Arab Semite

Israel has quite deliberately destroyed the 800 year old An-Nasr Mosque in Beit Hanoun, Gaza province of Palestine. The mosque was built in year 637 AH and named after the Umm An-Nasr battle between Palestinian and Muslim armies and Crusaders' armies. Destruction of places of warship is a war crime defined under the Geneva Conventions.

It’s been a while since i’ve been able to update. The usual excuses. A few stories of importance or at least excitement recently. Giant Camel bones found in Syria , estimated to be 100,000 years old. These guys were as big as giraffes or elephants. It seems the animals were mostly hunted for food rather than used as transportation. And seperately, at the lovely Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, a talk on November 5th with the following abstract. The Israeli Antiquities Authority has a history of excluding, and even destroying non "Israelite" archaeological finds in Palestine. This find by the IAA bolsters evidence that the majority of civilizational activity in Palestine in the 9th century BC and beyond were in the coastal regions where the indigenous Canaanite population has always lived, and continue to today as modern Palestinians. "Yavneh, a city some 20 km south of Tel Aviv, was a Philistine city on the border with Judah. It was occupied for numerous...

From Kahlil Gibran: Published July 1926. I believe in you, and I believe in your destiny. I believe that you are contributors to this new civilization. I believe that you have inherited from your forefathers an ancient dream, a song, a prophecy, which you can proudly lay as a gift of gratitude upon the lap of America. I believe that you can say to the founders of this great nation, "Here I am, a youth, a young tree whose roots were plucked from the hills of Lebanon, yet I am deeply rooted here, and I would be fruitful." And I believe that you can say to Abraham Lincoln, the blessed, "Jesus of Nazareth touched your lips when you spoke, and guided your hand when you wrote; and I shall uphold all that you have said and all that you have written." I believe that even as your fathers came to this land to produce riches, you were born to produce riches by intelligence and labor. I believe that it is in you to be good citizens. And what is it to be a good citizen? ...

Thanks to Google Books, I found some at least entertaining travelogues of Palestine from times bygone. Just in case we needed a reminder of the trouble orientalism had caused: "Just outside the town, under a clump of tamarisk-trees sat a group of dirty-looking Arabs, in pictureque rags. As we passed, they rose from their stony seats, and advanced toward us, holding out little tin cups for alms." (Pg 32, Domestic Life in Palestine, Pub. 1865). Still, they're quaint and sad reads into a country that once was and will be again.

Hi, been out of touch lately, its been a bit of a rough summer but things are much better now.. where to begin? well your intuitions and gut reaction are quite correct about the repugnancy. as you may know i went to many places across lebanon last year, it WAS a stunningly beautiful country. lebanon has about 20 or 22 distinct religious groups. its extremely diverse. teh Shiite Lebanese have relied on hezbollah to provide them very basic things (healthcare, education) at times when the government in lebanon was essentially non existant. they were responsible , almost singlehandedly driving out the israeli occupation army (the 4th strongest army in the world with about $4 billion in US MILITARY aid annually since 1967-- do the math) after an israeli occupation essneitally lasting since 1978-2000. When the israeli's first, actually the second time they invaded lebanon, in 1982, within the first week of invasion theykilled about 20,000 lebanese and palestinian civilians, christian m...

Sufi communities are "thriving" in Saudi Arabia since 2001. Previously, the House of Saud had done much to eradicate evidence of the Prophet Muhammad's existence, his burial site and those of his companions, house, and first Mosque in Medina by extensively "modernizing" the surrounding architecture. "Sufism had previously been predominant in Hejaz, the western region of Saudi Arabia, which includes Muhammad's birthplace, Mecca; Medina, where he is buried; and the Red Sea port city of Jiddah. Muslims prayed often at shrines where the prophet's daughter Fatima, his wife Khadija and his companions were buried. Mawlids were public affairs with entire cities decked out in lights, and parades and festivities commemorating the prophet's birthday and his ascension to Jerusalem." Companions of the Prophet Burial site early 1900's (left) . The tombs and mosoleums were destroyed in 1925 by King Saud. (right) The Prophet's Mosque in Medin...

Khaled Mashal, Hamas Political Bureau Chief , and former Physics Teacher, is based in Damascus. A Google News search shows Western and Israeli press villanizing him as an Iranian-style "Supreme Leader" of Hamas, and a seeker of "Jewish Blood." So what's he been up to lately?

Statue of Caliph Abu-Ja'far al-Mansur, founder of Baghdad, destroyed in Iraq.

A chart showing the progression of different semitic scripts, including Siniatic (pre-Canaanite).

From The Nestorian Church Website. Bordering the Arabian Gulf and containing the towns of Dhahran, Al-Khobar, Dammam, Qatif, Hofuf and Jubail, the Eastern Province is where oil was first discovered in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s. Near Jubail are the ruins of what was unearthed in the mid-1980s by a group of people attempting to dig their vehicle out of the sand. The ruins are known as the Jubail Church and are acknowledged by the Saudi bureaucracy who will not issue permits to visit it because "the site is being excavated." In any case, the ruins originally contained four stone crosses, which later went missing, though the marks where the crosses were are still visible. The ruins are thought to date from the 4th century, which make them older than any known church in Europe. Not much else is known but speculation is that it was in some way connected to one of the five Nestorian bishoprics which are known to have existed in this area of the Gulf in the 4th century.

There is a Wikipedia entry, albeit outdated, about Kamal Salibi now.

Hello out there-- I've finally broke down and created a blog. My main objective is to have a centralized repository of writings (my own and others), information, documents, and photos that discuss the status of Arab and Mid Eastern intellectual thought toward culture, history, archeology and current politics surrounding it. I have no idea where this will really lead but I've concluded it is the best option of a lot of bad options in organizing the myriad of information and readings I come across. I hope others find it useful too.