Mosaic.... by Jamil Shawwa

* I have compiled a bouquet of my comments and opinions of discussions that I had with different friends on Facebook and from http://arabamericanwire.blogspot.com/  in this portrait of thoughts I call Mosaic.


النقاب On Elniqab- Veil- It Should be banned, it is not normal, not human. Now freedom of religion might require that we respect the rights of those wearing it however, when you cover your face, you are covering your identity, yourself, you are afraid, you are surrendering your rights, you are telling the society that I'm not part of you and I do not want you to see me but I want to see you. In my book, this is the ultimate selfishness. Another angle is whither these women are free or forced to wear it. A woman’s face is a gift from God; no human should delete it.

Root of the issue and wither it is relevant:


The reason, the premise and the intent do not and should not apply here; the action speaks volumes. The question is do we or we do not agree with such behavior, and if we agree to let these women cover their faces in free societies or even not so free societies, do or are we supposed to allow for example women, locals or visitors, to walk the streets of Cairo, Amman, and Riyadh warning Hiphugger and underwear only- I understand that this is unacceptable to both women and men, but I’m just making a point. See, the argument can go both ways. Elniqab can be considered an unacceptable behavior and it could be considered against public manners as same as going out in the streets wearing just underwear.


Comment on news that little girls are forced to wear elhijab-headcover- in some government schools in Egypt:

If this news is true, then I have a bigger problem with Egypt than the problems that I have mentioned before. If this is true, then I will go as far as accusing the political system in Egypt of complete weakness and despair. No respected country on earth would allow such things that are outside the system or not authorized. The minister of Education, instead of fining the garbage people or the cleaning people for not collecting papers from the schoolyard, should refer these teachers to investigation immediately. The Arab World is famous of hypocrisy, poor the new generations; I really feel the pain of these innocent creatures. If I were a practicing lawyer in Egypt, I would have filed a lawsuit now against the education minister and subpoenaed him to court to tell us what is going on.

On an administrative court decision in Egypt to ban marriage between Israelis and Egyptians:

Jamil's Comments: The Supreme Administrative Court" of Egypt approves or upholds a lawsuit that was brought before the court by a deranged lawyer to withdraw the citizenship of those Egyptians that marry Israeli women and that the government of Egypt-imagine the retardation- has to approve each case of marriage on a case by case basis case. What else shall I say except for the feeling of sorrow to the status of ignorance and complete and utter blindness to any logic or sense. I have no doubt that Egypt which lead and still lead the Arab and Muslim worlds towards the historic peace and reconciliation with Israel will soon wake up again. Egypt is going through hard Labour in the last fading years of President Mubarak. The Egyptians are confused, lost, they do not know what to do and who they are any more. Still, Egypt has the talents and the history on its side to correct and advance.


On Marriage and Divorce:

Marriage is good of course but if it does not work, then divorce is good too.

People missing with the Original Teachings and the original scripts of the three divine religions:

Some say that if people miss with the original scripts, then this could affect the religions themselves.
Jamil comments: if billions miss with the original recipes that does not take anything away from the original messages. The original is well known and preserved, the fake, the modified, and the tainted, are as well all over. Now, the choice, if you choose to do so, is yours, either you follow the original or the fake or the modified or you do not follow anything at all. It is not for me or any other human to tell another human what they should do, or whom they should believe.
Now, if I were running for a political office, then we would have another story

On garbage piling in the streets of some countries:

The problem is not with the garbage, or the companies or the recycling, the problem is in the people who cause the piles of garbage. The humans feel that their country, their streets, is a big garbage can. Reform the people, and those countries will be clean.

On the nationalization of the press in Egypt and the quality of the government run papers in the Arab world.

Since the nationalization- Eltameem- of the press in 1964, the late Egyptian president Abdel-Nasser nationalized Egypt's spirit and mind as he did to the whole Arab world.

On communications between Israel and Palestine:

One- The Palestinians need to continue to work closely with their Israelis counterparts to slowly buildup the economy of the new Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The voices of reason are working well. The Palestinians must remember and I think they do that their livelihood depends on mutual respect and good and cooperative relationship with the State of Israel.

Two- The two factions Hamas, and Fateh, though Fateh is the Palestinian Authority, want to punish journalists for meeting with their neighbors in Israel to discuss matters of mutual interests. Well, the Palestinian Authority president meets with his ...Israeli counterparts; the Egyptian president does the same and the king of Jordan. Why these leaders can meet with their Israeli counterparts and other layers of the society cannot. Is it because the Arabs say no to normalization until final solution is reached. I say break the barriers, meet with your neighbors in the State of Israel, and if anyone protests, tell them, Tough.

On Hamas:

The players need to find a way to bring Hamas to the table, I think. Like it or not, some sort of coordination has to take place there. But again, we are talking about the Middle East, the holy land, the land of the three divine religions and the ultimate land for the ultimate historic compromise and agreement among the sons of Abraham, Ibrahim.

On Iran:

One-It is very interesting to analyze Iran, not sure what to say. I know one thing, I think Iran is an annoying little bully, who got spoiled, as I said before here, who got used to the attention, who thinks that it is smart, maybe Iran is, who Am I to pretend that I know anything about world politics. I wrote few pieces on Iran on http://arabamericanwire.blogspot.com/ check them out when you have a chance.
Two- The Iranian president: This demagogue needs to focus on creating the environment for the people of Iran to thrive. Iran, what a great history, geography, oil, wealth, and rich culture has been for generations under rulers who never connected to the people, The Shah and then this group of cartoon religious scholars. Both The Pahlavi family an...d the current regime really have just made Iran the country it is now; an outlaw nation, a corrupt society with no respect. Read few pieces I wrote about Iran.
http://arabamericanwire.blogspot.com/2009/06/rise-and-shine-and-revolt-iran-by-jamil.html   http://arabamericanwire.blogspot.com/2007/03/iran-hostage-diplomacy.html

On the Turkish Ship going to Gaza:

If I were Turkey, I would have asked Hamas, to open a dialogue with it’s neighbor, the State of Israel, and I would have asked Hamas to recognize Israel as it actually does by the fact that it participated in the political process that resulted from the Oslo agreements and it participated in the elections under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority that recognized Israel and established normal relations with it and itself, the Authority, is the product of the Oslo agreements.
If I were Turkey, I would not have sent a ship in the pirate manners trying to put another country on the spot.
If I were Turkey and it has relations with Israel, I would have coordinated some sort of a humanitarian symbolic gesture.
Read the whole thing, again, if needed on: http://arabamericanwire.blogspot.com/2010/06/if-i-wereby-jamil-shawwa.html

Afternoon thoughts:

She was setting next to him, a butterfly in a ponytail. He was staring, she was ignoring, and all of a sudden, she turned around, looked at him, and ...coughed. Pathetic, maybe, it depends on how you look at things.

On Angels:

You can be an angel and cry, but to be an angel, you also have to smile.

On being madly in Love:

As long as it is both ways, otherwise, it would be really ...out there :)))


Last but not least, on America:

One-The great thing about America is we confront things, we do not run away from realities, we do not fool ourselves, and we continue to find ways and means to correct things. This test has been on going on and off for generations. The way this child felt- preferring lighter color toys over darker ones- does not exist only here in the US but almost anywhere in the world. As the world evolves, behaviors and concepts will continue to evolve, and stereotypes and prejudices will at some point be less obvious or less mentioned as they are now. The media- showing great examples across the board, the family- race really should be irrelevant and the school- does not stereotype kids, or in the name of diversity make kids so self- conscious about their differences, have the biggest burden in leading the transformation. Read my pieces on race: http://arabamericanwire.blogspot.com/2010/02/americas-obsession-with-colorby-jamil.html
http://arabamericanwire.blogspot.com/2010/05/visit-to-southby-jamil-shawwa.html  http://arabamericanwire.blogspot.com/ 
Two-This is America-Rescuing an American teenager in high seas - its hands can reach its people anywhere in the world. This is the country that you call your country, when its citizens are protected wherever they go, when they know that there is something strong and solid that they can lean on, talk to, and have their voice heard. Any country to its people should be... the same, each individual, no matter who he or she is, must feel important, protected and heard. Of course, if you are so reckless, then this is another story, your country still will protect you but then a lesson and procedures must be taken to ensure the safety and the common sense of those that are either underage or very reckless and so adventurous.
Three-Only in America, a theme we hear repeatedly, and it is true. In some countries and cultures when people get rich and famous, they try to pretend that they were never anything but rich. In America, there is pride in showing the road less traveled, the hard work, the modest beginning, the poverty-sometimes, that was, when becoming rich and accomplished.

Jamil


* with some modifications here and there.