JAMAL: OUR MAN IN PALESTINE

Sunday 22 July, 2012

Jamal:  ‘Our’ Man in Palestine

Hameed Abdul Karim

It’s not every day that you see a foreigner greeting another foreigner with the words ‘Ayubowan’ with clasped hands and all in a foreign land. But that’s how Jamal Soliman greeted the Palestinian secretary of Dr. T. Jayasinghe, our affable ambassador in Palestine, when Mahinda Hattaka and I visited our embassy in Ramallah.

Jamal Soliman is our ambassador’s driver and translator and PR man all rolled into one. Tall, handsome and built like an ox, with features similar to British actor John Gleese; he is quite as jovial as his look alike and never at a loss for words to give you a laugh. Quite a guy this Jamal!

Dr.Jayasinghe: The Doyen of the Palestinian Community

                                                                       

     Sunday 17 June, 2012

Dr. Jayasinghe: The Doyen of the Palestinian Community

Hameed Abdul Karim

On one day of our visit to Palestine we were stuck without transport and so we called Dr. Jayasinghe, our representative in Palestine, and explained our situation. He told us not to worry and that he will ‘do something’. A while later he called us and said someone will come to pick us up in about fifteen minutes. 

That ‘someone’ turned out to be the landlord of the house in which the Sri Lankan embassy is situated. He happens to be quite a wealthy man with considerable clout. On the way he told us he had visited Sri Lanka on one occasion and was quite taken up by the hospitality of her people. Talking about Dr. Jayasinghe he told us that he would do anything for him even if he called him in the middle of the night.  “I love the man like a father’ he said. Such is the high esteem in which Dr. Jayasinghe is held in the Palestinian community.

UN COMPLICITY IN THE MASSACRE

Sunday January 4, 2009

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UN complicity in the massacre

Hameed Abdul Karim

TNI

The Sunday Times

January 2009

'How many times can a man turn his head and pretend he just doesn't see'

- Bob Dylan

The line from Bob Dylan's immortal song 'Blowin' in the Wind' made famous by legends like Stevie Wonder and the trio Peter, Paul and Mary and himself among others takes on a new and poignant relevancy in the context of Israel's vicious attacks on the Palestinians in Gaza.

The man who is supposed to see the misery of the Palestinians and do something to redress their plight as they suffer yet another Israeli pogrom is the UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon. Instead he comes in front of TV cameras and repeats the mantra that Israel has the right to defend itself against terror and then went on to blame regional players who he claims have not done enough to bring peace to the Middle East with nary a word of criticism of Israel.

THE ARAB REVOLUTION DEALS A BLOW TO 'PROJECT ISRAEL'

20 February, 2011 Times 2

The Arab Revolution deals a blow to 'Project Israel'  Hameed Abdul Karim Hilary Clinton's message that the US wants to make Egypt a model democracy in the region seems like as if it's yet another pitch to keep the country as a satellite state that it was under the 'moderate' dictator Hosni Mubarak. During all those thirty years under Mubarak and a dozen or so years under Anwar Sadat, the US didn't care so much as a hoot for the suffering of the Egyptian under the brutal tyranny of the US's favourite dictators. And the US heaped praise for protecting their interests and for keeping the region stable. Stability was the operative word. Now the ruling elite in the US root for democracy in Egypt and that's because the very people they oppressed through Mubarak and his cronies are about to take the reins of power.

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JVP’s stance on Palestine

Hameed Abdul Karim

 

The repeated JVP statement that the Norwegians had created the state of Palestine while acting as peace-makers in the troubled Middle East and’ that they are hell bent on doing the same thing here by creating Eelam is sending confusing signals all around.

Hamas' Refusal to Recognise Israel and Ahmedinejad's Prediction

Hamas’ refusal to recognise Israel and Ahmedinejad’s prediction 

- Hameed Abdul Karim

Not many paid any attention when Ayatollah Khomeini predicted Russia’s break up. But lo and behold, the USSR did cease to exist as Khomeini said it would. When his prediction came to pass, some people thought he had the ‘gift of prophecy’. But he quashed these rumours saying he was only going by events as he saw them. 

Will the World Stand Up for Palestine's Children?

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Will the world stand up for Palestinian children?


Hameed Abdul Karim

'In the future if I grow up, and in Gaza it's an achievement to grow up, because death is standing at your doorstep, I want to defend the rights of children - Yasmeen (Born 1996. In 'Gaza Monologues)
The stories we hear of little children being forced to become 'child soldiers' in armed combat are as horrible as you can imagine. We shudder at such cruelty. When thoughts such as these creep into our minds we tend to tremble and have a tendency to reach out to our children and hug them in a protective sort of way. But then how much do we care about children who are killed in their beds or in their schools or as they play in the modest open space they can find? Do we feel for them? Apparently not.