Posts Tagged ‘Srilanka’
Even in Srilanka, Hezbollah is haunting the gigolo Israelis
Sabine Choucair shared a post on FB
Srilanka –
Arugam Bay is the place to be if you want to be hit on by gigolo surfers the minute you walk or swim by yourself. ( have had many of those today).
While swimming and enjoying the water of the ocean, the little sweet drops of rain and the kind of blue grayish sky, one good looking guy approaches me while laying down on his surfing board.
Him: hey wheRe aRe you from? ( the R is pronounced GH) …
I instantly knew he wasn’t French! And decided to answer briefly and swim away
Me: Lebanon
Him: ahhhh we are Relatives
Me: cousins you mean?!
I smile and start swimming away
Another guy comes and joins the conversation.
Him2: I am fRom isRael. I like Lebanon a lot.
Do you like IsRael?
Me: I like Palestine
And one more guy joins, and then another one and then another one. Here I am in the middle of the ocean, it’s drizzling, I am surrounded by 5 gigolo Israeli surfers, literally on all sides, on their surf boards staring at me, with big smiles as if they found their long awaited fish!
Him1: it’s funny that we came to Sri Lanka to meet each other. We can’t do it in our side of the world.
Him2: do you like to come to Israel?
Me: I like to go to Palestine
Him1: how is NasRallah doing?! (General Secretary of Hezbollah)
The sky goes grey, there’s huge lightening action and boooooooom it starts pouring rain, the waves are strong and high, the rain is heavy, the wind is soooo strong! The Israelis laughing and shouting
Him3 or 4 or 5 ( not sure I couldn’t see anymore): hey Lebanon giRl, wheRe is NasRallah?! Ha?!
Him 4: What do you think he’s doing now?
Him 5: Is he going to come join us?
Al the hims laughing out loud and talking about Nasrallah, Lebanon, the nature, the girls, their laughter is getting higher and higher! Horror movie style !!!!!
Bla bla bla bla bla bla
Ben (husband) comes from far, we instantly decide to leave the water, we swim/ run and go stand under a roof. we look at the ocean. It’s cold, the storm is getting stronger and the screams of the Israelis are just fading away and getting mixed up with the angry sounds of the rai
Palestinian Refugees: Heated debates in Lebanon
Posted by: adonis49 on: July 15, 2010
There are currently over half a million Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. They settled in refugee camps during three major phases: First, they settled in refugee camps after the “Independence of Israel”, a State recognized my a single and simple majority vote in the UN in 1948, and second, after the 1967 preemptive Israeli war against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, and third, after the defeat of the Palestinian resistance by the Jordanian monarchy in 1971.
Already, one hundred thousand Palestinian refugees got the Lebanese nationality, not included in the half a million previously mentioned. Those who got the Lebanese nationality are of three categories: First, the mostly Palestinian Christians, in order to re-establish sectarian “balance” when the Maronite Christian Presidents of Lebanon had vast authorities before the Taif Agreement in 1989, and second, Palestinians originating from Lebanon such as those who lived in Northern Israel and the Seven Villages and are mostly from the Islam Chiaa sect, and third, the wealthy and business men Palestinians such as the families of Baidass, Sabbagh, Khoury, Nemr, Nahoum, Faress, Nasr, Kattan, Yutajy, Freij, Gharghour, Oweida, Irathy, Saba and many other families.
It appears that the refugees inscribed in the UNRWA, those residing continuously in Lebanon, number around 200,000 or 5% of the total estimated population in Lebanon. The remaining Palestinians had managed to settle or work abroad with Lebanese travel documents.
Recent statistics show that over 92% of Palestinian refugees want to return to their Homeland, Palestine. That is a case closed: the UN resolution #198 of 1948 guarantees the right of Palestinians to return to Palestine and there is no way to cancel or drop that civic and human right accorded to all refugees who were forced to flee under duress and genocidal treatments.
The US, European Union, and Russia are demanding that the Palestinian refugees drop the right to return before extending compensations. This is an impossible political condition that cannot be satisfied. The UN should compensate immediately every adult Palestinian and Palestinian families in refugee camps (without any clause pertaining to dropping their rights for return) so that they decide what to do with that money. Every State around the world, especially the US and European States, will welcome rich Palestinians capable of owning real estates or establishing businesses. After two years of paying taxes and valid residency papers, the immigrated Palestinians would be having a recognized citizenship.
Since Israelis are entitled to dual citizenship then, it should be so to Palestinians. For the time being, the UN institution of UNRWA has been caring for the Palestinian refugees in matters of education, health, and survival food since 1948. The UNRWA budget has been cut frequently while the number of refugees has been increasing dramatically. Currently, the UNRWA budget is half a billion dollars; the portion allocated to the refugees in Lebanon is just $70 millions.
There is a heated debate in Lebanon on how to securing the civic and human rights of the refugees. There are less than 60 types of jobs that Palestinians are entitled to applying for; and they are denied owning properties, though rich Arabs and foreigners can purchase and own properties.
The Lebanese have no jobs, no electricity, no potable water, no health coverage for more than 50% of the population, public education neglected for over 30 years, and things are going to hell. I am pretty sure if Palestinian refugees would consider bartering their UNRWA facilities for a Lebanese nationality card then, most Lebanese would gladly relinquish their stupid cards that are more of a problem than a privilege.
The UN should establish an international fund to aid and support the Lebanese government improve the infrastructure in the refugee camps and providing health insurance. Palestinian kids are suffering from diseases due to bad health environment. The education facilities are deteriorating in the camps. Camps are becoming hotbeds of insecurity to all the youth not finding an outlet to development and assuring the minimum level of dignity.
The working force in construction, gas stations and sanitation are filled by Syrians, Egyptians, and Bangladeshis. In-house maids and outside are from Philippines, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Madagascar… May be Lebanese and Palestinians should be allocated quotas to work alongside the foreign workers.
If Lebanon enjoyed an economic and financial boom in its first 30 years of its independence it is mainly because of the flux of Palestinian wealth and knowhow. Many English-speaking Palestinian refugees worked in the Arab Gulf States and supported their families in Lebanon. They also made a qualitative development for the American University of Beirut and taught there and constituted the prime English tributary to our economy and finance.
If Lebanon had ever been tad of a State, it would have sustained its financial standing and maintained a modicum of sovereignty. The Palestinian Resistance Organization (PLO) became a State within a State and even more powerful and more organized since 1972. The dollar changed for just two Lebanese pounds because of the hard currencies that the PLO poured in our economy; it is currently 1,500 LL
Maid living in the Mistress house?
There are many States that allow private agencies to import foreign maids to serve in private families. The maid lives in the house with the family and work from 6 am to midnight, always standing and serving, and cleaning until the last member of the family is gone to bed.
The maid in Lebanon cost $150 a month and the entire yearly amount is paid to the agency upfront when the commissioned maid arrives in Lebanon “legally”? Most of the time, the contract of the hired foreign maid is for two years.
Maids arriving to Lebanon are mostly from Ethiopia, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Philippines, and from other African States. Workers at gas stations are mainly from Egypt. Construction workers are from Syria. Sanitation workers are from Bangladesh. You have the impression that every foreign State has a specialty work to do in Lebanon.
Lately, a semi-official report from Madagascar’s Minister of Public and Social Affairs, Nadine Ramorson, denounced in the weekly “Jeune Afrique” the ill treatments of the maids in Lebanon and that many returned home dead or badly injured. The number of maids from Madagascar climbed from one thousand in 2006 to over 7,000 in 2010.
Before the civil war in Lebanon that started in 1975, maids were hired from Syria. The child maid’s father would show up once a year to cash in his dues and leave without even sitting and talking to his child daughter of less than 13 of age.
When a kid, I never asked the maid to fetch me a glass of water or for any personal needs; it is shameful to see parents considering as legitimate and right for their kids to be ordering maids around for simple tasks they can and should be doing on their own.
I can testify that the Lebanese, in general, are racist with respect to the poorer classes. It is worse, when this domestic or worker is from a foreign land. A black colored worker is called Black or coal. The higher the number of maids the higher the status of a family. I can see families bringing more than one maids to events and ceremonies in order to wash dishes, take care of every whims of kids, and serve on tables.
There were periods when Lebanese were respectful to older members and had a sense of shame working others overtime. Social life is going bad. You may pay a visit to our prisons to witness the carelessness we handle human rights and human dignity.
Many foreign maids are incarcerated for months without any due process, simply because they could not pay to renew their work permit or purchase a ticket home. Many maids had committed suicides and we never hear of these cases or the follow-up investigations, if any.
Fact is, we the Lebanese are living in a big prison, with no way out if you have not the money to getting out. Maybe 5% of the Lebanese are well off (mainly the public servants and families of deputies) but the rest of us are living under $150 per month, with a standard of living higher than Paris and London.
It is no enigma if most Lebanese are servile to their sectarian leaders who were the culprit of this civil war that lasted more than 13 years: They want to survive and seek political and employment supports.
It is no enigma of this growing racist tendencies when the leaders of the civil wars returned as ministers and deputy after the civil war and have been totally absolved of their genocides by a Parliament of their own.
We have no dignity left to start demonstrations and revolts. If it were not for Hezbollah’s steadfastness then, Lebanon would have been a State from the past, a non-entity….
I published in my autobiography the following passage:
“At the time it was the custom for well-off family to hire girl child helpers from Syria around Safita. My family was no exception. The father of any of these children between 10 to 12 years old would visit once a year to collect his money and leave. Over the span of 6 years, we had 3 child helpers. The first one was named Salimeh and she was my age of 12 but was much taller, robust and all muscles; I recall that I used to box her buttocks, hard as rock. She was not pretty but she loved us dearly and we got used to liking her cheerful attitude.
The next one was even younger and she used to get lost every time she had to accompany my younger sister Raymonde from school. Once she lost her way and Raymonde was already at home and she saw Raymonde on the balcony and she hollered to my sister “come down to go home”.
The third helper was short, hard working and pretty and she was in love with me and I was at the age when I could not stand romance and drooping eyes. I was glad when her father took her away but she was in cry and would not leave. Mother was hard on the helpers and she made them wake up very early and work all day long for over 13 hours, but mother was meticulous that they keep clean, eating of our own food and wearing decent clothes. It was hard for me to accept the conditions of these helpers once I became conscious of their alienation, away from their homes for over two years sometimes.”
The late author, Mai Ghoussoub described the life of one these kid helpers in her book “Farewell Beirut” and how she turned out to be a ferocious and fearless fighter during the civil war; most importantly, she never tried to get any revenge on her “masters”, even though the eldest son had raped her and she was confined never to leave the apartment; the girl was just utterly happy to feel free.”
Barak Obama (USA) and Nicholas Sarkosy (France) Refuse to get it
Posted by: adonis49 on: May 22, 2009
Barak Obama (USA) and Nicholas Sarkosy (France) Refuse to get it (May 21, 2009)
The US Administration and France of Sarkosy vetoed a resolution condemning Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Obama and Sarkozy consider that selective genocide practices are good for the stability and progress of the world. I understand that Sarkosy is in a difficult position and must have considered that relying on the flimsy support of the Zionist lobby in France might boost his standing in the opinion polls. Sarkosy is not reading well the changing time and reverting to religious communities in a laic nation on ground that somehow he is Jewish by a convoluted way.
It is getting clear that Sakosy is a Zionist who believes that Jewishness is an ethnic entity, a sort of a race and not a religion. If that is the case then why Sarkosy is still President of a nation who claims to separate religion from state’s functions? Why Sarkosy does not relocate to Hungary, the origin state of his parents? Why does not Sarkosy transfer to Israel proper and live in a colony, a land usurped from the Palestinian people? “Mr. President” Sarkosi excuses the atrocities of the Israeli State and refuses a whole nation such as Turkey to adhere to the European Union on grounds that it did not fully satisfy human rights conditions expected by the civilized world of the EU. Maybe if Sarkosy ponder a little on his genealogy then he might discover that his grand parents were Janissaries (Inkisharieh) in the Ottoman Empire army.
Sarkosy refuses to get it. Turkey would not get immersed into the Middle East quagmire if Europe has no intention of extending a unifying hand into the EU. Goebatchev stated a week ago that Europe has missed golden opportunities aftert the fall of the Berlin Wall and has squandered twenty years so far.
President Barak Obama refuses to get it, though he knows that this veto is totally out of place. The world community has also elected Obama to apply the promises during his electroral campaigns or what people wished he meant for a stable and peaceful world. Barak Obama doesn’t get it; his Administration is sidetracking him into redundant and non effective messages and actions. Obama should know that hate crimes, genocides, “collateral” civilian damages, apartheid behavior and covert racism are not behaviors to be swept under carpets and hope that they will be taken care of by time.
Barak Obama doesn’t get it that Zionists are not to be cajoled and given more time to sober up and start acting as the democratic and rational nations wish they do. Zionists will not abide by the United Nations guidelines and resolutions through diplomatic gimmicks; no diplomatic and cajoling tactics are about to convince Zionists to change their racist and apartheid behaviors. President Obama should have ordered Hillary Clinton to condemn Israel’s actions that are not in tune with the UN expectations and guidelines. The world community is waiting haplessly for a sign of real change of position by using the UN as the international body that send the right and proper mnessage for civilized codes of behavior.
So far Barak Obama has been a big mouth with no teeth to make Zionists comprehend that he meant to establish a Palestinian State; to free the Palestinian people in the ghetto of Gaza from misery, famine, and lost opportunities to join the civilized nations. Barak Obama has been a big mouth with no teeth to actually liberate Syria from this economic embargo that is hurting the civilians and to lifting this humiliating apartheid “black list” of nations, as if the Syrians are any worse than the Israelis who have been continuously demonstrating that they are the real terrorists in masterminding the most abject activities around the world.
Time is running out on Obama to prove that he is a President of real change that the world would be proud to accept as their leader for change. If OIbama cannot send a strong message to even the Zionist lobbies in the USA then how will he navigate world problems that require global resolutions?
Barak Obama is to meet Israel Netanyahu. I would be highly disappointed if Obama cows for just one second. Iran is not the problem. It is this ideological apartheid virus applied in a tiny State and constantly cajoled and condoned by the western societies that can spread havoc. The Near East States are very worried with the planned all out Israeli military maneuver on the Lebanese borders. This maneuver is to last 5 days and wil cover all the Israeli territory and involve all the civilian and military institutions. So far, Israel has undertaken over 6 major maneuvers since its defeat in 2006 against the Hezbollah resistance forces. The US tax payer must have realized that the costs for these maneuvers are from his own pocket and that his government is encouraging the Zionist State for more offensive adventures. The US has delocked 3 billions for Israel in military aids.
The Pakistani army is supposedly making a breakthrough by killing one thousand Taliban fighters in the Suwat province. Nothing has changed; war generates war and Obama is going to deal with another quagmire for the rest of his tenure. Leaders always have good intentions for a peaceful world; Obama should be figuring out how to compensating economically ravaged regions that he contributed in setting aflame. It is not by war that good intentions are attained. Millions of civilians have vacated the area into refugee tents and many thousands are simmering with feelings of revenge. There are no people worse than others: there are people who could not enjoy institutional opportunities to diversify their perspectives.
Another war is reaching an end: the Tamil forces in Srilanka are giving up the fight. Thousands of civilians are in refugee camps. The Tamil Party is a nasty separatist and apartheid “Christian” movement that learned terrorist tactics from the masters in Israel and in former apartheid South Africa State. It is hoped that the western powers let the Columbus government deal equitably with the aftermath and not add fuel to an ignited situation. The State of Srilanka is going to need huge infusion of economical and financial aids if the consequences of a civl war are to heal peacefully.
Workaholic leaders are of no use if their hearts have dried up.
Adonis Diaries 