Finals week finished and as part of my tradition to return to normalcy, I went for a refreshing haircut at Mike’s in northwest Chicago, as far from campus as I could get. The owner was out and an elderly man filled his place. Having been a regular at Mike’s for years now, I wondered who this man was and how he fit into the medley of young barbers representing all shades of brown. His seat was empty so he called me over.
I quickly learned that he’s the owner’s father, a veteran barber from Beirut who, in just thirty minutes, managed to share so many memories and even more wisdom that I found it only appropriate to jot this experience down.
Wielding sharp shears in one hand and a thick comb in the other, he told me of his early days in Jaffa. He would spend hours overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in all its calm glory, watching children not much younger than him wade out into the dense water and ride the miniature incoming waves.
He traveled to Gaza regularly to visit his aunts and uncles and has fond memories of the days he spent in Mokhayyam al-Shaati’, a refugee camp in the heart of Gaza City right along the coast. The ports were open at that time and he would watch boats unload their cargo freely. Although small and rocky, the mina saw its fair share of action. Even smugglers found the port to be a useful leg in their journeys moving cars and furniture through the Middle East. [Read more...]
A Palestinian man sits in the shade of his storefront in central Gaza City.
In the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City, Kareem sits with his father and brother during a family visit.
A Palestinian student holds one of two images of his brother currently detained in Israel’s Nafha Prison. Hussain Mustafa Al-Loh is serving a 99-year prison term 
Israeli military commends itself for saving, not taking, lives
After reading the Israeli military’s latest report on its service to humanity, one might actually be compelled to believe that the Israeli military “is always ready to leave everything behind and save lives”. But unless you are a seal trained to clap at the clowns behind such a deceptive report, this should instead lead you to question the morality of Israel’s armed forces and how their mission to save lives ends just outside of Palestine’s borders.
The report features the National Search and Rescue Unit, a collection of volunteer Israeli soldiers, as one component of the Israeli military’s overall dedication to providing humanitarian aid in Israel and abroad. According to the report, this group of individuals was responsible for saving the life of a little girl hidden beneath the rubble of her home after a devastating earthquake hit Turkey in 1999. Admirable, yes, so let us ask Jihan al-Hilu what she thinks about Israel’s altruism. It is likely that she shares the same opinion as Mahdi al-’Athamneh.
Here would be the perfect place to insert quotes by sixteen-year-old Jihan and fifteen-year-old Mahdi but they are not with us to share their thoughts. Jihan and her entire family were killed on January 18, 2009, when armed Israeli forces, not an earthquake, fired a barrage of missiles at her home in Gaza City. Similarly, Mahdi was among the nineteen civilians killed when the Israeli military shelled a residential neighborhood in Beit Hanoun and collapsed his home on his family in 2006. Where was Israel’s altruism then? [Read more...]