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November 02, 2008

Doshka!

Ah, now this is a true gem. I've just stumbled across a great blog which will be going on the blogroll as soon as I'm done writing this post.

I set out to throw up a post about Jewish Settler violence/terrorism. First there was today's news that Israeli spy chief fears Jewish extremist plot which I intended to tie in with a piece from a few days ago about an AFP photographer injured by Jewish Settlers in West Bank. But then, as happens so often, something caught my eye... a link to an unrelated McClatchy Newspapers release. Once on the McClatchy site I noticed a link to a post on a McClatchy blog called Checkpoint Jerusalem which is written by the McClatchy Jerusalem Bureau chief, Dion Nissenbaum. And he had written a fascinating post about "a startled anglo-arab woman living and working through the mideast" blogger: Doskha, is this the Middle East?

At first blush Doshka's blog seems to be mostly the musings and observations of a hedonistic, socially liberal anglo-arab woman living, partying and sleeping (both literally and figuratively) in Lebanon, Israel and the West Bank. But once past that first blush impression I realized that Doskha shares my enduring fascination about what makes people tick. Revealed in her posts are startling insights into the minds and motivations of Jews, Arabs and the many Euro-American NGO employees working (and playing!) in the region, nearly all of it filtered through their sexual exploits, both attempted and accomplished. Some of it, though, is just pure, unadulterated voyeurism peeking into the minds of some truly quirky individuals.

Such as Antoine (warning: R rated content), a Lebanese shoe salesman in Beirut. Or Sexed-up Palestinian taxi driver who thinks that if it was only just the one time that he therefore isn't gay.

But it's not all voyeurism and poorly executed pick-up lines. Apparently Doshka is regularly exempted from the usual hyper-security checks imposed on other Arabs at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport and she doesn't like it. Though that too arguably has a hedonistic undercurrent to it.

Posted by Kevin at November 2, 2008 09:02 AM