Tawakel Karman ; The Arab dream that comes true

     Tawakel Karman, the human rights activist, becomes the first Arab woman and the youngest women ever to become a Noble Peace Laureate the matter which drives the whole world proud of the role of women in defending human rights and so she begins awarding many prizes from all over the world.

     Her followers in Yemen call her Belquis, the queen of Sheba, as she recorded a glorious history for the Yemini woman by holding rules, giving orders to men and obtaining freedom and democracy while others describe her as courageous who surpassed all fears which controlled the Yemeni women for many years.

     She was honored by the American embassy for her courage in the Yemeni revolution and she was awarded the Courage Prize. Moreover she is selected, by Reporters Without Borders situated in Paris, to be one of the most effective seven women around the world.

     After the announcement, Karman traveled to Qatar where she met with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and also requested the Doha Centre for Media Freedom's assistance to set up a television and radio station, which would be named Balqis, in honor of the Queen of Sheba, in order to support female journalists and to broadly educate Yemeni journalists.

     She also made a video message in Washington, D.C. on 25 October on the occasion of the release of the 14th annual report of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OBS) by the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT). The report included information about the Arab Spring, Yemen, and Karman.

     She has been selected as the first place of the FP top 100 global thinkers of 2011.

     Therefore we can suggest that this courageous and ambitious female activist to become the person of year 2011.

Does the Arab World celebrate Christmas?

     Christmas is a national day in the Arab World. Some may think that Arabs do not celebrate this day as most of them are Muslims, but actually this is not the whole truth. All Christians in the Arab World celebrate Christmas and Muslims as well.

     The Christmas tree came to the Middle East in the second half of the 19th century. The German custom of decorating a tree for Christmas was enthusiastically adopted by many Arab Christians and by some Muslims as well. To many children in the Middle East, Christmas has also come to mean Santa Claus (minus the reindeer), gifts piled under the Christmas tree, and stockings hung up near the bed in readiness for Santa’s bounty.

World's Most Expensive Christmas Tree Erected in United Arab Emirate

     It is mind blowing to note that a hotel in the United Arab Emirate (UAE), Emirates Palace hotel has erected one of the most expensive Christmas Trees in the world, worth about $11 million.

Lebanon

     For Lebanese Christians it is one of the most important holidays of the year; many Lebanese Muslims celebrate Christmas as well, often with Christian friends and neighbors. A poll has shown that some two thirds of the Lebanese people celebrate Christmas, while less than half of the population is Christian.

Why should you learn Arabic language?

     Arabic language becomes widely spread around the whole world unlike many years ago when Arabic Language was only spoken in the Middle East.Besides the number of arabic language speakers is incresing evry day. Now Arabic language has become a second language to many outside the arab World.

     Here I give introduce a funny video showing the importance of learning such a language as it can help you get out from difficult situations.

Arabic Language Day

     The United Nations launched UN Language Days on February 19, 2010. The initiative seeks to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity.   

     International Mother Language Day has been proclaimed by UNESCO in 1999. It has been observed each year beginning from 2000 to focus on endangered languages and the importance of preserving these languages.

     Arabic language has been approved by UN as official working language on December 18, 1973.

     Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. Arabic has more speakers than any other language in the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as a first language most of them live in the Middle East and North Africa and by 250 million more as a second language. Arabic has many different, geographically distributed spoken varieties some of which are mutually unintelligible Modern Standard Arabic which is widely taught in schools, universities, and used in workplaces, government and the media.

40 years of Achievements

   4o years passed, 40 years of achievements, 40 years of challenges, 40 years of developments, 40 years of experiences. Nowadays UAE, its inhabitants and the newcomers are celebrating the national day.

     So we say 40 feasts, but not the fortieth feast because we witness the real development and achievements yearly and how much challenges are overcome upon to continue progress. Yearly a new thing arouses like new national cadres able to achieve such challenges. Each year we celebrate the success this union did and its all positive effects on the inhabitants. When a new slogan ‘the union spirit’ is launched this year, this means that the spirit which achieved this historical success since its beginning still exists within our country, our youth and the coming generations. This spirit always reminds us of the achievements and how the past was and how it becomes.

     Concerning Air lines, now we have our own international companies which land all over the world and compete the biggest international Air lines companies regarding service, performance and the economic outcome. All of this happens within a short period of time.

     Concerning tourism, now UAE owns the best, tallest and biggest international hotels although UAE one day owned only one hotel whose roof was made of palm leaves and consisted of only one floor.

     Who can ever imagine that this country will be at the top tourist destinations now? And how does it change from a desert gulf country to be a main tourist destination in the Middle East? UAE now becomes the first tourist destination to Arab tourists. Moreover it grows to be the first tourist destination to European tourists as well. All infrastructure and festivals in UAE make it at the front.

     Thus in order to notice nowadays developments and achievements, we have to remember the past to be proud of each step, each year and each achievement. It is not a day we celebrate with, yet it is a date we are proud of.

Happy New Year … And Allah keep UAE a home we are proud of.