Sabbah Report » Marriage

Its Either Me or the Settlements: A Marriage on the Rocks?

SR Editor — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:05:34 +0000

By Noura Erakat* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

Recurring Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu met with President Obama in Washington this week and, without flinching, attributed the stalled peace process to the U.S. Administration's concern with illegal settlements and not to Israel's violation of the peace process's terms, which unequivocally mandate the cessation of settlement expansion. In absurd fashion, Netanyahu urged its primary benefactor, on whom it has relied for financial, military, and diplomatic support since 1968, to stop troubling itself with settlements, which he referred to as "homes for Jews," and to move on to more important things like the peace process.

To the novice politico, it would seem that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the peace process that seeks to exchange occupied land for security can somehow be extricated from one another. To the more seasoned politico, and to anyone paying attention really, it is obvious that Israel does not want to play by anyone's rules -- it neither wants to be held to account to international law, which it deems biased, nor does it want to oblige U.S. foreign policy concerns when those concerns do not comport with its own agenda. Instead, Israel points distracting fingers to Iran while using U.S. tax dollars to expand the very settlements that the Administration condemns all the while bemoaning the Obama Administration's audacity to be public about their disagreement.

In response to Vice President Biden's initial criticism of Israel's plans to build 1,600 new settlement units in East Jerusalem, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee cautioned that "The administration should make a conscious effort to move away from public demands and unilateral deadlines directed at Israel ... We strongly urge the administration to work closely and privately with our partner Israel, in a manner befitting strategic allies, to address any issues between the two governments."

The U.S.'s response to AIPAC's advisory has been meek at best. It cautiously refers to the settlements as an impediment to the U.S.'s role as a mediator but stays mum on the fact that the settlements are illegal, that they eclipse any chance of achieving Palestinian statehood, that they undermine the U.S.'s credibility in the Arab and Muslim world, or that armed Jewish settlers in the midst of displaced Palestinians threaten not just stability in Palestine and Israel but throughout the entire region. Moreover, and perhaps more daunting, is the fact that while the U.S. has plenty of economic and political tools it can use to reinforce its foreign policy objectives, it is struggling just to speak publicly about its frustration with Israel's flagrant dismissal of long-established terms of the peace accords.

The conspicuous absence of any discussion about the role of settlements as regards U.S. foreign policy interests as well as the Obama Administration's failure to use available tools to achieve such interests speaks volumes to the U.S.'s misguided foreign policy towards Israel.

The U.S.'s obsession with the image of its relationship rather than the security of its national interests is better suited for a marital dispute rather than the relationship of the world's super power with its burdensome ally in the Middle East. So for the sake of this scenario, let us treat this like a marriage and imagine that the couple is seeking therapy to discuss their irreconcilable differences.

For starters, the marriage counselor would emphasize honesty and trust and would begin by disavowing the euphemistic reference to "Jewish homes" and refer to settlements as just that -- colonial settlements. The colonies are built on confiscated Palestinian lands from which Palestinian inhabitants are expelled and displaced and from where they witness the demolition of their homes without compensation. The displaced Palestinians then watch as new, U.S.-subsidized homes are built for Jews who have immigrated from as far as Eastern Europe, the U.S., and South America and once settled into their illegal colonies are afforded five to seven times as much water as their displaced and homeless Palestinian counterparts. Fearful that they will be attacked by these Palestinian families who have no judicial redress to contest the demolition of their homes or the confiscation of their lands, the Jewish settlers confiscate more land, demolish more homes, and displace even more Palestinian families to build Jewish-only roads that literally bypass Palestinian neighborhoods and families. As an additional measure, the Israeli Army erects checkpoints between Palestinian cities filled with freshly displaced Palestinians to ensure the twenty-four/seven monitoring of Palestinian movement. Worse still, on Jewish holidays, to ensure "zero security risk" to the Jewish settlers from the Palestinian families they've rendered homeless, displaced into congested cities, and subjected to severe movement restrictions, the Israeli Army declares a mandatory curfew forbidding all Palestinians from leaving their homes for up to 36 hours.

The counselor finishes, turns to Israel and asks: "Is it fair to your partner to lament your lack of security and simultaneously engender a security tinderbox?"

Perhaps in this closed room, Israel would bite its lower lip, stare into its hands and be honest about its settlement project. According to the 1980 Drobles Plan, named after its architect Mattiyahu Drobles of the World Zionist Organization, the settlement and occupation of the West Bank are intended to prevent the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state. According to Drobles, "the minority population will find it difficult to form a territorial and political continuity" if the population and the territory are cut off by Jewish settlements. In February 2002, 367,000 settlers lived on 141 settlements in the West Bank. Today, OCHA reports that there are 593 settlements and upwards of 400,000 settlers. This in contravention of United Nations Security Council Resolutions, 242, 338; of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention; of Article 8 of the Rome Statute; of the Oslo Accords and the Road Map; and of stated U.S. foreign policy.

Flushed with the indignation of Israel's disclosure, the U.S. straightens its shoulders and without stuttering declares that its policy towards Jewish settlements is neither new nor innovative. In fact, it was a Republican Administration led by former President George Bush and his Secretary of State, James Baker, that conditioned U.S. loan guarantees to Israel on a settlement freeze. In 1992, Congress entered H.R. 5638, Title VI P.L. 102-391 into law authorizing $10 billion in loan guarantees to Israel and stipulating that the funds may not be used in the Occupied Territories. Between FY 1993 and FY 1997, the U.S. withheld $774 million in loan guarantees to Israel, the equivalent amount spent on Jewish settlements. Settlements do not contravene the Obama Administration's policy -- rather they contravene U.S. foreign policy in general.

Unmoved by the U.S.'s feelings (read as "interests") and notwithstanding its own confessions (read as "unclassified Israeli history better known by Israelis than by its staunch U.S.-based advocates"), Israel looks to the US and asks it to keep these issues between them for the sake of their relationship and Israel's security (read as "a deceptive red herring.") While the U.S. should take this very opportunity to present its spouse with a clear ultimatum, "its either me or the settlements," the world's superpower is actually considering turning a blind eye to its cheating partner.

The failure to stand its ground yet again, as the Obama Administration made similar demands in early 2009 only to rescind them later, weakens the U.S.'s credibility the world over, especially in the Middle East. Worse perhaps, the Obama Administration may be inadvertently legitimizing Netanyahu's absurd logic that the problem is not settlement expansion but instead the U.S.'s bravado to go public.

While going public is not the problem, in fairness to Israel's most hawkish supporters, it is establishing a new precedent as it breaks with the unwritten and silent principle that Israel can do no wrong. In effect, the Obama Administration is decoupling the battle against anti-Semitism from the Zionist project in historic Palestine. The former has no limits and has the support of the world over. The latter is rife with critique and should be limited, questioned, and treated properly. The fear among Netanyahu and his ilk is that such a bifurcation would irreversibly open the floodgates of legitimate criticism of Israel rendering it no different than any other State in the community of nations. For anti-racists the world over this signals progress as criticism of Israel's State practices can no longer be collapsed with Jewish people. For anyone paying any attention, the fact that Israel is not already subjected to this type of treatment is problematic and dangerous.

Meanwhile, the fact that the U.S. is even considering shirking away from its second opportunity to hold Israel to account for settlement expansion is embarrassingly disappointing. In marital terms, failure to speak boldly on the detrimental impact of settlements is unhealthy for their relationship especially in the aftermath of Israel's very public snub of Vice President Biden. Alternatively, if the Administration firmly rejects Israel's deceptive euphemisms and pursues its own interests, then we may be witnessing one irreconcilable difference that can lead to honest discussions about many others. Something tells me that the tide against Israeli impunity among civil society in the U.S. as well as within international courtrooms and European parliaments may provide the U.S. with the support it needs to finally stop the cycle of abuse and tell Israel to shape up or get out.

* Noura Erakat: Adjunt Professor Georgetown, Attorney, and Activist

Source: HuffingtonPost.com

Spinsters World & Women Rights in Arab Land

Haitham Sabbah — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 13:06:56 +0000

It's women again!

A report published by Khaleej Times said that a survey conducted by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Planning reveals a shocking number of "spinsters" across Saudi Arabia. To be precise, the exact number of the unmarried females has been recorded at 1,529,418. Now from the last census I could find, Saudi population has reached 22.67 million, including 6.14 million foreigners, which means that Saudis only are about 16.53 million, which also means that the 1.5 million spinsters form 9.25% of Saudi population, and knowing that the women count is around 8.25 million, this means that spinsters are18.5% of the Saudi woman. That is big, I guess.

The report also said that women are slowly overpowering men in population count and this is sure to create a problem in the future.

Abdul Aziz Al Nahari in the Arabic daily Okaz wrote an interesting note:

All wives in the kingdom - except my wife - should allow their husbands to marry a second, third or fourth wife if they are financially capable of doing so. They should be allowed (except for me) to have at least a second wife," he said. "If these women allow their husbands to have a second wife, it would do a lot to solve the problem. Having a second wife is not cheating. I know I will face a severe feminist attack, but what can I say? Right or wrong, this is my opinion - if not my wife's," he added.

I think he just found an excuse :-)

On the same subject, Maha Al Hujailan wrote in another Arabic daily Al Watan. She said:

The word 'spinster' is considered an offensive term by many Saudi girls. It implies that young girls have a date beyond which they have expired. This expiry date is related to the young girl's physical characteristics, which must be made use of in order to get her married. The word is also used to exert pressure on girls to marry; in theory, girls do not want to be called spinsters.

This is true. The Arab societies in general use the word in order to describe unmarried females negatively, and this is unfair. The tag kills the female future, as if she has caused the problem and as if she is really a bad girl. However, the problem in Saudi Arabia does not stop there. The rate of divorce, too, is increasing, contributing to the growing number of single women.

A report by the Saudi government said that the rate of divorce increased by 20 per cent in 2003 ALONE. A study conducted by Saudi academics has shown that in some Saudi cities, nearly 60 women get divorced every day.

Now, the most interesting part of the study is when knowing the reasons for this high rate of divorce. The study cites many causes, such as the lack of understanding among couples of their rights and family obligations; wives taking up jobs; the level of education of the married couple; lack of mutual respect between the couple; husbands taking a second wife or ogling women on the street, and husbands taking away the salary of their wives if they are employed.

To add more spices, another study conducted by vice-manager of educational affairs at the Saudi ministry of education, concluded that CHAT ROOMS and FORBIDDEN SITES on the Internet were the main cause for the increase in the rate of divorce in the kingdom (no wonder Google trend shows Saudi in the top list of search for sex).

Yet another report by the ministry of planning and national economy claimed that 65 per cent of marriages arranged by matchmakers failed, which is another problem, as we all know that it is nearly impossible for males females to even see each other in Saudi, so no wonder the percentage is high in this case.

Last but not least, it is worth to note that all of the above applies to most of the Arab societies, however in different ratios, but the main reasons are more or less the same; that is 'women rights.'

Marriage Offer!

Haitham Sabbah — Sun, 07 May 2006 14:04:48 +0000

No... not me, I'm taken ;-)

[Hat tip: Syed]

[13:20:49] anonym says: hi
[13:20:54] anonym says: no microphone
[13:20:56] Responder says: hello
[13:21:02] anonym says: are you interesting in my offer?
[13:21:07] anonym says: are you interesting in my offer?
[13:21:14] Responder says: what is the offer
[13:21:17] anonym says: I offer the paper marriage for the price 200 000 euro I am from slovakia we are in EU.If you dont want say your friends.
[13:21:33] Responder says: ok
[13:21:39] Responder says: paper marriage means
[13:21:55] anonym says: come to slovakia and married me for 200 000 euro and you can stay in slovakia and make own business here and live here, slovakia is in european union so you can get here a green card in wedding day you give me money and after wedding you go own way if you have a girlfriend and you wants take her with you to slovakia my friend can married with her. You can live with her in my country.
[13:24:41] Responder says: ok
[13:25:18] anonym says: are you interesting if yes welcome
[13:25:36] anonym says: ajureckova@marticonet.sk
[13:25:46] anonym says: give me your email please
[13:26:30] Responder says: i dont know u
[13:26:35] anonym says: ok see you tomorrow, I am on skype every day
[13:26:40] anonym says: ok bye bye

Interested? There you go, you have the contact and it will cost you only Euro 200k :-D

Jordanians Look for Love with Help from Matchmakers

Haitham Sabbah — Thu, 04 May 2006 21:45:25 +0000

Arranged marriages are not unusual in much of the Arab world. But young Jordanians are starting to reject that tradition, and instead look to find a mate on their own. A marriage-brokering agency has opened in Irbid, about an hour north of the capital of Amman, to help provide an alternative to traditional marriages, NPR report.

Listen to Podcast by Kristen Gillespie. Audio file available here.

Fingers crossed! But, will this work? I see it only a new form of "arranged marriage."

Every time I hear the "arranged marriage" phrase, it reminds me of, "First Comes Marriage, Then Comes Love" slogan. Wondering if it really works like that every time... well, it worked for me. But I'm sure it does not work all the time.

Arranged marriages, which are so the norm in Arab land (so is then in Jordan), always seem to faze the non-Arab. One simply can't fathom how practical strangers can be married to each other and settle down for a life together. No matter how westernised some of our countries may have become, arranged marriages are still how a majority of the weddings in Arab land are carried out.

The first stage is the search through family and friends (including neighbors), marriage brokers (a lady we call 'Khatabah'). Now Jordan is adding matching centres to the list of "arranged marriage" methods. How does this agency work, and what type of services they provide... maybe someone from Irbid will pay a visit and let us know.

In countries like India, horoscope play a major part in matching the bride and groom.

Next, parents (usually mother of the groom) goes to second stage - 'seeing' the girl. This part is the funny part, at least from the groom side of view, but I guess it is one of the most embarrassing moments for the bride. The reason is what goes on this 'seeing' party. I mean, imagine your hair pulled (to see if it is healthy and not fake), your length is determined, so is you chest waist and bottom is noted (virtually), check that she don't have fake teeth etc ... I'm sure ladies can share more funny stories.

If everything goes well, and the virtual description transmitted by the mum to her son meets his 'taste', the parents of the boy visit the girl and her family and if both sides are pleased with the state of affairs, they finalize things like how much dowry and gold etc will be given by the groom's family to the girl. Then they fix the date for the engagement.

After the engagement, the boy and girl are allowed to go out - sometimes chaperoned, sometimes not, depending on the individual families (and country). During the engagement, the rough date for the wedding is fixed. After that,... let's pray for the "Love to Come", if it didn't come during the engagement.

Apostate: Keep Clothes on for Sex

Haitham Sabbah — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 20:29:00 +0000

Feeling horny? Grab your clothes and keep your eyes off your partner's privates!

Cairo - An Egyptian cleric's controversial fatwa claiming that nudity during sexual intercourse invalidates a marriage has uncovered a rift among Islamic scholars.

According to the religious edict issued by Rashad Hassan Khalil, a former dean of Al-Azhar University's faculty of Sharia (or Islamic law), "being completely naked during the act of coitus annuls the marriage".

The religious decree sparked a hot debate on the private satellite network Dream's popular religious talk show and on the front page of Sunday's Al-Masri Al-Yom, Egypt's leading independent daily newspaper.

Suad Saleh, who heads the women's department of Al-Azhar's Islamic studies faculty, pleaded for "anything that can bring spouses closer to each other" and rejected the claim that nudity during intercourse could invalidate a union.

During the live televised debate, Islamic scholar Abdel Muti dismissed the fatwa: "Nothing is prohibited during marital sex, except of course sodomy."

For his part, Al-Azhar's fatwa committee chairman Abdullah Megawar argued that married couples could see each other naked but should not look at each other's genitalia and suggested they cover up with a blanket during sex.

Probably keep your eyes closed will do, but if you bang the wall (or something else), don't come and blame me :-D

Damn, what the hell these guys want us to live like? Everything is Haram, everything is wrong, everything is against God's well. Why do they rarely tell us anything constructive or useful? Why can't we have a dozen of Amr Khaled like?

Well, again, like many teachers in our society; who actually goes and study in these religion schools all around the Muslim world? Yes, yeah... I can hear it spin inside your brain. 99% they are the most backward, close-minded, extremist, dumpiest in school, just name it...

And after they finish school, they come out to teach us how we should be living. What should we eat and drink, what we should wear, what we should watch and hear, and finally, how we should make sex. The dumpiest guys teach us all of that and we have to listen and abide to our brilliant clerics.

PS. Apology in advance to the UAE crowd who will see this post blocked by their almighty Etisalat like previous posts that has sexual keywords in the post! Well, you have two enemies to fight now, these stupid like clerics and Etisalat :-)

Honor Killing Pass

Haitham Sabbah — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 21:50:30 +0000

A Jordanian man who murdered his sister for being a prostitute got a reduced jail sentence because he killed her in a "fit of rage", the Jordan Times reported on Wednesday. The Criminal Court has sentenced a 26-year-old shepherd to six months in prison for the murder of his older sister in April 2005.

When will this "Honor Killing" criminals get what they deserve? Where in religion does it justify this crime or the sentence? Even in worst case scenarios, Islam asks to get two male witnesses or one male and two females (2:282), In fact the woman's testimony can even invalidate the man's. If a man accuses his wife of unchastity, he is required by the Quran to solemnly swear five times as evidence of the wife's guilt. If the wife denies and swears similarly five times, she is not considered guilty and in either case the marriage is dissolved (24:6-11).

Tourist Marriage in Yemen, another form of Prostitution in the Gulf!

Haitham Sabbah — Sun, 11 Sep 2005 14:17:01 +0000

The latest victims of the prostitution club in the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen!!

Tourist marriage in Yemen
By Nabil Al-Osaidi For Yemen Times

Rua’a, a seventeen-year-old secondary school student in Ibb, used to be dodged by a new comer from one of the neighboring countries, until he succeeded to convince her to marry him. Then she lost her most precious belonging, her virginity. She said that this man used to follow her in his luxurious car after she goes out of school, until she reaches her home. When she told her family, they decided to beat him. They were surprised to find him knocking at their door, asking her hand in marriage. They didn’t believe it, that such a wealthy man would come to propose to their daughter. When they agreed, he flooded the family members with presents. Those presents were only trifles had it not been to the poor nature of her family.

One day he asked her father that his fiancé would accompany him to buy furniture for the new house, but he took her to his flat instead. He raped her there and disappeared, with no return.

Another Yemeni Rua’a was also a victim of the tourist marriage. She has a child of a father that she knows nothing about, since the honeymoon.

She said that, an in-coming man tried to seduce her, but when he didn’t succeed in that; he wooed her from her family. He gave them a high dowry and luxurious furniture. They spent a month together in a hired flat, and then he disappeared. A third Rua’a was also deserted by a husband after they spent the honey moon in one of the border towns.

Adolescents are the most vulnerable

These examples of marriage take place almost every week now. It is the type of marriage that takes place between a wealthy Gulf citizen and a Yemeni girl for a brief period. The basic factors of marriage, such as the dowry, and the family agreement are often observed in these marriages, it lacks the constituents of an ideal marriage that aims at making a family.

Dr. Fuad Hamoud Al-Shibami, a professor at Ibb University conducted a research on this phenomenon. As there are no exact statistics on this matter, he chose a radium sample of about 40 of the victims in Ibb governorate in urban and rural areas. His research is titled, “social and Psychological impact of the tourist marriage”. He pointed out that the victims of this sort of marriage are about 38% of those whose ages are (20-24). The second sample constitutes 35% of the victims. Their ages are (15-19). 20% are those who are between (29 years and elder). He mentioned nothing of the other 7%.

As for the sample (15-19) of the victims, the professor said that those summer husbands have a common factor of choosing their preys from among this young sample because of the vigor and vivacity that they possess. They seek the physical enjoyment rather than social, ethical or human responsibilities.

The study divided the summer husbands into two categories. The first one of those is of old age Gulf businessmen who are escaping from the hell of their dominating wives, who often tease them. Their Gulf marriages are often tribal ones that are devoid of any love or respect, according to this study. The second category is of the Gulf youth, whose intellectual and physical activities were set up due to a number of factors, on top of them the family harassment and sometimes family incoherence, in addition to abundance of wealth and low cultural abilities.

Poor urban girls of the middle classes

The study reveals that 38% of those summer husbands prefer the working women who are in their 20s, because they are mature and often obsessed with the idea of their Prince Charming.

35% of those summer husbands prefer the young ones that they can seduce and tempt. 27% of those are the ones who are fond of the beauty of their victims that is described to them by matchmakers (khatibah), as the researcher said.

As for the residence of the victims of these marriages, the findings indicate that 92.2% of these live in urban areas, while 7.5 of them live in the rural areas.

The indication of this points out that the husbands prefer urban areas, and that the lure of cities often contributes to the seduction of the girls who are always longing for better life.

As for the financial level of the sample, the study reveals that 57.5 of them are from the middle class. There comes after it, with a big gap, the poor families that constitute 30%. The rich families constitute only 12.5%. The researcher assures that poverty is the main reason for this phenomenon that makes the families accept this sort of marriage.

The Illiteracy and disintegration of family

There are other sides that the researcher tackled in his field study. Of these are the tables that reveal the social level of the family. The study shows that the majority of these are the victims of family disintegration. On top of these is the death of one of the parents, which constitutes 25.5%, divorce 17.5%, living with a stepfather 7.5%, and father immigration 7.5%. The table also reveals the education level of the parents. It indicates that 57.5% can read and write, 30%% are illiterate. 12.5% are those who have basic or secondary school education.

As for the reasons of the marriage; the answers came as follows:

This sort of marriage is not against the religious principals. There come after that the little chances of marriage. High dowries are also among the reasons. Family problems also contribute to this problem. At the end of these reasons comes the ignorance of parents of the aims of this marriage.

Dr. Al-Shibami thinks that the direct reasons according to their importance are characterized by the longing of girls to live in a better standard of living, with the in-coming husbands. Girls also think that this marriage doesn’t contradict the Sharia law. Other reasons are; the social pressure, besides the fact that they are sometime deprived of their rights to choose their husbands.

Dr. Shibami pointed out in his study, which was presented in Ibb’s university, on the phenomenon of the tourist law, that presents that are given by the rich Gulf husbands is one of the major reasons

Putting an end to the phenomenon

A number of social academicians and legal personalities, who participated in this debate, demanded that this phenomenon should be stopped. They called the civil societies and other bodies to contribute to raising awareness of the community to fight this sort of marriage, which is noticed in number of governorates, especially Ibb.

The recommendations emphasized the role of universities and the research centers on studying the social problems. Among these are the high dowries.

According to last year statistics, the ministry of interior has issued 826 Yemeni men and women agreements to marry foreigners, 657 of these are Yemeni women who married foreigners, 96 of them are Yemeni males who married foreigners. The statistics showed that 576 Yemeni women married Arab men.37 Yemeni women married Europeans and 27 Americans. 15 of them married Asians and two married Africans.

Physiological, social and psychological influences

The summer marriage has taken other trends that have serious effects, not in the least are those social and psychological ones. Contraction of AIDS is expected, according to media reports, especially that the new comers that carry AIDA have no chance to marry in their communities. The neighboring countries compel their citizens to submit to medical tests that show that they are AIDS-free.

Reports pointed out that the tourist marriage could transfer AIDS, as the government doesn’t take any measures to combat this disease.

Who is the victim? The Yemeni's woman, their families or their society?

But what about the source? The research explains detailed reasons of why Yemeni's agree to these marriages. But what about the husbands? What pushes them to do this in a foreign country?

A lot of questions, and the outcome, more disgrace to our Arabian culture!!

Mesyaf (Summer Holiday) Marriage, New form of Prostitution in Saudi Arabia!

Haitham Sabbah — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 11:33:42 +0000

No, I'm not kidding. Alarabiya reported this... marriage (in Arabic) and here is my translation to part of the article, followed by my comments:

After Almesyar marriage, blood, cassette, secret, on home, and the pleasure marriage, lately in Saudi Arabia a new form of weird ways of marriage is spreading called "Almesyaf Marriage" (Summer Holiday Marriage) specially between businessmen and businesswoman, to travel together during summer holidays in a state of husband and wife, but breaks as soon as the return home.

The businessmen have some conditions in these "travel wife", most important is that she should have good command of English language both spoken and written, nice looking, sexy and do not mind attending mixed parties.

Some of the Gulf Ameers put condition that the Saudi woman for such marriages should be from a rich powerful and known families, white skin, pretty face, sexy and accepts to travel with him anywhere in the world, specially during summer, she should have good command in English, and the pay (Maher) is not less than 150 thousand Saudi Riyal plus a car and a top class villa.

On the other hand, it's not only businessmen who are looking for wives. Also Saudi Businesswomen go looking for a husband to become "Mehrem" for her during her travel abroad, in a condition that the husband should give her the permit to travel while he should accompany her, but do not stop her from going anywhere once they are outside Saudi Arabia. All that for in return that he can live with her or she buys him a car, etc...

Sheikh Ahmed Abdulqader, an Islamic consultant and a legal marriage officer in Saudi Arabia say that "Summer Holiday Marriage" is important so that men do not fall in prostitution during their travel abroad, specially that some woman are lately not ready to devote enough time for their husbands due to their life occupation, so the husband understands these circumstances and therefore such different type of marriages become necessary such as "Summer Holiday Marriage".

Mrs. N.C. 33 years old, married her friend's husband with the knowledge of her friend and family, who understood the necessity of her getting married before she can travel aboard to get her Ph.D

Is this legal prostitution or not? Come on, this sucks!!! Is this the rights the Saudi woman are looking for? I mean how can they call for right (these rich ladies) while they act in such a such prostitution mind? Is this the freedom you are fighting for? I mean how you want us to sympathy with Saudi ladies when we hear all of this shit? Com'n, have some dignity and honor, and I'm speaking only to those Saudi woman who accept and believe in such cultural failure. You suck, you are no more than a prostitute and for those men, you are no more than sex sick maniacs, and should be hanged from your balls. I don't even feel sorry for you, you made me feel disgusted, and shame of being called an Arab citizen!

Arab youths avoid arranged marriage with Web spouses

Haitham Sabbah — Sun, 22 May 2005 17:53:23 +0000

"Some conservative families don't allow their daughters to meet strangers. But if you meet in cyberspace, technically you are not breaking any religious or cultural norms as you are not physically alone with that person." Arab and Muslim online surfers still feel embarrassed about cyber-searches for a spouse. Many of those who had success were reluctant to say where they met their mate.

Muta’a

Haitham Sabbah — Thu, 05 May 2005 11:09:54 +0000

Pleasure marriages, outlawed under Saddam Hussein, have begun to flourish again. "Al-Zaidi hopes to soon finalize his third muta'a, or "pleasure marriage," with a green-eyed neighbor. This time, he talks about it openly and with obvious relish. Even so, he says, he probably still won't tell his wife."

At least Saddam did one right thing!

Jordanian Marriage

Haitham Sabbah — Sun, 19 Dec 2004 12:33:41 +0000

What can I say!!?

Arab Discriminates Against Women. Why Is That So?