Global Voices

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The world is talking, are you listening?

Israel blogger Elizabeth Tsurkov tweets:

@Elizrael: Today is the 65th anniversary of the Deir Yassin Massacre, one of the worst crimes ever committed by armed Israelis

Music for a better future. Screenshot from Mideast Tunes’ Indiego campaign video.

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Uruguayan activist and journalist María Landi shares her reports on Palestine in her blog Palestina en el corazón [es] (Palestine in the heart). Radio Mundo Real [es] recently interviewed Landi on current events in Palestine.

Palestinian blogger Budoor Hassan shares the story of two women in this blog post – Nariman Tamimi in Nabi Saleh, a tiny village north west of Ramallah in the West Bank and Maha Ghrer in Bustan Al-Qasr, a neighbourhood in Aleppo, Syria.

Amira Abd El-Khalek, an Egyptian blogger who studied English literature and anthropology in Egypt and UK, wrote on the Arabic Literature blog about an evening of Palestinian poets, Asma’a Azaizeh and Marwan Makhoul, which was hosted by Banipal magazine and the Mosaic Rooms in London. During discussions that followed the poetry readings, both poets were asked about reading their work in Israel, their relationship to their work, and more.

M. Lynx Qualey, blogger, who is interested in Arab and Arabic literature, wrote a series of posts introducing acclaimed Arab poets, novelists, and short-story writers’ favorite Arab reads of 2012. She started with a list of nonfiction books, then followed by a list for poetry [En] and fiction [En].

From Ramallah to Gaza, Linah Alsaafin had to travel through two countries – and two continents – for a tearful reunion with her grandmother. Read her account here.

About 100 people gathered in Sofia's central square to show their support for the victims of Israel's recent Operation Pillar of Defense in the Gaza Strip. Facebook page “Together for Palestine” [bg] has this photo of commemorative candles lit in Bulgaria's capital; another page, “Bulgaria supports Palestinian independence in the UN” [bg], has more updates and photos. A few pro- and anti-Assad Syrians were seen arguing with each other during this solidarity gathering:

Photo by Ruslan Trad.

Foreign expats, the local Muslim community and local Hong Kongers marched peacefully to hand in a letter to the Israeli consulate. Photo use with permission from HongWrong.com.

Hong Wrong has collected reports and photos on the weekend protest demanding an end to the Israeli occupation and the current bombardment of Gaza.

Photo of the march posted on Twitter by @mojteba

After Friday Prayers, hundreds of Mauritanians took to the streets of the capital Nouakchott on November 16, 2012, in a solidarity rally with Gaza residents after the city became the target of heavy Israeli bombing.
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Photograph of a dog biting a Palestinian woman, from the Facebook page I Love Dogs

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“Gulf countries awfully quiet about Gaza,” tweets Foreign Policy editor Blake Hounshell. Lebanese journalist Antoun Issa adds:

@antissa: Amazing how eager GCC are to arm Arabs to fight each other, while disappearing completely when it comes to Palestine. #Gaza

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is made up of Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Outraged by the Israeli air strikes attacks in Gaza earlier this week, peace activist in Hong Kong has organized a peaceful protest in the coming Sunday (November 18, 2012) to express their solidarity with the victims in Gaza.

Greek blogger Asteris Masouras uses Storify to collect the first reactions to the latest Gaza-Israel face off.

#PrayForGaza ..trending globally on Twitter

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On Twitter, Egyptian Nora Shalaby shares the link to a document which contains a constantly updated list of demonstrations being planned in support of Gaza worldwide. The list is being maintained by Omar Robert Hamilton (@RiverDryFilm) and @southsouth.

Israel and Alqassam Bridages exchange threats on Twitter. Screenshot shared by @AlexYudelson

Alex Yudelson shares a screenshot of tweets in which the account of the Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson and Palestinian Alqassam Brigades exchange threats – on Twitter.

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Palestinian poet and author Mourid Al Barghouti tweets [ar]: “By God, how can governments which fear the Internet scare their enemies?”

Celebrating Eid in Jaffa 1920

The Facebook page Tradition in Palestine shares a picture which reflects Eid celebration in Jaffa in 1920 with the following comment:

as in my parents description to Eid: magic lantern, rope swing and ice cream and juice vendors

Scandinavian ship SV Estella will attempt to sail to Gaza in an attempt to break the blockade on the Palestinian enclave. The ship sailed from Oslo on August 7, 2012, and is backed by mostly Swedish and Norwegian groups. Organizers hope that other ships will join them before they reach Gaza in October. for updates, follow the mission's Twitter account @ShiptoGazaSE.

Tunisian blogger Nawel Abdullah posts an interview [ar] she conducted with the founder of The Australian Society for the Palestinian-Iraqi Refugee Emergency Yousef Alreemawi, who speaks to her about the plight of Palestinian refugees living in Iraq and efforts to resettle some of them in Australia.

Palestinian blogger Abir Kopty writes an open letter to Arabs. “From Egypt to Yemen, from Bahrain to Libya, from Tunis to Syria, we watch your revolutions disrupted, stolen and countered. The same forces that helped keeping us away from our freedom, are the same working today against you,” she notes.

Blogger Iqbal Tamimi posts rare photographs of Nazareth city in Palestine, which go back to 1840-1940.

Blogger Iqbal Tamimi posts rare photographs of the Palestinian Nakba of 1948.

Crikey's NAJ Taylor gathers five of Australia's Middle East diaspora to write about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction of Israel campaign. How effective is it at “balancing the competing harms”? How “useful is [it] for members of the Israeli and Palestinian, as well as Jewish and Muslim, diaspora”?

A silent meeting in support of Palestine's bid for a UN seat and independence took place in Sofia on Sep. 20, organized by the Bulgarian-Palestinian Association for Friendship and Development. There was coverage by Press TV and here are photos from the event on Facebook (Bulgaria to support independent Palestine in UN).

Chris Keeler, from Notes from a Medinah, rehashes a Twitter conversation between Blake Hounshell of Foreign Policy, Marc Lynch (Abu Aardvark) of the Middle East Channel and Yousef Munayyer of The Palestine Center on the Palestinian statehood here.

Blogger and activist Emir Mourad posts a series of links [pt] about the launching event of the Palestinian State Committee in São Paulo, Brazil. The committee supports the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state and the request to the international community that will be presented on the opening day of the UN General Assembly, September 20.