Seldom Do We Marry Those We Love!

By Jamal Elabiad

Mohammed, a retired teacher, had a pretty daughter called Hasna . She got the Baccalaureate at age eighteen and did not apply for any job. Hasna decided to continue her studies. That’s why she turned her back on all the men who asked her for mrriage. “I don’t think of marriage now! I want to study.”This was Hasna’s reaction whenever her parents asked why.

After graduation, Hasna on the spur of the moment left university and started looking for a job, for she knew quite well her father could not afford her the high costs of postgraduate studies. Unfortunately, her attempts to find a job were to no avail.

Though some men who proposed marriage to her promised to help her resume her studies, Hasna did not change her mind.“Studies” must be just a pretext. I had better know the real reason lying behind my daughter refusing to get married, Mohammed thought.

He first consulted his wife and some of his relations about the matter, but in vain. Hasna’s close friends were his last resort.

Mohammed was stunned to learn that Hasna was head over heels in love with a young man called Badr, who travelled abroad four years ago to do his postgraduate studies, and that Hasna promised to wait till he came back. Never before had Mohammed expected that from his daughter!

Hasna neither phoned nor emailed Badr for nearly a month. She was in a dilemma after her secret was out. She did not know whether to keep waiting or put the past behind her and start a new life. What if it is the latter? Hasna wondered.

“Seldom do we marry those we love!” Mohammed one day told her.

Arabs and Muslims Just Shout and Burn Flags!

By:Jamal Elabiad

Immediately after the Bush administration and its allies waged war on Iraq, millions of Muslims and Arabs across the globe staged protests, shout slogans, and burned American flags in solidarity with the people of Iraq. Similar protests are being held the world over because of the Israeli massacres in Gaza city.

But have these means of protest worked? In other words, Do you think that holding demonstrations and burning the Israeli and American flags can lift the blockade against Gaza and prevent Israel from committing more crimes against the Gazans?

“We need serious action to be taken right now to end this violence against our people. I am so angry with the world – we hear nothing but words and there is no action, no real change. Enough, we are sick of hearing just words even from the Arab countries.”

“I expected nothing from the international community, the Arab world and Muslims. It is not adequate anyhow; they just shout and burn flags… I call on the Arab community to be more effective and to practice its responsibility and power against governments, like the Lebanese did before in Beirut.”

“…we’re in need for your deeds not your words.”

The quotations above belong to three Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. The common denominator between these quotations is the fact that the daily protests of Arabs and Muslims all over the world are like water off a duck’s back. They really have good reason to come to such a conclusion.

Though Egyptians have been protesting since the collective punishment started in Gaza, neither the Rafah crossing was permanently opened nor the Israeli ambassador in Egypt was expelled. Similarly, protesters in both Jordan and Mauretania also failed to put pressure on their governments to close the embassy of Israel despite the great number of protests they have organized so far.

It is common knowledge that the US supports Israel unconditionally. “I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security,” said Barrack Obama to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in June. He also expressed his support for the Bush administration's policy of rejecting to negotiate with Hamas, which he branded a terrorist group. Regrettably, none of the American ambassadors was fired as if no protests were held all over the Arab and Muslim world !

Like many others, I turned down all the invitations to protest against the crimes against humanity in Gaza, for I know that what the Palestinian factions need for the time being is not our “throats”, but arms… !