Lama Obeid

This is my reflection on an incident that occurred in Brattleboro, on the 13th of August 2015 when I was approached by a man who was intoxicated at 7 p.m. and had his dog to help him keep his balance.
He said: "Are you a Mozlem? We don't like Mozlems."
It is very ironic that such words are said and thought in a place that calls for freedom of religious practice and choice. If there was freedom of choice and a respect of that choice, people would not have even conjured up such thoughts which a...

For most people, the word 'flour' has little meaning. It's a staple, we can get it anytime and anywhere. However, in Gaza, it's now a luxury. At the time of writing, a bag of flour costs up to 2500 to 3000 ILS ($700) in the Gaza Strip.
For the past few months, Israel has been starving Gazans to death. Flour is now a matter of survival. Travelling to the south of Gaza — where 1.3 million Gazans shelter — is a deadly shopping trip, and getting flour from an aid truck makes you a live target for...

Saudi national dishes

A new website looks to share Palestinian products with the world.
As we spend more and more of our time interacting with glowing screens in the virtual world, businesses have been changing their marketing and retail strategies to become a part of our new virtual lives. As we scroll down our social media news feeds, we come across advertisements that have been directed towards us based on the cookies that our browsers have collected and location settings .
Souq Biladi is one of the businesses ...

We have seen a rise in the use of Arabic calligraphy in modern fashion designs including items such as dresses, scarves, jewelry, bags and the like. We have also seen artists mix Arabic calligraphy with other art such as the graffiti of Tunisia's eL Seed ’s amazing art spread around the world, showing the beauty of the Arabic text. Palestine's Belal Khaled has also followed in eL Seed’s footsteps but predominantly uses a permanent market to decorate cars, bags and even human bodies.
Modernizi...

Let's talk about the hijab for a minute.
So to explain what hijab is, let us begin with what is not:
It is not a towel...
Nor is it a rag...
So the people who choose to wear it are not towel heads!
Nor are they rag heads!
They are usually in the form of scarves. You know, the same light scarves you use to decorate your neck or put across your shoulders when you are cold.
It is not a law made and enforced by men, so we do not wear it to please men.
We wear it to please God; it is a spiritual c...

Yes, I am originally from Ein Karem in Jerusalem. But even if I weren't from there, it would still be beautiful to me. Sadly, I have only been there twice due to entry restrictions and such. Both times there were many tourists coming to visit the holy places located there.
There are barely any new buildings, most are houses and stores that belonged to the Muslims, Christians, and Jews who lived there before 1948. Many of the current occupants of the village are Jewish immigrants from Iraq, Mo...