Did they, USA, think that this stupid move will work?! Creating a news channel in the Middle East and publicly announcing that it is backed by the government of USA, actually the U.S. government spent $350 dollars from taxpayers on this project, if they just asked, they would have known that this project is simply not going to work. The funny thing is that they thought they will be spreading democracy in the Middle East through such a channel.
So although here in the Middle East we know for a fact that its a flop, you know there in U.S. they love surveys and polls, so a new survey done in six countries in the Middle East stated that only two percent tune to the channel as a first choice for news source.
“Arabs sit in their homes in front of the television, and they surf like crazy,” said Hisham Melhem, a Washington-based anchor for al-Arabiya. “You rarely find someone who says they watch al-Hurra. It may be number 10 on their dial. But definitely not first, not second, not third, not fourth.”
In the past few months I have been getting requests from Arabs all around the world, some from Egypt some from UAE and many from Europe, in countries such as UK, Germany and even Finland.
All sending in emails asking me to resume my coverage of Qalam Rasas, you see few months ago I used to talk about each episode and provide some videos of the episode too. There was one reason why I stopped doing that, its because I am lazy, who knows me knows this scary fact Anyway, I will try my best to cover each and every episode from now on, that means starting from the episode of the 13th of June 2008.
The reason why I started the coverage is because I felt that Hamdi Qandeel was not given the same interest as other political shows, lets say such as Alqahera Alyaum with Amr Adeeb, I watch all kind of shows, but I see a huge coverage for Alqahera Alyaum, 10 O’clock and those kind of shows.
Forums, Yahoo Groups and many many Facebook Groups cover and discuss and upload videos of those shows, except of Qalam Rasas, although Qalam Rasas is the most daring show of them all, no one, I REPEAT, NO ONE can say on their shows what Hamdi Qandeel says on Qalam Rasas.
My brother went to an event on EARTH DAY in the American University of Dubai, and they had a well known Palestinian folk singer, he is nicknamed as”Abu Arab”. I had the video for a while, its just a part of the concert, I wish I had the full thing. He does have a website, not sure if it is official or not but it has some songs to download, its called Ya Bladi.
Today the 15th of May is the Nakba day, today is the 60th year of the Nakba, for those who do not know Nakba means “The Catastrophe”. On the 15th of May 1948, 60 years ago, Israel which was a newly created state committed ethnic cleansing in Palestine, destroyed hundreds of villages and exiled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Now those refugees are in millions and Israel still deny them their right of return. They are the oldest and largest refugee population who are still waiting a resolution.
I didn’t live it, my father did not live it, we both heard of it, we both listened to thousands of stories, and saw many many documentaries but we could not describe how it was or what it felt like. Actually my father experienced another big event in Palestine, it happened in 1967 and it is called Al-Naksa which means “The Setback”, its the six days war, its when Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza strip.
Now, I am 32 years old and lived in Dubai all my life, but since I was young and still until today my father keeps reminding us of Palestine, keeps telling me how people used to be, how neighbors used to act, and how that everybody always found happiness in the middle of darkness, pain and suffering. How people helped each other and how people generally used to be nice and kind, he didn’t say that there were no bad people, we are still on earth but he always said that majority of people used to be nicer more caring and more respectful than now, people back then understood the real meaning of things, they understood the real meaning of friendships the real meaning of family, people will always help each other always.
He always tells me how things were simpler back then, how people’s needs were so basic, but he also tells me how his father used to work so hard, how all men had to work hard to bring food on the table, but the story that I guess is imprinted in his mind and he will never ever forget is his story on how when he was 16 years old he woke up on the summer of 1967 finding himself in a ghost neighborhood, all his neighbors are not in their homes, empty homes, empty village.
His father was on a business trip and was not in the house, so he took his six years old little brother and ran to find others running too, it was quickly understood what was happening, he kept running until he reached a farms area and there the Israeli planes started bombing, so he started seeing dead bodies on the way and people dying in front of his and his little brother’s eyes, he keeps telling me how lucky they were that they were between hits, while they were running the Israeli aircrafts would fly low and hit and fly up again and so on all the way until they reached a high fence, he quickly threw his brother, yes he physically threw him to the other side and then he climbed and went to the other side himself. Still they had to keep walking, not only them but a huge number of people they walked and walked seeing people crying, shouting, injured, and dead. He saw a father with his kids crying over the body of the mother, he heard people crying asking for help, he saw women mourning their husbands, sons, and daughters.
His little brother is tired, he carried him, and kept walking, carefully moving, until after hours they reached the Jordanian borders and after passing the border and on his way to Amman he suddenly saw his uncle driving a truck, so he drove them to Amman to meet with his father later that day.
I always have asked him to write his experience, he keeps telling me “There are no words to describe it, as much as you try, there are simply no words”.
So in the end I would like to say one thing more, Israel thinks that we will forget, that time will make us believe the lie that is Israel. We all say no, we will never forget, and those are not just words, those are facts, we never forgot, and we will never forget, Israel might fool mislead misinformed Americans and Europeans, but not us. We have the history, generation after generation we will talk and we will tell, our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, WE WILL TELL.
Palestine I never saw you, but my heart beats for you, you are the reason, you are the dream, and I will see you, this darkness will go and this sadness I feel will leave and I will see you LIBERATED soon.
I can’t even find the words to describe my feelings while watching this segment on Alqahera Alyaum (Cairo Today). This video shows what happened when a big famous supermarket in Egypt, most probably “Carrefour”, puts Cooking Oil and Sugar on SALE in special prices.
Yes, I know we saw those kind of scenes in USA and other countries but I never saw them for “Food Products”, the matter is that the products being food related just adds a sad side to the story.
Watch the video and I promise, you will laugh and cry both at the same time.
I know that there are tons of Arabic and English news websites and blogs covered the riots in Egypt’s Almahalla city the past 2 days, but there was one photo that shocked me, and I never thought in a thousand years I will ever see it in Egypt or any other Arabic country, we saw something like this in Iraq after the start of the war, but never thought to see it again.
At first I thought it was a photoshopped image, but when I knew it was shot by the Reuters photographer “Abdulnaser Elnoury” I just had to believe it. If you still can’t process it here is another one.
I will write another post about those riots soon, including videos and photos. For now watch this video that would give you a summarized idea on what happened.
The Interview was really interesting, although she did not really say anything we didn’t already know, but it was still interesting to see how she is living now and how the history was through her eyes.
Amr Adib did alright, but not great. I was waiting for some real questions he was so shallow, but yet again maybe she refused to answer a bit more serious questions.
Amr Adib seemed so happy to score this interview, my advice to him would be, try to play it cool next time, he seemed very anxious and as if he didn’t believe that he is having this interview!
Here is the interview playlist on youtube, the videos uploaded by the "AlqaheraAlyoum" channel on youtube, the playlist make it easier to watch all the 8 parts one after another. Enjoy!
Amr Adib was able to make an hour and a half interview with princess ferial in Switzerland. The interview will air tonight the 5th of December 2007 on Alqahira Alyaum (Cairo Today) show.
Amr Adib always looks for the unusual. On the 20th of November 2007, he started the episode by entering the studio in a toktok (a bike revamped to a tiny taxi). He sat in the back seat with Ahmed Mousa and when he reached his desk, he started discussing the issue of the toktok in Egypt.
How the government first allowed the importing of this vehicle and allowed it to be used as a mini taxi, and then after a while collected them and slapped fees on their drivers who can not get their “toktok’s” back. The real drama is that most of those poor guys is that they have bought this vehicle by taking bank loans, so they will still have to pay those monthly payments without working on the vehicle to get the money in the first place. The show continued to discuss how safe this vehicle is, and where it should be allowed to function and so on.
Al Ahly rock in the backline was loaned to Alseleya Club in Qatar, the defender will be playing for them from January 2008 to the end of the season. Although Al-Ahly havent announced any information on the price, but it has been known that the club offered 180 thousand dollars to loan the player.
To be honest as an Ahly fan i just don’t understand what the board is trying to achieve this season, or actually are they trying to achieve anything. Selling Mohammed Shawqy earlier this season to Middlesbrough in the english league and now loaning Gom3a to Alseleyea. These are big mistakes everybody knows that Al-Ahly has suffered from selling their star defensive midfielder and now loaning their only real rock in the backline.
My Advice to Al-Ahly board is one thing, go buy players, we need at least 3 new players and you know it, we need a striker and a defensive midfielder and an attacking midfielder. Abu treka had enough already, the man is overloaded, we always expect him to be 100% ready in each and every freakin match. He is not a machine you know he is a human and the day will come when he just wont be able to take it anymore. And that day is not at all far.
Al-Ahly board, spend from some of the profits you got, you have the money, stop being greedy and buy new player before its too late.
In the past few months I have been getting requests from Arabs all around the world, some from Egypt some from UAE and many from Europe, in countries such as UK, Germany and even Finland.
Anyway, I will try my best to cover each and every episode from now on, that means starting from the episode of the 13th of June 2008.
Today the 15th of May is the Nakba day, today is the 60th year of the Nakba, for those who do not know Nakba means “The Catastrophe”. On the 15th of May 1948, 60 years ago, Israel which was a newly created state committed ethnic 
cleansing in Palestine, destroyed hundreds of villages and exiled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. Now those refugees are in millions and Israel still deny them their right of return. They are the oldest and largest refugee population who are still waiting a resolution. 
Now, I am 32 years old and lived in Dubai all my life, but since I was young and still until today my father keeps reminding us of Palestine, keeps telling me how people used to be, how neighbors used to act, and how that everybody always found happiness in the middle of darkness, pain and suffering. How people helped each other and how people generally used to be nice and kind, he didn’t say that there were no bad people, we are still on earth but he always said that majority of people used to be nicer more caring and more respectful than now, people back then understood the real meaning of things, they understood the real meaning of friendships the real meaning of family, people will always help each other always.
So in the end I would like to say one thing more, Israel thinks that we will forget, that time will make us believe the lie that is Israel. We all say no, we will never forget, and those are not just words, those are facts, we never forgot, and we will never forget, Israel might fool mislead misinformed Americans and Europeans, but not us. We have the history, generation after generation we will talk and we will tell, our brothers and sisters, our sons and daughters, WE WILL TELL.
The Interview was really interesting, although she did not really say anything we didn’t already know, but it was still interesting to see how she is living now and how the history was through her eyes.
Al Ahly rock in the backline was loaned to Alseleya Club in Qatar, the defender will be playing for them from January 2008 to the end of the season. Although Al-Ahly havent announced any information on the price, but it has been known that the club offered 180 thousand dollars to loan the player.