The Shaya family in their Jaffa home

Despite this blog’s title, this post is on something you can read about in Haaretz. I do add some analysis and access to additional materials, but the primary reason for the divergence is emotional. Not only is this a story of extraordinary injustice, it is also about the family of a friend and colleague, Mary Koussa.

You can read the entire saga of the Shaya family in this Haaretz article, but the gist is fairly simple. In the 1920’s, Salim Khoury Shaya, head of Jaffa’s once prosperous Greek Orthodox Palestinian community, built a house for his family. He had seven children. In 1948, a census was taken of the remnants of Jaffa’s Palestinian community. Empty houses were taken over by the State of Israel, according to the Absentee Property Law (more about that at the bottom of this post). The Shaya house was a unique case. Three of the siblings were absent (in Lebanon), but four were present. So the State proclaimed itself “partner” and legally took over 40% of the house.

Decades passed and, except for a number of failed attempts in the 50’s and 60’s, to sue for full property rights, the Shaya family didn’t hear much from the government. Their area of Jaffa (near Ajami) was a slum no one was really interested in. That all changed about four years ago. The Jaffa coast went through accelerated gentrification and property prices skyrocketed. Amidar, the government owned housing company that administrates most Absentee Properties, saw an opportunity for a windfall. Contrary to popular perception, most of the Palestinians living in the area are not descendants of the pre-1948 residents, but descendants of refugees displaced during the war from other parts of the country, and are now tenants of Amidar. Therefore, their eviction, on a variety of pretexts, was relatively simple. In 2007-2008 alone, Amidar issued at least 400 eviction notices in the Ajami neighborhood.

The few Palestinian owners were more of a problem. But in 2007, some bureaucrat looking through old case files discovered the Shaya family’s vulnerability and hatched a plan — slap them with an exorbitant demand for years of back rent for the 40% of the house “owned” by the government and then demand that the “partnership” be dissolved through sale of the house to a third party. The Shayas don’t want to leave their ancestral home, but their attempts to buy out the State were rebuffed, and now Amidar and the Israel Lands Administration (ILA) have taken them to court. They want them out.

Even from the perspective of Lieberman’s Jewish-Nationalist school of thought there is much that is wrong with this story.  As a devil’s advocate, I would ask his disciples in the government, why persecute “good Arabs?”  The Shaya’s are fully integrated in Israeli society. One of the second generation siblings worked at the Tel-Aviv municipality for his entire life. An uncle was the first Palestinian policeman recruited in Jaffa by the Israeli government in 1949. A visitor at the Sunday family gatherings hears a mix of Arabic and Hebrew. Why is Israel taking them back to the Nakba that it wants to force them to forget through legislation?

For Israelis who still believe in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and for genuinely “pro-Israel” Jews abroad, this kind of reopening of 1948, which is also happening in Jerusalem and Haifa, is no less than suicidal. It severely undermines the premise of 1967 as the starting point for a diplomatic solution, with its implications regarding the 1948 refugees.

For all Jews, or at least those that see Judaism as a culture and a moral code, rather than an ethnic filter, the story of the persecution of the Shaya family presents a grave injustice for which we, as a collective, are responsible. It often seems to me that the apparatus of our government has lost any sense of justice and morality. Indeed it took a Palestinian citizen of Israel, the family’s lawyer, Adv. Hicham Chabaita of Tel-Aviv University’s Human Rights Clinic, to point out the immorality of suit.

This is how Chabaita opens his defense (Hebrew original here):

Adv. Hicham Chabaita

As in the story of the ‘Pauper’s Lamb,’ the plaintiff, a government authority, is cynically requesting, with no shame whatsoever, to dispossess the defendants of the home that has been their property since it was built by their grandfather decades before the State was founded, and thus to expel them…This case is not a regular civil suit, despite attempts of the State to present it as such…We are speaking about hard, uncommon facts, an outcome of the unique context of the 1948 War.”

Right above is  an excerpt from Samuel II, chapter 12, verses 1-4. Here it is, English translation alongside Hebrew original.

So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to David, Nathan said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a great many flocks and herds. But the pauper had nothing except for a little lamb he had acquired. He raised it, and it grew up alongside him and his children. It used to eat his food, drink from his cup, and sleep in his arms. It was just like a daughter to him. When a traveler arrived at the rich man’s home, he did not want to use one of his own sheep or cattle to feed the traveler who had come to visit him. Instead, he took the pauper’s lamb and cooked it for the man who had come to visit him.”

Chabaita also reminds the court that the Israeli Supreme Court described the Absentee Property Law as “meant to fill a temporary role: to preserve absentee properties lest they become abandoned and open to looting.”  He also dug up the protocols of the Knesset debate around the enactment of the law and quotes the Members of the First Knesset, keenly aware of the circumstances of their own people, so recently displaced and dispossessed, describing its purpose in the same way.

The Tel-Aviv Magistrate will hear the case in January.

[You can write the Shaya family at shaya.house@gmail.com]

Data
Title: Ladri di biciclette
Year: 1948
Length: 89 minutes
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Writers: Cesare Zavattini, Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Vittorio De Sica, Oreste Biancoli, Adolfo Franci & Gerardo Guerrieri, based on the novel by Luigi Bartolini
Starring: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola
Music: Alessandro Cicognini
Distinctions: honorary Oscar for best foreign language film (1950); currently #106 on IMDb’s Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a father can’t support his family without a bicycle
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Good.
Story: Great.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Indifferent. Although, it’s not really fair of me to judge; the DVD subtitles didn’t translate half the dialog. It is the way of Netflix to only have the cheapest, crappiest DVD available of any title.
Pacing: Terrible.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Great. But not much is called for.
Acting: Great.
Music: Great.
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent). The kind of film that exists for film students to write essays about it. Thinking about it afterward, it seems like it should be a really great movie. But actually sitting down and watching the thing, I was bored silly.
Objective Rating: 8/10 (Good).

Longtemps fantasmé sur ce petit livre carré que l’on ne voit que dans les musées, le premier Spirou dessiné par Franquin, Après Rob-Vel et  Jijé (dont on voit quelques planches  ici, faisant la transition avec Franquin). Edité en 1948, l’original est rare, cher, intouchable. Heureusement, une belle édition en fac similé arrive à temps pour Noël et j’y retrouve des histoires déjà lues dans des compilations, des volumes épars. Mais rassemblées ici, elles diffusent une puissance primitive, un sens de la mise en scène très libre, tout en essais et expériences, emplis d’humour et de vélocité, de souplesse dans le trait et de maladresses aussi, de tendresse. Un autre livre me hante aussi au même moment où je retourne en 1948 avec Spirou : le Storeyville de Frank Santoro, livre géant sorti par Picturebox il y a deux ans,  et auparavant édité par Santoro lui-même sur du papier journal en 1995. Récit d’apprentissage mis en scène à partir d’un gaufrier rigide que l’auteur s’amuse à dépasser ou ne pas utiliser, Storeyville donne l’impression d’être griffonné, gribouillé : et sans doute, Santoro a-t-il jeté tout cela sur ses feuilles comme l’on dresse un brouillon de plan de bataille. Mais, sans doute aussi, a-t-il compris que l’essentiel était déjà là, dans le premier jet, la première prise, la seul qui vaille. D’autres auraient repassé de l’encre sur tout cela, mais Santoro livre un livre brut et esquissé, mais aussi tout à fait construit. A l’origine, Storeyville était inspiré par Chris Ware et était sorti sans nom d’auteur. 14 ou 15 ans plus tard, le livre conserve, même avec le nom de Santoro inscrit dessus, un étrange pouvoir d’envoûtement, tout aussi brut que celui du premier Spirou de Franquin : entre l’un et l’autre livre, il y a une communauté de trait, une communion d’esprit.

Depois da tempestade...

Interrompemos por dois dias o Yougol, que é de ferro, e merece um descanso. Voltamos a qualquer momento.

Para os amigos, resta a famosa e antiga musiquinha: “Zum, zum, zum, passou um avião e nele estava escrito o Vasco é campeão!!!”.

Vem o céu azul

E a caravela segue por mares sempre d´antes navegados…

Faixa do vascaíno Friaça, campeão invicto das Américas em 1948

It Began the same with "power" with HItler, are we repeating history?

Today I had the privilege of speaking with an 80 + lady who came here from Lithuania in 1948. Her father was in a bread line in Germany and shot by Hitler’s military for speaking his mind. She and her other 4 siblings eventually made it to America, she’s an immigrant who is now a proud citizen of this country. I will call her” Maggie…”.

Today, as she recanted the many details to me of her life, with a quiver in her voice and I would bet tears streaming down her cheeks with her english touched with her European accent, she expressed the fears of so many of us.

She has a wonderful daughter and son-in-law that are taking awesome care of her since they relocated here from Chicago a few years ago. This fabulous woman was schooled in Europe where she learned 4 languages and still speaks all of them and educated  in the health care field as an RN and also able to work with the pathologists, she’s no dummy by far and fine tuned her skills during the World War II era. 

She said she prays every day to God to save the United States from the destruction which lies ahead. She grew up with socialized medicine and the same type of  plans President Obama is now implementing, all for the sake of power,as Hitler did. She survived and her siblings and her Mom…..many didn’t and she watched as they died the elderly from lack of adequate medicine or the wrong dosages and children and lack of food. It was a period of living hell. All her siblings were separated and sent to different countries, she went to China first,and eventually they all were reunited here. She spoke of the amazing courage of her Mom and her brother. Her voice quaked again.

She said that what we are currently experiencing here is all about “POWER AND CONTROL” by President Obama and his cohorts which has been planned for some time. She said most Americans are not aware as the history of that time hasn’t been told accurately. She is filled with fear for all of us. She knows first hand what is coming down the pike within the next 20 years. “It starts slowly with Socialized Medicine and little by little more and more rights are taken away until the government has total control’….”

I could relate so well to her story, I have read enough, talked to history students and scholars and know the evidence is clear. We are becoming a communistic society by the whims of our current Presidents desire for power. She merely confirmed to me all I have already suspected.

Her plea for all of us….to act now. To pray to God daily for courage and help to undo this mighty threat to our freedoms, to speak out before it has gone on so long we have no right to speak…to write….to educate. She knows full well from working in the environs of the hospitals here that the elderly are already suffering maltreatment and improper use of medications, after all she only retired a few years past when she was 72 as a highly respected professional. She has nothing to gain….except she knows she is doing her part to educate all of us as to the dangers that lay in front of us.

Now will you heed my warnings? Listen to the thoughts of Fox News or Mr. Beck? Will all of us unite and see the tremendously huge threat to the existence of our very nation before it’s too late?

I am not really sure what any of us can do except PRAY for God’s help….and to spread the truth from sea to shining sea…..If we are all united there is power, much more than on elected official has. Wake up….research and read the current events….We all can save this country but it takes is not burying  our heads in the sand and knowing how Communism, Socialism gains a foot hold….Do you know? Do you remember? Talk to a woman like Maggie or a survivor of the Holocaust if you have doubts…..they lived it and escaped to a free America and are trying to help all of us to remain free and powerful in our own rights, not at the hand of a dictatorship of a power monger,leader  and his Czars, which we elected.

Do your part….spread this word….help all of us to survive.

For more information on this topic we recommend the film #U553 Aztec 1948 UFO Crash now available on DVD at www.UFOTV.com.

UFOTV, all rights reserved.

CLICK FOR “Who’s Your Fella?” CLIP

What?

In the ’30s, three prisoners flee from a state prison farm in Mississippi. Among them is 23-years-young Bowie, who spent the last seven years in prison and now hopes to be able to prove his innocence or retire to a home in the mountains and live in peace together with his new love, Kitty. But his criminal companions persuade him to participate in several heists, and soon the police believe him to be their leader and go after “Bowie the Kid” harder than ever.

Where?

At home.

With?

The weight of the world on my shoulders…

Why?

A few years ago, I picked up an RKO boxset as a result of catching a ton of great Film Noir flicks during some time off work. Long story short, it went missing and I didn’t actually get around to watching any of them. Well, in the year I decided to take the 365 challenge and like some kind of brilliant coincidence (yes, that’s coincidence, not Irony, thank you Alanis MorriBloodyssette) I just found it again and this is one of the movies contained that I haven’t heard a peep about, literally no idea as to how good it is and whether it’s my kind of film. Off of that criteria, it picked itself!

Worth It?

Yeah,  for sure. It was a good movie, not absolutely incredible and when held alongside the likes of Double Indemnity, its weaknesses radiate, but it was still a very entertaining Noir movie. The bleakness was retained, the performances strong and the winding narrative which is a staple of the genre was very much intact.

If you’re new to Film Noir, I’d put this off and take a look at Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard and The Big Heat before delving deeper into the genre (or if you want to ease yourself into the past, you can definitely do worse than to watch Rhian Johnsons incredible ‘Brick’ which is very much a noir film, albeit in the present day) and if you dig those movies, then definitely check this out.

A good way to end the evening I think, good stuff.

7/10

1948 tucker 1600×1200 c 1600×941 image wallpaper of 1948 tucker 1600×1200 c 1600×941
to view full size click1948 Tucker 1600X1200 C 1600X941 image ( 1948 Tucker 1600X1200 C 1600X941 image )

I dag påstår MIFF (Med Israel For Fred, ironisk nok) at de har dissikert forslaget om akademisk boikott av Israel ved NTNU Trondheim. Men MIFF lever i en helt annen virkelighet enn oss andre mennesker, og ihvertfall en helt annen virkelighet enn palestinerne. Når man skal dissektere noe, er det en fordel å forstå hva man dissekterer. Det hjelper heller ikke på, at man bruker spade.

Så til punktene MIFF tar for seg, med utgangspunkt i et opprop fra mai:

Avklarende innledning

MIFF starter med å påstå at Israel ikke har okkupert Palestina fra 1948 fordi Egypt okkuperte Gaza, og Jordan okkuperte Vestbredden. Vel, først og fremst, området som skulle bli til den palestinske staten (iht. FNs delingsplan) besto av mer enn bare Gaza og Vestbredden. Det var også områder i sør som grenset til Egypt, områder i Nord som grenset til Libanon (Galilei), og et større område rundt Vestbredden som omfattet flere byer som i dag har blitt israelske. Grunnen til at Egypt “okkuperte” Gaza, og Jordan “okkuperte” Vestbredden var ikke fordi de drev på med erobringskrig slik som Israel. Egypt tok over Gaza i 1949 for å beskytte de palestinske landsbyene fra å bli utryddet, slik hundrevis av landsbyer og byer hadde blitt jevnet med jorda i 1947-48 av Haganah (med hjelp fra Irgun og Stern).

Jordans kong Husseini var lenge opptatt av å få til en avtale med Israel, også før krigen brøt ut – for å sikre Jordansk kontroll over Vestbanken og Øst-Jerusalem. Jordan var aldri særlig opptatt av palestinerne, men hadde planer om å ekspandere sitt territorie. Det endte da også med at Jordan annekterte området, og ga palestinere Jordanske pass. Men at de arabiske nabostatene ikke alltid var like solidariske ovenfor palestinerne er ingen unnskyldning for Israels ekspansjonskrig i 1948.  Palestinerne, og de arabiske statene, var aldri enig i delingsplanen, deres innvendinger ble overkjørte. Dermed kan man si at hele Palestina ble okkupert. Man kan også moderere seg, og gi Israel skylden bare for Galilei, Sør-Palestina, og endel andre områder som ble okkupert av Israel i 1948, – men hvor også hundrevis av landsbyer ble jevnet med jorda (kastet på havet…), og over 700.000 palestinere ble flyktninger.

Et annet moment er at Jordan og Egypts okkupasjoner, høyst sannsynlig stoppet videre utkastelser av palestinere og utryddinger av deres landsbyer. Hundretusener av palestinere reddet dermed sine hjem pga. Jordanske og Egyptiske okkupasjoner.

MIFF skriver selvsagt ingenting om hva som skjedde med palestinerne i 1948. Videre mener MIFF at palestinerne ikke har noen rett til å vende tilbake til sitt hjemland, selv om det var FN selv som ga de denne retten. Hvorfor? Jo, MIFF kjører sitt gamle argument: “En realisering av en slik “rett” ville i tillegg gjort slutt på Israel som en stat med jødisk flertall“. Cluet her er altså at MIFF mener dagens Israelske territorie må ha et jødisk etnisk/religiøst flertall. Dette vitner om et særdeles tvilsom orientalistisk tankegang, og hvor demografien tar helt overhånd, hvor multikulturalisme kun eksisterer på premisset at den ene gruppen har etnisk majoritet. Etnokrati, mer eller mindre.

Diskriminering av Israel?

MIFF hevder så at Israels invasjon av Gaza i Januar var rettferdig, på grunn av palestinske raketter, infiltrasjonsforsøk, angrep mot grenseposter, krigersk retorikk, og kraftig opprustning. Er det nå jeg skal peke på hvordan Israel har rustet opp? Hvorfor er det ingen som stiller spørsmålstegn ved at Israel får bygge opp sitt militære arsenal som de vil? At de får importert våpen og utstyr fra Vesten? At de har atomvåpen? Hvorfor skal palestinerne nektes våpen samtidig som Israel nærmest får våpen kastet etter seg? Tyder ikke det faktisk på at det er palestinerne som blir diskriminert, ikke omvendt?

Tidligere har jeg også vist at det var Israel som brøt våpenhvilen mellom Hamas og Israel.

Halve sannheter

Her påstår MIFF at siden palestinerne har blitt flere, blir de ikke fordrevet. Det er en heller tvilsom analyse, da den ikke tar høyde for høye fødselstall blant palestinerne (på tross av tusener av drepte). Den etniske renskingen av Palestina skjedde hovedsaklig i 1947-1948, i løpet av noen få måneder, men vi har sett en moderat fortsettelse av denne politikken siden. Siden 1967, har Israel anholdt 670.000 palestinere. Tusener av barn har blitt arrestert bare de siste par årene. Det er en fortsettelse av IDF sine linjer i 1948 som var å “take captive any suspicious Arab of military age, between the ages of 10 and 50″ (IDFs arkiver, ordre for behandling av krigsfanger). Dette er samme linja som serberne brukte ovenfor albanerne, bare at da var det fra 14 til 59 år.

MIFF kaller også muren et gjerde. Det er riktig at store deler er gjerde, men da strømgjerde. Er det så mye bedre da?

Så kommer MIFF med statistikk over “antall beskytninger” fra palestinske grupper de siste årene. Har MIFF noen tall for antall bomber, raketter og skudd IDF har skutt mot palestinerne? Nei ikke ett eneste tall. Hvor mange har dødd siden September 2000 på begge sider? Det sier MIFF heller ikke noe om. Mon tro hvorfor? Mens 123 israelske barn har blitt drept siden 2000, har over 1435 palestinske barn blitt drept. Og mens like over 1000 israelere totalt har blitt drept siden 2000, har over 6300 palestinere blitt drept i samme periode. Dette er konservative tall.

Hykleri

Etter å ha gjentatt den demografiske dommedagsprofetien, går MIFF inn for å påstå følgende:

Israelere som studerer i Trondheim og israelske akademikere som har faglig samarbeid med NTNU, frykter nå å få sine studier og prosjekter avbrutt.

For å gjøre dette klart én gang for alle: Akademisk boikott av Israel, er ikke en boikott av samtlige israelske akademikere som individer, det er en boikott av representanter for israelske akademiske institusjoner og representanter for staten Israel. Individuelle israelske akademikere som står uavhengig av disse, og dermed ikke fungerer som okkupasjonsregimets propagandamaskineri i utlandet – vil ikke rammes. Israelere som studerer i Trondheim vil vel dermed neppe rammes.

Kortslutning

Så kommer argumentet om at FN er så opptatt av å kritisere Israel, og at de ikke gjør det samme med andre stater. Men da burde isåfall fokuset være på å utvide kritikken til å gjelde flere, ikke å innskrenke den. Da er det ironisk at MIFF bruker overskriften “Kortslutning”, i og med at de her selv gjør en logisk kortslutning.

Sannhet med modifikasjoner

Så protesterer MIFF på det som står i oppropet om at “Israel har gått fri for internasjonale reaksjoner og sanksjoner”. MIFF skriver at Israel har blitt utsatt for diplomatisk press og boikott fra arabiske stater. Vel:

- Diplomatisk press en ingen sanksjon.

- Boikott fra et fåtall stater er ingen internasjonal sanksjon.

Så hvor er det MIFF ser internasjonale sanksjoner mot Israel? Hver gang FNs Generalforsamling nærmest enstemmig har gått inn for sanksjoner ovenfor Israel, har det blitt stoppet i Sikkerhetsrådet, av USAs veto. Dette har skjedd gang på gang på gang.

Norge som forhandlingspartner

MIFF skriver ironisk at Israel sikkert får mer tillit til det internasjonale samfunnet som forhandlingspartner dersom NTNU vedtar boikott. Dette handler derimot ikke om tillit. Det handler om å sette politisk press på en okkupant. Akkurat som vi boikottet Sør-Afrikas apartheidregime, må nå Israelske institusjoner boikottes for å legge politisk press på Israel, og presse de til å inngå kompromisser og innrømmelser. Det har nemlig vært absolutt mangelvare tidligere. Og nå er det høyst nødvendig, palestinerne har stadig mindre land, og bor under stadig dårligere kår. Flere har stilt spørsmålstegn om hvorvidt det lenger er mulig å få til en palestinsk stat i de gjenværende territoriene. Det haster.

Måle og veie israelere

Først går MIFF til frontalangrep på Abbas, fordi han ikke på vegne av palestinerne godtok å skulle opprette en palestinsk stat på Vestbredden. Hvorfor skulle han det? Palestinerne har krav på langt mer enn bare Vestbredden ifølge FN. Så hvorfor skulle palestinerne bli tvunget til å godta Israels krav? Palestinerne ble lovet litt under halvparten av sitt hjemland fra FN, hvorfor skal de ta til takke med noen skarve prosenter, mens Israel får beholde over 80%?

Avslutningen er en kritikk om at oppropet er noe tvetydig på hvilken okkupasjon man skal kreve avsluttet, 1948 eller 1967-grensene. Det er vel mindre viktig i denne sammenhengen, det er jo ikke som om NTNU vil være noen myndighet på dette området uansett – det viktige er å få til et politisk press mot Israel, så får den politiske prosessen vise hvilke grenser man ender opp med.

Totalt sett var dette en særdeles lite slagkraftig disseksjon.

Which is the most ethnically diverse city in the Middle East? Go on, have a think. What’s your best guess? Dubai?

My guess might surprise you. If you discount Mecca during the haj – which hosts 3 million people from seemingly every country in the world – I’d say the answer is Tel Aviv. I just got back from there, on assignment for The Independent, and was delighted to get reacquainted with what is an amazingly diverse city.

In the space of a few days, and aside from Israelis, I talked to Afghans, Iranians, Palestinians, Egyptians, Iraqis, Romanians, Americans, Ethiopians, French, Brazilians, South Africans, Moroccans, British, and more – most of them Israeli by nationality but carrying cultural identities originating all over the world.

There are, of course, very specific political and cultural reasons for Tel Aviv’s diversity – before and after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 people were encouraged to go there to make a new life, in the process erasing several pre-existing communities. For some observers, that turns the city into an illegitimate implant. For me, it turns it into a living reflection of the region’s human tragedies – a precious, uniquely valuable record of the results of intolerance.

The injustices are not clear-cut. The thinking among politicians and ordinary people, both in Israel and in other countries, which resulted in whole communities arriving en masse in Tel Aviv strikes me as being just as racist as the thinking which has legitimized the complete emasculation by Israel of Old Jaffa. This once-thriving Palestinian city, dating back to the Old Testament, is now shockingly reduced to a touristy stop on a sightseeing tour, hosting only galleries run by wealthy Israeli artists and a handful of underplayed (or, in the case of the Jaffa museum, neglected) historical attractions.

Seafront districts of Jaffa are now full of luxury villas and condos, designed in a pastiche style more reminiscent of contemporary architecture in the Gulf – pointed arches splashed around in a vain attempt to locate the building within some kind of cultural context. Tel Aviv has much beauty, but it has made Jaffa ugly – literally and metaphorically.

Jaffa is a mostly overlooked link to further themes of exile and displacement. In 1948 many people from there were forced to flee to the Jordanian capital, Amman – barely 100km to the east.

Like Tel Aviv, Amman’s character has been shaped by movements of people. Once a mainly bedouin city, its population doubled in the space of a few weeks in 1948 as Palestinians arrived in large numbers seeking refuge from war and persecution in Israel. The same thing happened in 1967 – and again in 1991, as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from Kuwait. After the 2003 Gulf War, hundreds of thousands more people arrived in Amman from Iraq. The city, poor to begin with, and buffeted by waves of refugees, has often struggled to cope.

Amman has remained overwhelmingly Muslim and ethnically homogeneous. Yet Tel Aviv – which has remained overwhelmingly Jewish – has become ethnically very diverse.

This isn’t the place to bang on about cultural identity, but one thing is interesting to note. Tel Aviv has frequently been active in facilitating the absorption of large numbers of immigrants (aided, of course, by political engagement and lots of money). Amman, by contrast, has been almost entirely passive: urban planning is a recent innovation and a sense of shared endeavour has been almost completely lacking. As a consequence Amman sprawls, while Tel Aviv flows.

Yet both were founded in 1909. Both have been celebrating their centenary this year with cultural events and public parties – a parade in Amman, fireworks in Tel Aviv – and dedicated websites (this for Amman, this for Tel Aviv). Both cities identify strongly with their populations’ experience of transplant and exile: in both, a simple “Where are you from?” is enough to cue a life-story. They have a lot to share.

But there has been no contact. I know only a handful of people in both cities who have made the journey to visit their urban neighbours. Isn’t that a pity?

Check out this awesome ‘48 Caddy! More pics after the jump!

[streetfire id=8a058856-4d43-4248-b747-9cb500f4571a w=428 h=352]

Some two years back, I had collected a list of songs picturised on Railways and I thought that I had covered almost all the songs that were there on this topic. By now, I have discovered several more Rail songs.

This rare and old song from “Actress” (1948) is one such song. The picturisation of this song shows a few ladies singing in a moving train. They are mocking a gentleman who is dressed in western clothes. This song is from 1948 when India had recently become independent from England. Gandhi, the leader of the freedom struggle had given the call for giving up western ways of dressing and had exhorted the Indians to dress in native dressed using homdespun yard called Khadi. This song talks of the same ideals of Gandhi.

This light hearted song is sung by Shamshad Begam, Lalita Dewoolkar and others. It is picturised on Rehana and Meena and others. I guess that the western attired gentleman is Prem Adeeb, but I can be totally wrong.

The song is written by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and music is composed by Shyam Sunder. It is a lovely song and a rare gem. I stumbled upon this song nly just now and I loved listening to it (and watching it).

Song-Hello hello gentleman milaate kyun nahin hamse nain (Actress) (1948) Shamshad Begam, Lalita Dewoolkar,Lyrics-Raja Mehdi Ali Khan, MD-Shyam Sundar

Lyrics

hello hello gentleman
milaate kyun nahin hamse nain
milaate kyun nahin hamse nain
tabeeyat kaisi hai kaisi hai kaisi hai
tabeeyat tabeeyat tabeeyat
kaisi hai kaisi hai kaisi hai
hello hello hello hello hello hello

Hat to hamne phenk diyaa
Hat to hamne phenk diyaa
tum phenko necktie
tum phenko necktie
chalaa gayaa Angarez
kah do in sab ko good bye
kah do in sab ko good bye
English cheezen kar do ban
English cheezen kar do ban
be an indian if you can
be an indian if you can

hello hello gentleman
milaate kyun nahin hamse nain
tabeeyat kaisi hai kaisi hai kaisi hai
tabeeyat tabeeyat tabeeyat
kaisi hai kaisi hai kaisi hai
hello hello hello hello hello hello

aankhen kholo
aankhen kholo
badal gayaa hai India kaa map
badalaa India kaa map
bhaag gayi Angrezi topi
rah gayi Gandhi cap
bhaag gayi Angrezi topi
rah gayi Gandhi cap
rah gayi Gandhi cap
rah gayi apni Gandhi cap
down down Angrezi topi
down down Angrezi topi
up up Gandhi cap
up up Gandhi cap
khaddar pahno
aji tum khaddar pahno
khaddar pahno gentleman
phenko English fllallen
phenko phenko phenko phenko phenko

Someone sent me a link to this political blog after noticing who produced the vintage political cartoon posted there:

I never knew Harding College produced cartoons!

Anyway, with government involvement in various industries today, and with all the current discussion on conservative talk radio about communism and socialism being forced on America, this cartoon is making the rounds again.

Copyright Photo: Stephen Toernblom. Airbus A320-232 N562JB (msn 1948) is the second aircraft in the new Blueberries tail design. It is pictured at Long Beach.

JetBlue Airways (New York-JFK) has announced another major expansion at Boston, already a focus city. The airline will add 30 percent more flights at BOS by next summer. The company will have 78 daily flights to 33 destinations after the expansion.

Press release:

finance.yahoo.com/news/JetBlue-Airways-Announces-prnews-4096078052.html?x=0&.v=1

In other news, JetBlue today adds Kingston, Jamaica and the New York-JFK-Kingston route with daily Airbus A320 service. KIN is the 14th international destination.

Press release:

finance.yahoo.com/news/JetBlue-Jets-to-Second-prnews-2191152653.html?x=0&.v=1

Below is the address of Quaid e Azam, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, to the tribes of Waziristan and NWFP. No doubt, he was a great leader who had a vision to Pakistan ahead.

Look how he handled the tribes and made them an integral part of Pakistan and compare it with the current military and political leadership, how they have created a mess in these areas and started a war with our own people.

Address to the Tribal Jirga at Government House, Peshawar on 17th April, 1948

I have been looking forward since long to meet you, representatives of the Tribes of the North-West Frontier, and it has given me very great pleasure indeed to have met you here today. I am sorry I have not been able to visit you in your own part of the country, but I hope to be able to do so sometime in the future.

I thank you for you’re welcome to me and for the kind personal references you have made about me. Whatever I have done, I did as a servant of Islam, and only tried to perform my duty and made every possible contribution within my power to help our nation. It has been my constant endeavour to try to bring about unity among Mussalmans, and I hope that in the great task of reconstruction and building up Great and Glorious Pakistan, that is ahead of us, you realize that solidarity is now more essential than it ever was for achieving Pakistan, which by the Grace of God we have already done. I am sure that I shall have your fullest support in this mission. I want every Mussalman to do his utmost and help me and support me in creating complete solidarity among the Mussalmans, and I am confident that you will not lag behind any other individual or part of Pakistan. We Mussalmans believe in one God, one book–the Holy Quran–and one Prophet. So we must stand united as one Nation. You know the old saying that in unity lies strength united we stand, divided we fall.

I am glad to note that you have pledged your loyalty to Pakistan, and that you will help Pakistan with all your resources and ability. I appreciate this solemn declaration made by you today. I am fully aware of the part that you have already played in the establishment of Pakistan, and I am thankful to you for all the sympathy and support you gave me in my struggle and fight for the establishment of Pakistan. Keeping in view your loyalty, help, assurances and declarations we ordered, as you know, the withdrawal of troops from Waziristan as a concrete and definite gesture on our part–that we treat you with absolute confidence and trust you as our Muslim brethren across the border. I am glad that there is full realization on your part that now the position is basically different. It is no longer a foreign Government as it was, but it is now a Muslim government and Muslim rule that holds the reigns of this great independent sovereign State of Pakistan. It is now the duty of every Mussalman, yours and mine, and every Pakistani to see that the State, which we have established, is strengthened in every department of life and made prosperous and happy for all, especially the poor and the needy.

Pakistan has no desire to unduly interfere with your internal freedom. On the contrary; Pakistan wants to help you and make you, as far as it lies in our power, self-reliant and self-sufficient and help in your educational, social and economic uplift, and not be left as you are dependent on annual doles, as has been the practice hitherto which meant that at the end of the year you were no better off than beggars asking for allowances, if possible a little more. We want to put you on your legs as self-respecting citizens who have the opportunities of fully developing and producing what is best in you and your land. You know that the Frontier Province is a deficit province, but that does not trouble us so much. Pakistan will not hesitate to go out of its way to give every possible help–financial and otherwise–to build up the economic and social life of our tribal brethren across the border.

I agree with you that education is absolutely essential, and I am glad that you appreciate the value of it. It will certainly be my constant solicitude and indeed that of my Government to try to help you to educate your children and with your co-operation and help we may very soon succeed in making a great progress in this direction.

Your desire for entering the Pakistan Service in the Civil and Military will receive my full consideration and that of my Government, and I hope that some progress would be made in this direction also without unnecessary delay.

You have also expressed your desire that the benefit, such as your allowances and khassadari, that you have had in the past and are receiving, should continue. Neither my Government nor I have any desire to modify the existing arrangements except, in consultation with you, so long as you remain loyal and faithful to Pakistan.

I know there has been scarcity of foodgrains, cloth, and sugar. You must realize that we have all been passing through difficult times all over the world and Pakistan is no exception; indeed the whole world is facing hardships, but we are not unmindful of this problem, and we are endeavouring to the utmost of our capacity, with special care for Baluchistan and the Frontier Province, and you will not be neglected in. this respect. We will do our utmost to see that essential commodities reach you in time and in reasonably sufficient quantities. I am hoping and looking forward to the time when more normal conditions may present themselves to us, so that we may be able to live with more ease and comfort in the way of food, clothing, housing and all the necessities of life.

In the end, I warmly thank you for the wholehearted and unstinted declaration of your pledge and your assurances to support Pakistan, so that it may reach the pinnacle of glories of Islam and become a great and mighty nation among other nations of the world.

Pakistan Zindabad

Sixty one years ago we were warned of the “ism’s” that are threatening our freedoms and rights. Since that time we have become like ostrich’s, hiding our heads in the sand and ignoring the inevitable. I encourage each and every one of you to watch this cartoon and be reminded once again the price that will be paid if we drink from the bottle of the snake oil of the salesman, today that salesman is our very own President, his congress and his many czars…It is time to wake up America and run “Dr. ISM out-of-town for his tonic is toxic to our liberty and way of life that our forefather’s had envisioned for us…………..