trips to begin projects Friday. U.S. Army photo by Maj. Juanita Chang, 5th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.

The Liberation of Baghdad: Sandow Birk

2007-05-29T04:00:00.000+01:00

Birk has made a number of paintings, including The Liberation of Baghdad, seen here. The paintings are more satirical and ironic, and many are based on paintings of the glories of war in Napoleon’s time and from Russian socialist images of battlefield glories.

The Liberation of Baghdad, says Birk, is about “what we were told would happen — happy, joyfully liberated Iraqis welcoming American troops as we free them from the shackles of oppression.”

Visit Palestine, 1936

2007-05-29T03:11:00.000+01:00

Visit Palestine was originally designed by Franz Kraus and published by the Tourist Association of Palestine, a Zionist development agency. We see the vast walled city of Jerusalem: trim parks, green gardens, urban dwellings, and a central landmark, the Dome of the Rock mosque.

With this one poster pulled out of the Zionist attic, three core myths are debunked. The first myth is that Palestine had ever been a land without people. Obviously someone lived in these houses and someone tended these gardens. The second myth is that Palestine was a vast desert awaiting cultivation. The resplendent tree in the foreground suggests that the land surrounding Jerusalem was much more than barren desert. The third myth is that there never was a Palestine. Of course there was a Palestine, and here it is, called by name in a Zionist-published poster.

Libyan Banknotes

2007-05-28T19:01:00.000+01:00

Very interesting contrast in the iconography on the two notes. The first, from 1971, traditional (i.e. Orientalist?), the second from 1982, modern (i.e. modernist?).

Ottoman Empire: Coat of Arms

2007-05-28T18:49:00.000+01:00

Marjane Satrapi: Persepolis

2007-05-28T01:53:00.000+01:00

http://www.myspace.com/persepolislefilm

Iraqi Banknote, 1986

2007-05-28T01:07:00.000+01:00

http://www.banknoteexpress.com

Nahr al Barid Refugee Camp, 1952

2007-05-28T00:41:00.000+01:00

http://www.palestineremembered.com

Tom Segev: 1967: Israel, the War, and the Year that Transformed the Middle East

2007-05-26T00:59:00.000+01:00

Amazon UK
Amazon US

Palestine: The Exodus and the Odyssey - Ismail and Tamam Shammout

2007-05-25T23:50:00.001+01:00

http://www.shammout.com/palestine/index.htm

Tamam al-Akhal [Palestine] Hebron Glass

2007-05-25T23:37:00.001+01:00

http://www.shammout.com/bio-tam.htm

Occidentalism 2007 - Egypt

2007-05-25T23:08:00.001+01:00

Twenty artists from Egypt have been commissioned by Karim Francis to create works of art surrounding the theme of Occidentalism, driven by the question How do you see the West?
Stemming from regular meetings and discussions on the subject that began in April 2006, Occidentalism is a body of contemporary Egyptian art first exhibited in Cairo in May 2007, accompanied by open forums with participating artists, evenings of music and a panel discussion.
As of 2008, the exhibition will travel to various museums of international cities .

http://www.occidentalism2007.com

Ismail Shammout [Palestine]: Tell Al-Zaater 1976, Yet Prowd

2007-05-25T01:47:00.001+01:00

http://www.shammout.com/

Ismail Shammout [Palestine, 1930-2006]:

2007-05-24T02:35:00.000+01:00

The Wall

Under Occupation

http://www.shammout.com

Souad Massi [Algeria]: Yemma

2007-05-22T23:59:00.001+01:00

Souad Massi [Algeria]: Ilham

2007-05-22T23:53:00.001+01:00

Yasmin Levy [Israel]: La Alegria

2007-05-22T23:52:00.001+01:00

http://www.myspace.com/yasminlevy

Iman Maleki [Iran]

2007-05-20T23:28:00.000+01:00

Memory of that House

Omens of Hafez

http://www.imanmaleki.com/

Laila Shawa [Palestine]: Impossible Dreams

2007-05-19T03:45:00.001+01:00

She is also concerned that Islamic societies in the Middle East achieve a balance in their relationship with their traditions and with the modern world - her painting "Impossible Dream" is an attempt to use humour to highlight the dilemma.

Sayed Mohamed Sayed [Egypt]: Siwa Oasis

2007-05-19T03:10:00.001+01:00

For more on Sayed Mohamed Sayed click here

Jerusalem

2007-05-17T22:46:00.000+01:00

Palestinian Cartoon: Nakba

2007-05-17T00:31:00.001+01:00

Palestinian Cartoon: Nakba

On right: "Nakba of 1948." On left: "Nakba of 2007."

Above and underneath rifle on left: "[Security] Anarchy" and "Internal Fighting."

Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Palestinian Authority, May 15, 2007

Falluja: Masked Iraqi policemen

2007-05-17T00:24:00.001+01:00

Falluja: Masked Iraqi policemen

Fallujah, IRAQ: Masked Iraqi policemen prepare to escort the mayor of Fallujah during a visit to a school with the support of US Marines in the restive city of Fallujah, 50 kms (30 miles) west of Baghdad, 16 May 2007.

Amer Shomali: Ramallah Underground

2007-05-16T01:40:00.001+01:00

Amer Shomali: Ramallah Underground

Lassaad Metoui

2007-05-15T03:13:00.001+01:00

Lassaad Metoui

Hassan Massoudy

2007-05-15T03:02:00.001+01:00

Hassan Massoudy

"I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love's camels take, that is my religion and my faith." ibn al Arabi

Zaha Hadid’s design for a performing arts center for an island in Abu Dhabi

2007-05-12T00:41:00.001+01:00

Zaha Hadid’s design for a performing arts center for an island in Abu Dhabi.

Samia Gamal Egyptian Bellydancer

2007-05-11T07:03:00.001+01:00

Tahia Cairoka

2007-05-11T07:02:00.001+01:00

Iraqi Self Expression

2007-05-11T06:23:00.000+01:00

These pictures are not of the wall in Ahdhamia. According to a reputable source: “These concrete walls are on Al-Sa’doon street, and they are there to protect a hotel called “Baghdad Hotel” which was a building for the CIA and then a residence for the members of the Iraq Governing Councel in 2003.” (Thanks, Ahmed!) I am still leaving Zaid’s words because I think his point about the wall in Ahdhamia is important and his excitement about the art is still valid and very real.

Baghdad Wall

2007-05-11T06:12:00.001+01:00

Baghdad Wall,

An Iraqi woman walks past a three-mile-long concrete wall around Baghdad's Sunni enclave of Adhamiyah, April 24, 2007. A similar wall is being constructed in Ghazaliya.
Ali Yussef / AFP / Getty

Mohamed Abla: Nostalgia 25

2007-05-11T02:43:00.001+01:00

Mohamed Abla: Nostalgia 25

parviz meshkatian

2007-05-11T01:26:00.001+01:00