فلسطين: القصة صحيحة

You guys heard about the story (and the story about the story) Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet ran in August? Donald Boström wrote about how Israeli authorities supposedly had been harvesting organs from dead Palestinians, without knowledge or consent from the families. It all took huge proportions – not because of the story being seriously worrisome – but because it sparked the usual what-can-one-say-about-the-policies-of-the-Israeli-state-without-being-dubbed-antisemitic-debate. Israeli officials of course evoked the anti-Semitic argument – and stupidly asked Swedish authorities to apologize for the article, which they of course did not do – so back in Sweden it all turned into a quite silly discussion about journalism ethics and whether Swedish press is pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli.

This is just tragic, and sadly intrinsic to reporting about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Instead of discussing real issues – like whether or not the Israeli military has been stealing people’s organs – it seems impossible for mainstream journalists, politicians and commentators to approach this topic without resorting to name calling and an inward-looking self-serving argumentation on which side people are on. Hey, Palestinians are real people you know, suffering from atrocities here and now. Let’s talk about that for a change.

Anyways, headlines today tell us that what Boström wrote about are not just allegations: Israel has made a complete u-turn and now admits having stolen organs, from Palestinians as well as Israelis and foreign workers. That’s quite something coming from the same mouth that only a couple of months ago called it all a lie. An anti-Semitic lie, of course. Please. Someone maybe should inform these guys that Arabs as well are Semitic people. Evoking antisemitism as flagrantly as Israeli authorities do only serves to undermine the fight against the hideous and appalling phenomenon that antisemitism really is. And, apparently, this time it was definitely not a question of antisemitism.

غرقت سفينة من ساحل طرابلس

The failure in Copenhagen to reach an agreement that actually has some kind of potential for change (Greenpeace describes the “deal” as something more like a 24 hour Head of State tourist brochure of Copenhagen than a climate trety) is not the only weather-related story of concern this weekend. The crazy storms here have now caused something more serious than soaked feet and flooded streets: Thursday the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship Danny F II went down off the Tripoli coast in northern Lebanon. Some 30 of the ship’s 83 crew members are still missing and 11 have been found dead. Danny F II also carried 10 000 sheep and 18 000 cattle, all of whom went down with the ship. The search for survivors has been extremely hard due to the heavy winds and rainfalls, but today finally, alhamdulillah, the weather has eased a bit – I’m actually writing this sitting outside with a cup of tea for the first time in two weeks – so I hope they will be able to speed up the search now.

بيروت و الشام بكنون الأول

So, winter has definitely come to the Mediterranean now. After a sunny and warm November, apparently someone up there thought we had had enough of nice weather, and decided to show us what Lebanese winter is about. The weather started changing actually, when mum and dad arrived from Sweden. I was lucky to have them visiting for a week, which was very nice. I think they enjoyed their stay as well, even though dad had a hard time getting over the fact that traffic is crazily noisy and ruthless. You do get used to it though, quite quickly as well, and I’m sure that for them going back to the quiet and calm Swedish streets with rule-abiding drivers was equally as strange as when first experiencing traffic here.

While spending time with mum and dad, I’ve also tried to keep up with uni work, which means that I’ve been extremely busy, hence the absence from here. We’ve done lots of nice things though: wandered around Beirut, visited Damascus and met with friends of mine. And, when I after one week dropped mum and dad off at the airport, I picked up Karim. He’ll be staying for more than a month, escaping cold Sweden and spending Christmas and New Years with me. Love it! And best of all, Monday we’re off to Oman for ten days of warmth and sunshine, stunning nature and new exciting places, away from big city noise and stress. Merry Christmas!

First though, I’m finishing what I need to do for uni before Christmas break. Quite a lot actually, especially since I’ll be away and won’t do much during that time. Like in Sweden, the semester continues next year and goes on until early February after which we’ll have a short break before spring semester starts. I’m very happy that I’m staying next semester as well: though I’ve improved my Arabic skills a lot since coming here, I still need to work lots more to be more or less fluent.

Inshallah I’ll be speaking without too many mistakes when summer comes. With some hard work, I think it’s doable. I’ll do my best! Anyways, summer is far away right now, here in Lebanon as well as in Sweden. Sure, the winters here aren’t nearly as bad as the Scandinavian ones, no way. But I won’t say they’re nice. Walking to school this morning, getting soaked by passing cars and rain coming from literary every direction, I felt very glad we’re going south for a while. Oman. Mmm. Can’t wait. I’ll keep you posted on what we’re up to! First though, some pictures from mum and dad’s visit.

Off Hamra Street, close to my place.

Immediately when they arrived, we headed across the border to Syria where we stayed at my friend Caroline’s place in Damascus, the world’s oldest still inhabited city. Amazing place.

Caroline lives with some 10 or so other people in a beautiful old house right in the middle of the old city. Basic, sure, but very nice. Especially all seasons except winter; the house is built around an outdoors courtyard and has a big roof perfect for parties and chilling in the sunshine.

Breakfast on the roof. Don’t think omelet and foul ever tasted better?

Mum found a new friend, the cat who calls the house her home.

The Umayyad Mosque, one of the oldest and for sure most stunning mosques in the world.

Souq el-Hamidiyyeh. Unfortunately, there’s no souq in Beirut anymore: it got destroyed during the war and didn’t fit with the posh rebuilding of the downtown area after the war.

Dad with Caroline’s friend Abdou

Back in Beirut. This is from a manifestation against something that tragically happens way too often lately: women coming to Lebanon to do domestic work – house keeping, nannying, cleaning – are found dead under “unknown circumstances”. In all, there are some 200 000 women from mainly Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and the Philippines working in Lebanon right now, too many of them under really bad conditions. Hopefully the drawing of attention to this exploitation can help changing the situation. Right now, for many women, it’s outrageous.

Before leaving, we met Sanna for one last night of yummie mezze: foul, hummus balila, fattousch, spinach fatayer, batata harra, grilled halloumi…

Then Karim arrived! Unfortunately, the rain didn’t leave with mum and dad.

كيفكم؟

I haven’t disappeared, though that’s how it might seem. Mum and dad are visiting from Sweden, and I’m super busy doing stuff with them while at the same time keeping up with everything at uni. Bare with me please, I’ll be back soon!