Here in Palestine, coffee is a MAJOR part of our life. We drink it first thing in the morning, second thing in the morning, after lunch, whenever people come to visit, at work during meetings, to resolve disputes, at weddings, at funerals…Yep, we pretty much drink it all the time. In Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, locals tend to drink a Turkish style of coffee made from a combination of brown and black beans and ground until extremely fine and soft.
When people from outside the Arab world come to visit us, they often develop a taste for this style of coffee but have difficulty making it themselves. We often get asked the same series of questions: how many spoons of coffee should I use? How long should I keep the coffee on the stove before it’s done? How do you keep it from overflowing and making a huge mess? Well now, thanks to Radio Lajee’s Layan Azzeh, all will be revealed in this cute, instructional video of hers. If you enjoy watching it and find it helpful, don’t forget to leave a comment for her below.
We think that Knafe is easily one of the most delicious desserts in all the world so we are very proud that it is also Palestinian. When we were in Nablus, the home of Knafe, we went to Al-Bashir sweet shop on El-Hessbe street to see how it was done. Enjoy the video and sahtain o’affya!
A huge fan of weddings, Radio Lajee’s Sabreen Asad explores some of the unique Palestinian traditions that make these special days such memorable occasions. Featuring recordings of folkloric songs used to celebrate the many different rituals accompanying the union, Sabreen’s story is a must for romantics and lovers of music alike.
Sabreen: I love weddings and it’s a very important part in our life. It comes to my mind all the time because my sister married last summer – so, I wrote about the wedding.
[Music plays: featuring a small group of three Palestinian women singing.]
Sabreen: This is a traditional Palestinian wedding song. The day before the wedding is called ‘Al Henna”. On this day, the older generation of Palestinian women dance to it. It talks about marriage, happiness and new beginnings.
In the past, the Palestinian wedding was open to all people without invitation; because people living in the villages were close to each other. Most girls got married between the age of fifteen and twenty and the men got married between 20 and 25.
To marry, the groom must first ask permission from the ‘bride to be’s’ family. Once the permission has been received, they discuss what money and gold the groom will provide to the bride. In Arabic this is called “a muher”.
[Music plays: featuring the sound of 1 Palestinian woman singing a kind of a Capella chant]
Sabreen: One day before the wedding the male friends and family of the groom would attend a ‘Saharah’ which would be held in the front garden of the groom’s family house. And the female friends and family of the bride attend ‘ al henna’ and celebrated inside the home of the bride’s family. The female family members painted their hands with henna.
Um Raed is a neighbour of mine. She’s old enough to remember what traditional Palestinian weddings are like.
[Sound of an older woman speaking in Arabic]
Um Raed Translation: The 2 families of the bride and the groom decide on a date for the wedding. Then, the groom’s family start to prepare an apartment or room for their son to live in. They prepare everything: They paint it, clean it, furnish it… And then a week before the wedding, the bride’s family invites their friends and neighbours to celebrate with them every night in their home.
Usually people started celebrating a week from the wedding. This depended on the family’s financial situation and also, the weather. So, for example, they may celebrate for 2 to 3 days leading up to the big day…or sometimes for a full week.
Then, on the wedding day itself, the groom’s friends perform what we call in Arabic, “Al-Zaffeh.” This involves carrying the groom while they are in the middle of dancing and singing from his home all the way to the bride’s house. There, the bride’s family welcome the entourage at the entrance to the house, while the bride remains inside with her friends. Usually the bride’s father, eldest brother or uncle, escorts the bride to the entrance of the house to meet her groom. Then, the family makes the groom promise to take care of their daughter.
After that, the groom ushers the bride – nowadays into a car – but in the past they would lift the bride on to the back of a camel or horse. And then, the 2 families perform a second “Al-zaffeh” but this time for the happy couple, until they reach the groom’s house.
Sabreen: Then the groom would receive a lot of advice from his friends.
[Music plays: featuring the sounds of a group of men singing – the lyrics offer different pieces of advice to the groom]
Sabreen: Now, weddings are a little different but I’m happy that many of these traditions are still alive today.
Radio Lajee’s own “celebrity chef”, Amal Abu Srour, returns with another mouthwatering dish that you can prepare at home. This time, it’s a Palestinian classic – maqlouba.
Marhabba again, welcome back! Today I will make for you Maqlouba – Maqlouba is the most popular dish here in Palestine. Maqlouba in Arabic uses the verb “yaqloub” it means ‘upside-down’. Why upside-down? You will find out later, “insharla”.
“Ty’eb hella”. You will need: 5-6 pieces of chicken breast, 4-5 cups of rice, 1 cup of “sharia” which we always cook rice with here in Palestine. It’s like golden [coloured] vermicelli. Like. 4-5 carrots cut into small pieces, 1 cauliflower – if you don’t like carrots or cauliflower you can use potato or eggplant. You will also need 1 Litre of corn oil, cinnamon, curry powder, turmeric, all spice, 5 bay leaves, chicken salt and cardamom seeds. And that’s it.
Ok. I like to use chicken breast. So, to prepare this chicken breast, you should take one lemon. Squeeze the lemon juice into the chicken and put some salt and leave it in the fridge for 2 hours. And, after you wash the chicken, put it in the saucepan and put water from the tap – to cover it – a lot of water “yanni”…and put it on the stove. Leave the chicken until the water boils. Take another saucepan and put into it 1 Litre of corn oil. So I will put the corn oil on the stove to heat. Once the oil is hot I will put into it the cauliflower. Cut the cauliflower into small flowerettes. And, if you don’t like the cauliflower, I mentioned it before, you can use potatoes or carrots or eggplants. And, if you don’t like oil, you can put it into water and cook until the vegetables are tender. Leave it – it’s time to prepare the rice.
So, I will wash the rice. Sometimes I wash it one time but sometimes I wash it three times. It’s a habit…like my mother told me never wash it two times, just one time or three times – I don’t know why. If you wash it twice, you should wash it three times. So, after I wash the rice 3 times, I add hot water to cover the rice, it should be covered. Some people add saffron because they like it to be a yellow colour, but I don’t like to use it. It’s OK.
And now the oil in the other saucepan should be hot enough to put the vegetables into it. Once the vegetables turn golden remove them from the oil. Here in Palestine, we use turmeric for the cauliflower. People who have problems with gas in their stomachs – so we use turmeric to get rid of this problem,.. So, use turmeric – if you have problems in your stomach with gas. [Laughs]
Let’s return back to the chicken, the water has boiled and there is fat on top of the water. Just remove it and then add the spices…add curry powder – 1 big spoon, add 4 to 5 bay leaves, 1 small spoon of cinnamon, 1 big spoon of chicken salt, 10 cardamom seeds and also put 1 to 2 big, big spoons of salt, 1 small spoon of black pepper and a pinch of all spice and then leave the chicken to cook for 45 minutes.
Let’s return to the rice…Put the gold vermicelli into the frying pan with corn oil and fry it until the colour changes to light brown. Remove the water from the rice, now put the light brown vermicelli into the rice with some salt and mix it together. So now, get a strainer and a big bowl, take the saucepan with the chicken and empty it into the strainer. Don’t get rid of the soup, we will use it later. Now, take the chicken and put it back in the same saucepan. Remove all the spices and now we can put the vegetables into the saucepan on the top of the chicken and we will do the same with rice and vermicelli. Put the rice and the vermicelli on top of the vegetables. The rice at this point is only partly cooked. Now we will add the soup into the saucepan to cover the rice. So we have 3 layers: the chicken, vegetables and the rice …then the soup. Four. [Laughs]. And then we can put it back on the stove on high and cover it until the water boils. When it boils, you should turn the heat down…From when the water boils it takes around half an hour to be ready so go and watch TV or something else – whatever you want. [Laughs]
Mmmm, it smells delicious – it’s ready to eat. So now we can turn off the stove and serve the Maqlouba. To serve it we need a big flat tray and we need to take the saucepan – take the lid off the saucepan and put the big flat tray on the saucepan like a hat. So, now it’s time for the fun part – we get to flip the saucepan over so that it’s upside down. We serve Maqlouba hot with salad and some yoghurt – hope you enjoy it! Sahtain o’affyah!
Understandably the Palestinians living in the West Bank have been tremendously affected by the war in Gaza. Everyday here, huge numbers of Palestinians attend demonstrations and candlelight vigils, to voice their disgust and immense sadness about what is happening to their countrymen. The youth of Aida camp are no exception. Here’s what some of them had to say.
Please note: Due to the highly political nature of the ideas expressed in these interviews, the participants have asked to remain anonymous.
PERSON ONE: Yanni [Arabic for “I mean”], before Gaza I believed in peace. I don’t see peace happening after this.
PERSON TWO: What’s happening in Gaza makes me very sad. And the situation now in Gaza’s very bad. The Israeli soldiers kill the children and the women and families – people without guns, people that are not fighters. They demolished the houses…When I saw the images on the TV yanni, that makes me sick. And that makes me think, maybe that will happen here in the West Bank. You start to think yanni, maybe in the future that will happen to your family to your brothers…And that makes me feel very, very sad.
PERSON THREE: The massacres…the daily killing in Gaza…All of these things push up again to the main priority that we need our national independence first of all. We need from the international community – from all of the people outside, to support our struggle against The Occupation, to put more pressure on the Israeli Government to leave the West Bank and Gaza and just leave the Palestinians…and they can deal with themselves alone. And I believe that they can build their own state and this state will be a democratic one, a state that believes in equality and all of these human rights.
PERSON TWO: The Israelis say they want to save their settlements from the rockets but I think [this is] no reason to kill this number of the people, to kill the children, to demolish the houses on the people. That’s not reason. I think if the Israeli’s want to save the settlements or save their people from the Palestinian rockets, I think a good way is to give the Palestinian people their rights.
REPORTER: Do you believe that the Palestinian Authority should change its relationship with Israel as a result as what is happening in Gaza?
PERSON FIVE: They should. But, they will not. I believe that the Palestinian Authority were involved in the war in Gaza. They knew about this before it happened. I don’t have faith in the Palestinian Authority. They’re not concerned with their people – the Palestinian people. Like refugees – the right of return and also…Jerusalem and also the prisoners. No one’s concerned about these hot issues. They’re just concerned about their own interests. Not about Palestine. Also not about Palestinian people.
PERSON TWO: I think with this situation, it’s stupid if you talk about the relationship or meetings between the Palestinian Government and the Israeli Government. Until now around 1000 people have been killed in Gaza. If our Authority wants to continue their relationship with Israel – I think they will lose the Palestinian people.
PERSON FIVE: I think this is all about the Israeli Elections. [Tzipi] Livni wants to prove herself as a strong leader in Israel. That’s it.
PERSON TWO: These things that are happening in Gaza… mean that the Israeli Government don’t want to make peace with us. With this war, the Israeli Government throw the peace out into the sea.
REPORTER: So do you believe it is still possible then to find peace with Israel after this? And if so, how?
PERSON TWO: I haven’t lost my family. So, I feel in the future, we can make – not peace – but, one democratic state for all the people. Everyone under same life, same situation, same rights…With our right to return. But, for the people who have lost all of their families as we see day after day on the TV from Gaza, I don’t know how these people think about this. If you lost your family…I think it would be different to think about this. If I lose my family it’s difficult for me to think about this, but, if I saw something change in the future and the world decided to give us our rights as a Palestinian…and The Occupation ends…I think I could also change something in my mind.
PERSON FIVE: I once believed in peace. But now, I don’t know. Maybe…I hope so.
Move over Jamie Oliver, Radio Lajee now has its very own celebrity chef!
Meet 23-year old Amal Abu Srour, a trainee human rights lawyer with a keen passion for cooking and an uncanny knack of preparing delicious Palestinian dishes time and time again. In this, her first podcast, Amal teaches us how to make the Palestinian favourite, “Qalayet Bendorra” AKA Fried Tomatoes Palestinian Style. Sahtain o’affyah!
AMAL: Hello! Hi! Marhabba! Everybody welcome to my kitchen. I’m Amal from Palestine. Today we will do ‘Fried Tomatoes Palestinian Style’…So, we need 5 tomatoes, 1 onion, 2 or 3 cloves of garlic and 1 capsicum / green pepper.
So, we should cut the pepper and the tomatoes. When I am too busy, I don’t remove the skin of the tomatoes…But, if you have time, you can remove the skin. If you don’t have the time, “khallas” (in Arabic) – don’t worry about it. We just slice the tomatoes into bite-size pieces and also the capsicum, we cut it into small pieces and the onion also, we should cut it into small pieces.
So, we will start the “Qallayet Bendorra” / Fried Tomatoes Palestinian Style. We should put [some] olive oil into the frying pan…and we should put [the] onion into the olive oil. I learnt from my Grandmother to not let the olive oil boil – it’s not good if the olive oil boils. We should wait [until] the onion turns golden.
I love cooking…and this is very delicious – I like to do it all the time. This meal is very good for those who don’t have [much] time.
Now [that] the onion has turned golden, we can put the tomato pieces and the green pepper into the onion. Leave it to simmer for 7 minutes and cover it.
After around 7 – 10 minutes check to make sure that the tomatoes and the green pepper are tender. [Then] take the lid off and let [all] the moisture [in the pan] evaporate. And then, I want to add some salt and black pepper…as you like. It smells delicious. “Taybe”, “zarkey”, yummy… “Zarkey” in Arabic, yanni delicious. [Laughs] “Yanni” means, ‘means’…
So, we need to turn the heat down, then we should take the garlic…and use the garlic press – (it’s good the garlic press, I like it very much) and put it into the fried tomatoes. I like the smell of the garlic.
I started cooking when I was 14. I used to help my mother in the kitchen. Now, I cook for my whole family – I enjoy it. As a Palestinian, food is a very important part of our life.
Sometimes, I don’t [use the] green pepper. [This dish] is very delicious with eggs. In Syria, they call Fried Tomatoes with Egg, “Juzz Muzz” – I don’t know what it means. So, I’ve finished now this delicious, yummy Fried Tomatoes or “Qallayet Bendorra” in Arabic. Generally, we serve it here in Palestine with hot, flat “khoubbers” [laughs] – hot, flat “khoubbers” – hot, flat bread in Arabic. So, I hope you enjoy your meal! Sahtain o’affyah!
Like all teenagers, 14 year old Saja Ajarma, is concerned about how other people perceive her. Specifically the western world…She wants people to understand that she, like all of her friends, are normal kids – with the same past times, dreams and interests, as other youth living outside of the West Bank. That is why she prepared this story about a particularly average day in her life.
SAJA AJARMA: Hello, I’m Saja. I live here in the refugee camp. Today, I’m going to show you what my life is like.
[Sound of an alarm clock]
I wake up every morning at 7am. I have a shower, wash my hair, then I have to get dressed in my school uniform. It’s green and white – it’s pretty ugly. I don’t like it.
Then, as a Muslim, it’s time to pray. I pray five times a day. And before I pray, I must be clean. I have to wet my hands, hair, feet and wash my face. The first prayer of the day is called, ‘Fajr’.
Then I join my family for breakfast. Every morning, my mother prepares bread, cheese, egg, hoummos, tomato and tea. Here in Palestine, we make tea with fresh herbs like mint and sage. I like my tea with mint.
After breakfast, I walk to school. I have to be there at 8am. My school is only a five minute walk away.
When I get there, I meet my friends. My favourite class is English. My teacher’s name’s Kefah. We have seven different subjects each day: maths, science, Arabic, geography or history, English, religion and art. At 1.30pm the bell rings and school is finished for the day. I leave straight away and walk back home to my family.
My father and my two sisters and one brother are all at home to eat lunch – which is our biggest meal of the day. My mother is a really good cook. She makes lots of different traditional dishes but my favourite is ‘Melouhea” it is made from a green vegetable of same name, similar to spinach and my mum makes it with chicken and rice.
After lunch I pray. Then, I do my homework and watch TV. My favourite show comes from Turkey. It’s called ‘The Flower’s Tear’… [laughs in response to sound of the television] I love this.
Then, I like to play computer games until dinner, which is around 7pm. I love MSN Messenger and chatting to friends – but my parents don’t let me use this at home. I watch TV with my family and pray and then I go to bed. That’s it.
Ahlan wa sahlan! Welcome to the first Radio Lajee program. For our first edition, 14 year old Miras Al Azzeh has prepared a special story about the traditional Palestinian dance, Dabke.
In it, he talks about what Dabke means to the Palestinian people and to him personally. He also interviews a Dabke teacher at the Centre, some of the young performers, and his own grandfather who reminisces about Dabke in the days before Occupation.
This story kicks off our podcast series which you can now subscribe to by right (or alt) clicking on the “Podcast Feed” link at the top of this page, copying the URL/Link Location, and pasting it into the subscribe-to-podcast dialog box in your favourite podcatching application eg iTunes, Juice, etc.
MIRAS AL AZZEH: I’m Miras. I’ve been dancing Dabke for 5 years. It means a lot to me, so I made this story about it. Hope you like it.
(sound of children at a Dabke dancing class)
Nasim Abu Isha is one of the Dabke teachers at the Lajee Centre. He runs classes every Thursday for 2 hours. Our troupe now has 20 dancers; 12 boys and 8 girls.
NASIM ABU ISHA: I started learning Dabke since 1998. Before [I was] ten years or eleven, I saw my friend dancing Dabke. I was surprised…[I thought] how do you do that? I can’t do that. So, I started step by step learning how to dance like him. Then I finished training and I preferred [the idea of] being a teacher so I started with [the] Lajee [Centre] teaching Dabke.
When I teach Dabke I feel like I’m free…and I try to translate this feeling into moves. Maybe the people will understand. Maybe, maybe not. But I hope that they understand my message. But, when you teach Dabke, the people who are learning…they start making a new life, especially the children. I hope to make the children [feel] free, especially while they are growing up.
MIRAS AL AZZEH: 14 year old Maysan is one of the dancers in Nasim’s class.
MAYSAN: When I dance Dabke, I feel that I’m defending Palestine. I feel that I’m like [a] mirror, showing the people our tradition and identity. Also, with each movement, I feel that I’m breaking the Israeli separation wall and the checkpoints.
MIRAS AL AZZEH: Dabke wasn’t always political. Sabreen Asad is also a member of Nasim’s class. She explains the history of Dabke before 1948.
SABREEN ASAD: Dabke is the Palestinian traditional folk dance. It can be performed by both males and females or collectively. Before Al Naqba – ‘The Catastrophe’ in 1948, Dabke was performed at weddings, harvest seasons and other celebratory occasions.
MIRAS AL AZZEH: My grandfather is now 76 years old. He was born in Beit Jibreen and he can still remember what Dabke was like back then.
GRANDFATHER, MOHAMMAD AL AZZEH: Every region had its own version of Dabke. In the north, the dance was punctuated by lots of jumping and vigorous movements; whereas in the south, the movements were softer and more routine.
In each village there were many Dabke troupes. At times of celebration, each group took part in the ceremony and would enlist a special dancer (who we called a ‘Louweir’) who would instruct and lead the other dancers. Generally, all groups would sing and play the flute (which we call, in Arabic, a ‘Shoubaba’) while they danced. Today, the children who dance Dabke, keep our tradition alive.
MIRAS AL AZZEH: When I hear my grandfather say that, it makes me feel happy and proud because I know that when I dance Dabke I’m protecting my country’s heritage.
As a Palestinian, I don’t know what the future will be, but I hope to dance Dabke forever.
Salaam! Welcome to Radiolajee.com, the home of a unique series of podcasts created by an eclectic (and enthusiastic) team of Palestinian refugees aged between 10 and 22 years.
You’ll notice that at present, there’s actually nothing here for you to listen to… Why? Well, as Karen Carpenter once whinnied, this podcasting project has “only just begun”… Come the first week of November, the kids will embark on a series of workshops with Australian broadcaster and volunteer, Daz Chandler.
The workshops will cover the fundamentals of podcasting – from program construction, sound recording and presentation and interview techniques, to audio editing and sound design, through to multi-media possibilities and online marketing.
Please stop by again soon to meet the kids and hear their first ever radiolajee installment.
Move over Jamie Oliver, Radio Lajee now has its very own celebrity chef!
Like all teenagers, 14 year old Saja Ajarma, is concerned about how other people perceive her. Specifically the western world…She wants people to understand that she, like all of her friends, are normal kids – with the same past times, dreams and interests, as other youth living outside of the West Bank. That is why she prepared this story about a particularly average day in her life.
Ahlan wa sahlan! Welcome to the first Radio Lajee program. For our first edition, 14 year old Miras Al Azzeh has prepared a special story about the traditional Palestinian dance,