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Text of the page (random words):
of terrorist attacks targeting the diplomatic missions located there i have previously complained about how hard it is to enter the diplomatic quarter or dq for short for regular people i have not been to riyadh in a few years but i guess the problems in getting to the dq remain the same despite the fact that the security situation in the country has improved a lot now in addition to being the semi official newspaper for the country and the capital s city namesake al riyadh daily also serves as a newsletter for the saudi royal family when a prince gets married al riyadh would typically run pages upon pages full of pictures from the all male wedding such weddings usually take place in a banquet hall called palace of culture in the diplomatic quarter the newspaper recently ran photos from yet another prince s wedding at the palace of culture that made wonder if there are ever any cultural events held at this place the answer is yes but very rarely most of the time it is simply used as a wedding hall for the elites as i was doing my research on that location i came across this interesting piece about the planning and building of the diplomatic quarter published in saudi aramco world in their september october 1988 issue the magazine published by the national oil company is one of the oldest publications in the country unlike the current the situation where the dq feels blocked from the rest of the city by multiple security checkpoints guarded by squads of heavily armed and grumpy security forces the original vision for the area was that it would be a normal neighborhood mohamed alshaikh president of arriyadh development authority ada who has spearheaded the project when in the late 1970 s told the magazine physically functionally and socially the quarter is by no means separate from the rest of riyadh he says in fact diplomatic mission personnel will number less than 10 000 of the dq s projected 22 000 inhabitants and the quarter will be a normal neighborhood of riyadh with priority to the diplomats for current residents of riyadh the dq is anything but a normal neighborhood alshaikh went on to say that they did not want a ghetto feeling develop in the quarter planners wanted it to serve as a model for future urban development in riyadh that obviously did not happen more than twenty years later some would say that the rest of the city feels like a ghetto compared to the much nicer diplomatic quarter what went wrong nothing in the diplomatic quarter itself but almost everything around it monday december 3 2012 by ahmed 3 comments rooster s egg the book girls of riyadh is one of the few true saudi bestsellers the controversial novel by raja al sanea first came out in 2005 and became a sensation right away the instant popularity and the controversy surrounding it prompted the saudi government to ban the novel at first but soon the ban was lifted and the book was available for purchase almost everywhere including gas stations on the road between riyadh and dammam the novel was translated to english and published in the summer of 2007 i was not impressed by the book when i read it but i thought that accompanying controversy was interesting nevertheless considering that al sanea was trained as a dentist and this was her first book some people raised questions over if she really wrote it the fact that the well known saudi writer and minister ghazi al gosaibi a figure hated by religious conservatives wrote a blurb for the book did not help but i did not have a reason to doubt that al sanea had indeed written the novel al gosaibi who passed away in 2010 would not have written something like that to avoid the controversy and her new fame al sanea left the country and headed to chicago to pursue higher education in dentistry but before departing to the us she told those who questioned her talent that girls of riyadh was not a rooster s egg which means that her novel was not a one off accidental success she said she was going to write a novel as powerful and influential as her first one seven years later al sanea is yet to publish her second book she told the beirut based al akhbar last year that she is working on a new novel to come out in 2012 reflecting the changes surrounding her life the year is almost coming to an end and i have not heard or read anything about her upcoming novel however the most interesting part in her interview with al akhbar for me was her take on the arab spring i was surprised to read that she thinks that we in saudi have nothing to revolt against like neighboring countries moreover she believes that saudi arabia is on the reform track obviously raja al sanea is not beyond her rooster s egg yet monday november 19 2012 by ahmed 3 comments when foreign officials visit saudi private girls colleges during his visit to saudi arabia last week british pm david cameron made a stop at dar al hekma college dah in jeddah the private girls college held a roundtable with students and alumnae to welcome the visitor from england private higher education institutions in jeddah have become a usual stop on the schedules of foreign dignitaries who come to saudi arabia in recent years us secretary of state hillary clinton had a large town hall meeting with students at dah when she visited the country in february 2010 in both occasions the western visitors praised the intelligence and determination of the female students and in both cases religious conservatives attacked well everyone the visitors the colleges and the students as soon as photos from cameron s roundtable at dah surfaced online religious conservatives started spewing venom elderly cleric abdulrahman al barrak described the scene of dah students shaking hands with the british pm as disgrace scandalous and shame he said dah is only interested in westernizing muslim women كلية دار_الحكمة بجدة وما هي بدارحكمة للشيخ عبدالرحمن بن ناصر البراك احذروا_دار_الحكمة الشيخ_البراك السعودية فتوى pic twitter com pmp7ay7w الشيخ عبدالرحمن البراك sh_barrak november 11 2012 nasser al omar another cleric asked how is it possible for those who organized permitted or participated at the meeting of our girls with a christian official to be loyal to our religion country or people more people on twitter made similar remarks using even coarser language this prompted a number of dah students to say that they will file a complaint with the court against what they described as defamation on the social network according to saudi gazette when cameron visit s to dah was first announced hanan al shargi asked why did the private girls colleges in jeddah become a regular stop for foreign dignitaries why don t they visit the public king abdulaziz university kau for example are we embarrassed by kau students or is their english not good enough she added those questions should probably be directed at those foreign officials but let me take a shot at guessing some answers first there is the political gain that western politicians can easily achieve by such visits when cameron visits jeddah and meets with the students he can come back to tell his parliament that he did not just go to saudi arabia to sell arms and ignore their dismal record on human rights he can go back to london and say that he didn t just discuss human rights with the saudi government he has actually met non government actors and visited a girls college known for empowering women second logistics and bureaucracy most of these visits are usually proposed by the embassies of those foreign countries and for them it is far more easier to deal with a small private college than a big public university where they have to go through a lot of red tape speaking to foreign diplomats over the years many of them told me that public universities remain off limits to them the education office at the us embassy in riyadh has been for years seeking permission to organize activities at local universities to help saudi students prepare before they fly to the us to study on government scholarships no permission was granted despite the fact that more than 70 000 saudi students are currently seeking degrees in america then there is the general perception that those small private girls colleges in jeddah are more liberal and progressives than public higher education institutions in the country a perception that many people would agree with even though these private colleges are women only they don t have a problem welcoming male speakers every once in a while now compare this with the crisis in dammam university two months ago when a german female professor entered the engineering building of the male students and gave her first lecture in the semester to the students who were apparently freaking out some of them reported the incident to the dean who asked the professor to leave the classroom immediately it turned out that the professor was confused about her schedule and that she is only supposed to teach female students this is one of these these issues that is a non issue really but then again it is the kind of thing that conservatives enjoy the most an issue that involves women especially one where they don t have to worry about a direct confrontation with the government in the end it is the control of the social arena that they seek the most as long as they don t choose to challenge the government the government would gladly let them have it tuesday november 13 2012 by ahmed 4 comments riyadh bureau i know it s been very quiet around here apologies for the hiatus but i ve been working on something you might like riyadh bureau a new independent news website on saudi arabia saudi jeans will always be my home online and i will try to write in the blog every once in a while but for daily updates on the latest in saudi arabia please head over there tuesday october 16 2012 by ahmed photo essay first saudi female athletes at the olympics after long negotiations with the international olympic committee and pressure from human rights groups saudi arabia announced in the eleventh hour that they will be sending female athletes to the olympic games in london for the first time in the country s history this was seen as a victory for the equality and the women s rights movement in saudi arabia but before that it was a victory for the ioc who declared that by london 2012 every national olympic committee will have sent women to the olympic games the two athletes chosen to saudi arabia were wojdan shaherkhani a 16 year old judoka from makkah and sarah attar a 19 year old runner who holds dual citizenship for the united states and saudi arabia in the opening ceremony the two teenagers walked at the back of the delegation dressed in traditional clothes as they made their strides to follow their male counterparts the girls waved saudi flags and flashed victory signs with big smiles on their young faces on august 3 2012 history was made in white the announcer declared the first woman ever from saudi arabia wojdan shaherkani accompanied by her father an international judo judge himself she stepped onto the red and yellow mat in the excel center to compete at the 78kg judo event wojdan was also making another first it was the first time a judoka competes at the olympics wearing the hijab that hijab caused contention in the days leading to the competition saudi officials insisted that wojdan would only compete wearing the hijab while the international judo federation said hijab is not allowed for safety reasons when the saudis threatened they would pull out if she can t wear hijab a compromise was reached allowing her to cover her hair faced with a far more experienced competitor wojdan did not last for too long on the mat puerto rico s melissa mojica needed only 82 seconds to defeat her young opponent on twitter some saudis who were against women s participation mocked wojdan sometimes using ugly racial slurs but many others said they are proud of her wojdan s father said he was going to sue people who insulted his daughter he also said he had to pay all the expenses for his daughter s participation no one at the saudi olympic committee promised to reimburse me and i don t really care he said my daughter s participation is the true honor five days later it was the turn of saudi arabia s second female athlete to make her appearance sarah attar born and raised in escondido ca to a saudi father and an american mother took her place on the track of the olympic stadium to run in the 800m heat wearing a white headscarf a long sleeved green top and black leggings a beaming attar waved to the 80 000 spectators who filled the stadium this was a new experience for the college student who goes to school and trains in san diego few seconds after the race began it was clear that sarah had no chance to win other athletes ran past her but she kept running she was the last to finish the race but she received a standing ovation from the crowd as she crossed the finish line clocking at 2 minutes and 44 95 seconds her name was trending worldwide on twitter it s an incredible experience sarah told reporters after the race in an interview with the bbc she said this was not about winning it was really about the cause being here representing all the women over there in saudi arabia from their living rooms saudi women watched with hope that what wojdan shaherkani and sarah attar did will be a meaningful step in the direction of changing women status in the country sunday august 12 2012 by ahmed 19 comments end of drama saudi to send women to olympics after much back and forth saudi arabia will finally send two female athletes to the olympics for the first time a runner and judoka will be representing the kingdom in the london 2012 games the international olympic committee said this is very positive news and we will be delighted to welcome these two athletes in london in a few weeks time said ioc president jacques rogge it almost did not happen on june 24 saudi arabia announced for the first time that it was going to allow female athletes to compete in the olympics according to the bbc the decision came after secret meetings held earlier that month in jeddah where a consensus was reached in mid june between the king the crown prince the foreign minister the leading religious cleric the grand mufti and others to overturn the ban on women participation at the time all eyes were on showjumper dalma malhas who won a bronze medal in the youth olympic games in singapore in 2010 and was seen as the country s most likely representative however her mother told the guardian that dalma would not be able to compete in london because her horse was injured this seemed like a convenient way out for saudi officials by saying they don t mind women participation but don t have any female athletes qualified to compete they can avoid an olympic ban while at the same time avoid the rage of powerful clerics in the country who oppose competitive sports for women to appease the clerics saudi most senior sports offi...