There are no high-wire acts. There's no Cirque du Soleil stage show. And there's no Siegfried and Roy-esque lion tamers.

But the Palestinian Circus has come to town.

Billing itself as the first Palestinian Circus school, the young group is at the forefront of a nascentt cultural renaissance in the West Bank.

While the peace process is muddling along and Gaza is suspended in suffocating isolation, there is a small-but-growing cultural transformation taking place in the West Bank.

From the young Palestinian circus school to the Palestinian Hip-Hop Tour, from the Kamandjati music school that teaches classical music to Palestinian kids in refugee camps to the Jenin Freedom Theater led by one of the West Bank's highest-profile militants to recently put down his gun, there is an evolving cultural scene taking shape.

"This is a society that's in extremely high need of exploring its creativity," said Jessica, who, along with her husband Shadi, co-founded of the Palestinian Circus School. "This is a huge new generation in need of an outlet and a sense of hope."

The psychological space for this new creative expression has been made possible by the relative calm that has settled in over the West Bank. There have been two suicide bombings in the last two years in Israel, and 41 West Bank Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers this year, making it the least-deadly year of the decade in the West Bank.

That has allowed places like the Circus School to take root. 

Shadi and Jessica founded the school two years ago as a way to provide both boys and girls in the West Bank with a way to have fun. The Circus School has trained more than 100 kids and set up sites in Ramallah, Jenin and Hebron.

More than 500 parents and kids recently packed into a small gym in central Ramallah to see the latest circus show.

There were clowns and acrobats, a fire spinner and jugglers. The school, backed by the new Palestinian cell phone company Wataniya, still lacks proper costumes, staging and lights.

But it is taking root and starting to gain momentum.

"It's a way to channel their energy," Jessica said after the most recent show. "They live under a lot of pressure and this is one way to build self-esteem and trust."

You can get a little flavor for the Circus School's performances here:

(Photos: Tara Todras-Whitehill)

Most people living in the Gaza Strip are fighting to get out of the isolated, Hamas-controlled Mediterranean region.

Journalists in Israel find themselves in the surreal position of fighting to get in.  

Israel has barred reporters from entering Gaza for more than three weeks, prompting international criticism and a case before the Israeli Supreme Court.

Some journalists have called the ban a "mortal blow" to freedom of the press in Israel.

As Jo Floto of the BBC noted today, the only place its correspondents are banned are North Korea, Burma and Zimbabwe.

"We don't want Israel to join that very select and regrettable club," Floto said today at a news confererence held to discuss the ongoing Israeli ban.

Steve Gutkin, the AP bureau chief in Jerusalem and head of the Foreign Press Association (of which McClatchy Newspapers is a part) questioned Israel's commitment to freedom of the press.

"We believe the current denial of access amounts to a serious violation of freedom of the press, and runs counter to Israel's own claims that it is a democracy that respects media liberties," Gutkin said today at the news conference. 

So far, Israel has failed to present a coherent reason for barring reporters from Gaza.

Israeli officials have cited security, but, as the Israeli military says, Erez - the only crossing used by reporters to enter Gaza - has not been hit by a Palestinian rocket in more than six months.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has yet to respond to a letter from the heads ofmajor media groups (including McClatchy) calling for the ban to be lifted.

"Israel cherishes the freedom of the press," Olmert spokesman Mark Regev said today. "All journalists who work in Israel know that freedom for a fact."

Hmm. Considering that Israel has banned Israeli reporters from going to Gaza for more than two years, and considering the ongoing ban on letting international journalists enter Gaza, Mark might find that some reporters are asking just how much Israel cherishes a free press these days.

Clarification: Olmert spokesman Mark Regev notes that all Israelis, not just journalists, are barred from going to Gaza. Not that your average dude from Tel Aviv was spending his holidays in Gaza, but there you go... 

Israel's effort to effectively turn the entire Gaza Strip into a closed military zone is entering its third week.

Despite private assurances that the ban would not last long, Israel has prevented the international media from entering Gaza since launching a short military operation on Nov. 4 as the eyes of the world were fixated on the historic election of Barack Obama.

This week, after filing a letter of protest, the Foreign Press Association (of which McClatchy Newspapers is a part) took the matter to Israel's Supreme Court and asked the judges to overturn the ban.

"This blackout of the Gaza Strip is hurting Israel’s image in the eyes of the world and undermines its standing as the only democracy in the Middle East," the FPA argues in the petition. "The defendants policies, in addition to being illegal and insufferable, hurt Israel and endanger its political nature. To put it plainly, one bad decision is worse than ten potential stories that may not be supportive."

But there is no end in sight.

Today, the court gave gave the Israeli government 15 days to respond to the FPA petition. And Israel continues to prevent international reporters from going into Gaza.

Israeli officials have offered no coherent explanation for the press ban. Instead, the clearest explanation has come from Israeli military spokesman Shlomo Dror.

"Where Gaza is concerned, our image will always be bad," Dror said. "When journalists go in it works against us, and when they don't go in it works against us."

This week, Haaretz weighed in with an editorial urging Israel to lift the ban.

"Shutting out foreign journalists is an act of punishment that gives Israel and her democracy a bad name," the editorial states. "Freedom of the press is freedom of the press, and any infringement on it is grave... A Gaza Strip closed to media coverage harms Israel's image and endangers the character of its polity more than any negative article written about it."

According to Maariv, the Israeli policy has created a rift within the government between the Foreign Ministry (which opposes the media ban) and the Defense Ministry, led by Ehud Barak, the Labor Party leader facing the prospect of a poor showing in national elections this February.

"Israel appears as if it is trying to shut people's mouths and restrict the freedom of the press," a political source told Maariv. "At present, we are losing points, because the foreign journalists are dealing with the question of why the crossings are being closed to them and not with the real story, which is the Qassam rocket fire."

If there is indeed a rift, Barak is coming out on top. 

Whether intentional or not, with the ongoing restrictions - on journalists, diplomats, all-but-essential aid, and most aid workers - Israel is effectively testing a strategy of sealing its borders with Gaza and washing its hands of the whole mess.

If-and-when Israel allows reporters back into Gaza, it has still set a questionable precedent that it could try and use to bar journalists from going to Gaza if-and-when the Israeli military launches a new military operation.

If you thought Jordan's Queen Rania was just another pretty face, think again.

Her Majesty is a bona fide visionary.

Last week, the 38-year-old Queen of Jordan became the first recipient of the YouTube Visionary Award for her attempts to shatter stereotypes of the Arab and Muslim world.

Queen Rania won the award for her YouTube channel set up to challenge misperceptions about the Middle East. .

While Her Majesty the Queen wasn't able to be there in person to accept the award, she did deliver an amusing acceptance video where she spoofs a David Letterman Top Ten list

Among the reasons Queen Rania's says she launched her YouTube channel:

"Because anything Que"en Elizabeth can do, I can do better."

"Because my original idea of 'Where the Hell is Her Majesty' had already been taken."

See the whole thing here:  

A Jordanian actor prepares backstage to take part in "Code of Honor," a play about honor killings.

The stories are often unspeakably bleak: An Indian boy is thrown under a train for writing a love letter. An Iraqi girl suspected of spending time with the wrong boy is stoned to death as police look on and men tape her killing.

They are known as honor killings, and the crime may claim as many as 5,000 women each year.

While some might think the crime is isolated to developing nations like Pakistan and Iraq, women in England, the United States, Germany and Canada have all been victims of such so-called "honor crimes."

In Jordan, Lina Attel is working to put the issue on center stage. Literally.

As the founder and general director of The Performing Arts Center at the Noor Al Hussein Center in Jordan, Attel is trying to press the issue and provoke a wider discussion of honor killings in hopes of convincing the government to impose tougher penalties on the men who commit such crimes.

Last week, Attel staged "Code of Honor," a 45-minute play about one man who is plagued by the ghosts of honor crime victims while he sits in a jail cell for killing his sister.

"These people have fanatic views not based on religion, but based on their values," said Attel.

The play is blunt in its condemnation of men who commit such crimes, as well as women relatives who acquiesce.

No one knows for sure how many honor crimes are committed each year. Probably the most notorious case in recent memory was the stoning death of the 17-year-old Yazidi girl in Iraq that was captured on a cell phone camera and broadcast around the world.

Despite repeated attempts to crack down on honor crimes in Jordan, including calls from King Abdullah for changes, critics say the Kingdom is "soft" on such killers. Local estimates place the number of such crimes at around 20 each year.

Attel and other critics of honor crimes say the killers can get off with as little as a six-month-sentence.

Basically, Jordanian law allows such killers to get off by arguing they they killed in the irrational heat of passion.

More often, says Attel, the killings are premeditated.

"Code of Honor" was performed to a full-house last week and Attel plans to take the play on the road to other parts of Jordan.

"We need to change the law," says Attel. "There should be a minimum of 10 years for such crimes. This is the way to deter honor crimes."

Sitting at the bar of a dark restaurant a few yards from the Israeli prime minister's house in Jerusalem, the guy with the short, dark hair and dingy T-shirt didn't really stand out.

He was dressed down in a manner typical of many Israelis and he kept scoping the room trying to make eye-contact with various women. The only thing that suggested something different was the T-shirt, which read, in English: I (heart) Tehran.

This was Iranian-Canadian blogger Hossein Derakhshan's way of trying to strike up provocative conversations with Israelis during a defiant visit to Israel.

Known as the Iranian "Blogfather," Derakhshan braved condemnation in Iran by making a 2006 visit to Israel where he first came as the guest of Israeli-Canadian blogger Lisa Goldman.

When I met him last December at the bar, where he was having drinks with a mutual friend during his second visit to Israel, he seemed to be more interested in hitting on women than in debating the prospects for Middle East peace.

But now, after recently returning to live in Iran, Derakhshan has been arrested and accused of spying for Israel.

Iranian news is reporting that Derakhshan has admitted to spying for Israel, though that's difficult to accept at face value, especially since he could reportedly face the death penalty if convicted of such a charge.

Derakhshan was dubbed the "Blogfather" for developing a groundbreaking way to show Persian characters, something that reportedly led to a boom in Iranian blogging.

He has always pushed the boundaries, as with his trips to Israel. But Derakhshan's views were never cut-and-dry.

On his last visit to Israel, he defended Ahmadinejad and Iran's nuclear program.

In an interview in 2006, Derakhshan spoke about being detained in Iran and criticized for his blog. 

"They said, we have some issues with your blog, including insulting the Supreme Leader, bringing up the negative arguments about the nuclear program, discussing the Iran and Israel relationship," he said. "It really bothered them that I was discussing Internet censorship. I was trying to teach Iranians how to bypass filters. Basically they told me that if you stop writing, then you are free to come back. But if you don’t, you can’t come back, or you can come back but you will be prosecuted."

(Photo from The Media Line.)

The Israeli government lashed out today at the United Nations for its rather bland criticism of Israel for its ongoing decision to cut Gaza off from the world.

"It is disappointing to see the [UN] High Commissioner fall victim to Hamas’ cynical manipulation of the media, and reprint blatant misinformation in her press release," the Israeli government said in its response.

Of course, Israel doesn't mention that is barring Western reporters from entering Gaza to see what is actually going on.

For two weeks, Israel has taken the unprecedented step of closing Gaza's borders to journalists, diplomats, many aid workers and critical supplies for the 1.5 million residents.

Israeli leaders contend that the ban on people going into Gaza is necessary because of new security problems. But that rationale has virtually no basis in fact.

There are no new security problems now that have not been an issue in the past.

Palestinian militants are firing small volleys of Qassam rockets into southern Israel, something they have been doing for years. Yet, until now, Israel never barred reporters from entering because of rocket fire. And the rockets are fired at towns and cities beyond the border, so they pose no immediate danger at the border crossing.

The only time I can recall Israel barring reporters from entering Gaza was during last year's Hamas-Fatah showdown. And, even then, Israel kept the border closed for a few days.

In fact, Israel went out of its way to ensure that reporters could safely enter and leave through the chaotic border, even as scores of desperate Palestinians camped out at the crossing, hoping to flee.

Today, McClatchy Newspapers joined other major media groups in calling on Israel to lift the ban.

"We are gravely concerned about the prolonged and unprecedented denial of access to the Gaza Strip for the international media," the letter to Israeli PM Ehud Olmert states. "We would welcome an assurance that access to Gaza for international journalists will be restored immediately in the spirit of Israel's long-standing commitment to a free press."

The letter is signed by leaders at CNN, the BBC, The New York Times, AP, Reuters and a growing list of media outlets.

In response, Shlomo Dror, a spokesperson for Israel's Defense Ministry, made it clear that his government is unhappy with media coverage of Gaza.

"Where Gaza is concerned, our image will always be bad," Dror told the Associated Press. "When journalists go in it works against us, and when they don't go in it works against us."

Of course, bad press coverage is not a legitimate reason to prevent reporters from entering Gaza.

Israel's press ban makes it difficult to write about the situation in Gaza. And it sets a dangerous precedent that Israel could use in the future if-and-when it ever launches another military ground operation against Palestinian militants.

In essence, Israel is declaring the entire Gaza Strip a closed military zone as it tries to put pressure on Hamas. And it could be part of an evolving new attempt by Israel to isolate Gaza and sever all links with the Hamas-controlled area...

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, weighs in this week on the Rahm Emanuel kerfuffle with a thoughtful column on the grumbling among some Arab and Muslim activists about Obama's decision to select the political brawler and Israel supporter as his chief-of-staff.

Zogby says Emanuel is a "brilliant strategist" that Obama chose for his "proven political skills."

He dismisses many of the more outlandish stories circulating about Emanuel as "slanderous myths" on par with the unfounded allegations during the campaign that Obama was a closet Muslim extremist.

"Putting aside the fiction or, more accurately, the slanderous myths, the truth is that Emanuel is an effective leader in Congress," Zogby writes in the piece. "He is a strong supporter of Israel. But then, how many members of Congress are not? Emanuel is Jewish and his father is an Israeli. Arab Americans should be especially sensitive to attacks on anyone based on religion or ethnicity. He has worked closely with, and is liked by, the Arab American Members of Congress from both parties, and he was the architect of the 1993 White House lawn signing ceremony for the Oslo Accords that brought Arab Americans and American Jews together."

Zogby goes on to voice his disappointment with the Obama team for letting the criticism of Emanuel simmer and demonstrating a certain "tone-deafness to Arab misperceptions" about the new chief-of-staff.

"Arabs and Arab Americans need to ground their expectations in political realities and be wary of slanderous attacks smacking of anti-Semitism, and U.S. political leadership must learn to be as attentive to Arab sensitivities as they are to the concerns of others," Zogby writes.

Take the sexiest man of the year, team him up with a statuesque Palestinian-American spoken word muse, add a fiery filmmaker who sets out to make her first feature movie and you end up with "Salt of This Sea", this year's official Palestinian Academy Award entry.

The film by Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir had its global debut at the Cannes Film Festival last May and was the opening film at the ongoing Ramallah International Film Festival.

"Salt of This Sea" tells the tale of Soraya, a fiery, Brooklyn-born Palestinian-American who sets out for the Middle East to try and close her grandfather's small savings account, something that he'd left behind when he fled his Jaffa home during the 1948 war sparked by Israel's official declaration of independence.

When the bank refuses to give Soraya the money, she enlists a Palestinian waiter and his friend to help her steal it back. Of course, the bank robbery sets off a surreal road trip through Israeli checkpoints, Palestinian ghost towns inside Israel and, eventually, to Soraya's family house in Jaffa, which is now home to a lefty Israeli woman who sympathizes with Soraya's plight.

Soraya is played by Suheir Hammad, who, much like the character, is a passionate Palestinian-American raised in Brooklyn.

Hammad is best known for her spoken word poetry, including "First Writing Since," an emotionally-charged spoken word piece on 9/11.

"If there are any people on earth who understand how New York is
feeling right now," Hammad says, "they are in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip."

You can see a condensed version of the piece here:

Starring alongside Hammad is Saleh Bakri, the young actor who won the Israeli equivalent of the Oscar for his compelling performance as the petulant, Chet Baker enthusiast in "The Band's Visit," about a wayward Egyptian police band that accidentally ends up in a remote Israeli town. Bakri was also voted the world's sexiest man by an Israeli women's magazine, and he seems to inspire a certain kind of unrestrained desire in some female fans...

Bakri doles out dating tips in this hilarious scene:

Like many a Palestinian film, "Salt of This Sea" was beset by many a challenge.

Israel refused to grant permits for West Bank Palestinians working on the movie to film scenes in Israel.

Then, Jacir herself was barred from coming into Israel.. (The government accused Jacir of trying to smuggle Palestinians into Israel...) That forced Jacir and the actors to complete some of the scenes in Marseilles.

Jacir, who was barred from coming to the West Bank for the film's debut, described the Israeli ban as akin to "being trapped outside a cage."

Many Palestinian films dwell on the emotionally-draining aspects of the conflict, something that can be hard for audiences to take in large doses. (One of the reasons I liked "Driving to Zigzigland" at last year's film festival was that it was a wry comedy about a Palestinian guy who sets off to become a Hollywood Star and ends up being a taxi driver who combats persistent ignorance and prejudice with droll humor.)

"Salt of This Sea" has so-far garnered mixed reviews.

It is at its best when it injects surreal humor into the drama. But it also offers one of the best screen versions of a Ben-Gurion airport shakedown.

Hundreds of people -- Palestinians, Americans, Palestinian-Americans, Israeli-Americans who ignored the ban on Israelis entering Ramallah -- packed into the movie theater to see the film. One filmmaker described it as a major step forward for Palestinian movies.

Chances are it won't secure an Oscar nomination. But "Salt of This Sea" does chart some new ground for Palestinian filmmaking.

More than a week after his father made a rather inopportune comment that was denounced by human rights groups as an "unacceptable smear," Rahm Emanuel, President-elect Barack Obama's new chief-of-staff, has apologized.

In a phone call to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Emanuel distanced himself from his dad's words.

“From the fullness of my heart, I personally apologize on behalf of my family and me," Emanuel told the ADC. "These are not the values upon which I was raised or those of my family.”

Emanuel's appointment upset some in the Middle East who fear that Obama's new gatekeeper and White House alter-ego will be unquestioning in his support for questionable Israeli policies.

And his dad's comments only aggravated things.

"Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel," Dr. Benjamin Emanuel was quoted as saying. "Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."

The ADC formally called on Emanuel to repudiate his dad.

"One can readily imagine the justifiable outcry if someone made a similar remark about African‐Americans, Jews, or Hispanics, concerning cleaning the floors of the White House," ADC President Mary Rose Oakar wrote to Emanuel. "Do the normal standards of decency and civility not apply when talking about Arabs?"

The issue caught the attention of various bloggers and, at first, Emanuel's Congressional office sought to dismiss the call for an apology with a non-responsive statement.

"When it comes to Israel's security and America's partnership with Israel, President-elect Obama doesn't need Rahm Emanuel," his office told Time Magazine. "President-elect Obama's commitment to Israel is steadfast and unwavering."

But now Emanuel has issued a public apology and is trying to move on.

“We cannot allow Arabs and Muslims to be portrayed in these unacceptable terms," Oakar said. "I welcome Rahm’s apology and his pledge to meet with our community."