Suha Arafat finds life in Malta unbearable – well, I'd rather she wasn't here in the first place
Suha Arafat is finding life in Malta unbearable. She cannot live the life of the diaspora any more and wants to go ‘home’. Every day since Yasser Arafat died she feels “boredom and daily sadness”. How much worse it would have been without those missing millions. I’m not one to speak against immigrants, but this is one immigrant we can really do without. The racist groups urge us to turn away dying people in boats because they might include terrorists. About the terrorist who flew in by private jet wearing a chequered shawl round his head, to be warmly kissed by Maltese politicians from both sides of the house, they had nothing to say. About the terrorist’s widow who was given permission to reside in Malta after being chased away by other states they have even less to say. Oh well, as long as she brought his ill-gotten millions with her…..
The Journal of Turkish Weekly, 12 November 2008
Suha Arafat seeks return to homeland
Bethlehem ÔÇô Ma’an – Suha Arafat, the widow of the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat, says she wants to return to Palestine because life in the Diaspora has become unbearable.
“I will be back to Palestine, to Ramallah. My life and my daughter’s life in Diaspora has become intolerable. We lost security and safety as Abu Ammar left us. Every day since he passed I feel boredom and deadly sadness,” Suha told the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat.
Palestinians marked the fourth Anniversary of the death of their iconic leader on Tuesday. Arafat died of a mysterious medical condition in a Paris hospital in 2004. He spent his last days under besieged by the Israeli military in the presidential compound in Ramallah.
Suha is currently living in Malta after moving there from Tunisia.
“He used to care for every Palestinian family and take care of their small and large concerns ranging from the establishment of a Palestinian state to the simple daily life requirements. He also cared for his small family, me and my daughter, Zahwa. Look at what happened to our homeland and our cause and the political heritage. I miss him today and all Palestine misses him. All misfortunes can be simplified and forgotten, except death as its pain keeps deepening and increasing,” Suha added.
“When Abu Ammar [Arafat] was alive, he asked me and Zahwa to stay in Gaza and never leave after Israel bombarded our home. He refused our return to Ramallah because he considered himself a brave soldier who refused to use his wife and daughter as human shields for his protection. I have not felt homesick like I do today. I was sure about the dream of a Palestinian state and about Palestinian unity. Nowadays, I watch the news of unity and pray for the future of the Palestinian cause,” Suha said.
Thirteen-year-old Zahwa Arafat spoke briefly via telephone to Al-Hayat as she was heading to school, “I have exams, and it is tough stuff. I wish my father was alive, so he could have prayed for me to pass exams. I remember him as a leader and a struggler. I still remember how he used to telephone us every day asking me to focus on Arabic language and read the holy Quran. I went along with my mother to hajj [pilgrimage] in Saudi Arabia, and that could have thrilled my father.”
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Asta la vista Suha. What bull.
[Daphne – I trust your objection isn’t due to your usual anti-Arab, anti-Muslim stance.]
@ Sybil
I believe that Suha Arafat is Christian, but I stand to be corrected.
Sybil, as a good and devout Catholic Christian, did it ever cross your mind to invite Suha and her daughter for Christmas?
@Periklu,
Suha Arafat converted to Islam from Christianity when she married Yasser Arafat and she raises her daughter as a Moslem.
The Palestinian people are at the mercy of their politicians and the Israeli political leaders. Arafat, like many other politicians nearer to home, was corrupt. It is no secret that he had a lot of ‘brothers’ around the world who supported him, Malta included. Just one example: when the Israelis were bombarding his Ramallah headquarters, George Bush warned Israel not to harm Arafat. The problem is that Fatah were corrupt and the population ran into the arms of the extremist Hammas who are funded by the oil=rich Arab States. People are suffering in Palestine; they are the underdogs.
Yes, she is a Christian.
Christian or Muslim, who cares? She and her daughter are living the life of Riley on her late husband’s swindles, while her people are suffering. The poor Palestinian children could be benefitting so much from all the charity money deposited in some Swiss account in the name of Yaser Arafat.
1. The international community has so far invested $4.5 billion in the PA in order to establish infrastructures and an organized civil society.
2. Since April 2001, the Arab states transferred directly to the PA $45 million of aid per month, and the European Union transfers directly to the PA 10 million Euro (approx. $9 million) of aid per month.
3. Two thirds of the PA’s monthly budget, which is $90 million, are devoted according to PA declarations to the payment of salaries.
Please read on and judge for yourself :
International Financial Aid to the Palestinian Authority Redirected to Terrorist Elements
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2002/6/International%20Financial%20Aid%20to%20the%20Palestinian%20Aut
“Periklu Friday, 2 January 1712hrs
@ Sybil
I believe that Suha Arafat is Christian, but I stand to be corrected.
Sybil, as a good and devout Catholic Christian, did it ever cross your mind to invite Suha and her daughter for Christmas?”
No , for the simple reason that we ate and drank stuff that is prohibited to Muslims and if I am not mistaken she is a Muslim as is her daughter.
In this world it’s okay to be anti-Israel, but not anti-Arab. More so, it’s good to be anti-Jew but not anti-Muslim. Funny isn’t it.
It’s okay to fire missiles towards Israeli towns and villages, perhaps these missiles don’t kill women and children. But don’t you dare retaliate against the Palestinians.
It’s okay to say ‘Down with America’ and ‘Down with Israel’ but don’t say anything against the Arabs because you will be charged a racist (perhaps be assassinated as well)
Well, the intifadas were quite financially rewarding to the Arafat family and the inner circle in Ramallah. During short periods of peace, international donations dried up, since the Palestenain cause was not in the news.
Who benefitted most from the frequent fighting and uprising and the subsequent news coverage? The families of the teenage boys who throw stones at the Israelis, or the leaders who were constantly using these intifadas to pump up and lobby for additional international aid and donation from Gulf states and the EU?
In Oslo, during the Clinton/Albright administration, Arafat received what he wanted, including a timeline for Palestenian statehood and yet he did not sign the peace agreement. Why did the prospect of a final peace agreement frighten Arafat so much?
@Sybil,
From all I’ve read, Madame Arafat converted to Islam just for one reason: She intended to marry Yasser Arafat. So forget about religious food regulations. She does not seem to follow all terms and conditions of the Isalm religion when you look at her life anyway. As I said earlier, she’s an irritating woman.
It is acknowledged that Arafat threw away a golden opportunity in Oslo, for Palestine to achieve statehood.
In Berlin right now, and just witnessed a pro-Palestinian demonstration by thousands of people, with riot police on stand-by. Interestingly, I could not spot a single German, and all the chants were in Arabic. The crowd was all Turkish, many waving the Turkish flag. Suddenly I thought I was in Istanbul, were it not the absence of the smell of drainage. Simon Busuttil, Tonio Borg et al had better think twice about supporting Turkish membership in the EU. We may well end up regretting it.
This is an interview by La Croix (Catholic French newspaper) to Fr Samir Khalil Samir SJ expert on the Middle East; attaché’ to CEDRAC* at the University Saint-Joseph de Beirut. According to Fr Samir the issue is simple: as long as Palestinians and Israel continue in their logic of vengeance they would never find a way out to end the conflict
La Croix: How do you see the bombardments by Israel on Gaza?
Fr.Shamir: Well they seem to have been well prepared by the Israelian Army, wishing to re-establish their image and reputation of invincibility, after their war in 2006 in Lebanon… After 70 years, Arabs had seen Israel practice vengeance not in accordance to the Laws of retaliation “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” but always with increasing intensity, and more severe. Hamas knew the backlash they could expect from Israel…in launching rockets on Israel. In this sense Hamas militia is responsible of the suffering of their people.
La Croix: Why then Hamas continues to behave like this?
Simply because Hamas is embroiled in it’s own desire of vengeance, in what they see Israel continual domination on Palestine, after all they have nothing to loose, they have lost their lands, their homes, their olives groves, their honor, the only thing remaining is give their lives’ dignity, a cause for dying. Every Israel’s attack on them multiples the numbers of Palestinians ready to die “as martyrs”
La Croix: Is Hamas counting on the International opinion to put pressure on Israel?
Well protests and manifestations against Israel in the Arab World or in the West will have no effect on Israel’s attitude. It’s becoming more and more difficult to criticize the State of Israel, because it will be perceived as form of anti-Semitism. Only the Jews themselves can, and even if it happens it concerns “self hating Jews.”
Basically Israel has a real and constant fear of finding itself without a land, as it was before the Shoah. This is very understandable. But, it was in Europe that the idea of the Shoah was conceived and executed, the Arab world did never harbor any politics for the elimination of the Jews, in its history. I think Israel need to embark in an auto-analysis: Why anti-Semitism tends to emerge every time they tend to organize themselves in communities. ? Is it because as Karl Marx in his “Jewish question” they tend to confuse solidarity with political lobbying?
The same need for auto analysis goes to Muslims who constantly mix politics with religion. Hassan Nassrallah Hezbollah’s leader declared “our Achoura is Gaza” this is a reference to Shittes celebration of the Achoura at this time of the year; the martyrdom of Mohammed’s son Hussein, who was killed in Kerbala in 668. The Shittes remember this occasion as the defeat of the Shoura and its transformation into victory. This year Hassan Nasrallah lead palestianians to believe that giving their lives for God and for their people was tantamount to do as Hussein did: The very fact Hezbollah means “party of God” creates confusion. I ask myself what Hezbollah have to do with the Palestinian military conflict. It reminds me of the “position” taken by French Catholics in the Protestant/Catholic conflict in Ireland… It is so easy in the Middle East to mix up religious community ( oumma) and regional belonging. Oumma is not a nation in the political sense of the term.
Le Croix: How long will this infernal logic last?
The logic of this war is that, it will never end. To escape from the spiral of vengeance there is only one solution. The voluntary refusal of violence, that is non-violence in principle, like that lived by Christ. The teachings of the late Pope Paul 11 are very actual ‘No peace without justice and no justice without forgiveness’.
It’s not the ‘naïve’ kind of pardon you know like I forgive you and “passing on the baby” but the kind of pardon that obliges one to remember the atrocities committed reciprocally, and saying to each other “I want to forgive you because I want to start living with you again”… If there is a reference to pardon in the Old Testament it’s David’s pardon to Saul who sought to kill him. Sadly it’s more difficult to find it in Islam, a Koranic verse affirms.” Once you are in a position of power, don’t make any concessions”
Le Croix: Can Christians help in this path towards pardon?
Sure. In the third session in the International Meeting of UNESCO held in Paris last December, between 40 Imams and 4O Rabbis, were present, five Christian’s experts were invited and I was there when it was decided that systematically we would be always invited for future meetings. In 2006 I have proposed a peace process on 10 points similar to the Vatican’s, position The first point : that only legality can lead to peace, as the land is for two people, so there has to be two States, and that couldn’t be other than with those frontiers defined by the United Nations in 1948.
(1)* CEDERAC was founded in 1986 to enhance the patrimony of Arabs and Christians in the History of the Middle East, notable with that of Islam. Since last October the director is Fr P.Peter-Hans Kolvenbach a former prospective candidate to the post of Master General of the Company of Jesus
@david s
These demonstrations were held all over Europe.The protesters you saw were most probably Germans. Germans with a so-called “migration background”.The demonstration itself is part of a healthy democracy. The German Germans (sorry for that joke!) you were missing usually don’t feel that they are in the position of criticising Israel due to their history. You will hardly spot them on these kind of demonstrations.
Nothing to worry about in Berlin!
Andrea/Germany
@ Andrea You confirmed my point. If these Germans with a “migration background”, as you call them, have decided to adopt German citizenship (for monetary gain), they should at least have the decency to protest and chant in German and not in Arabic – and perhaps you could also explain why these “Germans” were waving Turkish flags?
@ david s
Why do you wish to surmise that “Germans” with a “migration background” have German citizenship (solely) for monetary gain?
Is the situation of “Germans with migration background” not comparable with the situation of the many Maltese expatriates, who are “citizens with migration background” in countries other than Malta, notably in Great Britain, in Canada, in Australia and in the U.S.A.?
I do not know whether I am correct in understanding that you are at the moment in Berlin. I also understand your words as meaning that Turkish citizens were chanting in the Arabic language. My personal experience of Turkish citizens in Germany tells me that these Turkish citizens would rather be more competent in the German language than in Arabic, except maybe for the exclamation Allah U Akbar.
Moreover, citizens of Arabic descent have protested in many other German cities besides Berlin, indeed a sign of healthy democractic surroundings.
As Andrea correctly points out, many native Germans still carry a burden of collective guilt with respect to the events, which Adolf Hitler unleashed.
After all, the (political) situation in the Near/Middle East can be regarded as a sustained late complication of Hitler’s policies.
As we say in Germany, “Lass die Kirche im Dorf und mach Dir einen schönen Sonntag”, especially if you do not really understand higher politology.
[Daphne – Leo, David S: Turks don’t speak Arabic. Turks aren’t Arabs. They are Turks, and they speak Turkish. So the people David saw would have been chanting in Turkish. The Turkish language bears no relation to Arabic at all, just as Turkish people are not of Arabic descent – unlike, for example, the situation in Malta, where the language is a direct derivative of Arabic and virtually identical except in terms of loan words and pronunciation.]
@david s
The term “mit Migrationshintergrund/ with migration background” is the political correct formal appellation for Germans whose parents or grandparents emigrated to Germany. They are Germans because they were born in Germany. A major issue on the political agenda is indeed in certain cases their lack of knowledge of the German language. I do not even understand why you are so upset about the fact that they chant in Arabic or Turkish. I can’t tell you why there were Turkish flags (maybe just skitchers?) because those protests are not even on German TV news, which shows how normal we find them. I just got general online informations about the “Majoritarian peaceful protests in Berlin”. The demonstrators in Berlin seemed to be from the Berlin Palestinian Community. I give it all the label: Freedom of Speech and Democracy!
[Daphne – Leo …: Turks don’t speak Arabic. Turks aren’t Arabs. They are Turks, and they speak Turkish. So the people David saw would have been chanting in Turkish. The Turkish language bears no relation to Arabic at all, just as Turkish people are not of Arabic descent – unlike, for example, the situation in Malta, where the language is a direct derivative of Arabic and virtually identical except in terms of loan words and pronunciation.]
Kindly allow me to counter by saying that I am/was well aware of what you wrote.
p.s. I have a feeling that david s. is not necessarily residing in Berlin-Kreuzberg and/or Berlin-Neukölln.
Ah, so now we know, Andrea is German. Daphne, prosit, you have truly managed to create an ”international notebook”! And may I say it appears absolutely democratic, as I very much doubt whether you have ever ‘censored’ any of your contributors.
[Daphne – There are some comments which go unpublished, usually when they are completely inane, pointless or very rude. Andrea made it clear from the start that she’s a German woman who used to live in Malta.]
@Charles Abela
Father Samir is not right when he says the Arabs never had politics for the elimination of the Jews: ask Imam Husseini who at the time was Imam of Jerusalem, who was an ally of Hitler personally exhorting him to eliminate the Jews and also in radio broadcasts which led to the elimination of 400,000 Jewish Hungarians.
@ Leo Said
It was the absolute mass of thousands of people , certainly NOT chanting in German, which marked the demonstration. The point is it was very similar to what we see on TV of fundamentalists protesting in Teheran, and this on Potsdamerplatz. The only thing missing was the burning of flags.
Mr Said, ask any German on their views about Turkey joining the EU – and forget the political correctness of the politicians. Finally, thanks for demonstrating your knowledge of the German language, without offering a translation.
@ Andrea
“This being a part of a healthy democracy” – Very True. Try holding a demonstration in Ankara, supporting Israel, to test Turkeys’ democratic credentials. These people take full advantage of their adopted western democratic culture. But their own culture is not so at all, in fact they tend to be quite intolerant – religion, womens’ rights, minority rights, etc, etc.
[Daphne – Just a point about Leo Said: he has lived in Germany for roughly as long as I’ve been alive and has a German family, so is more German than Maltese, if you like.]
Although one has to agree that Hamas are provoking with their firing of missiles, Israel’s reaction is slightly disproportionate. It’s like a person throwing a stone against a car and having his/her house bulldozed in retaliation. But we could go on arguing forever.
@david s
I am still happy about the existence of the right to demonstrate, in Germany…for everybody who has a concern!
Translation, not quite literally:”Let’s not get carried away/or: Slow down the horses there… and enjoy your Sunday!”
Gerald: Although one has to agree that Hamas are provoking with their firing of missiles, Israel’s reaction is slightly disproportionate.”
Israel is not fighting just to stop Hamas from firing rockets. That might be the immediate cause for the present conflict but the general feeling among Israelis is that they are fighting for survival.
I believe that if Arabs, especially Palestinians, (even the so-called moderates) had their way, Israel would cease to exist. Israelis are acutely aware of this and, for them, every conflict is a matter of the life or death of their homeland.
Regarding Arafat, Israel had always accused him and other Al Fatah leaders of being corrupt but the pro-Palestinian lobby in America and Europe (including Malta) refused to believe it. The world later discovered that it was true.
david s writes:
[Try holding a demonstration in Ankara, supporting Israel, to test Turkeys’ democratic credentials. These people take full advantage of their adopted western democratic culture. But their own culture is not so at all, in fact they tend to be quite intolerant – religion, womens’ rights, minority rights, etc, etc.]
If I am informed correctly, Turkey is not anti-Israel. Turkey has in fact in some instances helped with mediation. However, how do the EU ambitions of Turkey come into the equation dealing with the Palestine/Hamas-Israel issue? david s., are you just a visitor to Berlin, or do you reside there? As Andrea suggested: “Do not get carried away, slow down the horses”!
@ Gerald Perhaps you are not aware that 6000 missiles were fired into Israel over the past 2 years. I am not in agreement with the suffering and death in Gaza, but what irks me is that the Palestinian people have been used by Arab states, led by a crook like Yasser Arafat, and when they had the opportunity to democratically elect their government, they chose the Hamas!
[Daphne – Don’t be too surprised that they elected Hamas. Don’t you remember that almost half the population of these islands voted for the return of Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici in 1992, after experiencing five years of freedom, civility, work and things on the shop-shelves?]
Gerald:
If you flew in a helicopter over the land span of the whole of Israel , you would then realise just why the Israelis are so jumpy and jittery about their very existence. They have now been living in war shelters for ages because of constant Hamas missile-throwing.
Whereas the Israeli soldiers face the enemy and put women and children behind them, rats like Hamas place their missile launchers right in the middle of densely populated civilian areas, putting, so to speak, women and children between them and the enemy. Then, when Palestinian civilians get hurt, they use the resulting carnage for propaganda purposes that the pro Muslim EU media laps up so eagerly. Anyone noticed the advert shown on TheTimes today calling all the Muslim community in Malta to some peace protest in front of the Palace next week? Will we be regaled with more anti-Semite peace slogans of the sort seen these last few years whenever such protest marches were called? And will Suha Arafat be in the front line donating some of her money for urgently-needed humanitarian relief to the civilains in Gaza?
[Daphne – I trust your objection isn’t due to your usual anti-Arab, anti-Muslim stance.]
I am as much anti-Arab as you are anti-Maltese.
[Daphne – I am not anti-Maltese. I am anti some Maltese of a certain type. It has nothing to do with their nationality per se, or their religion, or their colour, just their attitude.]
Clifford:
Did you know that when a black African calls someone an “Arab”, that is considered as a racist offence of the worse possible sort? It is not the first time in Malta that news items reported incidents of rioting black men calling Maltese policemen and soldiers “Malta Arab, Malta Arab”.
Emanuel Muscat:
Husseini the Nazi-collaborator was also Arafat’s mentor. Now, the descendants of Nazi collaborators are allowed to hold anti-Semite calls for peace in our own capital city and no one turns a hair.
@ david s. Turkey is quite friendly towards Israel….and by the way Turkish women got the right to vote in 1930…in Malta we still had a main party opposing female suffrage in the 1940s….get rid of prejudice, David.
Mrs Arafat’s presence in Malta doesn’t bother me at all; after all she spends money here…what bothers me here is the total anti-Israeli bias, which on a number of occasions verges on anti-Semitism. It’s natural to be biased, but to spread blatant lies through the media etc. etc. is not quite acceptable. I guess we’re the only neutral country in the world where the President gets photographed wearing a keffiyeh.
@Leo Said. To satisfy your curiosity I was visiting Berlin and was staying at a hotel on Potsdamerplatz, so I was able to see the demo very well. Can you or Andrea , who were obviously not present at the demonstration, please explain how all those “Palestinians” crop up in Berlin, or were they flown in for the occasion! So what prompted my first comment was the sheer number of Turkish people (and hence the Turkish flags) in what was supposedly a demo organised by the “Berlin Palistinian community “.
Turkey’s possible EU membership may have serious repercussions as it is clear that their culture is NOT European, and moreover with a couple of million immigrants already in Germany, Germany would undoubtedly attract extended families once they have freedom of movement. So Mr Said I think it would be more appropriate for Germany to hold its horses before supporting Turkish EU membership.
@David S
Berlin has got the biggest community of Turkish people outside of Turkey. Also Berlin is the most multicultural city in Germany. In Germany, as I said earlier, everyone with a concern has the right to demonstrate. Even so-called NEO-NAZIS for example. Demonstrations have to be announced. Those groups and their concerns are always intensely discussed by the public and the government. THAT is democratic. I didn’t have to be in Berlin during the demonstration, I grew up with demonstrations and even from the news I got, my impression was that those demos in Berlin were peaceful.
I don’t want to be impolite, but I am getting the impression that you are pretty traumatised by the fact that these demos are possible in Germany.
Good Morning Mr. Muscat
My first reaction is simple: first I was interested in learning about Imam Husseini and his pronounced leanings towards Hitler and happier still to confirm Fr. Shamir’s theses of what happens when religion merges with politics. Fr.Shamir is not the founder of CEDRAC. I have a feeling you are interested too in what happens around us, so may I suggest as further reading Claude Tresmontant, who was professor of philosophy at the Sorbonne. Christianity can still inspire. However and I am just asking, does Imam Hussein’s behaviour reflect the situation in the Arab world at the time and even if that is so, should that be taken to represent Islam as ‘co-lateral project in the history of anti-Semitism?
I believe Britain can play a great part having been involved in the forging of ‘the modern history in the Middle East…I wish Tony Blair every success in his efforts. I believe, and in this I might be wrong, that England today would do well to rediscover her Protestant identity. At the moment it’s being squeezed by two other major monotheistic religions, which is too tight a rope to follow. I read that unfortunately the study of the events leading to the Second World War are still heavily censored and almost impossible to discuss; perhaps too early?
I believe the integrity of the British Queen, her political maturity, ability, foresight and perhaps the wonderful sense of English fair play, inspired her (my perception) to decline state visits to Israel in these last 60 years …
.
Fr Shamir’s aims are academically and intellectually correct and his intentions are to build bridges. Despite everything, imams and rabbis are at working together to counterbalance tragic events that lead to nowhere except to “ hell” and some seem to love it.
@ David S.
There is a considerable number of citizens of Arabic descent in Germany, many of them indeed Palestinians.
In Germany, it is licit and legitimate that any person can join in a demostration/protest, which has been sanctioned by the appropriate authorities.
As Andrea opines, even Neo-Nazis are occasionally allowed to hold a demonstration. Indeed, on the same week-end, when you witnessed the Palestinian demo in Berlin, Neo-Nazis were allowed by a high court to demonstrate in Passau (Bavaria) after the local authorities had refused permission. Reason: the Chief Police Officer in Passau had been attacked at his private residence some days before, whereby he suffered serious injuries through stabbing. Police investigations into the matter are still continuing.
David S, do you really wish to imply that Germany is supporting imminent EU membership for Turkey unconditionally? If so, you are really not informed and/or misinformed.
I believe that Malta would be more in the fore to endorse EU membership for Turkey.
@ Leo and Andrea Ufff my point was not whether or not to allow the demo. The demo just made it more obvious the very large Turkish presence in Germany.
” Germany is (not) supporting IMMINENT EU membership for Turkey UNCONDITIONALLY ” Clever Leo, and when in X number of years the conditional transition period is over , then what ?
I will say it in simple terms, I firmly believe Turkey is NOT European and should be refused full membership , just as was Morocco
@David S
I think you are not getting Leo’s or my points, either. Leo mentioned it anyway:Germany is far from supporting the Turkish EU membership bid unconditionally.
I guess that all in Germany are/have been aware of the very large Turkish presence in Germany. David S., you are excused because you do not seem to be well informed about Germany in 2009. With regard to EU membership for Turkey, just wait and see. In your X number of years, Malta may well become the Haiti of the Mediterranean with a Mediterranean Obama directing it.
Please do not forget that Israel is occupying land which the UN ordered Israel to leave in 1967. Israel is still to comply. If a part of Malta is occupied by some foreign invader, I would use ALL means to get our land bck.
@Leo Said,
Can’t wait to see that Maltese Obama.
@ Andrea
As I do not know how young you are, I cannot oblige further with respect to a Maltese Obama.
The hypothesis could turn into reality in perhaps 30-50 years time. However, please note that I remark in the “Konjunktiv” form, inclusive of irony and cynicism.
Leo Said
“…Malta may well become the Haiti of the Mediterranean with a Mediterranean Obama directing it.”
If you mean that Malta might one day have a PM with African ancestry, I don’t see why that should be a problem. Haiti is not the only country with a mixed population, you know; most modern countries in the West have citizens coming from different ethnic groups. Even in Israel, for example, there are black African Jews and nothing stops them from entering politics.
@ Antoine Vella
Indeed, many thanks for your kind lesson. I am pleased to note that members of local councils in Malta are so well informed.
@Paul B. Israel did leave territory occupied in 1967, namely the Sinai. It had also evacuated Gaza, if I remember well in 2005 (indeed one of the few times I admired Sharon). What many people who mention 1967 fail to do is to say who STARTED that war…..
@ Leo You are so pleased with yourself about being “German”. Your superiority complex is so evident. I can assure you the likelihood of having someone of non-German ancestry (Turkish perhaps?) becoming PM in Germany, is a far greater possibility than Malta becoming a Haiti of the Mediterranean with a Mediterranean Obama directing it. It is a fact with the Maltese that notwithstanding our geographical closeness to Africa , the reality is that there is little contact, be it in tourism , culture and even trade. Less than 5% of Malta’s trade is done with Africa. Promoting Malta as a hub to Africa is a myth. Just look at our air connections to Africa.
@david s. The leader of the German Greens is “Turkish”….
@ David S.
I was born and bred in a Maltese village. I am proud of the village and the village is proud to have me as one of its sons. The possible superiority complex at my end, which you erroneously seem to perceive, may in reality also be a simple intellectual flexibility and an intellectual independence, which I have won for myself by always attempting to discard insularity, which actually meant leaving home. As Ganni correctly points out, the new leader of the German Greens is a Swabian of Turkish origin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cem_%C3%96zdemir
http://www.oezdemir.de/en/index.html
The chairperson of the Bundestag (Federal) Committee for Internal Affairs is of Indian origin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Edathy
The boss of the Free Democrats (Liberals) in Lower Saxony is an adopted Catholic-Christian Vietnamese native.
http://www.philipp-roesler.de/
@ Leo, this is quite hilarious. You describe yourself ” …in reality be a simple intellectual flexbility and an intellectual independence, which I have won for myself by always attempting to discard insularity, which actually meant leaving home. ” Wow, that’s impressive. I am pretty sure that the likes of Roderick Chalmers or Dr Edward Debono will never describe themselves so.
OMG, you are pompous.
@ David S.
I am of course pleased and grateful that you found my remarks hilarious.
Roderick Chalmers and Edward DeBono let themselves be described by others.
It might be a real pity that your good self is no intellectual, as judged by your interventions on this site.
Are Periklu and Leo Said the same person?
the criminal zionist israelis are following this family to Malta.Sure they want them in Gaza to pomb them too with everything moving
[Daphne – Sigh.]
To those smart mouths who don’t like Turks in Germany
they should know that these turks are the ones who are paying for your grandmother and grandfather social security
AS this anti-Arab Malteese If you are really a Malteese
dont talk about Origins Of Turks and Arabs one of them for Sure is your grandfather
and you know very well that you live out of Qadafy handouts
So dont be very proud
@ayman
Cool down! I guess your parents’ and grandparents’ pension is going to be paid from my social charges, as well. Nothing wrong with that, is there? Let’s be happy about living in a welfare state. Happy, maybe lucky, but NOT proud! I’ll never understand that ‘being proud of whatever’ yelling anyway!
Andrea/Germany
Suha lives a life of luxury while Arab refugees live in filth, hungry and depressed.
Let her return to Ramallah or any refugee camp in the Middle East and live like an Arab refugee. Then she will know suffering.
Until then, she should be grateful that her millions in stolen loot still allow her a luxurious life no matter where she is.
What an icon of the struggle!
She should fund a school or hospital in Gaza and visit her suffering brethren.
“I could not spot a single German, and all the chants were in Arabic. The crowd was all Turkish, many waving the Turkish flag”
@David S:
It’s obvious you have an agenda against Turkey. Make no mistake, your hate is showing through!
As for the language, you are simply lying that they were chanting in Arabic. Turkish people do not speak a word of Arabic.
From the way you describe Istanbul, it’s obvious you’ve never been in that city.
Dear Mrs Suha
I am Jordanian from originaly Ramallah-Palestine
I noted many things about your life,and was not happy for what happened to you ,specially from madam Laila in Tunis.
I have some important thing to discuss with you.
Please provide your present email address to contact you through email, because i am not familiar with face book.
Hope you good and happy life with your daughter.
B.Regards
K.Mustafa
Please answer through my email( [email protected])