With such a Grand-father.........

The Martyr's monument in Beirut

The Grand-father of Riad Hamad , El Hajj Omar Hamad,

stood up once against the tyranny and the imperialism

he fought against the Ottoman-occupiers of the Lebanon

and indeed occupiers of the whole Arab lands....

The Grand-Father , Hajj Omar , ended up, abruptly his life

hanging on an Ottoman-rope in the Martyr's square of Beirut.

Beside him , were hanged Christian-Arabs

and Druze-Arabs as well as Muslim-Arabs.

Our oppressors were ,on that day, accidentally Muslims

and even Sunni-Muslims....but not Arabs.

Riad's Grand-father refused them and demanded

a full Independence from the Ottomans ,

although he, himself ,was a Sunni-Muslim

exactly like the Ottomans were...

Indeed Arabs of all religions and of all confessions

and all sects or ethnic-background fought against

the Ottoman occupiers. With or without Lawrence of Arabia.

Riad Hamad the Grand-son of Hajj Omar

once, and only once , disagreed with me

when I was arguing with a non-Zionist-Jew

whom I wanted him to become an anti-Zionist-Jew.

Riad took up his defence and replied to me :

"The doors of my own house are open for Abraham Weizmann,

and he is my welcome-brother anytime ........"

Also and parallel to that attitude Riad was

cooperating 100% with many churches

and also with many inter-faith-organisations.

This reminded me of his Grand-Father

who was hanged 2 feet away from a Christian

and 5 feet away from a Druze and probably

also incidentally an Arab-Jew......also.

I compare , proudly here ,

the martyrdom of the Grand-father

to the martyrdom of the Grand-son , Riad .

Both were Arabs, in the full sense of this name.

Who knows maybe in that same lake in Austin

if we look long enough , we might also find a Christian

and or even a Jew .....drowned by a fascist hatred

drowned because they were the knights for Humanity

and because humanity is the only way for Peace.

Riad and his grand-father teach us that religions are worthless

if they do not, first, serve humanity..........and that there is no glory

nor any humanity in being an occupier......

any occupier anywhere,at any time and from any religion.