Pat McDonnell Twair
Interfaith Vigil to End Occupation Calls on U.S. to Impose Cease-Fire
 By Pat and Samir Twair
On July 16th, five days into Israel's blitz on Lebanon, the Interfaith Community United for Justice and Peace convened a meeting of Jews, Christians and Muslims in the Islamic Center of Southern California. Speakers were Rev. Dr. George Regas, Rabbi Leonard Beerman and Dr. Maher Hathout. "We must speak out against violence," Rev. Regas, retired rector of All Saints Episcopal Church of Pasadena, told the audience of 250 concerned citizens. While denouncing the capture of Israeli soldiers by Hamas and Hezbollah, the cleric called on Israel to cease its greatly overproportional actions in Lebanon and Gaza. |
"Control Room" Views War on Iraq Through Al-Jazeera's Lenses
EVER SINCE THE Bush administration described it as the mouthpiece of Osama bin Laden, the Arab satellite TV network al-Jazeera has been a mystery to most Americans.
Until June, that is, when as many as 110 cinemas across the country were screening Jehane Noujaim's "Control Room," which documents al-Jazeera's coverage of the six weeks before, during and after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Her focus on the controversial Arab station was accidental, said Noujaim, who earned critical acclaim for her 2001 documentary, "Startup.com." As the whole world watched the downhill slide into the 2003 Gulf war, the Harvard-educated filmmaker became obsessed with being in the midst of the action, reporting how the Arab and Western media covered the invasion.
Because her mother is an American from Indiana and her father is Egyptian, Noujaim explained, she is equally at home in the U.S. or Egypt. In the States, accusations were rife that al-Jazeera was churning out anti-American propaganda to its 40 million Arab viewers. In Cairo, however, her father couldn't get enough of the news channel. It was the same for most Egyptians.
Noujaim, who just turned 30, said she became aware of the al-Jazeera phenomenon as early as 1997, when she took a break from her job as a producer for MTV's News and Documentary division to visit her parents in Cairo. She was amazed to see as many as 30 or 40 people crowded around a TV set watching debates on al-Jazeera about religion, the rights of divorced women, or birth control.
Shirin Ebadi, Iran's Nobel Peace Laureate
AN ESTIMATED 800,000 Iranian Americans live in Southern California-and it seemed as if half of them were on the UCLA campus May 14 to hear Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
In truth, 1,400 people lined up in front of historic Royce Hall to hear Ebadi deliver a speech entitled, "Islam, Democracy and Human Rights." Her appearance was sponsored by the Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations.
During the nearly 90-minute wait, this writer asked an Iranian journalist if she was proud to have Ebadi speaking in Los Angeles.
"Of course, I'm proud," she replied, "but not as proud as I was on that day in 2003 when she received the award."
"Convergence" a Breakthrough Drama of Arab/Israeli Tragedy, Hopes, Despair
from: WRMEA
Playwright Shakir Yusif Farsakh proves he is a master of character development in his two-act drama, "Convergence." In a small Los Angeles theater, the audience's empathy for the players was palpable. This was no small feat, considering that the two protagonists are the commander of a suicide bomb brigade and a colonel in an occupying army.
California Couple Launch Effort to Resurrect Iraq's Dessicated Marshlands
from: WRMEA (used w/permission).
For 7,000 years, the moist, fertile inland delta where the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers converge in what is now called southern Iraq has supported a unique ecosystem and culture. The abundance of fish, wildlife, birds and soil conducive to growing barley and wheat gave rise to the first city states of the Sumerians. In fact, some archeologists believe this was the Eden alluded to in the Old Testament and earlier texts of the ancient Near East.
