Hundreds of Foreigners Plan to Visit Palestine

They answered the call of 15 Palestinian civil society organizations where they will take part in a week full of activism. Unfortunately, the only Palestine they'll be able to see is the West Bank. And this is such a hard thing for us to write, because what do you call a Palestine that was taken over by Zionists with the full backing of a superpower and used violent methods to systematically ethnically cleanse, or drive over half of the indigenous population to mostly neighboring countries which created more problems which then culminated in a huge diaspora problem, and that "move" was so sudden and expected at least on that indigenous population's side to last no more than a few months, which meant that the homes and villages and towns of these people, complete with furniture and clothes and assorted knick-knacks were either readily taken over by Jewish immigrants or razed to the ground for commercial reasons (shame on ANY Palestinian, especially those who get all giddy about finally acquiring the special permit to visit Jerusalem and then buy overpriced clothes from the Canyon Mall, which is built on the demolished site of the Malha village), and so with the complicit nature of the international committee a new astonishingly racist state, fodder for the white man in the west, came into being and then other complications were mixed in such as that new state's absolute right to every inch of Palestine plus a part of Egypt plus Jordan plus Syria plus Lebanon plus Iraq based on messianic revelations in an ancient text ET CETERA ET CETERA. The five hundred+ villages and eleven urban neighborhoods that were wiped out of any traces of the Palestinians exist in this new state as national parks, christened settlements, or "historic" sites of Israel. The two state solution is dead and buried under mounds and mounds of mockery, subcontracted occupation, and yellow negotiations, so jumping ahead to the optimistic future a bit, what will this one state be called? Israel/Palestine? Palestine/Israel? Did Gaddafi have it right when he proposed to name the country "Israfil?" Israel is a reality of course, but that doesn't make it any easier to call villages and cities and towns in their Judaized names (Yafa>Yafo, Akka>Akko, Aelia/Beit Salem/Al-Quds>Yorshaylim..) or refer to our grandparents' homes as part of Israeli territory. Listen here to Invincible's song 'People Not Places.' It's all about legitimacy.

Nevertheless, these foreigners who also go by the dangerous incriminating name of pro-Palestinian activists, number between 700 to 1500, and are due to arrive with peaceful intentions this Friday July 8th at the Ben Gurion airport, where they will clearly inform the Israeli authorities that they are here solely to visit the Palestinian territories and will stress on the part that the only means through to them is via this airport since Israel controls all border crossings and restricts the freedom of movement for Palestinians and other solidarity activists.

The reaction from Israel has been hilarious and unsurprising. Netanyahu wasted absolutely no time in growling out that these activists (he was just a breath short of calling them terrorists or terrorist sympathizers) are a threat to Israel and undermine Israel's right to exist. His responses to anything pro-Palestine are boring; is there anything in his book that doesn't undermine Israel's right to exist? The flotilla must be stopped because they will give Khamas nuclear warheads to annihilate Israel. Yawn. Couldn't he have livened up his statement by adding a creative twist, something about how these activists are disguised as peace-loving humanitarians but are in reality a special elite force of the Shinossad (Shin Bet + Mossad), planning to infiltrate the Palestinian territories in order to take down whatever germinating popular resistance against Israel? And then, let your imagination run wild in planning out different scenarios for why the Shinossad are to be met with such hostility.

Despite the activists stating their peaceful intentions, they are still treated by Israeli security forces as bomb strapped hooligans. Apparently, being a pro-Palestinian activist automatically means that one must be a raving, violent lunatic with murderous intentions, a bit like a watered down version of Baruch Goldstein. All the activists are interested in is going through the passport control room, stating "We are here to visit the Palestinian territories" and then proceed out of the airport, into their buses and taxis, and off to said Palestinian territories. But no, everyone is in hysterics, Israeli public security will establish a special operations room in the airport in honor of those provocative terrorist sympathizers, with "representatives from the Foreign Ministry, the Aviation Authority, the Internal Security Ministry, police representatives, Prime Minister's Office officials and others" to officially monitor, hassle, interrogate, and deport said wannabe camel-jockeys.

Israel, in a major breakthrough, identified more than 300 of those activists and put little black circles next to their names. Which then led to deceased security in the airport, because the Israeli Transportation Ministry twisted the arms of the countries the activists are flying out from who barred them from flying to Israel.

Point is, the democratic state of Israel is shaking. After one pillar gets knocked down, the others will follow. And not because of a 99.9% unlikely Iranian war or the Khamas tinpot homemade rockets, but because of its own increasingly desperate self-destructive attempts to save its image and reputation of a Jewish-made land of milk and honey with beautiful liberal minded people and fine upholding standards on every societal level. It seems that it's obvious to everyone except neo-cons and crazies that this tactic is in fact achieving the opposite effect and is polarizing Israel even more. The international community is slowly rousing from its bogged down silence and are engaging in more solidarity and awareness events to showcase Israel's impunity and atrocities.

We don't think that the hundreds of activists will be allowed through. Maybe a hundred, a couple hundred. Maybe fifty. What are the chances for this flytilla to succeed more than the second flotilla? We don't know. We do know that Israel needs to get with the program, cease its occupation and apartheid policies, stop its fascist methods to discredit anything that doesn't come with a WE LOVE ISRAEL hard-on, and to breathe.

Is peace still on the table, anyone?

Good Shit

Freedom for Palestine by OneWorld.

When it breaks into the mainstream, then we can compare it to Sun City. Where are you now Bono, Bob Dylan, and co?

Coldplay came out in support of this song on their Facebook page and its bid to make it to number one on the music charts. Cue some intense Zionist trolling. We always knew there was a mean anti-Semitic streak in that band. In fact, if you play their song Viva la Vida backwards you'll quite distinctly hear a growling voice chanting "The Jews are the source of all evil in this world" over and over again.

Good Shit

We remember watching Slingshot Hip-hop last year for one of our classes, which marked the beginning of our Narcycist/Lowkey obsessive mania after we chucked out Enya/All American Rejects/other god awful shit-but never Backstreet Boys- and concluding that Arabic rap isn't that bad. But then we saw a video for one of DAM's songs which had a lot of girls in tight clothes flipping their bouffants and dancing, so we stopped listening to them for a while. That was when we were still going through the "open-your-mind" phase, where naturally after years of crap school indoctrination we believed that anyone (well a Palestinian mostly) who spoke in favor for the cause had to be a respectable knowledgeable prayer-of-5-times-a-day type. Oi, Noura Erekat, your skirt is too short!

We were so judgmental. We feel like slapping our past 17, 18 year old selves. Still, that DAM video was awful, and when we found out that the girls were commissioned from our very own Birzeit University's Business college, that really explained a lot. Ya3ni we were not surprised :). Shoot, we're STILL judgmental.

The other rap group were from Gaza called PR, Palestinian Rapperz. They're mostly defunct now, with the lead rapper following his destiny in making less than satisfactory songs somewhere on a visa in the US. Or is it a green card hmm.

DARG Team, which stands for Da Arabian Revolutionary Guys, probably came after Jackie Salloum's shooting of the movie, since apparently they are the best known hip hop group in Gaza. The above video is their own rendition of the popular poem by Tariq Ziad turned song "Ounadekum" (Calling You) as a tribute to the slain Italian activist Vittorio Arrigoni, which was his favorite song.

We Love It.

Oh, here we are, a lot of information on their Facebook page...

• Did the sound track for Aisheen “Still alive in Gaza” a documentary about the impact of the Gaza offense on people which was filmed in Gaza strip on February 2009 directed by the Swiss director Nicolas Wadimoff.

• The first Palestinian hip hope group to film a music video using the green screen and graphics designs “Rebuild by us”.

• Film the third music video Long Live Palestine featuring Low Key an MC from UK.

• Summer 2010 were able to leave the strip to Switzerland to work on the Gaza Meets Geneva project that took place for three months and were invited by Ville De Geneve were the team was able to record the third album titled Gaza Meets Geneva Vol. 2 featuring lots of hip hop and R&B artists from the EU.

• Presented the Palestinian and Gaza hip hop in EU in a six months tour played in Switzerland, France, Denmark, Norway and Sweden after nine months of failure trials to get out of Gaza.

• The first Palestinian and Gaza hip hop group to play in Syria and in AL Nerab the Palestinian refugee camp in “Aleppo” last summer.

• Won the first place on the first national hip hop competition that took place in the West Bank and had more than 50 participants from all over Palestinian territories and the lands of 48

We can't help but be finicky though. TARG doesn't sound that different from DARG, so would it have killed them to be "The Arabian Revolutionary Guys"? Yeah, we're showing our major right there.

Offendum on Al Jazeera

Because we adore you.


Egyptian rapper? Faiiil.

Also...rosaries as necklaces. Not big fans of. That's just the superficiality coming out of us though ;)


#Jan 25 Egypt, featuring Offendum, The Narcycist, Amir Suleiman,Ayah, and Freeway.


Since our souls are uncovered right now...we've heard better songs about revolutionary Egypt. Still love you guys though!

Good Shit-Revolutionary Style*

* Highly subjective of course. In case anyone is experiencing an Egypt burnout, because that jackass still doesn't know how to leave. No dignity dude.

Egyptian hip hop crew Arabian Knightz came out with this spiffy one, called Rebel.Their upcoming album is called Uknighted State of Arabia. UPDATE: Here's the youtube etc

Everyone is harping on about Lupe Fiasco's new song. We loved it. Then we liked it. Then we rejected it after facebook ensured everyone loved it (and after listening to it on repeat for 500 tines). Now we like it again.



Bella and Edward look out! Uprising by Muse. No? Yeah.


How awesome are they? Ska-p with Intifada.



Raaaaaaaaage Against the Machine. Bulls On Parade. We're saving the other song for a post of its own ;)

And it won't do not to have a song by one of our favourties, Abdelhalim Hafez.

And another video we can't get stop singing, especially in that voice. Kullina, eed wa7da, ir7al!

Good Shit

Like the true hipster he was, Bob Marley spawned about a dozen kids. Most of them went into the music business. We only care about one, a Mr Damian Marley. His collaborative effort with Nas- the album Distant Relatives-is pardon us, off the heeezaaay. Wallahi.

To adopt a pretentious aura, we like to think that this song is like the soundtrack of our lives. In fact, we have it all imagined out. Late afternoon, walking with our hoods up, down one street up another, the camera zooms in, we give a world weary yet cheeky brief look, before blackness descends.

Don't judge us.

Good Shit

Although this song isn't new, it's making spaces on certain blogs recently because of its newly released official video. Hamdulillah reminds us of one time, near the end of a semester, sharing headphones in the taxi ride from the university to home, listening to it on repeat over and over again. Hamdulillah reminds us of our families and homes, so lucky to be around each other. Hamdulillah reminds us of grandparents and uncles and cousins in Gaza, barely 50 miles away yet are forbidden to meet/inaccessible. Hamdulillah reminds us of peace, love, unity.

We have a number of favorite artists out there-- Lowkey, Invincible, Omar Offendum, and The Narcicyst. He started out with the now obsolete (following the tragic death of one of its members) band Euphrates, which for some time last year was the only thing we played on our ipods. Seriously, listening to Narcy increases our IQ by a hundred. He knows what he's talking about, and to articulate it the way he does is crazy beautiful. Fahman times infinity.

Good Shit

This couldn't wait. Posting a music video in Ramadan? Glory be we are destined for eternal doom.

Introducing one of our absolutely favourite artists, Invincible. A while ago one of us had the pleasure of interviewing her via email for a project. Here are some excerpts from the final paper:

"[Invincible's] strong commitment to her community is effused throughout her songs, and not only does she rap about issues such as media monopoly and gentrification (among other things0, she is actively involved in progressive social change in her home town of Detroit, actualizing the transformations she longs for."

"Invincible's life is rooted in music, activism, and political dissent. The ingenious way in how she blends these three traits is a manifestation of real hip hop, where clever relentless words are intertwined with nifty head-bobbing beats. Furthermore, the lyrics aren't money-oriented nor worldly, but confabulate real issues, stretching from police brutality to colonialism in the world today."

Invincible + Waajeed - "Detroit Summer"/"Emergence" from EMERGENCE Media on Vimeo.

This Past (Past) Week

Where oh where have we been these past two weeks? Where were we, as self-professed football fanatics, when our team choice won? Where were were to gently mock Iker Cassillas' blubbering tears? And to capitalize on the moment by spamming our blog with Dahhvid Villa's mug

plastered all over? Shit, that's not gonna stop us.

All higgedly-piggedly like. Look at that face, bless him. The Ayrabs here celebrated like there was no tomorrow, honking yelling skidding along in their cars all night. Guns were brought out and shots fired in the air, and in Jordan, land of moronic people, one of these shots caught an old woman who died on the spot. Only Arabs...

Where were we when we missed the first lady of Arabic hip hop Shadia Mansour's private party at the Snowbar? Our Good Shit/mazzika section is all about hip hop, the sound of revolution etc etc etc, so how could we miss an opportunity like this? Oh well. By the way, Shadia's music is pretty amazing. She has a lovely voice that can switch to cutting edge lyrics in a second.

EU foreign policy cheif Catherine Ashton visited Gaza, humanitarian aid ships from Libya were refused access to Gaza's waters, and Gaza's borders with Egypt are open indefinitely, perhaps a sign of Mubarak's impending death? That's where our summer vacation will be! Fingers crossed.

Today starting from 8 AM fireworks punctured the periwinkle sky at rapid succession. The Tawjeehi results, which are the end of year results of 12th grade students and not high school elections as one foreigner explained sagely, are out and the names of the students who passed are in the newspapers. On campus, there were groups huddled around pouring over the long columns of tiny names, seeing whether their siblings/cousins/relatives/neighbors/friends/enemies passed or not, and just what their exact average is. One girl was passing out knafe! Mabrook/mazel tov, let the crazy nights and crazier parties begin. Our headaches are starting from now.

Lowkey was detained at Ben Gurion Airport Tuesday for half a day before being released. Wherever he's going, we're clawing our way to hang on to his coat tails.

A small meeting commenced today concerning the Right to Education conference taking part on the 27th and 28th of July. The aim is to build a global network of students concerned with the education rights of Palestians living in the Occupied Territories. We've signed up for this, and some 40 international students are expected to join in. Spread the word!

Good Shit

We've been behind on our musical posting expertise, but that doesn't mean we still don't groove to the dope beats. We might as well give a list of who we listen to and the reasons why we love them, but patience children patience. Anticipation does not, as the delightful Alex Turner pointed out, has a habit for setting you up for disappointment. Shh just nod and agree with us.

Without further ado, here is Omar Offendum's latest video called Destiny from his newly released solo album, SyrianamericanA.

It's pretty awesome, no? And he raps in Arabic now! Between you and us, he is the only man we are willing to share as a husband. What, he's allowed four wives, and we very much give our consent to be co-wives! In fact, then we can finally live our decadent fantasy of some Bab il-Hara show, where we get to call him ibn 3ami, have petty jealousies and the essential need for popping out tons of male heirs and then worrying about getting them married to the best girls, all mused over menial housework chores and sifting lentils, take over our lives. How many other Arab men are bilingual in ARABIC (most importantly!) and English, God-fearing monks (scratch that word out), and are pleasing to look at? Damn but we can get so superficial. It's ok, we love him, hence the ignoring of his accomplishments and the lauding of his yummy self.

Wavin' Flag

Now with us being huge fans of football and all, we like to keep ourselves updated with the latest news on the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We have the countdown drilled into our heads down to the last nanosecond. Knowing that every world cup has a theme song of its own we wondered what this year's was going to be. Pavarotti's vocals still send shivers down our spines. We still samba to Ricky Martin's The Cup of Life (here we go! ole ole ole! go go go! ole ole ole!). Il Divo and Toni Braxton's song does nothing for us other than making us wistful for some Italian lover abound on a faraway ship. Finally, after those long, brutal months of waiting, the unveiling of the song has finally been made public, and it is... drum roll please..Wavin' Flag by Somalian artist K'naan! Others are arguing that Shakira's song, Waka Waka is the official song, but who cares! Wavin' Flag has some serious groove to it! It makes us jump and twirl and shimmy while simultaneously swaying a lighter back and forth. Perfect song for the perfect game? Or are we just so caught up with World Cup fever? CAN NOT WAIT!!!! Yet, our eyes couldn't avoid viewing a little something called 'Wavin' Flag-k'naan ft. Nancy Ajram.' We rue the moment we gave in to our curiosity. What the freak is that thing?! Having Nancy dance worse then a theatrical monkey just caused laughter, the mean kind, to bubble forth from us! But then we were also painfully hurt by this collaboration. Why take something so pure and good and infest it with...cheap Arabic music? Yes, CHEAP! Because that's what it sounds like! The dancing grates us, the scantily clad dancers enrage us, and the whole time we were thinking: after all those plastic surgeries she STILL ends up looking like that? Ohh haters! Sad to say this pain can never be taken back, unless we keep listening to the original song 25 times over and over again.

The Fake Thing

The Real Thing

Targeted Citizen

This video by Adalah is gold. We're greatly interested in the Palestinians living in the 1948 region. Not as a different species, but as in what goes on in their lives, what experiences they have, what liberty or justice they face on a daily basis. We love DAM.

Targeted Citizen - English from Adalah on Vimeo.

Is that South African chick for realz? Muslims are ugly? We're both extremely good-looking, that's why taxi drivers and shopkeepers give us a freebie now and then. We just don't need to expose half of our bra to do so. And white cheap shoes? Admitting to actually never meeting a real life Arab before? Stupidity is a blessing for some. Moron.

Good Shit

OBAMA NATION

(clever play on words, no?)

We don't know why some Palestinians were so optimistic with the election of President Obama. US foreign policy will change when we become subjugated housewives, i.e never. One of our favorite rappers, Lowkey, delivers this sucker punch of a song so eloquently it puts the pizzazz in castigation. We luuurve.

"Wonder why I call it the racist experiment...that ain't gonna change with the race of the president"

Preaching to the choir ya kbeer!

NOTE: Not to be confused with the hardy har har song by Republican Ed Montana. Meh.

Good Shit

The first time we listened to this, our mouths stayed open a full ten seconds after the track had finished. Talk about killing it. Keep an ear out for the reference to Terrorist Goldstein.