Sherif Hedayat and I were at the Malha Mall in West Jerusalem when news broke out about a White American Christian terrorist who opened fire on innocent shoppers (are there any other kind, I guess?) and killed nine and wounded …
Posted in Activism, Arabs, Baha'is, Current Events, Humor, Islam, Israel, Media, Middle East, Palestine, Palestine/Israel, Refugees, Travel | 22 CommentsI’m at Queen Alia Airport rightnow waiting for my flight to take off to Beirut, as I’ll be speaking at the 2nd Arab Free Press Forum, organised by the World Association of Newspapers. Thanks to my wonderful friend Esra’a who …
Posted in Events, General, Lebanon, Travel | 8 CommentsThe Center for Emerging Futures/Global Village sent me an email about an enticing weekend in Beit Jala. 35 Palestinians and 35 Israelis. How could I resist that? I’ve never heard of this organization before but now was a good time …
Posted in Events, General, Interfaith, Israel, Palestine, Travel | 6 CommentsI have been a way for a while, I visited a lovely city Barcelona in Spain. Actually it isn’t my first time there but what’s special about it this time is that I stayed where the Romans used to live! …
Posted in Art, Culture, Entertainment, General, Photos, Travel | 8 Comments(Crossposted at Outsider On The Inside, I wrote this after vacationing in Egypt’s Northern coastal city of Alexandria) “Enta men feen?” Walking down Alexandria’s corniche in a swimsuit and flip-flops at 11:30 at night will attract some stares. Sport a …
Posted in Egypt, Society, Travel | 4 CommentsHi everybody! My name is Marten, a 25 year old student from Germany. But why should a German with no (known) relatives in the Middle East write for this website? Well, the next six month my residence will be Damascus …
Posted in General, Syria, Travel | 6 Comments“No, it’s not that they aren’t allowed to leave, the government aren’t keeping them here”, my father corrected me, as we filled the commute with the usual analysis on Iranian life, “it’s just that nowhere else will have them!”. It was over a year ago that I’d had this realisation, it came as such a surprise that I remember the exact square metre of road he said this.
Posted in Iran, Travel | 22 CommentsMy family is from Jerusalem, a city that has been under occupation since forever by everyone, even the Israelis. I know some Israelis get angry when I refer to “East Jerusalem” (I know because in one of my recent columns …
Posted in Arabs, Culture, Israel, Palestine, Palestine/Israel, Photography, Travel, Videos | 6 CommentsWho needs birthright Israel? This is actually pretty clever: It seems the Jerusalem Municipality has set up mp3 tour guides that you can download, along with map routes to print out, and then you can give yourself a free tour …
Posted in Fun Stuff, General, Israel, Travel | Leave a commentUsually when someone uses the term PR nightmare they are referring to a completely unplanned and coincidental catastrophe. Every so often however there comes a disaster so painfully obvious by the common man that it boggles everyones mind. The immediate …
Posted in Foreign Affairs, Gulf, Travel | 4 Comments