Word: palestinians
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...audience is Jewish, the comedian an Arab. This is something of a rarity in the divided city of Jerusalem. A flutter of apprehension runs through the packed basement that is the Syndrome Club as comedian Ray Hanania takes the stage. Hanania is a Palestinian, and the Jewish audience is wondering if his jokes will strike like Molotov cocktails. "I usually perform for Arab groups in the States," Hanania says peering through the nightclub smoke at the crowd, "And this is quite a change for me... it's good to have an audience that's not hooded and shackled...
...Welcome to the "Israeli-Palestinian comedy tour." Organized by Hanania and American-Israeli comedian Charlie Waraday, the January tour took three Jewish and one Arab stand-up comedians to Tel Aviv and three Jerusalem venues, one of them a synagogue. They never made it into the Palestinian territories; two of the comics hold Israeli passports and are banned from travel there. The tour's aim, says Hanania, was to show that "If we can laugh together, we can live together...
...Ottoman-style grandeur of the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem before a show, Hanania and Waraday trade politically incorrect jokes about the belief, popular among suicide bombers, that 72 virgins await the martyr in paradise. "And what do the women get?" muses Waraday, recalling that a 57-year old Palestinian grandmother recently blew herself up. "What would they possibly have told this woman - that she'll have 72 kids who'll call every day and visit once in awhile? I know my Mom would blow herself up for that...
...Moreover, Indyk says, the deal casts a shadow over the Administration's efforts to form a strong coalition with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the other moderate Arab states on a range of issues, including not only the Israel-Palestinian issue but also opposing Iran's nuclear defiance and operations in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories...
...Since Hamas won control of the Palestian government in last December's elections, the U.S. and Western Europeans have cut off direct funds to the Palestinian Authority. Many critics have argued that the measures have amounted to a financial stranglehold of the Palestinian territories that is fueling a humanitarian - and political - crisis. But the Western powers insist they have tried to avert a that kind of crisis - and international pressure to compromise with Hamas - by pouring massive amounts aid into the territories via non-governmental organizations. According to U.S. and European officials, the Palestinians received $700 million in external support...