The Daily Life of Kawther Salam
Jan 7th, 2008 by kawther.salam
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Jul 3rd, 2009 by kawther.salam
A wonderful night, a wonderful concert!! Over 600 hundred attendants were happy to hear the Lebanese composer, musician, Oud player and singer Marcel Khalife on the night of 30 June 2009 in 
the courtyard (Arkadenhof) of the municipality in Vienna. Khalife sang the songs of Mahmoud Darwish, he sang for the passport, the gun and … His songs were a present to Palestine. The audience sang with Khalife and applauded his songs warmly.
Among the audience was Dr. Andreas Mailath-Pokorny from the city of Vienna representing the Major Dr. Michael Häupl, the ambassador of the Arab League Dr. Michael Wehbe and his wife, Ishaya El Khoury the Lebanese ambassador, Dr. Omar Zniber, the ambassador of Morocco, the Palestinian ambassador and his wife, the UNRWA Commissioner-General Karen Koning AbuZayed, the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian 
Minister of foreign affairs Dr. Riyad al-Malki, member of the city parliament Dr. Omar Al-Rawi, the organizers and the supporter of the concert, the Secretary General of Saar Fritz Edlinger, the Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Dr. Suleiman Al-Herbish and his wife, and many other Austrian politicians and prominent individuals, many members of the Palestinian and Arab colony, ambassadors of other countries, and some Jews from pro-Israel and pro-Palestine movements. Among them the representative of the Jewish student union at the University of Vienna. The pro-Israelis attended the concert for unknown reasons. Who knows, perhaps they were sent by the Israeli Embassy to see if they would be able to find any pretext to raise a stink.
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Jul 3rd, 2009 by kawther.salam
In all my years working as a journalist I have attended many hundreds, perhaps thousands of press conferences, but never with so much hypocrisy. The strangest one I ever attended was the press conference of the OPEC which was 
held on 1 July 2009 in Vienna. It was held by the Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Suleiman Al-Herbish, together with Karin Koning Abu Zayd, head of the UNRWA. The occasion for the press conference was that Dr. Al-Herbish would start together with Ms. Koning an education fund for Palestinians.
The fun started at the door, where I was stopped by a lady with excessive make-up, who demanded that I wear a black suit with white blouse, but then a second lady came and told me to ignore the first one. I entered the conference room, and after a while another woman came and asked me for which journal I was reporting. She was happy to hear that I publish my reports in English. I had the impression that everybody was tense. There were no smiles, almost no talking among those present. Many women were dressed in shorts and without sleeves.
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Jul 2nd, 2009 by kawther.salam
During a press conference held Wednesday, July 1 2009 at the office of OPEC in Vienna, the Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Suleiman Al-Herbish, and the 
Commissioner-General of the United nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), Karen Koning AbuZayed, declared a grant agreement between OPEC and UNRWA in which OFID will give an additional contribution of US$3 million of the OFID Micro Enterprises for Palestine Fund (PALFUND), administrated by the UNRWA.
The conference was attended by Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe of the Arab League, Ambassador Dr. Omar Zniber of Morocco, Ambassador Ishaya El Khoury of Lebanon, Dr. Riyad al-Malki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian Authority, Ambassador Dr. Zuheir Elwazer of Palestine, and many other representatives of NGO organizations, and a few journalists.
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Jun 28th, 2009 by kawther.salam
The photos which I show in my report are not the photos of real clouds. On 6 March 2009, the sky over Vienna was blue and clear. How beautiful it was when I opened the window at quarter past 9 
that morning. This beauty was scratched some minutes later, after some airplanes passed in sky, leaving behind them thick trails of smoke. There were many airplanes flying at the same moment. They all left behind them strong smoke trails, which spread and converted into strange clouds. After a while, the color of the sky changed. Now it was not blue anymore, but the trails first expanded into strange clouds, then covered the sky with a dirty haze. This happens often, since years, and I have seen it almost everywhere I have been during the last years. I had never before given them importance.
While I was photographing the airplanes and the strange smoke which turned into strange clouds in the sky, a Niki airplane flew over me, but did not leave any smoke behind it. This was very clear, and I took some photos of the Niki airplane too.
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Jun 19th, 2009 by kawther.salam
Tirol and South Tirol greet Vienna was a successful weekend events held on June 13 and 14 2009, before the municipality of Vienna on the Rathausplatz. Thousands of Austrians joined the 
activities organized by Tirol and South Tirol. During the event, the Tyroleans sent a special thanks to Dr. Michael Häupl, the mayor of Vienna. The events presented the history, future, and the tradition of the Tirolean people in a beautiful and cultural and historic exhibition with shows, music, traditional clothes and food, … which present the traditions of Tirol as a part of the Austrian society and culture.
On 14 June 2009 I also visited the Tirolean events, I listened to their music, and 
I photographed the singers at the Rathausplatz. The air and the sun, together with the beautiful Tirolean music, touched my soul and feelings. I joined in and danced in the middle of thousands of happy people, and I felt that I had missed other events of the Tirolean people, which had taken place earlier, before my arrival. See more photos about the event “Tirol and South Tirol greet Vienna”.
Jun 12th, 2009 by kawther.salam
On 30 June 2009 the well known Lebanese composer, musician, Oud player and singer Marcel Khalife will revive a night of concert in the beautiful city of love, peace, music, art, culture and democracy, Vienna.Over 1500 Austrians, Arabs, and people of many other
nationalities will be waiting to hear the songs of artist for peace Marcel Khalife in the courtyard (Arkadenhof) of the municipality (Rathaus) on Ring street. For the first time in a big concert event, Khalife will transport the voice of the middle-east to the Austrian audience and all those who love peace, music, arts, freedom and liberty. Among the audience is expected Karl Blecha, former minister of interior and the president of SAA, Erwin Lanc, former minister of foreign affairs, and Willibald Pahr, also a former minister of foreign affairs of Austria. The names of the official representatives of the Austrian government to be present at the concert have not yet been published.
After I was forced by the Israeli occupation forces to leave my home in Palestine, I fled to Vienna, Austria, where I currently live as a refugee.
I started my online diary in October 2001 while still living in Palestine, where I worked as a journalist.
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