Hello world!

Posted on October 22, 2010 by zeinobia

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Jerusalem ; The Capital of Arab Culture

Posted on October 2, 2009 by zeinobia

On the same day From 822 years Saladin entered Jerusalem to liberate it from the crusaders

And today we are celebrating it as the Capital of Arab culture

Al Quds ; the Capital of Arab culture

Posted in civilizations | Leave a comment

Important Petition

Posted on March 19, 2009 by zeinobia

I know that you probably think that online petitions are useless but they are not because I believe they are another form of expression available to the people around the world.

This petition is special , it is an international petition to the UN General Assembly to set up a special international penal court to try Israeli war crimes, notably in the Gaza Strip.

It is published by the French Palestine Solidarity Association, I hope that more people sign this petition to show that we have not forgotten what happened in Gaza and we want justice.

What happened in Gaza was a war crime by all means.

Spread the website please

Posted in News and politics | 11 Comments

A letter from a Palestinian Child to the US President

Posted on January 31, 2009 by zeinobia

To the leader of the free of world : Barack Obama

A letter from a Palestinian Child to the US President

This is a letter from a Palestinian Child who does not have clear definition for terms like “terrorism” and “peace”.

I am sure the Palestinian children like Gamila, Louai and Samar have similar letters to President Obama.

Please spread this letter to president Obama.

This letter encouraged me to send a message to President Obama:

Dear President Obama  as you are working to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp ,I only ask you that the United States would stop exporting incendiary weapons to Israel like the DIME , I do not ask you to stop supporting Israel whether by money or by arms despite I know in this critical time in the American history each penny from the tax payers money the American citizen deserves now more than ever, more than Israel and more than Egypt and Pakistan.

President Obama you are father for two beautiful little girls and I believe you know how it feels when you know that your child is hurt, thousands of Palestinian children have been hurt by weapons like the DIME and WP in which former President Bush made sure to supply Israel with. You correct his mistakes , please correct this mistake

If you do this sir and order that no incendiary weapons will be exported to Israel because they use it against civilians ,then be sure sir that you won’t need thousands interviews like Al Arabiya to send a message to the Arab and Muslim world saying that the American people are not our enemy.

Mr.President you are not our enemy but all what we ask that you would be a fair friend to us as you are to the Israelis.

Posted in News and politics | 18 Comments

The Death Slide show from Gaza

Posted on January 18, 2009 by zeinobia

The Death slide show

I have collected these images every day since the beginning of Gaza land operation up till now. I used some of the photos from the slide show in my posts regarding Gaza still there are some horrible photos that I did not share it with you publicly.

These horrible images are evidence of the war crimes and the brutality of the IDF , I am posting this time in the slide show as kind of respect to the victims “mostly children”. If You think that these photos are too horrible to be shared and seen well remember my dear friend those photos were for Children who killed for no reason at all.

I am not sorry for posting these horrible photos as much as I am sorry for this world and its shameful silence on that massacre.

Please share it.

Posted in News and politics | 10 Comments

Kolena Laila : The first Egyptian girl students in the Cairo University

Posted on October 31, 2008 by zeinobia

Ladies and gents I am proudly sharing with you here a very rare photo for the first Egyptian Female Students in the Cairo University or rather the University of Fouad I in early 1930s.Those daring ladies or girls then should be mentioned in the 100th anniversary of the Cairo University and in the Kolena Laila celebration of pioneer ladies.

Before showing you this rare photo, here is a little introduction about how these ladies found their way to the University. We spoke before about the role of Princes Fatimah important role in founding the Cairo University in its current location yet we did not know how Egyptian Laila found her way to the hallways and the auditoriums of the University. There is a little piece of information many do not know that the Cairo university or Fouad University after its inauguration held lectures for high classes ladies where  Madam Couvreur of France used to speak , Madam Couvrer was brought by the request of Prince Ahmed Fouad I with the help of Gaston Maspero.Those lectures were in French and by time some Middle high class ladies joined them still on a very narrow scale.There were other pioneer ladies in Press who thought that those lectures should be translated to Arabic. Lebanese Labiba Hasham in the “Girl of Orient” Newspaper “Yes there was such newspaper then” and the early activist famous Malak Hafiny Nasaf in the “Nation’s party” did that great job. Hasham even raised the bar and called for the Egyptian Ladies to lecture instead of Foreign ladies.

By time a separate women section was opened in the Fouad University but it was closed in the WWI in no time.

Those girls entered the Cairo University in 1929 breaking taboos you can’t imagine back then. The first class of young Egyptian ladies consisted of 17 girls only that Dr.Ahmed Lutfi El-Sayed ,the head of the Fouad University then along with deans of the faculties of Arts “Taha Hussein” and medicine “Dr.Ali Ibrahim” let them enter the University secretly without informing the education ministry except when those 17 girls succeeded in their study , women can study like men , there was no need to not let them complete their study.

From those 17 girls I found the photo of those fantastic 5 girls

From rigth to left Dr. Naema El-Ayauobi and Miss Fatimah Salem setting and behind them , Mrs. Zahirah Abd El Aziz,Dr. Sohair El-Qalamawy and Mrs. Fatimah Fahmy.


Also here is a short essay by Dr. Naema El-Ayauobi under the title “I was the first girl to enter the University” who was among those first Egyptian female students describing her daring experience. In summary she was describing how the girls were shy and avoided any contact with the boys  and how The dean of the faculty of Arts Dr. Taha Hussein told them that if anyone annoyed them or if they needed anything , they should go immediately to his office and complain to him.

It is sad thing that we did not remember those fine ladies and their names except for Dr.Sohair El-Qalamawy ,the famous student of Dr. Taha Hussein thanks to her contribution to the Arabic literature and the fact she was the first woman to hold the position of the famous head of the Arabic language section in the faculty of Arts at the Cairo University from 1958 to 1967.

Dr.Sohair  as I hinted was the student of Dr.Taha Hussein and he supervised her master and her PHD in Arabic Literature which was about One thousand and one nights aka in the West The Arabian Nights , yup the original nights and I read that PHD study when it was published in the Reading for all festival among the treasures of the Arabic literature.
TO be honest till the early 1950s not many families were ready to send their girls to universities like men , for them girls should be educated to get married, I think it was not in Egypt only but rather the whole world , if you watch the Mona Lisa smile you will know what I am speaking about.

By the way if you want to publish the picture in your website or what ever you want please do it but do not forget me , I did not put copyright on it because it is a scan and I am doing this to encourage you to speak about those fantastic ladies but I will not hate that you do not forget my effort.

Links and sources :

  • Dr.Latifa Salem’s lecture in the Cairo University about the history of women in the university in Egypt.
  • The Photo and the article are from the Al-Thanan weekly magazine published on 12th of March 1945.
Posted in Egyptian National history | 10 Comments

Asmahan : The Voice

Posted on October 5, 2008 by zeinobia

For sure a voice like Asmahan’s can be repeated twice in the same time. Asmahan or Amal Atrash is said to inherit her mother’s voice. Still if you listen to her and her brother you feel a great different. “P.S I forgot to mention last time that in the TV series there was an excellent Lebanese actress called Ward Al-Khal ,that should be praised for her role as Aliya Al Munzer,the mother of Asmahan”

Her voice was so pure,powerful and strong like the crystal.

Um Kalthoum should be jealous from her despite their voices are different. I do not think that Um Kalthoum can sing a song like “Ya Habibi Taalaal” and Asmahan can sing “Inta Omri” or “Fakorni” with the same emotions and strong voice of Thuma. Of course this rivalry did not reach to the level that Thuma would be behind her tragic death,that was a dirty rumour by the British forces to divert any accusation of their involvement in her death.

I love Asmahan’s song “Ya Habibi Taalaal” because it was a modern song in its time. I was surprised to know that it was based on a modern Turkish song,already I am searching for the original one.

Here is the song composed by the famous Madhat Assam

Also here is a song “Imta Ha  Traf _ when you will know” from her last film “Love and Vengeance”, she did complete that film and they had to change the ending to sad one where Youssef Wahbi loses his love and acts like crazy with his violin.

Posted in Music | 14 Comments

Abdel Wahab El-Messiri

Posted on July 5, 2008 by zeinobia

Dr. Abdel Wahab El-Messiri , a great thinker whom I doubt that a single post can give him the respect he deserves. This man is world known academically but I do not think that he was well publicly like Fukuyama , yeah I believe that he is like him and even better and greater. He died last Thursday after long time illness.

Dr. Abdel Wahab public fame came with the publishing of his controversial book/ encyclopedia that he spent 20 years in writing it “The encyclopedia of Jews,Judaism and Zionism”.

This encyclopedia caused him a lot fame and a lot trouble as we will see later

Dr. Abdel Wahab El-Messiri was born in 1938 in Damanhur , North Delta. He was graduated from Alexandria University in the faculty of Arts in the English section in year 1955. He travelled to the U.S in 1963 and took his master degree from Columbia University , then he took the PhD from Rutgers University in year 1969. When he turned to Egypt he began to teach in several universities like in Ain Shams in Cairo and king Soud in Saudi Arabia . He also was a visiting professor in several Universities and academies like Nasser Military academy. From 1975 till 1979 he worked as the Cultural councillor for the Arab league delegation in the UN .

As I said the most famous work for Dr. Abdel Wahab was his controversial encyclopedia of Jews , Judaism and Zionism , the work that cost him  20 years from his life and also false of accusation of anti-Semitism and even sometimes his own personal safety. This book I believe is the most comprehensive encyclopedia written about Judaism and Zionism since I do not know when.

Already that some of you will think that because the author and researcher is  a Muslim Egyptian ,he would be biased against the Jewish people , well think again because this encyclopedia is the most objective in my opinion about the Jews because he did not consider them the enemy. I mean you do not spend 20 years from your life writing such important reference in 8 big volumes with more than 3239 pages in an academic scientific  way to promote a specific idea. Dr. Abdel Wahab wrote that book to find the truth and believe I read parts from this big reference I felt that this clear many myths about Jews , Judaism and Zionism . Every thing you can imagine about Jews is in this encyclopedia .

You want a proof , ok what about if I told you that he did not believe in the Protocols of elders of Zion” !!?? Dr. Abdel Wahab said in his  book “The secret Hand : A Study in the violent and secret Jewish movements “ that it was based upon a brochure published in France in 1864 under the name of The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu “You can read the original text whether in French or English here “

Dr. Abdel Wahab wrote also for Children nice Arabic stories. He began to write them in 1960s for his daughter.

He was a leftist still he defended Islam and Arab Nationalism like no other , in fact I believe he was more Islamist in his thinking in the last years.

Dr. Abdel Wahab was not only a researcher and expert in Israeli and Jewish stuff , he was also a great patriot man who fought dictatorship as much as he can.

He was from the people who stood against the regime in that last couple of year and when he died he was already the coordinator of Kafya , the famous Egyptian movement. It was enough to see him in the protests despite his old age and his illness. It was very sad scene to see the anti-riots officers surrounding him in the protests as if he were thug !!

This is a short bio for Dr. Al Messiri.

Here are something interesting short facts about him :

  • He hates Barbie dolls and love chubby childish cotton dolls.
  • The state refused to treat him on the expenses of the state in the U.S and he was treated on a Saudi Prince Expenses !!??
  • He died at 5 AM Cairo local in Cairo at “Palestine Hospital”

I want to say in the end something that a person can die but his thoughts can live forever

Links :

Posted in News and politics | 37 Comments

The Nile Crocodile is not extinct yet ; a tribute that is not too late

Posted on June 21, 2008 by zeinobia

Last month Egypt farewelled one of its athletes who raised its name high in the field of sport creating the living legend of Nile Crocodile : Captain Abdel Latif Abu Haif , our 20th century swimmer.

I had to two opportunities to meet this man but unfortnately I missed them

one in the summer vacation from three years ago , my friend invited me to spend two weeks with her in the North Coast in their villa , their neighbour next door was late Abu Haif , already my friend told me that despite his old age , Abu Haif  used to swim in the sea every day . The second opportunity was a sad one in my Grandfather’s memorial service from two years ago. I was in the women’s section and he was in the men’s section. Still I had the chance to see him personally in Zamalak with his wife

Captain Abdel Latif Abu Haif was the Century swimmer in Egypt , he won the world championship for 5 successive years and he was the

 

third Egyptian to cross the English Channel “aka La Maunche in Egypt” after Ishaq “Isaac” Bek Abdel Kader  and Hassan Abdel Rahim to start the saga of the Nile Crocodile in 1950s and 1960s for 3 times . And this is just few of his victories recommend to visit this webpage .

Captain Abu Haif was Egypt’s Champion in Long distance Swimming and Marathon Swimming ,already this sport was very very popular and successful in Egypt in its old golden days.

Abdel Latif Khamis Abu Haif was born in Alexandria on the 30th of January 1929 “oh yes on my birthday”. He wanted to become a swimmer after watching Johny  Weismuller in a Tarzan film, already almost all Alexandrians are excellent swimmers whether women or men. He started to swim in the age of 10 . His role model was Ishaq

 

Halmi who was the first Egyptian and Arabic to cross the English Channel.  In 1951 he became the third Egyptian to cross the Channel from an Egyptian team made of 13 swimmers.  King Farouk rewarded him by sending him  to continue his education at Eaton then Royal Military academy Sandhurst where he graduated there in 1956. Still he was not engaged in the Military but in Swimming , he was the star in our legendary Egyptian swimming national team better known as “The  Nile Crocodiles “ , they were and him especially important icon in the 1960s

He died in Cairo on the 21 April 2008 in Cairo after along time illness. He suffered from HVC that caused him Liver failure beside Skin Cancer.

He was married from his relative Manar Abu Haif ,the Egyptian Opera singer and he has one son Nasser Abu Haif.

He was honoured twice in 1998 and  2001 by the international Swimming hall of fame in Florida , in 2001 after a poll made online ,he won the great remarkable title of “The Marathon Swimmer of the 20th century” of course this is beside his honours around the world and in Egypt.

This was a great man ,seriously , a role model of how a sports man should be.

His smile was so beautiful and he kept it even till his last days despite all what he suffered from

I am sorry but this picture is said to be his last in the media as you can say he was still keeping it

Egyptians were the first African and Orientals from the East to cross the English channel as I hinted before starting with Ishaq Abdel Kader in 1928 who swam from France to UK Solo for 23 hours and 40 minutes , then Hassan Abdel Rahim in 1950 who swam from France to UK also solo for 10 hours and 15 minutes “can you believe it that from 23 hours to 15 hours !!??”

In 1984 the first Egyptian to cross the Channel swimming in the two ways was Mr. Osama Ahmed Momtaz and he took 21 hours and 37 minutes “Can You imagine how tiring it is ??!!”

Egyptians are on the top Arab swimmers in the English Channel , more than 20 times they succeeded in crossing it from UK to France , and more than

Even our special need swimmers had succeeded in crossing it several times.

Unfortunately in the last 20 years no body cares about Long distance swimming.

But there is still a hope.

I do not know if it is fate or not but Egypt was qualified to represent Africa in the Long Distance swimming category in Beijing 2008 Olympics games . This happened directly after the death of Abu El-Haif and strangely the champion who was qualified was the same young man Abu El-Haif expected him to revive hopefully the legend of the Nile Crocodile 

Mohammed Zanatay , whom I wish all the luck in Beijing , I know it is tough but we can make it again

Today one month would have passed on the death of Egypt’s great icons in the 20th century .

May Allah bless your soul Nile Croc.

Posted in Sports | 26 Comments

Remembering them

Posted on June 6, 2008 by zeinobia

I can’t forget them because Egypt does not forget them.

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Posted in Egyptian National history | 7 Comments