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Please tell us about your favorite Middle East Culture Web Sites - especially if they are related to peace efforts.

Note - some linked sites will be displayed in a separate window - you may need to look for the window if you have minimized it.

A shared culture - Arabic and Hebrew are Semitic languages and share many words - click here to learn some Arabic and Hebrew.

Holidays of the Middle East

Nemashim Arab-Jewish Theater Community - Arab and Jewish young people in Haifa have created a special theater group. More

The Peace Child Song    buttonsong.gif (1014 bytes)

Smadar Levi - Musician for peace, Daughter of Sderot

Read About Musical Instruments of the Middle East  and hear them played!

Oud (Ud)

Darbuka

Ney (Nay)

Qanun

Bandir (Bendir)

Daf  (Riqq, Daff)

Musicians for Peace are an example of living together in multi-lingual harmony guided by spiritual principles and avoiding political divisions and bad news. They focus on the positive and seeing them perform with their idealistic happy energies, inclusive audience participation, oud/guitar exchanges and absolute sincerity can convert even cynics to believers that if every meeting of Arabs and Jews were like their concerts, peace would spread as easily as radio broadcasts.  You can download their song "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation" by clicking herebuttonsong.gif (1014 bytes)

Sufi Music - Sound and music occupy an important place in the life of most Sufis. It is a tool for the believer to get closer to God, dissolving the physical realm into the spiritual one by polishing the heart and enhancing the spiritual aspect of the human being over the physical being. More about Sufi Music

The Poetry of Peace - MidEast Web's own Poetry Section:

Jerusalem - Naomi Shehab Nye - & Words by the Iranian Poet Sa'di

Why We Cry - David Katz  - War and peace in Jerusalem

Tzama (Thirst) - Marjorie Rosenfeld - Peace for Israel and Palestine

Karagoz Turkish Shadow Puppet Plays - Includes a fascinating explanation of the history and background of shadow puppet plays as well as memorable photos. (The main Turkish Site - GELENEKSEL TÜRK GÖLGE OYUNU KARAGÖZ ve HACIVAT

Religion and Peace

Creating Peace - Palestinian-Israeli Art Project

MUSIC GENERAL ART   BELLY DANCING CUISINE  POETRY 

Art and Sculpture

http://www.members.tripod.com/q8art/ is not just about Kuwaiti art as you will soon find. There is an impressive assembly of talent here from most of the Middle East.

http://www.lebanonart.com includes art and poetry of Lebanon

Ali Al Awadh - Online gallery of original sculpture

Kuwait Society for the Formative Arts (KSFA) - Links to online galleries and features.

warba.jpg

Bird and His Owner

Belly Dancing

Belly dancing is a unique Middle Eastern art form.  

Shira tells you how to do it, how to learn it,  where to get music, costumes etc. 

Farfesha Belly Dancers - Farfesha means joyous laughter. It is the name of a belly dancing troupe and school. Their Web site features stunning photos, articles about belly dancing, and links to other belly dancing sites.

Cuisine

MidEastWeb Recipes Pages

The Virtual Middle Eastern Cookbook by Sabrina Toma includes both great recipes and pictures of the author's original oil paintings.

Food from the Arab World by MARIE KARAM KHAYAT and MARGARET CLARK KEATING is a complete cookbook of Lebanese (mostly) recipes. 

Music

Issa Boulous' home page  Palestinian music, information about the Issa Boulous quartet. and the Arab Classical Music Society.

At  http://www.batkol.com there is a collection of lullabies from Jerusalem in Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian, Ladino etc.

Voices of Eden - Jews and Palestinians create music and lullabies for peace.

 

GENERAL - These sites have art, poetry and other cultural links:

Web site of Syrian author Ammar Abdulhamid - Contains several full length on-line novels, poetry, political essays...

Ada Aharoni's home page is devoted to dialog through culture and features poetry and writing.

http://vpa.monterey.edu/worldwall/3residency/index.html includes works by Israeli and Palestinian artists trying to create a common language.

http://www.nawal.com is a general directory of culture, education, business etc. in the Arab world.

Lebanon Art includes art and poetry of Lebanon. Lebanonpanorama,  a related site, has stunning panoramic views of Lebanon.

OneFineArt - Art portal of Middle Eastern and Arab artists.

http://www.middle-east.yu-hu.com includes poetry and novels by Israeli and other authors.

http://www.egyptiancastle.com has lots of Egyptian cultural links (including belly dancing, music, art...)

Ladah - The Ladah organization is a charitable foundation for the Middle East, with links to Web sites displaying Palestinian and Armenian embroidery, and to books and articles.

Towards Humanity - Peace Through Music - The Web site of Flautist and Peace and Charity activist Wissam Bustany.

 Poetry

Arabic Poetry - Dr Ali Mehilba writes: "... I am planning to make a revolution and have The United Republic of Hope and Love. If u support me u may become one of Key persons in that Republic; What do u think?. I need your emotional support. Visit our site and recommend it to other friends and let me know how to improve it; to have a real Republic of Hope and Love through the best Gift from God to Human ( The Words)."

Peace Poems by Prof Ada Aharoni
Love Poems by Prof Ada Aharoni
Lirit - A magazine of Hebrew Poems in Translation

MEW BLOG - Middle East News and Views

Mideastweb Middle East Conflict News History Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Middle East Maps   Israel-Palestine Timeline  History of Israel and Palestine  

MidEastWeb Middle East Master Reference and External Sources

Zionism - Definition and History

 

Middle East Gateway