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The blast wounded of Raqqa, Syria: observational results from an MSF-supported district hospital
Jennifer OKeeffe1,
Larissa Vernier1,
Vanessa Cramond1,
Shazeer Majeed1,
Antonio Isidro Carrion Martin ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8845-34473,
Maartje Hoetjes2 &
Mohana Amirtharajah2
In June 2017, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launched a military operation to retake the city of Raqqa, Syria, from the so-called Islamic State. The city population incurred mass numbers of wounded. In the post-offensive period, the population returned to a city (Raqqa) contaminated with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and explosive remnants of war (ERWs), resulting in a second wave of wounded patients. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) supported a hospital in Tal-Abyad (north of Raqqa) and scaled up operations in response to this crisis. We describe the cohort of blast-wounded cases admitted to this hospital in order help prepare future humanitarian responses.
We retrospectively extracted data from clinical charts in the MSF-supported hospital. We included all new admissions for blast-wounded patients with key data elements documented. We performed comparative analyses from the offensive period (June 6, 2017 to October 17, 2017) and the post-offensive period (October 18, 2017 to March 17, 2018).
We included 322 blast related injuries. There were more than twice the number of cases with blast injuries in the post-offensive period as the offensive period (225 vs. 97, p = <.001). The offensive period saw a significantly higher proportion of female patients (32.0%, n = 31 vs. 11.1%, n = 25, p < 0.001) and paediatric patients (42.3%, n = 41 vs 24.9%, n = 56, p = 0.002). Blast-injured patients in the post-offensive period included more cases with multiple traumatic injuries (65.8%, n = 148 vs. 39.2%, n = 38, p < 0.001). The treatment of the blast-injured cases in the post-offensive period was more labor intensive with those patients having a higher median number of interventions (2 vs 1, p = <0.001) and higher median number of days in hospital (7 vs 4, p = < 0.001).
In the wake of the Raqqa offensive, the MSF-supported district hospital received an unpredicted second, larger and more complex wave of blast-wounded cases as the population returned to a city strewn with IEDs and ERWs. These findings indicate the high risk of traumatic injury to the population even after warring factions have vacated conflict zones. Medical humanitarian actors should be prepared for a continued and scaled up response in areas known to be highly contaminated with explosive ordnance.
In 2014, in the midst of the war raging in Syria, the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) seized control of large areas of western Syria and eastern Iraq, setting up the city of Raqqa in northern Syria as their de facto capital. In response, the Kurdish dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) aligned with the United States (US) led coalition of forces launched Operation Wrath of Euphrates [1], an operation aimed at taking the city of Raqqa as part of a larger campaign to drive ISIL out of the region. The last phase of the operation, the Battle of Raqqa military offensive, began on June 6, 2017 and officially ended on October 17, 2017 [2]. SDF ground troops supported by heavy US airstrikes encircled the city, effectively trapping combatants and civilians alike inside. The city population incurred a large number of wounded attributed to airstrikes. Monitoring groups put the total number of civilian casualties between 1300 and 1800 as a result of nearly 4500 airstrikes and the use of over 20,000 munitions between the months of May and October, 2017 [3, 4].
When active combat ended, the civilian population began to return to Raqqa, a city was strewn with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and explosive remnants of war (ERWs) [5]. ISIL has been known to leave booby traps when evacuating an area previously under their control, but ERWs, including bombs and missiles left by other armed forces, were also present in the area [6,7,8]. In the months following the coalition offensive, 658 injuries and 130 deaths were reported from IEDs, ERWs, booby traps and other unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the cityFootnote 1[9]. The actual number is likely much higher due to the unreported deaths that occurred before people could reach medical assistance. In Raqqa, high political and security concerns, compounded by the number and magnitude of explosives used in the offensive and post-offensive periods, made humanitarian access difficult. Many humanitarian health actors were unable or unwilling to access the city of Raqqa in the months following the military offensive; thus, information about the humanitarian situation in Raqqa during this time remains extremely limited.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, independent, humanitarian medical organisation that provides medical assistance to vulnerable populations, including those affected by conflict. MSF-OCA (Operational Center Amsterdam) began supporting a district hospital in Tal Abyad, north of Raqqa town, in 2016, mainly in the form of medical supplies. In June 2017, it scaled up its support, adding staff incentives, technical assistance and international staff to care for the heavy caseload of traumatic injuries resulting from the military offensive. Tal Abyad is located 90 km north of Raqqa, posing a minimum of 120 min transport time without delays. In the context of the offensive period, checkpoints, combat conditions and other barriers often meant the time for transport was much longer. In Raqqa governate, MSF operated alongside and coordinated with a presence of military and non-military health actors. It served as the primary referral facility for acute injuries and illness for most of the civilian population.
After the initial combat and airstrikes ended, there was a respite in the number of casualties seen, and MSF prepared to transition its support away from trauma care. However, in late October, as the population unexpectedly returned to the city prior to decontamination, the hospital began to see an increase in blast admissions. Therefore, MSF scaled up its trauma-related operations, adding a trauma stabilization point (TSP) within the city limits to respond to the number and complexity of blast injuries.
Although recent work has described the burden of injury to civilian populations during active fighting in a similar context, these studies do not provide an indication of the burden of trauma that can occur during the immediate post-offensive period in a highly ordnance-contaminated urban area [10, 11]. The objective of this study was therefore to describe the cohort of blast-wounded cases admitted to the MSF supported district hospital during the Raqqa military offensive and the first months of the post-offensive period in order to better prepare existing and future humanitarian responses.
This study used a retrospective observational descriptive design. It drew on routinely collected programme data from an MSF supported district hospital in northern Syria.
Study period and setting
This study considers the period from June 6, 2017 to October 17, 2017 as the Raqqa offensive period. The post-offensive period began October 18, 2017 and ended on March 17, 2018 when the blast caseload had begun to decrease. The MSF supported district hospital was located in Tal Abyad, northern Syria and was the only functioning public hospital in Raqqa Governorate throughout the Raqqa offensive and post-offensive periods. In this capacity, it served as the primary trauma referral site for all medical actors, delivering acute surgical care to severely injured patients.
The study population consisted of all new blast-wounded admissions to the MSF supported district hospital in the offensive or post offensive period with all key data elements documented in their medical chart. Blast-wounded were defined as patients with physical trauma from direct or indirect exposure to an explosion including improvised explosive devices (IEDs), unexploded ordnance (UXO), mines, missiles, projectiles and fragments. New admissions were defined as patients who were admitted to the hospital for the first time for one set of wounds.
The study team reviewed all available medical charts for patients admitted to the MSF supported district hospital during the offensive or post-offensive period and extracted key data elements using a data extraction paper form. Data were entered into an online database using Kobo Toolbox and exported to Stata version 14.2 for analysis. The data variables collected for analysis included patient sex, age, admission and exit dates, classification and location of injuries, presence of multiple injuries, exit status, number and type of intervention, anaesthesia type, surgical complications (including patient infections) and anaesthesia complications. Patients were considered to have multiple injuries if they had more than one documented classification of injury or one documented classification of injury in more than one location on the body. Interventions included any procedure performed in the operating theatre by a surgeon including formal surgeries, wound care and all procedures requiring any type of anaesthesia.
Analyses compared results in the offensive and post-offensive periods to determine differences by specified variables. Variables were tested for normality using skewness-kurtosis normality tests due to the large number of tied data. None of the variables tested passed normality tests and nonparametric tests were used for comparisons. The team performed chi square and Fisher's exact tests to test differences in blast injuries by time period and sex, exit status and presence of multiple injuries. Chi square tests were one tailed with one degree of freedom and α = 0.5. The team used Wilcoxon rank sum tests to measure differences by time period and age, number of interventions, length of stay, and time between admission and first intervention. Findings were considered significant at a p value of < 0.05.
The study fulfilled the exemption criteria set by the Médecins Sans Frontières Ethics Review Board for a posteriori analyses of routinely collected clinical data and was conducted with permission from the MSF-OCA Medical Director. No personal identifiers were included in databases or used for analyses. Data sets were password protected and only accessible to the study team.
Three hundred and twenty-two blast related admissions were included in the study, 97 from the offensive period and 225 from the post-offensive period (p = <.001). Figure 1 shows the evolution of admissions and interventions over the course of the study period. The 97 blast admissions made up 68.8% of the total weapon wounded admissions to the hospital during the offensive period. Data on the total war wounded admissions were not available in the post-offensive period. Table 1. describes the results of variables collected from patient data.
MSF district hospital new blast case admissions and interventions in the offensive and post-offensive period, Tal Abyad, Syria, June 2017–March 2087(Interventions in the post-offensive period include interventions on cases admitted to the district hospital in the offensive period. Admissions after March 18, 2018 were not included in analysis. Population estimates in the post-offensive period were difficult to find and were calculated based on estimate of population remaining at the end of the offensive combined with the estimated number of returnees during the month) [12]
Table 1 Comparison of new blast admissions to the MSF district hospital in north Syria during the Raqqa military offensive and post-offensive periods, Tal Abyad, Syria, June 2017–March 2018
The majority of blast wounded patients admitted for care during both time periods were adult males (82.6%, n = 266). However, the offensive period saw a significantly higher proportion of female patients (32.0%, n = 31 vs. 11.1%, n = 25, p < 0.001) and paediatric patients (42.3%, n = 41 vs 24.9%, n = 56, p = 0.002) than the post-offensive period. The trend in new admissions of paediatric patients changed over time. The first months of the offensive period, June and July, saw a high proportion of new paediatric admissions with 70.0% (n = 7) and 62.5% (n = 5) of all admissions in those months. By September, the proportion had dropped to 30% or below and remained that low until the end of the post-offensive period. In February and March, the hospital again began seeing more paediatric patients, documenting 36.7% (n = 11) and 40.0% (n = 6) as a proportion of all admissions during those months.
One hundred and forty-six injuries were documented in the 97 patients from the offensive period and 425 injuries were documented in the 225 patients from the post-offensive period. The occurrence of multiple traumatic injuries in a patient were more common during the post-offensive period compared to the offensive one (65.8%, n = 148 vs. 39.2%, n = 38, p < 0.001).
The types of injuries did not vary significantly between the two time periods. Table 2 describes the types of injuries received in the two periods. In the offensive and post-offensive periods, soft tissue injuries comprised the largest category with 45.2% (n = 66) and 40.5% (n = 172) respectively. This was followed by open fractures with 17.1% (n = 25) and 23.3% (n = 99), torso injuries with 15.1% (n = 22) and 9.2% (n = 39), and traumatic amputations with 10.3% (n = 15) and 11.5% (n = 49) during the offensive and post-offensive periods respectively. These four categories made up 87.7% of the offensive period injuries and 84.5% of the post-offensive period injuries. The other categories included in analysis were closed fractures, cranial injuries, vascular injuries, eye injuries, spinal injuries, degloving, burns and other injuries. Each made up 4.0% or less of the total injuries for both periods.
Table 2 New blast admissions to the MSF district hospital in north Syria during the Raqqa military offensive and post-offensive periods by injury, Tal Abyad, Syria, June 2017–March 2018
Two hundred and twenty-six interventions were performed during the offensive period and 853 in the post-offensive period, described in Table 3. The post-offensive period had a higher median number of interventions per case (2) than the offensive period (1) (p < 0.001). The median length of stay in the hospital was also higher in the post-offensive period with 7 days compared to 4 days during the offensive period (p < 0.001). There was no difference in the interval between admission and first intervention with both time periods having a median of 0 days delay (p = 0.678). The surgical complication rate was 7.5% (n = 17) in the offensive and 4.7% (n = 40) in the post-offensive period (p = 0.091). The anaesthetic complication rate was 1.3% (n = 3) in the offensive period and 0.7% (n = 6) in the post-offensive period (p = 0.287).
Table 3 New blast admissions to the MSF district hospital in north Syria during the Raqqa military offensive and post-offensive periods by procedure
Four hundred and nine procedures were performed during the 226 interventions in the offensive period and 1560 procedures during the 853 interventions in the post-offensive period. In both periods, wound care consisting of debridements, change of dressing, and wound closure comprised the vast majority of procedures. Surgeons at the hospital performed 168 debridements in the offensive period and 608 debridements in the post-offensive making up 41.1 and 39.0% of all procedures respectively. An additional 127 (31.1%) and 562 (36.0%) changes of dressing were performed and 32 (7.8%) and 102 (6.5%) wound closures. Orthopaedic procedures were the second largest category with 38 (9.3%) procedures in the offensive and 162 (10.4%) in the post-offensive periods. These were mainly primary placement of external fixation with 16 (3.9%) and 84 (5.4%) procedures and amputation with 17 (4.2%) and 48 (3.1%) procedures.
Patients were discharged when they were deemed to be medically stable, could have dressing changes as an outpatient and were either judged to be independent enough to perform routine daily tasks or had sufficient assistance at home for these tasks. In the offensive period, 79 (81.4%) patients were discharged compared to 164 patients (72.9%) in the post-offensive period. There were 8 (8.3%) patients who defaulted, including those discharged against medical advice, in the offensive period and 40 (17.8%) patients who defaulted in the post-offensive period. There were 6 (6.2%) transferred patients in the offensive period and 18 (8.0%) in the post-offensive period. The intra-hospital mortality rate among those admitted was 4.1% (n = 4) in the offensive period and 1.3% (n = 3) for the post-offensive period. The offensive period had a patient infection rate of 8.3% (n = 8) while the post-offensive period had a rate of 11.6% (n = 26) (p = 0.375).
This retrospective observational study described the cohort of blast-wounded cases admitted to the MSF district hospital of Tal Abyad during the Raqqa military offensive and the first months of the post-offensive period. These data show that despite the cessation of active fighting, the burden of injury from IED's and ERW's remained extremely high, causing a heavy second wave of war-wounded patients during the post-offensive period. At the time, MSF was ready to scale down its surgical response as the acute offensive period had ended. This second wave created a significant burden of work for the MSF supported hospital that was unanticipated and for which it was not prepared. The burden of blast injuries as a proportion to overall trauma in urban conflict settings has increased in recent years; 2017 marked the first year that more civilians were killed or injured by air-launched weaponry than any other type of weapon in the Syrian conflict [13]. An analysis of civilian deaths in Syria from 2011 to 2016 reported shelling and aerial bombardment to be responsible for 57.3% of civilian deaths [14]. MSF was a singular witness to the events in Raqqa during the offensive and post-offensive periods, and its experience indicates that the presence of active combat may not be a sufficient indicator to anticipate population need for trauma care in the context of war.
The numbers and demographics of those who were unable to access care during the two time periods described remain unknown. Barriers to timely surgical care in humanitarian settings are well known and include security, distance, lack of transport, restricted access (checkpoints) and lack of pre-hospital stabilization for critical wounds [15]. The accessibility of facilities and the scale of the medical humanitarian response differed greatly during the offensive and post-offensive period and may have had a strong impact on the number of patients that arrived at the MSF district hospital. Active fighting and restricted movement during the offensive period likely inhibited access to timely care, particularly for severe cases, meaning that patients with severe or multiple injuries perhaps did not reach care before succumbing to their injuries. In contrast, accessibility during the post-offensive period was likely easier in the absence of direct attacks, fewer checkpoints, the addition of an MSF TSP within the city limits and linked MSF ambulances. Therefore, the higher number of patients treated in the post-offensive period, as well as the higher number of patients with multiple injuries, may be the result of survival bias due to better accessibility for patients rather than a change in the burden or pattern of injury.
Both time periods showed a preponderance of male patients. During the offensive period, men remaining in Raqqa City may have been prevented from leaving urban areas, may have stayed to look after their property or may have been involved in the fighting themselves and were more exposed to injury. In the post-offensive period, MSF teams on the ground received anecdotal reports that men returned to their homes before women and children to gauge the security situation and check on their property, which may explain the higher representation of men among the blast injured in the area during that time. The disproportionate numbers of men receiving care in the Syrian conflict has been documented in other studies: Hornez et al. recorded males as 85% of cases with a median age of 27, and Arafat et al. noted 82.1% of cases were male with half of the cases falling between 19 and 35 years of age [16, 17].
Paediatric patients experience higher rates of mortality for trauma even when injury severity is similar to adults and are more prone to tertiary blast injuries; therefore, their specific medical needs should be carefully considered in conflict settings [18]. Paediatric patients were still extensively affected by the violence during the offensive and post-offensive periods. The proportion of paediatric patients seen in the offensive period (42.3%) was higher than the number of paediatric patients (24.9%) in the post-offensive period. However, this difference should be carefully interpreted, as it is possible that more children passed away from wounds before accessing care or, alternatively, that there were fewer children present in the city by the time of the post-offensive period.
The length of stay for the cohorts of blast patients seen (4 days during offensive and 7 days post offensive period) is somewhat longer than that for weapon wounded trauma patients observed by Edwards et al. in Afghanistan (mean of 3.4–4.5 days), and in Iraq (mean of 2.8–3.4 days) [19]. The longer length of stay in the post-offensive period likely reflects the complexity of cases treated, which necessitated longer inpatient time and multiple interventions for the full course of care. This workload should be considered in the planning stages of a response for blast-wounded patients to assure that the facility has capacity to manage mid to long-term cases while continuing to admit new ones.
The inpatient mortality rates for cases admitted in this series, although lower than reported in Mosul, were low as compared to other studies (Nerlander et al) and Akkucuk et al. documented a mortality rate of 14.5% while Hakimoglu et al. saw 10.4% mortality over 2 years in a cross-border facility caring for Syrian civilian wounded in Turkey, compared to the 4.1% mortality rate for blast wounded seen in the offensive period and 1.3% for blast wounded in the post-offensive period in this study [11, 20, 21]. Again, similar to in Mosul, this relatively low mortality rate may reflect a survival bias in that severely injured patients did not survive to access care [11]. In addition, despite the unknown quality of care in private facilities in the region, it is possible that some critical cases either defaulted, including discharge against medical advice, or were transferred despite MSF's stated policy of not referring to facilities with unknown capability, reducing the inpatient mortality recorded in this study. Furthermore, the hospital had a large percentage of defaulters, particularly in the post-offensive period. It is possible that the less severe cases did not want to wait for care under the triage system in place at the MSF supported hospital or that patients sought more specialized care at private facilities that began to re-open during the post-offensive period.
As reported in other studies, wound care comprised the vast majority of interventions in both described periods. The soft tissue injuries inflicted by blasts result in high levels of tissue contamination with fragments and projectiles, as well as soft tissue necrosis, necessitating multiple individual procedures for treatment [22]. The interventions here included only those that occurred in the operating theatre and did not include the wound care that would have occurred as minor procedures in dressing change rooms or at the bedside, meaning that the burden of wound care is likely underestimated. Orthopedic surgery, including amputation, was the second most frequent category of intervention. Hariri et al. reported similar numbers of amputations among their blast wounded cohort as a percentage of all surgeries (3% compared to 3.9% for the offensive period and 3.1% for the post-offensive period described here) [23].
Given the burden of orthopaedic surgery and amputation, physiotherapy, rehabilitation and post-amputation care must be considered as part of the system of trauma care in conflict settings. Due to the high degree of contamination of open fractures in this context, MSF limited its operative orthopaedic interventions to external fixation in line with the principles of acute war surgery [24]. However, given the fracture burden seen in this series and the known rate of non-union and infection that result from these types of injuries, Raqqa governate is likely to have a significant future need for reconstructive surgery and physiotherapy [25].
The MSF supported district hospital was set up rapidly and operated under emergency conditions with a large and complex caseload. Patient care took precedence over the organization of medical records, which affected data quality and availability. While the study team initially attempted to collect more robust information on injury severity and outcomes, this documentation was not reliably recorded and had to be dropped from analysis due to poor quality. Patient charts were not tallied during the initial medical chart review due to issues with the archiving. The total number of cases seen in the facility during the time periods and the number of charts excluded from analysis due to missing information are unknown, a major limitation to the study. Documentation was weaker during the offensive period, which occurred concurrently with the ramp-up of MSF's on-the-ground support to the district hospital. This weakness in documentation may have had an influence on the following: fewer number of included cases if they were excluded because of missing key elements; shorter length of stay if exit date was underestimated; lower numbers of interventions recorded if intervention forms were missing or not linked to patient charts. The study team took a conservative approach to inclusion of cases in order to assure a complete data set and to avoid overestimating results. In particular, the exclusion of cases that did not have complete information undeniably resulted in an underestimation of total blast cases. Interventions were only included if they were performed in the operating theatre by a surgeon. Minor procedures at the bedside or in dressing change rooms were not counted; meaning the burden of wound care is underestimated. Finally, due to weak documentation in the referral process, we were unable to link patient data from the TSP to care received at the district hospital. This link in documentation would have provided valuable insight to strength of referral pathways and the full course of treatment delivered to patients who arrived to the TSP. Future studies should seek to record patient care across referral pathways, document the severity of injury, and further investigate patient and provider experience in these types of contexts. Despite these limitations, the data put forth here offer unique insight into the medical humanitarian context during and after the Raqqa military offensive. Much of the data was collected in real time, and the entire dataset underwent a stringent cleaning and verification process. Thus, these data still present a high-quality description of the blast-injured cohort seen in a conflict and post-conflict setting.
In the wake of the Raqqa offensive, the MSF supported district hospital witnessed an unforeseen second, and in fact larger, wave of blast cases as the population returned to their homes in a city filled with ERW and UXO. These events call attention to the high risk of traumatic injury to the population even after warring factions have vacated conflict zones, particularly when population movement cannot be predicted. Whether the caseload was heavier in the post-offensive period due to inaccessibility of facilities in the offensive period or due to a higher burden of blast cases remains unknown. However, given the recent experience of MSF in this context, medical humanitarian actors should be prepared for a continued and scaled up response in areas known to be highly contaminated with explosive ordnance.
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to MSF policy on data protection in highly insecure settings, but MSF has a managed access system for data sharing. Data are available on request in accordance with MSF's data sharing policy. Requests for access to data should be made to data.sharing@msf.org.
It should be noted that much of this data comes from MSF Facilities operating in the area at the time, including the one described in this report.
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Fakri RM, Al Ani AM, Rose AM, Alras MS, Daumas L, Baron E, Khaddaj S, Hérard P. (2012). Reconstruction of nonunion tibial fractures in war-wounded Iraqi civilians, 2006-2008: better late than never. J Orthop Trauma. 2012 Jul;26(7):e76-e82. doi: https://doi.org/10.1097/BOT.0b013e318225e8d0.
The study team would like to acknowledge the skill, commitment and dedication of the health care teams comprised of assistants, nurses, technicians, doctors, surgeons and all of the support staff at the MSF supported hospital. Their tireless efforts not only provided care to the population of Raqqa at times of extreme crisis and contributed to the saving of many lives and limbs, but also gave patients and their families comfort and hope on some of their darkest days. The study team would also like to thank the MSF staff who assisted in the implementation of this research including data collectors, translators, transcribers, field epidemiologists and administration staff across Iraq and Syria.
The north Syria MSF supported district hospital was funded by MSF Operational Center Amsterdam as were all authors and members of the study team. There was no specific funding for the study.
Médecins Sans Frontières, Tal-Abyad, Syria
Jennifer OKeeffe
, Larissa Vernier
, Vanessa Cramond
& Shazeer Majeed
Médecins sans Frontières, Naritaweg 10, 1043 BX, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Maartje Hoetjes
& Mohana Amirtharajah
Médecins sans Frontières, Lower Ground Floor, Chancery Exchange, 10 Furnival Street, London, EC4A 1AB, UK
Antonio Isidro Carrion Martin
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JO- acquisition of data, statistical analysis, interpretation of data, drafting of the manuscript, revision of manuscript. LV- acquisition of data, statistical analysis, interpretation of data. VC- conception of work, design of work, acquisition of data, interpretation of data. SM- design of work, acquisition of data, interpretation of data. AICM- design of work, statistical analysis, interpretation of data, revision of manuscript. MH- conception of work, design of work, interpretation of data, revision of manuscript. MA- conception of work, design of work, acquisition of data, interpretation of data, revision of manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Correspondence to Antonio Isidro Carrion Martin.
OKeeffe, J., Vernier, L., Cramond, V. et al. The blast wounded of Raqqa, Syria: observational results from an MSF-supported district hospital. Confl Health 13, 28 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-019-0214-0
Conflict settings


text:
Der parfümierte Garten (auch Der duftende Garten) ist der deutsche Name eines arabischen Ehehandbuchs aus dem frühen 15. Jahrhundert, das aufgrund seiner erotischen Geschichten und freizügigen Behandlung menschlicher Sexualität schon im 19. Jahrhundert auf großes Interesse in Europa stieß. Der vollständige arabische Titel lautet . Verfasser ist Abū ʿAbdallāh Muḥammad an-Nafzāwī (im Deutschen auch mit Scheikh Nefzawi wiedergegeben), dessen Nisba auf seine Herkunft aus der südtunesischen Stadt Nafzāwā hinweist. In seinem Vorwort teilt an-Nafzāwī mit, dass er sein Werk für Muḥammad ibn ʿAwāna az-Zawāwī, den Großwesir des Hafsiden-Herrschers Abd al-Aziz II. (reg. 1394–1433), verfasste.

Aufbau
Das Werk enthält eine Vorrede und 21 Kapitel. Kapitel 1 bis 4 behandeln lobenswerte und verachtenswerte Eigenschaften bei Mann und Frau, Kapitel 5 und 6 gesundheitliche Regeln für den Koitus und das Vorspiel sowie unter Hinweis auf Sure 2:223 die verschiedenen Sexualpositionen. Kapitel 7 warnt vor den Folgen der Maßlosigkeit beim Geschlechtsverkehr. Kapitel 8 und 9 behandeln arabische Namen für Penis und Vagina sowie die Bedeutung erotischer Träume. Kapitel 10 handelt von den Penissen der Tiere. Kapitel 11 beschäftigt sich mit Listen von Frauen. In den letzten Kapiteln geht es um Aphrodisiaka (Kap. 13), die Behandlung weiblicher Unfruchtbarkeit (Kap. 14), Gründe für männliche Unfruchtbarkeit (Kap. 15), Mittel zur Abtreibung (Kap. 16), Behandlung von Erektionsproblemen (Kap. 17), Mittel zur Penisvergrößerung (Kap. 18), Desodorierung von Achselhöhle und Scheide, Verengung der Scheide (Kap. 19), Anzeichen für Schwangerschaft und für das Geschlecht des ungeborenen Kindes (Kap. 20) sowie um die Nutzung von Eiern und um erregende Getränke (Kap. 21). Viele der Kapitel enthalten erotische Geschichten und Gedichte. Hierbei wird besonders die narrative Darstellung von Zärtlichkeiten zwischen Frauen als Mittel zur Erregung sexueller Lust eingesetzt.

Europäische Rezeption
Der parfümierte Garten stieß im 19. Jahrhundert in Europa auf ein ähnlich großes Interesse wie das indische Kamasutra. Ein Offizier der französischen Armee in Algerien übersetzte das Werk 1850 in die französische Sprache. Eine autographische Ausgabe wurde 1876 in 25 Kopien publiziert. Diese Ausgabe ist wegen ihrer Seltenheit teuer und wegen ihrer Eigenheit schwer und ermüdend zu lesen. Eine revidierte und korrigierte Neuauflage mit den Notizen und Anmerkungen des Übersetzers wurde später in Paris veröffentlicht.

Der viktorianische Abenteurer und Orientalist Richard Francis Burton übersetzte das Werk aus der französischen Übersetzung ins Englische. Seine Übersetzung wurde 1886 unter dem Titel The Perfumed Garden of Sensual Delights veröffentlicht.

Literatur
Arabische Textausgabe
 ar-Rauḍ al-ʿāṭir fī nuzhat al-ḫāṭir. Ed. Ǧamāl Ǧumʿa. London: Riad El-Rayyes 1990.

Übersetzungen

 Abû ʿAbdallâh Muhammad an-Nafzâwî: Der duftende Garten zur Erbauung des Gemüts. Ein arabisches Liebeshandbuch. Aus dem Arabischen übersetzt von Ulrich Marzolph. München 2002. ISBN 3-406-49580-X

Sekundärliteratur

Weblinks
 Der duftende Garten des Scheik Nefzaui  bei zeno.org
 Der duftende Garten des Scheik Nefzaui bei Gutenberg-DE

Erotische Literatur
Literatur (Arabisch)
Literatur (15. Jahrhundert)
Literarisches Werk

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Israel to escalate ethnic cleansing
Bedouin protest in Rahat against the Prawer Plan.PHOTO: SHIRAZ GRINBAUM / Activestills.org
The Israeli Knesset (parliament) has approved the first reading of the Arrangement of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev. More commonly known as the Prawer-Begin Plan, the bill allows for mass forced expulsions of the Palestinian Bedouin community from the Naqab (the Arabic name for the Negev desert).
According to the Israeli human rights group Adalah, if the plan is fully implemented it "will result in the forced displacement of up to 70,000 [Palestinian] Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel and the destruction of 35 'unrecognised' villages".
Approximately half of the Palestinian Bedouin population – around 90,000 people – live in 46 towns and villages located on just 5 percent of the land in the Naqab region. Israel currently recognises only 11 of these villages, despite the fact that they have existed since prior to the establishment of Israel in 1948.
Palestinian Bedouin living in these villages are treated as "trespassers on State land" and are denied access to infrastructure including water, electricity, sewage, education, health care and roads. These services are deliberately withheld by the Zionist state as part of a war of attrition that seeks to "encourage" Palestinian Bedouin to leave their land. As a result, the Palestinian Bedouin community is one of the most socially and economically disadvantaged within Israel. According to Adalah, 67 percent of Palestinian Bedouin were classified as "poor" in 2009.
The original Plan was conceived by Ehud Prawer, the former Deputy Chair of Israel's National Security Council, in 2011 – without any consultation with the Palestinian Bedouin community. In January, amendments to the bill were made by Benny Begin, the son of former Israeli PM Menachem Begin who had been a leader of the Zionist terror militia known as the Etzel (Irgun).
Begin's amendments resulted in the removal of some of the more offensive language from the bill, which deemed Bedouins "squatters" on their own land, as well as legitimising the use of "reasonable force" to evict them. Both the original plan and the amended bill have been rejected by the Palestinian Bedouin community.
The Prawer-Begin bill will result in the largest single act of ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel since the first decade following the creation of the Israeli state.
In 1948, Zionist terror militias carried out attacks on the Palestinian Bedouin living in the Naqab. Then the newly created Israeli military launched a full scale ethnic cleansing operation to expel Palestinian Bedouin from the region for "military reasons".
Over the next two years between 70,000 and 90,000 Palestinian Bedouin were expelled from the region. This systematic ethnic cleansing would continue throughout the 1950s.
While the vast majority were pushed outside the boundaries of the Zionist state, approximately 10 percent would remain. They were evicted to the Siyag (meaning "fence" in Arabic) in the northern Naqab, where they were forced to live under military rule until 1966.
However, since the 1950s the Palestinian Bedouin have continually sought to return to their traditional lands. Israel has prevented their return both militarily and also by planting trees via the Jewish National Fund. While the JNF claims that it is rehabilitating the land, the main purpose of the tree planting is to ensure control of the land.
Haneen Zoabi, one of the 12 Palestinian Arab members of the Knesset, told the Jerusalem Post on 28 May that "This is not how a normal state or even a dictatorship treats its citizens because it is very obvious that the aim of this plan is to expel the Palestinian citizens from their land and develop the land for the Jewish population."
"We didn't immigrate to Israel, it was Israel that immigrated to us," she added.
Since the Prawer Plan was first announced, Israel has demolished more than 1,000 Palestinian Bedouin homes in the Naqab, while at the same time announcing plans to plant forests, build military centres and establish new Jewish settlements in the place of Palestinian Bedouin villages that will be ethnically cleansed
via Socialist Alternative – Israel to escalate ethnic cleansing.
Posted in activism, Crime, Government, Human rights and Liberties, International affairs, Local politics, Terrorism
Tags: Bedouin, Benny Begin, Haneen Zoabi, Israel, Jewish National Fund, Knesset, Naqab, Negev
Treatment of Palestinians is Apartheid by Any Other Name
Were it not for the razor wire, giant concrete blocks, steel gates, watchtower and standard-issue surly teenage soldier, it would be impossible to tell at what point the barren uplands of Israel's eastern Negev give way to the South Hebron Hills of the West Bank.
The military checkpoint of Shani vaguely marks the formal demarcation between Israel and occupied Palestinian territory, but in practical terms the distinction is meaningless. On either side of the Green Line, Israel is in charge.
In recent weeks it has been intensifying a campaign to evict Palestinian farming communities summarily from their ancestral lands to replace them with Jewish newcomers.
Israeli human rights lawyers, tired of the international community's formulaic criticisms, say it is time to be more forthright. They call these "ethnic cleansing" zones — intended to drive off Palestinians irrespective of the provisions of international law and whether or not the Palestinians in question hold Israeli citizenship.
In the occupied South Hebron Hills, a dozen traditional communities — long ago denied by Israel the right to enjoy modern amenities such as electricity and running water — are struggling to remain in the cave-homes that sheltered them for centuries.
Israel has reclassified much of their land as a military firing range and demands that they leave for their own safety. An appeal to the Israeli courts, the latest instalment in a 14-year saga to avoid eviction, is due in the next few days.
Israel's concern for the villagers' welfare might sound more convincing were it not encouraging Jews to live close by in illegal settlements.
Palestinians in other parts of the occupied territories coveted by Israel — such as villages next to Jerusalem and those in the fertile Jordan Valley, the territorial backbone of any future Palestinian state — are being squeezed too. Firing ranges, closed military zones and national parks are the pretexts for Israel to appropriate the farmland these rural communities need to survive.
As a result, Palestinian life is withering in the nearly two-thirds of the West Bank Israel was temporarily entrusted with — the so-called Area C — under the Oslo Accords. Endlessly harassed Palestinians have sought sanctuary in West Bank cities under Palestinian Authority control. Today the remnants in Area C, a population of about 100,000, are outnumbered three to one by Jewish settlers.
A discomfited European Union, normally mealy-mouthed on Israel's occupation, has started to describe this as "forced transfer." The term may sound ominous and reproving, but human rights groups say that, from a legal perspective, the terminology obscures rather than illuminates what is taking place.
"Forced transfer," observes Suhad Bishara, a lawyer with Adalah, a legal centre for Israel's minority of 1.5 million Palestinian citizens, usually describes uncoordinated and unofficial incidents of population displacement, often as an outcome of war.
Bishara and others argue that Israel is carrying out a systematic and intentional policy to drive Palestinians off their land to replace them with Jewish communities. This, they say, should be identified as "ethnic cleansing," a term first given legal and moral weight in the Balkans conflict in the early 1990s.
As evidence, the lawyers point to recent developments inside Israel. The treatment of tens of thousands of Bedouin in the Negev, all of them Israeli citizens, is virtually identical to that of Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills.
The Bedouin too have faced a prolonged campaign to push them off their ancestral lands and into a series of "townships," forcibly urbanizing them in the country's most deprived communities. In the disconcerting language of Israeli bureaucracy, the Bedouin need to be "concentrated."
Israel has increased the pressure — as in the West Bank — by denying these Bedouin all public services, and demolishing any concrete homes they build. As with Palestinians under occupation, the Bedouin have found their communities reclassified as firing ranges, military zones or national forests.
The village of al-Araqib, near Beersheva, for example, has been demolished more than 50 times in recent years as Israel plants on its land — with a suitably sinister irony — the Ambassadors' Forest, commemorating the help provided to Israel by the international community's diplomatic corps.
Waiting in the wings are developers ready to build on the Bedouin's land 10 new towns for Jews only. The rest of the territory is being eaten up by Jewish ranches, given swathes of land to create vineyards, offer camel rides and, in one case, provide a pet cemetery.
But, as in the West Bank, the Bedouin are refusing to budge, and pressing their historic land claims in the Israeli courts. Rather than wait for a verdict it may not like, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu is rewriting the Bedouin's citizenship rights.
The Prawer plan, which passed its first reading in parliament last month, will force 40,000 Bedouin off their land — the largest expulsions inside Israel for decades. Unlike Jewish citizens, they will have no say over where they live; they will be forcibly assigned to a township.
For the first time, Israeli citizens — the Bedouin — are to be deprived of any recourse to the courts as they are harried from their homes. Instead Israel will resort to administrative procedures more familiar from the occupied territories.
The policy is clear: Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line are to be treated like sheep, fenced into ever-smaller areas, while Jews will have unrestrained access to a Greater Israel envisioned by Mr Netanyahu.
The international community has long criticized Israel for the "discrimination" its Palestinian citizens face and for the "oppression" of Palestinians under occupation. This terminology needs overhauling too, say the human rights lawyers.
A system that treats one ethnic group as less human than another already has a legal name: it is called apartheid.
via OpEdNews – Article: Treatment of Palestinians is Apartheid by Any Other Name.
Posted in Government, Human rights and Liberties, politics, Religion
Tags: Al-Araqeeb, Bedouin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Mount Hebron, Palestinian people, Palestinian territories, West Bank
Syria: The "Western Faces" Behind The Terror
In her extraordinarily bold and direct speech addressed to the Irish Parliament, Clare Daly (TD, Dublin North) called Obama a "war criminal"and "hypocrite of the century".
In describing the fawned reception of Obama in Ireland akin to pimping and prostituting of that nation, Ms. Daly hit the nail on the head. Sadly, America dwarfs Ireland and elsewhere in the undignified category of prostitution – the 29 standing ovations from Congress in May 2011 for war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu attests to this tragic fact.
While Daly was quite right in censuring Obama for his criminal policies, including aiding terrorists in Syria, it is worthwhile noting that Obama is merely a willing instrument; the faces and factors behind his handlers and the policies merit greater scrutiny and exposure.
Backing and arming the so-called Syrian opposition distracts from the threat posed by Israel and its expansionist agenda by internalizing the enemy in order to weak the State. As former Israeli Intelligence Chief, Amos Yaldin told the audience at the Israel Policy Forum in February 2013:
"And this military [Syrian], which is a huge threat to Israel , is now also weakening and, in a way, disintegrating. We still have risk from Syria– a risk of being an AlQaeda country, a Somalia-type country — but from military point of view, each one of these are less dangerous than the Syrian regular army."
Perpetuating adversaries to kill each other is a time-tested tactic – one which was used during the bloody eight year Iran-Iraq war; a war which according to Leon Wieseltier[i]was a "distraction" when Israeli boots were on the ground in Southern Lebanon. In that war, the United States was providing arms and intelligence to both sides. When asked what the logic was in aiding both sides in the bloody war, a former official replied: "You had to have been there"[ii]. But why Syria ?
The Need for Water
The primary goal of the early Zionist leadership was to control and secure the region's waters. At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, Chaim Weizmann declared that 'it was of vital importance not only to secure all water resources feeding the country, but to control them at the sources – and the development of these waters became the primary aim of the Yishuv as a whole[iii]. This policy remained in place. As Israel 's third Prime Minister Levi Eshkol put it, water was "the blood flowing through the arteries of the nation".
As previously stated (Here and Here), the chaos we witness in Syria today has been in the making for years with the aid and backing of Israel-firsters in order to accommodate Israel's agenda – expansion and control of regional water supplies while weakening its adversary/ies.
Israel faced one of its worst droughts in 1990-91. A second more serious drought in 1998, forced it to turn to water rich Turkey . Turkey and Israel engaged in serious negotiations starting in May 2000 to import 50 billion cubic meters of fresh water from Turkey using tanker ships, but using tankers was not cost effective for the transport of water. Alternate plans were suggested.
In September 2000, the same year that young Bashar-al Assad succeeded his father as President of Syria, a strategy paper entitled "The Geopolitics of Water" by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (IASPS) opined that "Since extensive water planning proposals will necessitate the establishment of pipelines and energy grids stretching across borders, a political and military structure that can ensure the safety and security of the carriers will be the prerequisite to effective water sharing" ….. "But an effective regional system would require political-military cooperation against Syria ".
How to achieve this?
Israeli-Firsters to the rescue
Media mogul Haim Saban became involved in politics in the mid 1990's with a view to support Israel . Saban professes that his greatest concern is the"protection" of Israel . At a conference in Israel , Saban described his method of influencing American politics : 'Make donations to political parties, establish think tanks, and control media outlets'. (Saban penned an opinion piece in The New York Times in support of President Obama in his 2012 re-election bid).
It was no surprised therefore that in 2002, Saban pledged $13 million to start a research organization at the Brookings Institution called the Saban Center for Middle East Policy. Saban Center would play an important role in propping up Syrian opposition (as it did in fermenting unrest post-2009 Iran elections with their June 2009 publication titled: "Which Path to Persia ? Options for a New American Strategy Towards Iran "[1]). In 2006, Time Magazine revealed that that the US had been agitating, funding, and supporting "opposition" in Syria . According to the Time, the U.S. was "supporting regular meetings of internal and diaspora Syrian activists" in Europe . The document bluntly expresses the hope that "these meetings will facilitate a more coherent strategy and plan of actions for all anti-Assad activists."
It is worthwhile mentioning here that America 's support of the so-called "opposition" which includes criminals, terrorists, and foreign fighters to effect regime change underscores America 's stark hypocrisy. According to 18 USC § 2385 -Advocating overthrow of Government (Cornell Law), advocating the overthrow of the government, 'organizing or help or attempt to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or destruction of the government of the United States or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence'bears serious consequences including fines and prison sentence of up to 20 years.
What is most revealing about the abovementioned Time Magazine piece of 2006 is that America 's efforts to aid the opposition and undermine Assad were run through a foundation operated by Amar Abdulhamid, a Washington-based member of a Syrian umbrella opposition group known as the National Salvation Front (NSF). Abdulhamid was a visiting Fellow at the Saban Center (2004-2006) before moving on to the Neocon-run National Defense of Democracies.
When in 2008, Israel-firster Dennis Ross met with the "opposition" to discuss "Syria in Transition", Saban's fellow – Amar Abdullhamid was present. In February 2009, Dennis Ross joined the Obama Administration team. In April 2009, the US funded, London-based Baraada TV started its anti-Assad propaganda into Syria (The epicenter of the uprisings' was Baraada over water distribution). Baraada TV's chief editor, Malik al-Abdeh, is a cofounder of the Syrian exile group Movement for Justice and Development headed by Anas al-Abdah who was in attendance at the 2008 meeting with Dennis Ross.
It came as no surprise that John McCain who was a member of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) formed to rid Iraq of Saddam Hossein, and a cheerleader for the Libya intervention, the Egyptian opposition to Mubarak, for bombing Iran, and so on…..visited Syrian "opposition" (via Turkey) in order to encourage more bloodshed. And expectedly, he was de-briefed — not at the White House, but at the Saban Center!
Soon after McCain's presentation at the Saban Center , the White House disputed UN's account and claimed that that Syria had crossed the 'red line' and used chemical weapons.
It is not the intention of this article to exclude the plethora of other individuals, think tanks, forums, and media pundits who have institutionalized Israel's policies and promoted them as 'America's interests'; these are too numerous to mention here. However, a notable other Israel supporter must be named.
The Evangelical Factor
While various groups in Washington perpetuate and support Israel 's aggressive and expansionist policies — at a cost to America , non have the zeal and the zest of the Evangelicals who support Israel to death. According to the dispensational model, a time of turmoil lies ahead, but believers will be "raptured" away before it begins. This period of tribulation will culminate in the final battle at Armageddon, a valley northwest of Jerusalem .
The close association between American evangelicals and Israel has been a clear goal of Israeli politicians, especially those in the Likud party. According to Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum of AJC, "the evangelical community is the largest and fastest-growing bloc of pro-Jewish sentiment in this country"[iv]. Israel and Jewish organizations continue to rely on the support of Evangelicals to justify Israel 's occupation of Arab land even as Christian Zionists zest for evangelizing Jews remains a point of tension.
For example, within days of the June 1982 invasion of Lebanon (with a green light from Reagan), full-page ads appeared in leading papers requesting Evangelical support for the invasion[v]. In 1998, when Benjamin Netanyahu visited Washington , he met with Jerry Falwell and numerous fundamentalist Christians before meeting with President Clinton. Similarly, as recently as April 2013, Pat Robertson warned that brokering peace between Israel and Palestine would bring punishment on America.
It has been alleged that funds raised in America by right wing Christians is funneled to West Bank settlements. The mayor of Ariel on the West Bank had estimated that two thirds of all Jewish settlements were funded by Christian Zionists.[vi]
Building for Armageddon?
While Evangelicals (not all) are rupture-ready and encourage Israel 's expansionist agenda, Israeli politicians are not yet Armageddon-ready; at least, not yet.
In March 2013, Business Insider revealed that the United States is spending hundreds of millions of dollars building bunkers in Israel due to be completed 900 days from February 13, 2013. The project called Site 911 "will have five levels buried underground and six additional outbuildings on the above grounds, within the perimeter. At about 127,000 square feet, the first three floors will house classrooms, an auditorium, and a laboratory — all wedged behind shock resistant doors — with radiation protection and massive security. Only one gate will allow workers entrance and exit during the project and that will be guarded by only Israelis".
Each door of the facility will have a detailed description of the mezuzahs written in"in-erasable ink".
This should be heartwarming news to Americans whose taxes are spent on such projects while the bridges at home are crumbling.
The political establishment and the media has pimped out the nation. The list of conflicts awaiting us is long and bloody.
Syria will not be the last conflict. This has been a brief and incomplete overview of what drives our nation, and where we are headed, the handlers and the willing instruments (in the words of Clare Daly, pimps and prostitutes).
We continue to sink our head in sand and hope for a hero – for 'something to happen'. There is only one hope for the future, and the only one power that can alter this destructive path: "We, The People".
Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich is an independent researcher and writer with a focus on U.S. foreign policy and the role of lobby groups in influencing US foreign policy.
[i] Wieseltier , Leon ," Israel meets Iran in Lebanon ; The Wrong War", The New Republic, Apr 8, 1985
[1]Chapter 6 reads: "The United States could play multiple roles in facilitating a revolution. By funding and helping organize domestic rivals of the regime, the United States could create an alternative leadership to seize power. As Raymond Tanter of the Iran Policy Committee argues, students and other groups "need covert backing for their demonstrations. They need fax machines. They need Internet access, funds to duplicate materials, and funds to keep vigilantes from beating them up." Beyond this, US-backed media outlets could highlight regime shortcomings and make otherwise obscure critics more prominent. The United States already supports Persian language satellite television (Voice of America Persian) and radio (Radio Farda) that bring unfiltered news to Iranians (in recent years, these have taken the lion's share of overt US funding for promoting democracy in Iran). US economic pressure (and perhaps military pressure as well) can discredit the regime, making the population hungry for a rival leadership……"
[ii]Stephen R. Shalom, The United States and Iran-Iraq War, citing Stephen Engelberg, "Iran and Iraq Got 'Doctored Data, U.S. Officials Say," New York Times, 12 Jan. 1987, pp. A1, A6.
[iii]Jan Selby, "Water, Power & Politics in the Middle East ; The Other Israeli-Palestinian Conflict", Palgrave Macmillan, 2003
[iv]Donald Wagner, "Evangelicals and Israel : Theological roots of a political alliance", The Christian Century, Nov. 4, 1998).
[v]Donald Wagner, "Evangelicals and Israel : Theological roots of a political alliance", ibid
[vi]Colin Shindler, "Likud and the Christian Dispensationalists: A Symbiotic Relationship", Israeli Studies, March 31, 2000
via Syria: The "Western Faces" Behind The Terror | Global Research.
Posted in Crime, Government, Human rights and Liberties, International affairs, Ireland, politics, USA
Tags: AlQaeda, Bashar al-Assad, Haim Saban, Israel, Paris Peace Conference 1919, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Syria, United States
Palestinians Recognize U.S. as Jewish State
In a decisive move intended to break deadlocked Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Chief Palestinian mediator Saeb Erakt is prepared to recognize the United States as a Jewish State.
The thinking behind this decision is there are simply more Jews in the U.S. than in Israel. The dramatic announcement is believed intended to force direct face-to-face talks, whose end game is the creation of a Palestinian state (in this universe).
Unnamed Palestinian sources (though JeWikiLeaks released the names of their spouses) confirmed that a Palestinian state would fully welcome the Jewish State, providing it remained within the continental United States.
The proposal comes with additional preconditions, however. The Palestinian Authority demand an immediate freeze on all Jewish settlements in Lakewood NJ, South East Florida and all of Hollywood. Mel Gibson will raise a glass or 2 (hundred) on this last one.
"It's all about compromise" Erakt said with a straight face. "That's what Arabs do", although he couldn't come up with a single historical example. "We also insist on racially profiling anyone who's remotely funny and Jewish (i.e. infidels). And we ask that everyone kindly turn a blind eye to honor killings."
Israel responded by offering to build entire villages on Arab land anywhere outside of Israel, including London.
Proposal's Pros: The numbers make sense.
There are more Jews who live in the U.S. than Israel (6.5 vs. 5.77 million). If the majority of Jews live in the Diaspora, then that is where you put their country.
To bend a phrase, if the Jews won't go to Israel, then Israel will go to the Jews. Or as Mike Brady said in The Brady Bunch Movie: "Wherever you go, there you are."
If achieved, the demographic implications resulting from this land-transfer would be staggering and could come back to bite the United Arab Emirates in their barrels.
Iranian President and Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stands the most to lose. Ahmadinejad would wake up to a new existential threat facing his country when seemingly over-night, the "Little Satan" had blossomed into a full "Uber Satan", transforming "The Zionist Enemy" into the world's #1 military super power.
Proposal's Cons: The numbers don't make sense.
While 45% of the world's Jews live in America, the US Jewish population as a percent of the entire US is negligible. What's the point of having a Zionist country where the Zionists make up less than 2% of the population? The odds are better to stay in Israel where support seldom drops bellow double digits.
Should we buy into this pledge?
By all means, yes we should. And why not? This is as ridiculous as every other Palestinian proposal sold as a "willingness to promote peace". Let Israel take its' usual wait-and-see approach i.e. wait and see how long it takes for the Palestinians to abrogate their commitments.
Previous guarantees to include maps of Israeli cities with their corresponding Hebrew names in school textbooks or removing Palestinian children's programming that glorify martyrdom come to mind. These promises were dedicated with as much sincerity as this current, vacuous proposal.
via Palestinians Recognize U.S. as Jewish State – Funny Jewish Humour | Funny And Jewish – Choice Jewish Humour for Chosen People.
Posted in Government, Human rights and Liberties, USA
Tags: Arab, Brady Bunch Movie, Israel, Jews, Palestinian people, United Arab Emirates, United States, Zionism
US to Supply Syrian Rebels with Heavy Weapons
It seems that our corrupt, lying leaders in Washington are at it again. Just moments ago, the Administration said that Syria "Has crossed the Red Line" by using chemical weapons against the opposition. That isn't what is driving this train.
According to international sources, the opposition is swiftly folding against the Army of Bashir al-Assad and this is unacceptable to the U.S. and its proxy Israel. You can read about the rebel fallback here on OEN.
This is also obfuscating the current news about the unwarranted NSA spying on all American citizens. Obama seems to be losing his credibility with his Progressive base over what they feel are their loss of privacy and 1st Amendment as well as 4th Amendment rights.
Americans are being railroaded into another lose/lose situation in the Middle-east to stop the political hemorrhaging here in America. This is unacceptable and Americans should see this as just what it is. War in order to keep dissent to a minimum is an old trick. People need to look at this for what it really is, something thrown into the mix to keep our eyes off the ball.
Senator John McCain was on CNN recently and was very satisfied that America was now going to send heavy weapons into Syria. We should not feel as pleased. Tensions will be getting even higher in the region and it could erupt into another World War. That would take the American peoples mind off of how badly their government has failed them.
http://liberalpro.blogspot.com
Former Chairman of the Liberal Party of America, Tim is a retired Army Sergeant. He currently lives in South Carolina. A regular contributor to OpEdNews, he is the author of Kimchee Days or Stoned Cold Warriors. Tim's political book, "From (
via OpEdNews – Article: US to Supply Syrian Rebels with Heavy Weapons.
Posted in Human rights and Liberties, International affairs, politics, USA, War
Tags: Bashar al-Assad, CNN, Israel, John McCain, Middle East, OpEdNews, Syria, United States
The Apartheid Wall in Palestine:
The Apartheid Wall in Palestine: The photos tell the tale of segregation created by the state of Israel
Posted in activism, Government, Human rights and Liberties, politics, Protest
Tags: Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Israel-Palestine, Israeli West Bank barrier, Middle East, Palestine, Palestinian people, Warfare and Conflict
Israel's Three Gambles
Israel's recent attacks against Syria are the latest, dramatic development in a conflict that is already spiraling out of control. In the past few days, Israeli aircraft reportedly targeted Iranian surface-to-surface missiles headed for Hezbollah, as well as Syrian missiles in a military base in the outskirts of Damascus. Israel's strikes show, once again, its intelligence services' ability to penetrate the Iran's arms shipment route to Lebanon and its military's skill in striking adversaries with seeming impunity. But Israel is also risking retaliation and further destabilization of its own neighborhood — in ways that may come back to haunt it.
With much of Syria outside the control of Bashar al-Assad's forces, Israel is particularly wary of chemical weapons or advanced conventional weaponry falling into the wrong hands, whether it's extremist Sunni opposition groups like Jabhat al-Nusra or, more immediately, Assad's and Iran's Lebanese ally, Hezbollah. The missiles Israel sought to hit in the first attack on Friday have a significantly larger payload, greater accuracy, and longer range than the bulk of the Lebanese Shiite group's current arsenal. Contrary to the allegations of the Assad regime that claims Israel's strikes prove it is backing the opposition, Israel is not throwing its weight against Assad. Indeed, Israel's latest strikes represent the latest in a long-standing policy of denying the transfer of arms that could alter the balance of power between Israel and Hezbollah — weapons systems such as advanced Russian surface-to-air missiles; the Iranian-made Fateh 110 surface-to-surface missiles (reportedly targeted this weekend) that would significantly increase Hezbollah's threat to northern Israeli cities; or additional surface-to-sea weaponry, such as the kind successfully used against an Israeli ship in July 2006.
More broadly, the Israeli strike is meant to disrupt the Iran-Syria-Hezbollah nexus. Iran has long provided Hezbollah with hundreds of millions of dollars (the exact amount is unknown and probably fluctuates considerably) and a wide range of weaponry, including anti-tank missiles and long-range rockets. Since Hezbollah's birth in the early 1980s, Syria has served as intermediary, allowing Iranian forces to deploy within Lebanon and serving as a transit point for Iranian weapons — something Hezbollah's Lebanese opponents have complained about, as well as Israel.
The strikes are a gamble, however, for three main reasons. The first bet is that Syria will not respond. Israel has long been a whipping boy for Arab regimes short on domestic credibility: it's not hard in this part of the world to paint any opponents as Zionist stooges. Bashar, like his father Hafez before him, backed Hezbollah, Hamas, and other terrorist groups in the name of the "resistance," hoping to win points at home and throughout the Arab world — while distracting attention from his tyranny and economic failures. Indeed, early in the Syrian uprising, the Assad regime tried to create a crisis by pushing Palestinian refugees living in Syria to return to Israel to divert attention from the crackdown. This failed, but the Israeli strike offers a chance to try again.
Israeli leaders, however, believe that this playbook is dated. When Israel hit the Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007, Assad and his cronies remained mum and did not retaliate. Today, Israeli strategists are gambling that Assad is too embattled to risk escalation. His military forces are weak and overstretched already, facing fierce domestic opposition with no effective airpower. Further losses to Israel and its air force would deprive the regime of desperately needed elite forces. Indeed, Israel seems rather sure of itself: as the smoke was still clearing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu projected business as usual, departing on a state visit to China.
Perhaps even more important, if Assad tries to use Israel as a foil he risks further losses, which would be politically humiliating and potentially extremely damaging for a regime that is already on a knife's edge. The Israeli strikes show that it can violate Syrian sovereignty with impunity, and the Syrian opposition is now charging that Assad has repeatedly failed to protect Syrian soil from Israel. The Syrian Opposition Council, a leading opposition political grouping, is trying to play the Israel card itself, noting that it "holds the Assad regime fully responsible for weakening the Syrian army by exhausting its forces in a losing battle against the Syrian people." Meanwhile, the remaining nationalists in the Syrian military resent this embarrassment, risking Assad further defections and desertions.
via Israel's Three Gambles – By Daniel Byman and Natan Sachs | Foreign Policy.
Posted in Government, Human rights and Liberties, International affairs, politics, War
Tags: Assad, Bashar al-Assad, Damascus, Hezbollah, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Syria
War-Torn Middle East Seeks Solace In Religion
JERUSALEM—As an uneasy truce between Israel and Hezbollah continues, millions of average men and women in the Holy Land are turning to the one simple comfort that has always seen them through the darkest days of their troubled history: the steadfast guidance of their religious faith.
Arabs and Israelis alike are embracing their faith as a way to make sense of the violence from which there seems to be no escape.
"I take solace in knowing that my faith is a sanctuary, an escape from the bloodshed and turmoil," said Haifa resident Yigal Taheri, who last week lost his wife and newborn daughter when a Fajr-3 long-range rocket launched by Lebanese militants struck the synagogue where his family was attending services. "YHWH, Elohim, whatever you wish to not call Him—His love comforts all those who are willing to open their hearts to Him. Praise be to G–d."
"Religion is the one thing that has never let us down," Taheri added over the low rumble of AK-47 fire emanating from the nearby home of a radical Israeli rabbi.
Taheri is not alone. In a time of seemingly unending conflict between Israelis and Arabs, a growing number of Middle Easterners are fervently embracing the unshakeable wisdom of Judaism and Islam.
Palestinian Omar Abdel-Malik, a resident of the Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, credits his Islamic beliefs for preserving his sanity.
"The Israelis have fired missile upon missile on my neighborhood, but it has only made my trust in Allah that much stronger," Abdel-Malik said. "I cringe to think where the people of the Middle East would be right now if it weren't for our steadfast belief in one true, merciful, and loving Supreme Being."
Palestinian widow and mother of three Dareen Idriss agreed, citing the healing power of prayer as a way to cope with the relentless slaughter she and her family witness every day. "When the children cannot stop crying because of the bombs, we all gather our families in the rubble of the mosque to pray for justice," Idriss said. "During this calm meditation, we also pray for the annihilation of the Hebrew race."
An unidentified Palestinian man seeks a renewed resolve through prayer.
West Bank settler Ari Chayat, whose neighborhood has also been ravaged by violence, echoed this profound reliance on faith. "The world is so brutal and unfair," Chayat said. "Many days, my uncompromising belief in a vengeful creator is all that gets me out of bed in the morning."
"If it wasn't for my faith that the God of Abraham has given these lands to Jews and Jews alone by divine decree, I probably wouldn't even be here today," Chayat added.
Lebanese militant Jawad Hamid, who recently lost his best friend to an Israeli helicopter attack while the two men were on their way to pick up a Katyusha rocket, said his faith in Allah was the only way he could cope with the tragedy.
"Every time I want to give up hope, I just open the Quran to my favorite passage, Surah 2:194: 'Whoever acts aggressively against you, inflict injury on him,'" Hamid said. "Whenever I read those words, I am immediately filled with inspiration and a renewed sense of purpose."
Even political leaders have tapped into the public's reliance on religion and used it as a way to encourage them to never give up.
"In this time of strife, the only way to endure the unending suffering is through an unwavering, uncompromising faith in one's religious beliefs," Israeli hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah went so far as to quote from the Quran in a speech delivered to followers the same afternoon.
"It's always frightening to be reminded of your own mortality, as we all were this past Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday," Hezbollah commander Mahdi al-Zaidi said. "But rather than react irrationally, I looked deep within my faith, consulted the Quran, and by the mercy of Allah, I gained the resolve to oversee a massive airstrike against the enemy."
"We will get through this, so long as we have God on our side," he added.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/wartorn-middle-east-seeks-solace-in-religion,2027/
Posted in Religion
Tags: Benjamin Netanyahu, Christian religion, Gaza Strip, God, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah, Israel, Middle East, Muslim Religion, Quran, Religion
Palestine: Profiting from Occupation
Israel's occupation of Palestine is propped up with the help of international corporations and financial institutions. This project profiles international and UK-based companies complicit in the occupation and analyses the role of international trade projects in institutionalising the Israeli apartheid regime.
1. Israeli companies: Since the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights in 1967, Israeli companies, hand in hand with the Israeli state, have exploited the Palestinian economy and workforce. Agricultural companies have set up farms on land expropriated from Palestinian communities and have crippled Palestinian agriculture, already decimated by the military occupation and closures, by flooding Palestinian markets with cheap Israeli goods. These companies have taken advantage of the EU-Israel Trade Agreement to export large quantities of their produce to the European market.
2. International Corporations: Many international companies have taken the opportunity to profit from the suffering of the people of Palestine. Arms companies sell weapons to Israel in full knowledge of Israel's ongoing war crimes; construction companies accept contracts for the building of illegal settlements; and multinationals open branches on illegal settlements. Some settlement produce is also marketed as 'organic' on European supermarket shelves.
3. States: Several foreign governments plan to set up new industrial areas inside the West Bank on territories under Israeli military occupation. In the occupied Jordan Valley, the Japanese government plans to facilitate the setting up of an industrial area where Israeli and international companies will take advantage of the desperate Palestinian workforce. The construction of this industrial area will entail further entrenchment of the Israeli apartheid system through the development of settler roads linking the zone to 1948 Israel. The German, British and French governments have expressed interest in setting up similar industrial areas elsewhere in the West Bank. These zones will exploit Palestinian workers, whose livelihoods have been destroyed by the Israeli military occupation and who often have no choice but to work for settler companies for low wages and with no protection or right to unionise.
There is an established and growing movement in solidarity with Palestine. Since 2004, the focus of this movement has been a Palestinian call for 'Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions' (BDS). The call was made by hundreds of Palestinian civil society organisations and all major Palestinian trade unions. Campaigners around the world have engaged in diverse forms of solidarity action in line with this call. Corporate Watch's research intends to strengthen and provide a resource for the growing BDS movement and the wider international solidarity movement.
via PALESTINE OVERVIEW : Palestine: Profiting from Occupation.
Posted in activism, Crime, Government, International affairs, politics, Protest, War
Tags: Gaza, Golan Heights, Israel, Israel and the apartheid analogy, Occupation, Palestine, Palestinian people, Palestinian territories, West Bank
Obama Urges Palestinians to Drop Demand for Israeli Settlement Freeze
Obama clearly defined lines appear to offer little hope to Palestine
President Obama more closely aligned himself with the Israeli government's terms for resuming peace talks with the Palestinians Thursday as he continued his visit to the region. Speaking in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Obama urged Palestinians to drop their longstanding demand for Israel to halt settlement construction on Palestinian land as a precondition for talks.
President Obama: "What I shared with President Abbas, and I will share with the Palestinian people, is that if the expectation is, is that we can only have direct negotiations when everything is settled ahead of time, then there's no point for negotiations. So I think it's important for us to work through this process, even if there are irritants on both sides."
Obama had previously backed the Palestinian demand for a settlement freeze at the start of his first term. On Thursday, Obama said the Israeli settlements are not "constructive" or "appropriate," but he stopped short of calling them illegal, a point stressed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
President Mahmoud Abbas: "Regarding the issue of settlements, it is not only our perception that settlements are illegal, but it is a global perspective. Everybody considers settlements not only a hurdle, but even more than a hurdle, towards the two-state solution."
via Headlines for March 22, 2013 | Democracy Now!.
Posted in activism, Government, International affairs, politics, Protest, USA, War
Tags: Barack Obama, Israel, Israeli settlement, Mahmoud Abbas, Obama, Palestine, Palestinian people, West Bank
My Neighbourhood: a Palestinian boy's view of Israeli settlements – video
My Neighbourhood (directed by Julia Bacha and Rebekah Wingert-Jabi) tells the story of Mohammed El Kurd, a Palestinian teenager growing up in the heart of East Jerusalem. When Mohammed's family is forced to give up a part of their home to Israeli settlers, local residents begin peaceful protests, and in a surprising turn, are quickly joined by scores of Israeli supporters. Mohammed comes of age in the face of unrelenting tension with his neighbours and unexpected co-operation with Israeli allies in his backyard. My Neighbourhood is latest short film by Just Vision, an organisation that uses film and media to increase the power and legitimacy of Palestinians and Israelis working to end the occupation and resolve the conflict nonviolently.
For video please click on the link below
via My Neighbourhood: a Palestinian boy's view of Israeli settlements – video | World news | guardian.co.uk.
Tags: East Jerusalem, Israel, Israeli, Israeli settlement, Julia Bacha, Just Vision, Palestinian people, Rebekah Wingert-Jabi
Obama to receive Israel's Presidential Medal of Distinction or should it be the War Criminal of the Year Award
Imagining honoring crimes of war, against humanity and genocide. Imagine calling war on humanity honorable.
Imagine granting a nation's highest civilian award for waging it. It shouldn't surprise. Obama will receive Israel's Presidential Medal of Distinction. More on him below.
On February 18, Shimon Peres announced the award. It'll be given during Obama's March visit. It's his first as president. He'll get it at Peres' Jerusalem residence. An Israeli press release said:
"It will be the first time in history that a serving president of the United States of America will receive an award of this kind from the president of the State of Israel."
Peres' spokesperson added:
"Barack Obama is a true friend of the State of Israel, and has been since the beginning of his public life. As president of the United States, he has stood with Israel in times of crisis."
"During his time as president, he has made a unique contribution to the security of the State of Israel, both through further strengthening of the strategic cooperation between the two countries and through the joint development of technology to defend Israel against rockets and terrorism."
In 2012, Peres established the award. Henry Kissinger among others received it. Israelis and non-citizens are eligible.
It's given to those "who have made an outstanding contribution to the State of Israel or to humanity, through their talents, services, or in any other form."
At the 2012 award ceremony, Peres said:
"I'm old enough to know that people are no less important than ideas."
"The world has learned to say 'thank you,' and it's time that we also thank people of stature, people who set an example for the younger generation, so as to send a message that any person can be as great as his greatest action or thought."
In announcing Obama's award, he said:
"As president of the United States of America, (Obama) stood with Israel in times of crisis."
"During his time as president, he has made a unique contribution to the security of the State of Israel, both through further strengthening the strategic cooperation between the countries and through the joint development of technology to defend against rockets and terrorism."
He's a "symbol of democratic values." He "exemplifies the spirit of equality of opportunity in American society."
Saying so turns truth on its head. Neither leader would recognize it if it bit them on their rumps.
The award replicates France's Legion of Honor, the Order of Canada, and America's Medal of Freedom.
In July 1945, Harry Truman authorized awarding it "to any person….who, or on after December 7, 1941, has performed a meritorious act or service which has aided the United States in the prosecution of a war against an enemy or enemies and for which an award of another United States medal or decoration is considered inappropriate."
In February 1963, Jack Kennedy ordered it replaced by the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
It's awarded "for especially meritorious contributions to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."
It mocks what it claims to represent. It replicates Nobel hypocrisy. War criminals are honored with disturbing regularity.
In June 2012, one war criminal honored another. Obama awarded Shimon Peres America's Presidential Medal of Freedom.
"The United States is fortunate to have many allies and partners around the world. Of course, one of our strongest allies, and one of our closest friends, is the State of Israel," he said.
"And no individual has done so much over so many years to build our alliance and bring our two nations closer as the leader we honor tonight – our friend, Shimon Peres."
"In him we see the essence of Israel itself – an indomitable spirit that will not be denied."
Twelve other recipients were honored at the same time. Madeleine Albright was one. As UN envoy and Secretary of State, she prioritized war and genocide. She believed NATO should intervene militarily regardless of international law restrictions.
She was criminally involved in America's Balkan wars. She was complicit in genocide against Iraqi civilians. She was unapologetic. She called murdering over half a million Iraqi children a small price to pay.
Obama honored her and Peres for mass murder. He's responsible for decades of crimes of war and against humanity.
He did so as Knesset member, Deputy Defense Minister, Defense Minister, Foreign Minister, other ministerial positions, Vice Premier, Prime Minister, and Israeli President.
He's responsible for colonialism, apartheid, militarized occupation, and regional wars of aggression. His rap sheet includes no-holds-barred state terror. He helped institutionalize Israeli belligerence.
He ordered innocent victims slaughtered on his watch. He's a serial killer multiple times over. He bears direct responsibility for crimes too grave to be ignored. He never once said he's sorry. He's a shameless example of rogue leadership.
In four years in office, Obama exceeded his worst crimes. In 2009, Nobel Committee members rewarded him for doing so. Their Peace Prize went to a war criminal. It wasn't the first time.
Obama did what supporters thought impossible. He surpassed the worst of George Bush. He spurns inviolable international, constitutional, and US statute laws. He does so with impunity. He's unapologetic.
His rap sheet includes betrayal and failure, governing for the monied interests that own him, and waging war on humanity. He's heading America for full-blown tyranny and ruin. He mocks democratic values.
He's waging daily terror war on Afghanistan. He's doing the same thing in parts of Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Mali, and elsewhere. In 2011, he ravaged Libya. He's destroying Syria today.
He's got other targets in mind. He wants pro-Western puppets replacing all independent leaders. He wants Iran's government ousted. He's willing to wage war to do it.
He's complicit in Israel's worst crimes. He prioritizes war over peace. He enforces permanent war as policy. He wants unchallenged global dominance. He's willing to destroy humanity to achieve it.
He's a war criminal multiple times over. He's guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. He appointed himself judge, jury and executioner. He wants anyone he wishes killed on his watch. He institutionalized lawless domestic spying. He's waging global cyberwar.
He wants diktat authority replacing constitutional rights. He tramples on personal freedoms. He spurns fundamental civil and human rights.
He's contemptuous of essential needs. He wrecked America's economy. He presided over the greatest wealth transfer in world history. He impoverished millions. He let unemployment, hunger and homelessness increase on his watch.
He prioritizes destroying America's social contract, ending hard won labor rights, exploiting ordinary people for profit, commodifying education as another business profit center, rationing healthcare, putting predatory providers in charge, and persecuting whistleblowers, dissenters, Muslims, and Latino immigrants.
He calls environmental and animal rights activists terrorists. He considers freedom a threat to national security.
He represents the worst of rogue leadership. Humanity may not survive on his watch. Israel's award signifies rewarding him for what demands condemnation, prosecution and imprisonment. Who said crime doesn't pay?
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
via Israel's War Criminal of the Year Award | Global Research.
Posted in Crime, Government, International affairs, USA
Tags: Barack Obama, Israel, Madeleine Albright, Obama, President of the United States, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Shimon Peres, United States

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Nick Beim
Thoughts on the Economics of Innovation
Looking Into (and Beyond) Data
Venrock partner Nick Beim talks about the role of data in startup investments, the New York tech environment and what he looks for in new entrepreneurs. Venrock is a venture capital firm whose roots in technology go back to the 1970s, when it was an early backer of Apple. In the decades since, it has invested in hosts of companies that have disrupted industries and become household names. Venrock partner Nick Beim focuses on consumer, software, data-intelligence and fintech investments. We sat down with him to discuss new advancements in machine learning, the ways that startups can still overcome more established competitors, and why the best investment opportunities are rarely found where most people expect them.
I'm a partner at Venrock based in New York City. I invest primarily in artificial intelligence, software, fintech and defense.
Technology's Transformation of Geopolitics
Maintaining U.S. Leadership in Science and Technology
Learning Effects, Network Effects and Runaway Leaders
The Barbell Effect of Machine Learning
Dataminr and the Science of Real-Time Information Discovery
Startup Advice (1)
Technology Policy (1)
Women and Entrepreneurship (1)


It's the muguet session again. The late April in France is the collecting and selling session for muguet. People buy it to offer to friends, family and colleagues on the labour day (1 May).
Well, this year I'm going to join the collecting activities. It's a contract for 5-7 days depending on the weather and the progress. It's cool to have a job that you just call, and they asked you to come in with the necessary documents, without asking about your experience. The farm is one hour from my place, so have to wake up super early in the morning. I hope my old body can support the work in a farm.
Have fun collecting the muguet! Gives you the chance to enjoy the weather and nature, not to mention practicing your French!
Too bad about the early start but at least the weather has been good lately!
We are actually not allowed to talk, as we need to count the amount of muguet we collect and tie it with rubberbend.
The weather has been nice, but too hot for the muguet so they don't let us pick muguet in the afternoon. This afternoon we collected the leaves, it was too hot to work under the sun.


text:
Q: How can I retreive a custom object from Firestore which references another custom object? I have a User class and a Pet class. A user can have multiple pets.
I'm trying to retreive a user document and convert it to a user object as follows:
loggedInUser = documentSnapshot.toObject(User.class);

It throws the following exception:

java.lang.RuntimeException: Could not deserialize object. Can't convert object of type com.google.firebase.firestore.DocumentReference to type com.example.pawsibilities.Pet (found in field 'pets.[0]')

Here is an example of a user in firestore. One of its fields is an array of references (pets).
My pet class look like this in Firestore, and it looks like this in Java:
public class Pet {
    private String name;
    private String type;

    private LocalDate birthday;
    private String breed;

    public enum Gender {
        Female,
        Male,
        Unknown
    }
    private Gender gender;
    private boolean neutered;

    private float height;
    private float weight;
    private String healthNotes;

    private boolean lostStatus = false;
    private LocalDate lostSince = null;
    private ArrayList<LastSeenDetails> lastSeenDetailsList = null;

    public Pet() {    }

    public Pet(String name, String type, LocalDate birthday, String breed, Gender gender, Boolean neutered, float height, float weight, String healthNotes) {
        this.name = name;
        this.type = type;
        this.birthday = birthday;
        this.breed = breed;
        this.gender = gender;
        this.neutered = neutered;
        this.height = height;
        this.weight = weight;
        this.healthNotes = healthNotes;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public String getType() {
        return type;
    }

    public String getBirthday() {
        return birthday.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle.LONG));
    }

    public String getLostSince() {
        return lostSince.format(DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDate(FormatStyle.SHORT));
    }

    public String getBreed() {
        return breed;
    }

    public String getGender() {
        return gender.name();
    }

    public String getHeight() {
        return height + " cm";
    }

    public String getWeight() {
        return weight + " kg";
    }

    public String getHealthNotes() {
        return healthNotes;
    }

    public ArrayList<LastSeenDetails> getLastSeenDetailsList() {
        return lastSeenDetailsList;
    }

    public boolean isLost(){ return lostStatus; }

    public String isNeutered() {
        if (neutered == true) {
            return "Yes";
        } else
            return "No";
    }

    public void setLostStatus(boolean lostStatus) {
        this.lostStatus = lostStatus;
    }

    public void setLostSince(LocalDate time) { this.lostSince = time; }

    public void setLastSeenDetailsList(ArrayList<LastSeenDetails> lastSeenDetailsList) {
        this.lastSeenDetailsList = lastSeenDetailsList;
    }
}

It has an empty constructor and all fields have a getter method. I can't seem to find the issue...

A: It's not necessary to convert document to User, as the retrieved document is an object of type User.
Try this,
User user = documentSnapshot.getData();

or
User user = documentSnapshot.get(String field);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange