Habib Siddiqui

  Remembrance: Eulogy # 2 Several months prior to her death and while my sister, Betty, and I were discussing her final arrangements, she instructed me as follows: “You can do what you wish with my remains.” La Belle Femme and I had already decided that we would fly Betty’s remains from Hot Springs, AR, to be interred at Skylawn Memorial Park (Skyline Blvd., Hwy. 92, Half Moon Bay, CA) in close proximity to our late mother, Katrina Helaneh Halaby, and brothers David and Ramzy, may they rest in peace. David and Ramzy passed away in 2005, just four months apart; Ramzy, my twin brother, and I were only 12 days away from celebrating our 60th birthdays. Even though Beatrice passed away on November 29, 2021, seventeen months later and on Earth Day (Saturday, April 23, 2023) Beatrice’s remains were interred. La Belle Femme’s sister opined that Beatrice took the long way home. In June 2015, La Belle Femme and I moved Beatrice Rima Halaby from Redwood Shores, CA to a Hot Springs, AR senior resi

  On May 15, 2023, the Palestinian Nakba will be 75 years old. Palestinians all over the world will commemorate the tragic occasion, known as the ‘Catastrophe’, when nearly 800,000 Palestinians were made refugees and nearly 500 towns and villages were ethnically  cleansed  of their inhabitants in historic Palestine between late 1947 and mid-1948. The depopulation of Palestine carried on for months; in fact, years after the Nakba was supposedly concluded. But the Nakba has never actually concluded. Until this day, Palestinian communities in East Jerusalem, in the southern Hebron hills, in the Naqab Desert and elsewhere, are still  suffering  the consequences of Israel’s quest for demographic supremacy. And, of course, millions of refugees remain stateless, denied basic political and human rights. In a speech before the ‘UN World Conference against Racism’ in 2001, Palestinian intellectual, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi aptly  described  the Palestinian people as “a nation in captivity held hostage

  In Sudan’s western region of Darfur, a place long   synonymous with conflict , fears of a new civil war are on the rise. Civilians have begun arming themselves, residents and humanitarian organisations have said, as they organise their own defence forces to protect themselves against attacks from rival tribes as well as the feared paramilitary known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). KEEP READING list of 3 items list 1 of 3 Sudan fighting in its 13th day: A list of key events list 2 of 3 Photos: Sudanese and foreigners escape deadly conflict list 3 of 3 More air strikes in Sudan as ceasefire expiry looms end of list The RSF is currently involved in a  violent power struggle  with its former ally, the Sudanese army, resulting in a security vacuum that armed tribes are now exploiting. “The security situation in Khartoum poses a lot of threats to the people of Darfur because nobody is around to control these [Arab] militias,” said Ahmed Gouja, a local journalist and human rights monitor