Category Archives: Countries

History of Frankincense

Archaeology and Antiquities, Oman, Plants


Omani women refreshing clothing with frankincense smoke

The website of the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center has a number of interesting online pages. One of these is a pictorial history of frankincense and myrrh. Here are some of the tidbits about both of these important trade items:

• Almost all frankincense comes from western Oman, where it is used for everything from deodorant and toothpaste to food and drink flavoring.
• Frankincense and myrrh were so expensive in Europe that southern Arabia became known as Arabia Felix, “Arabia the Blessed.” Continue reading History of Frankincense →

Stoves for Darfur

Development, Gender and Sexuality, Sudan


The $30 stoves help keep Darfur’s women safe
by reducing their time away from the refugee camps.

Stoves help keep Darfur’s women out of harm’s way
Larry Lazo, CNN

In Sudan’s Darfur region, where violence and genocide are rampant, women risk their lives every day performing tasks as seemingly mundane as seeking out firewood.

But, from his suburban home, one Maryland teen has dedicated himself to making life a little safer for those women. Continue reading Stoves for Darfur →

Islam in Australia

Australia, Immigration Issues

[The following is an excerpt from Understanding Muslim Identities: From Perceived Relative Exclusion to Inclusion by Samina Yasmeen (Centre for Muslim States and Societies , University of Western Australia), written in May 2008 and available as a pdf at http://www.omi.wa.gov.au/.]

Islam in Australia

Islam and Muslims are not new to Australia. The history of Muslim contacts with
Australia predates European settlement. Fishermen from Macasser regularly visited
Australia’s northern shores in December for four months to catch trepang. While self
sufficient and non-intrusive, the regular contacts left their mark on the language and
culture of the indigenous communities of the Arnhem Land and neighbouring areas.
These indigenous communities borrowed words from the Macassans’ vocabulary and
depicted their influence in their paintings. The first regular settlement of Muslims in
Australia, however, started in 1860 with the arrival of 3 camel-drivers from British India.
Over the next fifty years, their number exceeded 2,000. Continue reading Islam in Australia →

What You Don’t Know About Gaza

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Books You Should Read, Palestine


Professor Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University, left

What You Don’t Know About Gaza
By RASHID KHALIDI, The New York Times, January 8, 2009

NEARLY everything you’ve been led to believe about Gaza is wrong. Below are a few essential points that seem to be missing from the conversation, much of which has taken place in the press, about Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip.

THE GAZANS Most of the people living in Gaza are not there by choice. The majority of the 1.5 million people crammed into the roughly 140 square miles of the Gaza Strip belong to families that came from towns and villages outside Gaza like Ashkelon and Beersheba. They were driven to Gaza by the Israeli Army in 1948.

THE OCCUPATION The Gazans have lived under Israeli occupation since the Six-Day War in 1967. Continue reading What You Don’t Know About Gaza →

How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Ethics, Israel, Palestine


A wounded Palestinian policeman gestures while lying on the ground outside Hamas police headquarters following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Photograph: Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images

How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe
by Avi Shlain, The Guardian, Wednesday 7 January 2009

The only way to make sense of Israel’s senseless war in Gaza is through understanding the historical context. Establishing the state of Israel in May 1948 involved a monumental injustice to the Palestinians. British officials bitterly resented American partisanship on behalf of the infant state. On 2 June 1948, Sir John Troutbeck wrote to the foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, that the Americans were responsible for the creation of a gangster state headed by “an utterly unscrupulous set of leaders”. I used to think that this judgment was too harsh but Israel’s vicious assault on the people of Gaza, and the Bush administration’s complicity in this assault, have reopened the question.

I write as someone who served loyally in the Israeli army in the mid-1960s and who has never questioned the legitimacy of the state of Israel within its pre-1967 borders. What I utterly reject is the Zionist colonial project beyond the Green Line. Continue reading How Israel brought Gaza to the brink of humanitarian catastrophe →

Gaza aid diary: Nowhere is safe

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Development, Palestine


Many Gazan families are in need of aid, but NGOs are struggling to reach them all [GALLO/GETTY]


Gaza aid diary: Nowhere is safe

by Salwa El Tibi in Gaza, Al-Jazeera, Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Yesterday was the first time in nine days that I was able to leave my house.

It is about a 10 minute journey from my home to the warehouse where the Save the Children food parcels are stored – but even as I drove the Save the Children car to work, I felt very afraid.

The noise from the bombings was so loud. There were very few cars on the roads and all of the shops were closed.

I saw three buildings that had been completely destroyed.

Dangerous work

At the warehouse I waited for our volunteer staff who help to distribute our food parcels across different parts of the Gaza Strip.

When we distribute the parcels we work in groups because it is so dangerous. Continue reading Gaza aid diary: Nowhere is safe →

Murder in ‘Amran

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Judaism, Terrorism Issue, Yemen


Children of deceased Masha Nahari, playing in their front yard. Because of hostility against them and fear of harm they remain indoors as must as possible. (YT Photo by Amira Al-Sharif)

While Gaza crisis causes more hostility against Yemeni Jews,
murdered Jewish family demands transferring trail to Sana’a

by Mohammed bin Sallam, Yemen Times, January 4, 2009

SANA’A. During the second court session of the trial of Abdul Aziz Al-Abdi, who is accused of murdering Jewish citizen Masha Al-Nahari this past December 31, journalists and lawyers said that “the court session was full of chaos and quarrels. A soldier was attacked by one of the family members of the accused. In addition, the Jewish family received death threats from the murderer’s relatives.”

Advocates of Al-Nahari demanded to transfer the case and trial to Sana’a due to lack of proper security at the Amran Court and dominance of Al-Abdi’s relatives who �control the events of the session and create chaos inside the court hall,” said Abdul Rahman Barman, a lawyer from Allaw Law Foundation which volunteered to defend Al-Nahari’s case in the court. Continue reading Murder in ‘Amran →

The Siege of Gaza

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Election 2008, Israel, Palestine


A bomb dropped by an Israeli air force F-16 jet exploding in Beit Hanoun, north of the Gaza Strip.

The Siege of Gaza: Barack Obama’s First ‘Test’?
John L. Esposito, Middle East Online, December 31, 2008

Until the Israeli government gets a message that the international community will hold Israel to the same standards as it does other nations and the Palestinians, there can be no hope for peace negotiations to work.

While some had predicted Barack Obama would be “tested” early in his administration by America’s enemy Osama, Obama’s first major foreign policy “test” has instead come from America’s ally, Israel. Continue reading The Siege of Gaza →