The Amman Comedy Festival is the only stand-up comedy festival in the Middle East and December 2009 marked the second edition of this weeklong rib-tickling extravaganza. The first, held in 2008, attracted an audience of over 3000 Jordanians and Arabs, and was such a resounding success, organizers the Greater Amman Municipality decided to do it all over again. The event is held in collaboration with the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and invites comedians from Jordan and other parts of the world to come and raise laughs.

I think the festival’s a great idea, and represents a wonderful, good-spirited way to dispel some of the stereotypes and misrepresentations of Arabs in the mainstream press.

Experts at Making Fun of Ourselves

Audience members laughed deep from their bellies, as comedians stood up and revealed some of the anecdotes of Arab life, from the inside. Two of the festival’s seven nights were dedicated to stand-up material in Arabic.

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Doha is Arab Capital of Culture for 2010, and the festivities have kicked off with some fabulous events over the past couple of months in the name Arab culture.

I just found out about Arab Capital of Culture, via an article by the Syrian Arab News Agency: it’s an initiative undertaken by the Arab League under UNESCO’s Cultural Capitals Program that celebrates Arab culture and encourage cooperation in the Arab region. Doha has been selected for 2010, to follow in the footsteps of Damascus, Arab Capital of Culture 2008 and the Jerusalem, Arab Capital of Culture 2009.

Syria and Qatar: Partners in Promoting Arab Culture

The Doha event began with a series of activities to showcase Syrian Cultural Week, which took place at the end of January. In his opening speech, Syrian Minister of Culture Riadh Naasan Agha proudly announced that a Syrian start to the festivities highlights the level of relations between the two countries and their peoples.

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I have all the time in the world for Adel Said Bishtawi. This Palestinian-born Arab creative polymath has written extraordinary articles, novels and produced documentaries on Muslim and Arab culture around the world.

A Career Dedicated to Arabic Culture

I feel that A.S. Bishtawi has mined, explored and revealed some of the most beautiful aspects of the Arab world with beauty, poise, clarity and enveloping sensitivity. He’s also been a fountain of political and historical knowledge, and has interviewed some of the worlds’ most illustrious characters such as Indira Gandhi, Margaret Thatcher and Sheikh Issa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, Emir of Bahrain. The author even interviewed Afghanistan President Hafizullah Amin and his family shortly before the leader’s execution at the dawn of the Russian invasion of his country.

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Now, not that I’m one for stereotypes, but I sometimes find them amusing. Take for example, my Russian heritage – what do I get “ah, snow and vodka, right?”

When it comes to Saudi Arabia, the typical associations that always make my friends chuckle are “ah, sand and camels, right?”

The Arab and the camel have a long, rich history together, one that has had a beautiful development in recent weeks, thanks to an unusual Saudi Arabian campaign. At the end of January, Saudi camel-lovers united to save 6000 Australian camels by… airlifting them to the safety of the Saudi desert!

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Love them or loathe them, Arabs for Israel are an interesting lot. They’re an American-based collective of Arabs and Muslims who support the State of Israel and the cause for peace in the Middle East. The organization welcomes Muslims, Christians, Jews and people of any faith, be it by birth or conversion. As someone who always feels she needs to hear every side and opinion, I’ve been intrigued by Arabs for Israel since I discovered them in September.

Arabs who support Israel?

On the Inside

Within the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there are many Israeli Arab citizens living in Israel who really feel caught in the middle. Many, but not all, are Palestinians who opted for Israeli citizenship. Most Israeli Arabs are Muslims, and almost all are bilingual Arabic-Hebrew speakers.

A 2008 study revealed that most Israeli-Arabs identify themselves first as Arabs (45%), while only 24% consider themselves Palestinian. 12% consider themselves Israelis. 19% identify themselves according to religion.

From the Balcony

Within the diasporas, there is a growing number of Arabs from a wide range of backgrounds and nationalities who support the existence of Israel and advocate sustainable peace that doesn’t involve the eradication or evacuation of either Palestinians or Jews.

Arabs for Israel is one of several non-profit organizations working to raise awareness and actively support peace efforts in the Middle East. Read the full story »

For me, one of the most fascinating aspects of living in Spain today is the Arabic influence that visibly permeates the language, cuisine, architecture and even the faces of the people. There are 4000 words in the Spanish language that come directly from Arabic and that’s hardly surprising given that the whole country, Christians included, spoke Arabic during the period of Muslim rule from 711 to 1085.

I decided to take a look back at Arabic Spain, to trace the path of this profound influence that continues to run so deep in the country today.

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Aren’t I nice to you, dear readers? Not just nice but egalitarian to boot! After the flood of comments I’ve had in response to the blog about Bollywood’s sexiest female stars, I decided to even the score. So here you have… (drumroll please…)

The Five Sexiest Arab Male Stars in the Galaxy…

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Throughout history Arab Christians have co-existed relatively peacefully with their fellow Arabic-speaking neighbours, the Muslims and Jews. They have also made their mark on Arab civilization throughout the centuries and continue to leave a footprint as some of the finest poets, physicians, writers and government officials.

Christianity originated in the Middle East, and Arab Christians (or Christians who speak Arabic) have actually been around for longer than Arabic-speaking Muslims. Many Arab tribes followed Christianity as early as the first century. The first mention of Christianity in Arab lands appears in the New Testament as the Apostle Paul talks about his journey in Arabia following his conversion (Galatians 1: 15-17). Islam spread rapidly through much of the world from the 7th century AD onwards through the Islamic conquests, but many Christians chose not to convert and hung on to their pre-existing beliefs.

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Canadian Arabs are one of the largest non-European ethnic groups in this enormous and peaceful country. In 2001, almost 350,000 people of Arab origin lived in Canada, representing 1.2% of the total Canadian population. The Lebanese are the largest group within the Arab-Canadian community, with the smallest communities being Algerian and Palestinian.

Many of Canada’s Arabs live on the eastern side of Canada, either in Ontario or Quebec, and more than half have settled in the capitals of these provinces: Montreal and Toronto. About half of Canada’s Arabs are Muslim while most of the other half belongs to a variety of Christian religious groups and relatively few state they have no religious affiliation.

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