The other side of the story: Muslim men for women's rights
Late in February, Turkish men donned skirts and took to the streets in Turkey in a march for women’s rights. Their act of solidarity with fellow women came after the vicious murder of a 20-year old university student at the hands of a bus driver she’d trusted to get her home safely. A couple weeks later, a small group of Afghan men wearing sky-blue burqas marched through the streets of Kabul. Their march came in an effort to draw attention to women’s rights in the country. From Turkey to Afghanistan, both acts carry a symbolism that can’t be ignored: walking in someone else’s shoes creates understanding, solidarity and sameness. In these two cases, gender borders collapse and we are all simply human.
Source: Your Middle East
When Jewish militants dug underground tunnels
Yehudit Ayalon, who was born in Latvia in 1924 and moved to Palestine in 1936. In 1945, two years before the war broke out, Ayalon and a group of her friends from her Zionist youth group were enlisted into the pre-state Haganah militia for a secret mission. The group was soon to find out exactly what its top-secret mission was: building an underground bullet factory.
The factory, named “Machon Ayalon,” was established in an eight-meter deep pit the size of a tennis court — built under a fake kibbutz near the city of Rehovot — created to disguise the factory from the British. Ayalon describes living a double-life full of secrets, tensions and lies, not to mention the danger of being discovered by British soldiers. Between 1945-1948, Machon Ayalon produced millions of bullets for the famous “Sten” guns, which were used by the Zionist paramilitaries at the time. Ayalon wholeheartedly believed that their efforts “helped tip the scales” in Israel’s favor.
Seventy years ago it was the Zionist militias who dug underground tunnels and hid weapon caches among the civilian population. So why is it so difficult for Israelis to understand when Hamas does the same today?
Source: +972
Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia sign 'declaration of principles' on Renaissance Dam
The leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan met in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Monday to sign a trilateral "declaration of principles" on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The preliminary agreement is the latest development in a series of negotiations between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia on the GERD. Egyptian politicians have previously expressed concern that the dam could divert a significant share of its waters to Ethiopia. If completed, the $US5 billion dam will be the largest in the Nile Basin. The project aims to generate electricity for Ethiopia as well as to export cheap energy to countries like Sudan, Morrocco and South Africa.
Source: Mada Masr
