Jordan is a target for a new terrorist attack.... so what?

Jordan has always been a target for terrorists. I remember the bombings of two movie theaters in Amman and Zarqa in the early 90s, and how al-Qa3idah - at that time called "al-Afghan el Arab" tried to bomb places like el Sa7a el Hashmiyyeh...
Last year Al-Qaidah to bomb al-mokhabarat with chemical weapons. Other vital areas in Amman have been targeted.....

The point is that Jordan has always been targeted, and because of our strong intelligence they barely succeeded. It's a horrible mistake to underestimate terrorism, and that's the mistake Western countries have made especially the UK which harbored terrorists right and left in the name of freedom of speech. However we should not allow terrorism to shake us a second or change our belief in the great people who have been protecting our country.

What pisses me off are those people who have been trying to find excuses to what al-Qaidah has been doing. Maybe if terrorist blew up their houses and killed their families like they did in Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt , Indonesia, Eurpe and the US they'd know what their intentions are.

God bless Jordan and its people.

"I have testicular cancer, it has spread to my lungs and abdomen...."

That man announced he had cancer with metastasis to everyhwere in his body, including the BRAIN istelf, in 1996.

He underwent a long course of chemotherapy.....

and today he became the best cyclist in history, winning his 7th consecutive Tour de France title, a world record.

Why do we ask for miracles when we see them happening everyday?

As Napoleon once said , "Circumstances!! What are circumstances?? I make circumstances".

I'm proud to be an Arab

Maybe this is not our time, maybe we're destined to have some sick people, but sick people exist and have always existed among all ethnicities and religions. They've killed millions of civilians -maybe not in metros - but in their tents and gas chambers and in their houses and in front of their kids.

Arabs do not carry terrorist genes, but among hundreds of million of oppressed people a few thousands got access to weapons and those morons easily brainwashed young boys, convinced them to start fighting "the Great Satan" by killing civilians. I don't want to talk for long about terrorism because it's a pain, but even if the world considers Arabs the most dangerous and hateful people on earth, I am still so proud of being an Arab and any crime committed in my name does not make me a partner in it.

Maybe we weren't strong enough in denouncing terrorism and criticizing terrorist attack like 9/11 and other, but not too many people cried when we cried or told us kind words when we needed to hear them. We should not be punished or accused for being indifferent.

The bottom line is that I'm an Arab, and I was raised to be proud of who I am, and sure I am so damn proud of being an Arab and nobody on earth will ever change that.
Hareega

What was this man doing in London??

I always wondered how could the UK allow some fanatics like Abu Hamzeh el Masri to live on its soil and throw those long speeches about the infidels and admire the great works of bin ladin, and how could someone accused of attempting to blow places like movie theaters in Amman namely Abu Qatadah be allowed to flee and live comfortably in England without questioning for more than a decade.

If the governments of those terrorists kicked them out of their countries because of their actions and agendas how come they all fled to England to find peace there? Why did many Britons support the war on Iraq thinking it’s against terrorism while a terrorist could have possibly lived next door. Was it because they wanted to show the world how much freedom they give to their people or was it just mere stupidity and underestimation of how nasty can a brainwashed armed young oppressed man get?

If those radicals had no problem killing Arabs and Muslim civilians, in Arabic and Muslim cities, and if they screwed up the Palestenian cause and declared millions of Arabs and Muslims as infidels who need to be killed, what problem would they have in harming non-Arab and non-Muslim civilians? If their goal in life was to declare their own country over the bodies of millions of people, wouldn’t they plan for that whenever they get the chance? Was the British government that stupid or am I super genius?? According to my last IQ test, my IQ has been recently declining and now it’s barely above average.

Sometimes conspiracy theories make sense.

Suffi 3a galbi

I enjoyed watching Suffi Suffi four times. Hilarious .... a great job by Matalga and all actors, no exception including the anonymous "eben el 7alaal" who didn't lose his tempers and asked Da7daleh (who played the shagfeh in the movie) to eventually park ...I consider Msha7awr abu sha3er mankoosh the best supporting actor although he is bag3aawi la troddi 3aleeh !!

I think short movies are usually too short to focus on more than one problem.... but what draws attention is the bunch of guys who have nothing to do but watch people, how you can sometimes fool someone you're from the Special Forces just because you wear a soldier's jacket, and how girls are the worst drivers and guys are the worst instructors.

Here's the link to the movie and other Matalga's movies including the newly released Crossroads
http://www.quaproductions.com/

Hareega

Ten things Jordanians should do after price change

Those are my suggestions to people !
hareega

1- Stop driving half an hour to find a parking lot. Park anywhere and walk your ass to wherever you wanna go.

2- Even if you have money, be humble enough to take a bus every while and then. Don't worry it won't show on your C.V.

3- Life is the best school, no need for further education.

4- Recycle your urine.

5- Stop using the term "khales kaazo" because it's not funny anymore.

6- If mansaf gives that tremendous energy to humans, we should study it as an alternative to gasoline.

7- To hell with doctors and medicine.... Herbs Rock!

8- Guys: be prepared to stay single for half a century.
Girls: start looking for husbands abroad.

9- Having ten kids wouldn't help liberate Palestine as once thought. Please use condoms.

10- Delete the phrase "Shu el-7alawaan" from your dictionary.

Should someone have the right to kill himself?

I can't forget the scene of that middle-age lady who ingested more than a 100 pills to kill herself and was rushed to the ER, and when we were about to out her on a ventilator because she couldn't breathe well, she grabbed our hands and was yelling, "Please let me die, I don't want any treatment". We didn't listen because she "suicidal" and if someone is suicidal we cannot help him kill her/himself.

We see in movies and we saw recently in Jordan a guy standing on the top of a building and threatening to throw himself to kill himself, and a 100 firefighters standing at the bottom and some policemen and religious men go up and try to convince him not to drop himself.

prisoners sentenced to death are made sure no sharp objects are left in their rooms so they won't kill themselves, although some of these prisoners might prefer to end their lives that way than to go through the whole horrible process of execution.

I understand that if someone is under the effect of drugs or alcohol they might take the wrong decision to kill themselves, but what if someone is fully conscious and alert and really wants to kill him/herself, why do we prevent them from doing so?

We allow ourselves to end the lives of criminals and we allow women to end the lives of their innocent unborn children because of a physical handicap they're not even guilty of, but we don't allow someone with reason to end his life. Does that make any sense?

Hareega

غســان كنفـــاني

Today marks the 33rd anniversary for the assasination of Ghassan Kanafani

The first novel I read for him was " رجال في الشمس "
"Rejal fel shams"

and in the end I came by this question:
" لماذا لم يقرعوا جدران الخزان ؟؟"

Just trying to answer it made me think of the misery the Palestenians are going through.

They killed him because he wrote against them, because he said the truth ... you can tell they are afraid of writers just as they are afraid of guns.

His words were his weapon.

God bless his soul.

Only because they smoked.....

This is the stomach of a smoker with a peptic ulcer disease. Other pictures speak for themselves!!

What I did in the bathroom, alone, today!

I was walking alone in the mall today, when I suddenly saw a "Player's Cards" shop. Players Cards!!!!!!!! Abayeeeeeeeeh !!!!! I remembered the 1986 and 1994 World Cup with players cards and how we, wlaad el 7ara, used to sit for hours in the burning sun just exchanging even buying and selling players cards. What would be more exciting is when one of the boys would have 2 very rare cards and wants to exchange one of them. We would gather around him in a big circle and start giving our offers to get his cards. We'd hold negotiations forever o koll wa7ad beballesh yboos teezo to take that rare card home. If it happened and I got a rare card it would be one of the best days in my life and o banzal 3al 7ara o ba3rot 3a kol el denya enni jebet el cart el khateer.

Today in the mall I saw those 8 and 9 -year old kids in the store, and I did it and went in and asked the keeper if he had "international soccer players cards". He said "NO", but then paused for s econd, and said, "Well I guess we have some old ones". Then he went and picked up some cards from 1990 and 1991 and gave them to me. I got 2 small collections of cards and left the store. Now I was alone in the middle of a busy mall on a vacation (happy 4th of july by the way, 3ogbal ma yseer fee 4th of july falasteeni). I was at least twice the age of the older kid ever still interested in these cards.

Alhough I don't mind making a joke of myself but I didn't feel like it today. So I went to the closest restroom and opened the first group of cards, those were the old players who are retried by now. I can't control my reactions when it comes to soccer, and I easily become disinhibited and do crazy stuff that makes me look like a real asshole. Today as I was alonr in the bathroom I made sure to control my feelings and I didn't scream but I was filled with joy as I saw all these rare pictures of players in my hands, in the US which is one of least countries in the world to appreciate good soccer and soccer players.

Every grown-up still has a child inside of him/her, and I'm so happy I still have this child that will never ever grow up!

Hareega

New Government in Jordan .... Mabrook!!!!

So Dr. Badran just formed his new cabinet less than 3 months ago. Now there is a major change. Five ministers resigned (were fired) and 9 joined. So in less than 3 months there are 4 more ministers. On this rate I assure you that in 10 years the government will consist of 100,000 ministers o ra7 ybattel fee sha3eb yen7akem.

One of the main reasons for this change is that the prime minister forgot to add ministers from the South into his cabinet, so ahel el janoob gabba3at ma3hom. Now he forgot to add Jordanian Palestinian ministers so this change resulted in the resignation of the Parliament member Khalil Atiyyeh, because there aren't enough "Jordanians of Palestinian origins" in the government. More resignations are expected in the next few days.

So is a third major change only a matter of time now?? And who would resign after it? Ahel el shamal, wella el Saltiyyeh wella el Karakiyyeh?

IF changes in the government would result in the resignation of the Parliament, I'm so much with them! Way to go!

May God bless Jordan....

Yer7am Jedko!

Nothing pisses me off in Jordan than seeing a "modern" dude or dudette who think they are superior to others just because their father was lucky enough, if not corrupt enough, to have a job with a good income. I believe that many rich people deserve every ta3reefeh they have because they worked hard to get it, but that never makes them, under any circumstance, better than others. A prime minister is in no way a better person or more decent than the man who cleans his house or fills his car with gas.

Many times I wish I can stop some of these morons in the street and yell at them

يرحم جدك ، مات وهو بتهاوش مع الحمار على قشرة بطيخ

I can never forget the face of my classmate when I told him we were going to al-Kal7a (Kal7a is the major hummus -falafel restaurant in Jordan which keeps many people alive, and every other fart produced in Jordan is attributed to its delicious food)

"Beddak eyyani ana..... ana ... aroo7 3al Kal7a!" He was looking at me disgust as if I just cussed his parents (as I actually did later) . In America such attitudes exist, but you always see some important people like american presidents and well-known scientists standing in line to get a meal from a fast-food place.

If someone thinks s/he is superior to others, he can get the hell out of Jordan and go somewhere else where people can better appreciate him. Otherwise, have some damn respect to your people, they were created by the same god that created you. A big heart is much better than a big house, a clean soul is better than clean clothes. As someone said, to know how rich someone is, see how many things he has that money cannot buy.

Hareega

شَعر البنات

I don't like quoting, but sometimes I can't help it!

Hareega

-----------------------------------------------------------

كنت في صغري أطارد بيّاع «شعر البنات»، بين الحارات، كان لدي شغف بالبنات، والسُكّر وهل في العمر اعذب من مشهد الجدائل، وطعم السكر في الفم؟

«شعر البنات» خيوط زهرية وأحيانا حمراء وأنت تلونها بحسب الصبغة المتوفرة بالسوق ولكن حال ان تضع هذه الخيوط في فمك فانها تتحول على الفور الى سكر اي تعود الى حالتها الاصلية.. ونحن شعب أثقلتنا مرارة العُمر ولهذا نحب السُكّر.... العالم يحب ان يلعب بخصل شعر البنات ذلك ان مداعبة الشعر فيها تعبيرات عفوية عن الحب، أما نحن فنأكل كل الشعر ذلك ان أكل شعر البنات فيه تعبيرات عفوية عن الجوع.... كانت «الهرايس» تستهوي الاطفال، وأحيانا كان هناك حلوى اسمها «كرابيج حلب» و«اذان الراعي» وايضا كان هناك محلول اصفر حامض الطعم اسمه «ذيل القط».. وآخر اسمه «الكلاج».. ولا انسى «العوامة»، وثمة اصابات مرافقة لكل هذه المشتقات تدب في امعائنا لحظة تناولنا لهذه الاشياء.... انا تميزت على كل اقراني بمطاردة،

بياعي شعر البنات في الزوايا والحارات، وحين أصفو مع نفسي اتذكر ماذا فعلت بي البنات وماذا عمل بي شعرهن

الانتماء للدولة الاردنية، ليس حالة فكرية تحتاج لتنظير، هو ليس مقالة، وهو ايضا ليس اتهاما.. او ازمة شيوعي مرتد.. هو طعم، وهو حاسة ايضا.. والاردن ليس سوى سُكّر في الفم

حين عدت الى مطار عمان ذات ضحى، اوجعني الأرق، لم اشعر بسلم الطائرة ولا بكذب الاشتياق، ولا بشريط الذكريات كل ما شعرت به هو طعم شعر البنات في الفم، جاءني وطني في لحظة من العُمر بتفاصيل الصبا وبطعم السكر فقط.....

الاردن سكر ونحن نحس بطعمه.. ترى تحت اي خانة يوضع هؤلاء الذين وأظنهم ذاقوا شعر البنات مثلما فعلنا، تحت اي خانة «يوضع هؤلاء الذين هاجروا للعمل في الصحف والفضائيات، ويسمحون لتلك الاخبار ان تمر لا بل يحررونها بيديهم، واحيانا يذيعونها بأفواههم وكلها شوك وعلقم، هل يا ترى حين يغادر الفرد وطنه يصبح طعم السكر في فمه علقما، وشعر البنات رمادا».... «فيصل القاسم» أمضى 30 عاما من حياته في بريطانيا، ولم يعرّج على وطنه بكلمة واحدة بل في كل لحظة كان يوظف المشاهد والضيف لخدمة الموقف القومي للرفاق، لماذا نحن نختلف عن هؤلاء.... لماذا ضيعوا طعم الاردن، وذرّوا شعر البنات في رماد العيون

الولاء للوطن مشكلة حسية، وليست مرتبطة بالتربية ولا بالقيم ولا بالدين او العرق، والحس هو موقف فأنت تتجهم حين تأكل شيئا مالحا وتبتسم للطعم الحلو.والاردن علّم كل من عاش على ارضه ان يذوقه وان يشمه وان يطارده -مثلما كنا نفعل في الصبا-... أنا ما زال طعم بلادي في فمي، وخصل شعر بناتها في أناملي.. وسأطارد حُلمها اللذيذ الجميل، وسأدافع عنه، أما الاخرون.. فمن اين نحضر لهم حس.. من لا يحس بطعم وطنه هو ليس فاقدا للحس وحده بل لكل شيء.... للعلم هناك أغنية لكاظم الساهر تقول «منين أجيب إحساس للي ما يحس».

عبدالهادي راجي المجالي

Arab Men and Sex

A Jordanian guy came to America earlier this year with his mother to visit some relatives, and rented an apartment close to mine. Being a single Arab, this guy started hunting for girls to have sex with. In less than a week he started sleeping with his German neighbor and later another American neighbor.

Sometimes I call his mother who seems to be a relatively conservative religious old lady, and when I ask her if Salem (fake name) is available, she'd just laugh and reply "Walla Salem ma3 el banat, beshrab gahweh!!" I would guess what (beshrab gahweh) means and she knows very well what (beshrab gahweh) means! But it looks like she's not very concerned.

Today I called and asked again "where is Salem?"
and she answered "walla ya khalti hayyo ma3 Amanda bel berkeh, ballahi i7keelo bekaffeeh hamaleh!!"

So she knows everything. She knows that he is having sex with all these women but the only thing she does is asking me to do is help him stay away from women. I was wondering what if that lady had a daughter sleeping with American men instead? Would she have the same response?? Wouldn't that Arab girl be killed or at least dismissed from the family?

Salem called me again today and he told me the good news: He's returning to Jordan to get engaged to a girl who is very conservative, never ever had a boyfriend, doesn't talk to guys and doesn't even have the cell phone number of any guy. Way to go!

I don't blame it all on men. I think women and mothers are to blame for raising such men with this sick mentality, men who regard themselves and gods who can sin then repent in a scheduled manner, and women are ready to forgive their husbands anything in their past but know that their husbands or fancies would leave them if he discovered that she ever dated a guy.

Morocco.... Morocco..... Moroccoooooooooooo

A few hours ago Morocco's soccer team qualified to the semi-finals of the Youth World Cup in soccer after defeating Italy in penalties, after they drew 1-1 in full time, 2-2 in extra time.
The Moroccan goalkeeper , Borgadi, saved 5 penalties during the match.

There are special feelings when it comes to Morocco playing soccer. In 1986 I was six years old, but I clearly remember the joy everyone had when Morocco defeated Portugal 3-1 and qualified to the second round to become the first Arabic and African team to ever do that. In the second round they played Germany with all its stars, and the Moroccans played pretty well, until 4 minutes before the end when Germany scored from a free kick, and I remember my father o howeh besarrekh o beshalle3 sha3ro and saying "jabo il goal men el khozga"-they scored from the hole. It looked like there was a hole in the Moroccan defence wall from which the Lothar Mattheus- ma ghairo- scored the goal. In that year the Moroccan keeper Badu Zaki yes3ed rabbo ma azkaah was chosen as the best player in Africa, the first golie ever to win that title.

again in 1998 Morocco qualified to the World Cup. In their final match they played against Scotland, and humiliated them 3-0 and were supposed to qualify to the next round to play against Italy. As we were ready to celebrate we got the shocker, Brazil lost to Norway in the final seconds allowing Norway to qualify instead of Morocco. Again in 2002 Morocco was on the verge of qualifying but lost strangely in their final match of qualifications and were relegated.

Last week I paid el ghaali wel nafees to watch the World Cup at home, but forgot that the games will be played early morning when I'm at work, so today I kept checking the results second by second on the internet. Morocco was leading 2-1 in extra time and Italy scored a shocker five minutes before the end. The flashback of my father getting mad and pulling his hair and screaming "el-khozga" came back, but Morocco had a talented goalie who saved FIVE freakin penalties and we saw another junior Badu Zaki being born today, paving the way for Morocco to become the World Champions in youth soccer.

Sorry for the red fonts which might be annoying, but such topic can only be written in red!

Our sculptures destroyed

In school days I got to know what Eraag el Ameer is and its historical importance. Very honestly I forgot why, but I remember our Arabic teacher Salim M3aani and his excitement whenever he used to talk about it! Anyway, the name was in my mind, until I started my driving lessons. Since my instructor was wise enough to feel I was a threat to everyone who's driving at a distance 500 meters or closer to me (and I still am), he would take me to vacant areas so I wouldn't be killing people everyday.

One day I was driving away from the city, maybe closer to Eastern Amman, until we got closer to an area kolha ghanam o kherfaan, 3am yaaklo o ber3o, very dirty and so empty, even scary, and i noticed it looked like a group of 100 empty houses or chambers built on a hill.
Then my instructor looked at me "yalla yabu el fawares hayna wassalnaak la 3raag el ameer"

"NA3am?"

"bas terja3 e7ki la abok ennak soget la 3raag el ameer, yalla leff werja3 o ma tensa el 3'ammaz, wella btosgot bel emti7aan, 7otteli 3a om kalthoom o sa77eni etha shofet shorti....etc"

I felt sorry for what happened to Samia Zaru's sculpture last week, and we heard voices asking to protect sculptures or pieces of art like "the Family" that Zaru brilliantly built. But where are the voices calling to save our historical places found everywhere in our country, including Amman. Every year i hear different things about how the precious things that we have in our country but nobody knows about them.
We need something like "the Kingdom of Heaven" so we can know how significant was Kerak in old times (and still is khawa nawa!) ?? We're talking about KINGDOMS which have existed in Jordan.

If the Greek and Romans have no voices now it's still worth listening to the voice of rationale. I've met some Americans and Europeans who knew a few things about Jordan that I've never heard about! I'm sure if Eraag el Ameer is some place in America, we'd find ten commercial centers and 100 restaurants and 3 casinos and an airport built around it to attract tourists, and we'll find Arabs and Jordanians coming from everyhwere to visit it and take pictures. If we don't know how precious our country is we shouldn't expect foreigners to.

Khabeesah

Khabeesah.......

I wish i can know the great mind behind its discovery, or better say invention.

A super-thin and super-delicious layer of grape dried in certain way that you can have nuts included within, and you keep eating and the more you eat the more hungry you get, to the point i started suspecting some that some sort of drugs may be injected into this incredible brownish substance.

My grandmother has been making Khabeesah for half a century, and i have been eating it for the past quarter century. Many times I tried watching her make it, but still there's a secret in that damn Khabeesah that I can't know, some secret in its making that only God Almighty and jeddeti know it. Maybe the other old woman in Salt know it as well, but i have tried many "Khabayes" and the best one i had was my grandmother's, welli mesh 3aajbo yballet il ba7ar.

Before I left to America I was certain there were many things I would miss, people, places and faces, good shawermas and khabeesah. Now my grandmother is too old to even eat Khabeesah, and I don't think i'll ever have her khabeesah again, but i wish that secret of transformation of grapes and nuts into khabeesah will be revealed, at least during my age!

Would you blame her?

Layali was showing me the wounds on her legs .....
"So the bullet came from this side, and it penetrated my bones and came out from my foot. There's another in my thigh, and a couple more in my right leg".

Layali was the Sudanese patient I was asked to see recently. She was admitted to the ICU three weeks ago after she ingested large amounts of a very toxic substance. Why? Suicidal attempt. Reason? bad living situations.

This thirty something woman spent half her life in the very ugly atmosphere of war in Southern Sudan. She was shot multiple times, she lost some of her loved ones in war, then there was hope: immigration to the most powerful country in the world. This is her second year in the US and things seem just to get worse. Although she's more safe but she's not more secure, and her life in the refugee camp doesn't seem to get any better, and problems started rising with her husband and kids. Moreover, she does not fit into this new environment. She found herself grabbing a high bottle of antifreeze and swallowing it, to the last drop. She came to the ER vomiting and short of breath and was placed on a ventilator for 2 weeks. Now Layali is breathing on her own and she's almost recovered, but I wonder after we send her out tomorrow out of the hospital, will I see her again next week in the ER after shooting herself in her the head or after swallowing 50 kinds of pills?
And should we blame her for "losing hope and faith" and "giving up so fast", or should we blame the world who is neglecting her suffering and the suffering of hundreds of millions of people all around the world?? Should we blame those who start the wars or those who die from them? Should we blame the woman who had bullets wandering thru her body or blame the ones who made that bullet itself? If Layali eventually killed herself, I'll ask her children to be proud of a mother who was strong enough to stand hell-on-earth for a very long time and worse, stand the neglect and apathy of our indifferent world.