You may think this is fiction, but it’s not. You may wish this were fiction, but you know better….especially if you have any sense of what the Middle East and Arab World has been, is as we speak and seems adamant on remaining – on the same course of hopelessness and injustice – for years to come. Continue reading ““Gaza: I saw the tunnel, he saw the darkness at the end of it””
“Waiting for George”
As mentioned in Eye on the East’s last post (A different kind of Eye…on the turbulent East) I’ve been hard at work on my first piece of fiction. You read (and hopefully enjoyed) one short story already – “Nothing but Alexandria” – so here comes the second. Continue reading ““Waiting for George””
Visualizing the Nakba
These days, it isn’t only a picture, but an infographic, that is also worth a thousand words. In commemoration of the Nakba (catastrophe) on May 15, when the State of Israel was established in 1948 after over 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homeland, here’s the Nakba itself in one infographic. Continue reading “Visualizing the Nakba”
Je suis…hypocrisie
If I were asked to sum up this whole week of Charlie Hebdo debates and discussions, it would come down to one word: hypocrisy.
“A century of war and peace in Lebanon”: Eye on the East for Lacuna Magazine
“…resilience might have kept the country from falling apart, but has not helped in truly bringing it together. Resilience is surviving but not coming to terms with the past.”
As part of their World War I centennial issue, University of Warwick’s Lacuna Magazine invited Eye on the East to contribute a piece on Lebanon and we accepted with pleasure. This was the end result:
A century of war and peace in Lebanon
As you may already know, Eye on the East regularly contributes to a variety of online and print publications, listed in the Featured page here. I thought I’d highlight this latest contribution, especially since it isn’t usually something covered on the blog and especially in such length! I hope you enjoy it…
A walk beyond the Berlin Wall
Note: This is the second of two posts recounting Eye on the East’s recent visit to Berlin. The first post can be found here.
“You were just there, I was there, and now you say you may move there. Why is it that everybody’s in Berlin these days?”
“Someone told me that Berlin has the same energy and vibe today that Beirut had five years ago. I guess that may explain it…”
So I finally made it to Berlin, one of those cities high on my travel list for many reasons and no reason whatsoever. Coming from Beirut and after having visited Belfast last year (see Eye on the East’s account of Belfast here and here), I’m starting to believe my travel priorities are mandated by alphabetical preference or by a hidden fascination to explore cities that are quite like my own…
N for Nasrani
During a trip to Jordan in 2008, I visited the site where it is believed that Jesus Christ was baptized. As I headed to the banks of the Jordan River, a group of women solemnly made their way back from the pilgrimage. They were clearly Christian, given the particular headscarf they wore and prayers they whispered. They prayed in silence but with a passion and fervor that was hard not to notice. Continue reading “N for Nasrani”
This is Gaza
After the pain from the heartbreaking pictures coming out of Gaza and the frustration towards a world seemingly unwilling to stop the bloodshed, what is left for you and me to do, for Gaza? If you ask me, I say what is left is for us to keep giving it a voice… Continue reading “This is Gaza”
Will he Stay or Will he Go?
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai isn’t one to shy away from controversy. Even before becoming patriarch, he set the bar very high, once threatening anybody who criticized or slandered the church and its leadership with excommunication. With the recent announcement, and his own personal confirmation, that he would accompany Pope Francis during his upcoming visit to Jerusalem and the occupied Palestinian territories, Rai is back in the headlines. Continue reading “Will he Stay or Will he Go?”
Burying the Butcher, not Burying the Hatchet
In my part of the world, Ariel Sharon was known as the “Butcher of Beirut.” Even though his bloody legacy began to be built decades before he led the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 – through years of killing Palestinians in British-controlled Palestine prior to the Arab-Israeli War of 1948 – he will still be primarily remembered for the responsibility he bore for Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila Massacre in the Palestinian refugee camp of the same name. Continue reading “Burying the Butcher, not Burying the Hatchet”
Eye on the East 