What do Elias in Northern California, Essam in the central United States and Aziz in the south of Brazil have in common? They all read Al-Hayat, despite the time difference, before the readers in Europe or the Middle East do. So if they have any comments to post on what I write, they would be the first thing that I read in the morning, since they read the paper online before going to sleep, instead of after waking up. Of the three readers above, I am personally acquainted with Elias. He is a friend and a brother from the days of Al-Hadath and the military training. Like me, he wants to return to Lebanon but cannot, and had actually tried to do so only to pay a lofty price. In last week's message, he told me that the bare minimum for a decent life in Lebanon is absent. Meanwhile, Essam is a reader whose profession is engineering, but whose passion is journalism. He selects some of the things I write and notes it down in Arabic, then approves or objects and adds to it in English. His arguments are always solid, and when we disagree, he responds to me by expressing his views in a manner supported by facts, as though he were arguing in a court of law. His last message about his dream of returning to Lebanon reads as though I had written it, and he reminds me of the saying “the tares of one's homeland are better than the wheat of the crusaders [i.e. foreigners]”, as he, I and Aziz all miss our country dearly, but fear that we may be shocked by what we have since forgotten there. Aziz, on the other hand, agrees with me at times and disagrees at others. He mostly agrees with me over the subject of Israel, the war cabal, the Lobby and the Likudniks, in which topic he is quite knowledgeable; but his views on Arab politics and politicians make him quintessentially in the disagreement camp. Those three musketeers, and I, the fourth, or D'Artagnan, can be added to a long list of other readers when it comes to our nostalgia for home, following the piece I wrote on living abroad. For those who did not read it, I can summarize it by saying this: While I do not want to live in London, I cannot live in Lebanon either. A hundred years ago, Elia Abu Madi felt nostalgic for his home too, when he was in America, and wrote the poem Watan al-Nujum [The Land of the Stars]. For the readers, I chose the following excerpt from this poem [loosely translates as:] [A man may forget both his abuser and his benefactor/ And the bitterness of abject poverty and the pleasures of great wealth But no matter how much he forgets/ He shall never his homeland disremember] To the Lebanese in particular, the same poet said: [Two, has fate been put off from hounding: Lebanon and the hope of its people Lebanon, which we miss and love Both when summer is upon its hills/ And as snow sits in its valleys] And while we wait for the Lebanese who live in Lebanon to love their country, I now move on to humor, of which I have much. As an example, I choose the Kuwaiti reader Sara, who is a PhD student, which means she is also highly cultivated. In her messages, Sara uses self-deprecating humor, a favorite type of English humor. She often mocks what I write even when she agrees with it, and when she attacks extremists of all kinds, she doesn't do so in a hostile way, because she is composed like a calm breeze, and does not use bad language, because she is polite. Instead, she draws a satirical portrait with her pen, and often ends by lamenting and complaining, perhaps so she can fend off ‘the evil eye'. I stay with my [female] readers: Dima is a Syrian engineer from Aleppo. In recent weeks, I received from her many messages analyzing the situation in Syria both accurately and objectively, to the extent that she criticizes both the government and the opposition at the same time, and notes where this or that has failed. Dima writes in both Arabic and English, writes sometimes about ‘gaucheness', and she can quote Greek philosophers or Shakespeare at will. Equally politically savvy and analytical is Tareq, who sent me last week a message worth publishing as a separate article in the op-ed section of any prominent Arab newspaper. I have replied to him and he has replied to my response, and a debate between us rages on. Today, I chose letters from readers who combine cultivation and objectivity, hence restoring my confidence in the nation and its future. I conclude with Qatar. I had referenced a current Israeli campaign, or war, being waged against Qatar, on the grounds that the Arabian Emirate is undermining Israeli interests. I thus received many messages in this regard, expressing a wide array of views, but all agreeing when it comes to supporting an Arab country against Israel. There is an expression in English that describes a confrontation between two given sides as being a ‘non-confrontation', in the sense that the winner is known before the match even begins. On one side thus, we have, Israel, a fascist occupation state that murders women and children, and steals people's homes. And Qatar, on the other hand, was never accused of anything momentous. It is therefore impossible for Israel to win this confrontation. In truth, the campaign against Qatar started against the backdrop of Qatar's support for the revolution in Libya, where Qatar has backed the rebels since day one. For this reason, I do not think it is farfetched that among the motives of the thuggish bully Avigdor Lieberman's anger, is the popularity of Qatar and Al-Jazeera, in contrast with Israel's isolation: For one, Israel is currently facing an international boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS) campaign. I am always in favor of boycotting, i.e. boycotting Israel, and in favor of Al-Muqata'a [Arabic for boycott] and Abu Mazen in Ramallah. [email protected]
