Will I Ever Learn?

I have warned my friends and family to shoot me if I ever say I am going to take the metro again! I never learn!!!! My latest story on the metro? The RTA closed down half the metro line cause of a technical mishap. But hey, did they bother to tell the buses coming to the metro station to warn people not to get on the bus to the station? No! You had to arrive at the station to be told, sorry, no metro today. However, if I wanted, there was a metro feeder bus that would drive me almost 25 kilometers to the first station that was working! Which was actually only about 5 kilometers from my destination! So I took a taxi back home, got my car and drove downtown like I should have done in the first place!

Oh well, one more for the RTA complaints log! Last time I get on the metro, I promise!

Syria's Draft Civil Status Law

Is it April Fools again so soon? Because other than pulling a practical joke on us, I cant for the life of me understand what the drafters of Syria’s new Civil Status Law were thinking!!!! A commentator on Syria News summed it up so well:

ع الهوارة الهوارة قانون كله مسخرة الناس بتمشي لقدام و نحن منرجع لورا

US Senators press Obama on 'risk' for Israel

I always find it laughable how the argument is made that the Arab region, in general, and Palestinians, in particular, prove their worth as a counterpart in “peace” before any “peace” overtures are made. The argument basically goes: I (Israel) come out of nowhere, take your land, label it a Jewish state, make you into either a prisoner or a refugee, and strangle you in every which way possible, but you need to prove to me that you’re worthy of my “peace”. I can’t but think, shove your “peace”.

76 US Senators pressed Obama to “take into account the risks Israel will face in any peace agreement". Yes, the risk of acting in accordance with international law is quite the biggie! Heaven forbid Israel face that risk. Or the risk of acknowledging its appalling human rights record. Or the risk of admitting it has recently celebrated its 61st birthday as a racist violent hypocritical shameless usurper of other peoples’ people and livelihoods to applause from the entire “civilized” world.

In a press release written to Obama, the venerable senators state that "everyone in the region has a stake in the success of these negotiations and should contribute to a lasting and comprehensive resolution.” Except everyone doesn’t include Israel, of course. But then again, they couldn’t say that in the press release, could they? What they meant was everyone but Israel should contribute to a lasting and comprehensive resolution. Israel, meanwhile, could continue to occupy and confiscate homes and land, disregard Palestinian basic human rights, ignore international law, and basically dictate US foreign policy towards the region in a way that serves Israel in the first and last degree. And most importantly, act the victim, even when not needed or applicable, just in case anyone managed to put aside their historical guilt towards the Jewish people for even one second d to consider the realities of Israel’s policies towards the real victims in this particular case. Otherwise the risk would be too big for the US’ long-term ally and friend in the region. With friends like that ….

Christians in the Middle East Decreasing

While I agree that our numbers in the region are falling, the Christians in the Arab world are not immigrating in any larger number than their Muslim compatriots. Yes, there may be a perceived sense of fear and alienation among Christians in some countries but that sense of fear and alienation afflicts other communities in those countries. While Western media report a mass Christian exodus from Iraq, nobody mentions the Muslim-affiliation of millions of other Iraqis that have left the country. In areas where there are no conflicts, some Christians do immigrate because they feel they may not be safe in the future, but their numbers are matched by Muslims who also immigrate for the same or other reasons. While the Western media fails to report on their exit from the Arab world, Muslim immigrants in the West become regular features in the newspapers as either suspect terrorists or communities unable to integrate. On the other hand, Christian Arabs are no longer a headline once they exit the Arab world.

But I digress. I believe the real reason for our falling numbers is actually birth rates (but that’s not such a sensational newspaper topic). It is a problem, for sure, but it can’t be pinned on the politics of the region or Islam. I can’t back up my argument with statistical data, but anecdotal evidence from observing my community indicates that Christian families have smaller families. Few in my extended family among the younger generation have more than two children. I figured this may be the case among city dwellers, in general, but then again my husband comes from a village in Syria and there too few among the younger generation in his family have more than two children.

This is a problem that has no solution, I am afraid. And one that will continue to bring down our numbers in proportion to the general population and eventually render us a fraction of a fraction.

Citizenship and Personal Beliefs

My citizenship and the protection of my civil rights should not be conditional upon my belief in a monotheistic God or seven or a continuum of prophets or none at all. I do not understand the correlation between religious beliefs and citizenship that plagues most of the Arab world, and in this one particular instance, Egypt. A columnist for a state-run Egyptian newspaper states on a talk show program that a Baha’i leader should be killed and surprise surprise, he doesn’t lose his job. Why? Because he is the mouthpiece of a government that persecutes its citizens for their religious beliefs. Is it too much to ask for a government that protects its citizens? For a government that provides its citizens with basic civil rights? Am I being naïve?

Our societies are rife with bigotry – I myself have friends and family who are bigots at times. But their bigotry should not be condoned by my government, nor should their ignorance be tolerated when it infringes on the civil rights of other citizens. That ignoramus so-called writer should be fired immediately and the police that stood by while a group of similarly ignorant idiots attacked the houses of Baha’is, sent for proper training as to their roles and duties as enforcers of the law.

The Big 4-0

I went to bed last night 39 years old and woke up this morning a decade older.

Everyone that says life starts at 40 is lying or deluding themselves. 40 is not the new 30. Its 40, and it doesn’t get better.

I hate 40.

Forgive us our intolerance

I am furious each time I hear a Jewish family has been driven from its home in the Arab world to Israel as a result of intimidation and oppression. For thousands of years, Jews have lived in these lands only to be forced out now by bigotry and prejudice. What on earth do we gain? I cannot ask that question enough!! Why can we not understand that our diversity is what makes us a durable culture. Without it, we become isolated and stagnant. Without these Jews, we are poorer. Said Ben Yisrael, a combination of names that is a tribute to our rich and shared history yet one we don’t want to hear in our midst. Said, a name shared by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, yet one we want to appropriate for ourselves. A name we believe Jews should not share. A home Jews should not live in. A country Jews should not be citizens of.

Said, I am sorry and ashamed. You have as much right as I do to this land, yet you have had to leave. You are not an Israeli. You are a Yemeni, a Syrian, an Egyptian, an Iraqi, a Libyan, an Algerian, and will remain one to the day I die.