Egyptian Chronicles: April 2024

Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Gaza War: A Portfolio of Israel’s Newborns Targets in Gaza "Updated"

In the days before the war, Yahia Barzaq became the first professional photographer in the Gaza Strip to specialize in photographing newborns and babies.

Barzaq started capturing images of newborns with the assistance of his wife in mid-July 2017, initially at their home, and it quickly gained immense popularity.

Shortly after securing local funding through an entrepreneurship business contest, he established his newborn photography studio in the upscale Remal district, known for its affluence in Central Gaza.

Just three days after the studio’s grand opening, the young photographer announced to expectant mothers that he would only be able to photograph babies under 14 days old and that his schedule was fully booked for the next month.

His wife Nahrawan took on the role of styling the babies for the photo sessions.

Within a few years, Barzaq’s studio became a sought-after destination for mothers seeking to capture the earliest moments of their newborns.

Les vaches qui condamnent : Cherchez the Red Heifers’ animal rights "Updated"

First, Chag Sameach

On Sunday, scores of right-wing religiously fanatic Jewish Israelis began to flock to East Jerusalem in preparation for the celebration of Passover bringing with them livestock mostly goats to sacrifice at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Yet this seems normal somehow and it will be not the main event on Monday in East Jerusalem this Passover with all that is happening from escalation in the West Bank as well as ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The red heifers by Night Cafe

This Passover, the main event that will capture I believe the attention of many in the world is the red heifers and whether an Ulta-right Jewish Institute will sacrifice them at Mount Olive in East Jerusalem ushering the final stage in re-establishing the Third Temple in the same place of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s holiest site.

"Updated: They adjourned it"

If you are lost and don't know what I am talking about, here is a simple explanation.

Following the destruction of the Solomon Temple twice, there are factions of Jews who believe that the Third Temple will be rebuilt again on the Temple Mount after the birth and sacrifice of red heifers or cows on Mount Olive where they were burned to ashes like in ancient times.

Now there is one issue the Temple Mount officially is not empty because it hosts Islam’s third holiest place, Beit Al-Maqdas or Al-Harm Al-Sharif hosts Al-Aqsa Mosque “Third Holiest Mosque” and the Dome of the Rock thus there are right-wing religiously fanatic Jewish groups that want to demolish Al-Harm Al-Sharif.

Among those fanatic current Israeli ministers are Itamar Ben-Gvir, Amihai Eliyahu and Bezalel Smotrich who do not hide this wish and actually are working hard to make that happen eventually regardless of the price the world will pay.

Happy Eid despite all the hardships and war in Gaza and Sudan

Happy Eid El-Fitr to the dear readers of the Egyptian Chronicles around the globe especially those who are observing.

A very special Happy Eid El-Fitr to the people of Gaza, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Despite the death and destruction, Palestinians are endeavouring to celebrate Eid El-Fitr as best they can.

A Palestinian woman with her Eid Kahk aka cookies by
Majdi Fathi in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip April 8, 2024

Women and children have gathered to make Eid cookies or Kahk, which differs from ours, despite being at the Internal Displacement Camps (IDC), using mud ovens like their ancestors did in 1948.

I read that in Palestinian Rafah, where a million and a half Palestinians have taken refuge, there are two hairdressers with queues of women and children since early Tuesday.

I see videos on Instagram of men having their hair cut in makeshift barbershops inside the tents.

Bahr El-Baqar School Bombing Anniversary in Egypt: Echoes in the Time of the Gaza War

Today marks the 54^th anniversary of the horrifying Israeli bombing of Bahr El-Baqar school in Egypt’s Sharkia governorate where over 40 people were killed including 30 children and over 40 others were injured in an attack that left its mark in the collective Egyptian mind till now.

On Wednesday 8 April 1970 at 9:20 am, Israeli Air Force F4 Phantom II bombed a single-floor school made of three classrooms and a Land Reclamation Authority workshop with Five bombs and two air-to-ground missiles.

Out of 150 students, 30 were killed right away and over 50 were injured. The attack also killed 11 civilian men who were working in the workshop that was beside the school.

I wrote about the Bahr El-Baqar massacre on its 50th anniversary but this year the anniversary comes in time of the Gaza war. It hit a cord.

A doctor helping an Egyptian pupil from the injured who suffered from burns
due to the Israeli airstrike at El-Husseina Hospital
"Bettmann Archives/Getty Images"

It is like the worst rewind for what happened 54 years ago but on a mega-scale. We are seeing children suffering from burns all over their bodies in 4k instead of black and white photos.

This year I saw Al-Ahram archives photos of Bahr El-Baqar school injured children suffering burns in the same position as the Palestinian children 54 years later in Gaza.

An injured Egyptian pupil who survived an Israeli airstrike
sleeping at El-Husseina Hospital
"Al-Ahram Archives"

They were even put in pairs because El-Husseina Hospital did not have enough beds to meet that catastrophe.

Kodak Agfa Presents: El-Sayeda Zeinab Ramadan Market in time of Economic Crisis in video (Bonus : Ramadan Market in Bab El-Khalk)

We are in the last tenth days of Ramadan and here we are with the video I filmed before the Holy Month would start from El-Sayeda Zeinab Ramadan Market or as Western Muslims prefer to call it “Ramadan Bazaar”. I prefer the word “Souk” or “Market” instead of bazaar.

Now as a bonus content here are a couple of photos of another vibrant and active Ramadan Market I discovered to be honest by accident while I was in the car.