The Queens of Jordan, Busy at Work

I'm currently reading an autobiography of Queen Noor, the late King Hussein's wife, and I can't help but admire this woman. Not only that, but King Abdullah's wife Queen Rania of Jordan is on the same track, and is setting up lots of different programs and looking into humanitarian issues. These women are breaking the stereotypes that Western Society has tagged the Arab World with as ignorant and violent. And I am very proud of what Queen Noor accomplished and what she is accomplishing as well as Queen Rania. I can't imagine how Jordanians feel, if I, a Syrian is extremely happy. These women present the Arabic World in an elegant and professional way, and exhibit their knowledge to help causes such as AIDS in Africa, Land Mines in South America, and the Palestinian-Israeli crisis that is till now affecting millions of people. These women, I feel, represent the Arab world in the best way possible and show the International Society what the Arab world really is, and the level of understanding and desire for peace we have. I was looking through YouTube earlier today and I found out that Queen Rania has her own YouTube channel. On it, there were exclusive interviews and a series of videos called "Breaking the Stereotypes", which is a aimed at the understanding of the Arabic world and society, and to put aside the stereotypes that affect people's minds so negatively. I was also watching Queen Noor's response to the Gaza Crisis and I'm ecstatic when I saw her explaining the situation from our point of view, to CNN. She is a very intelligent person, and upon the host of the show commenting and saying, "Israel would not have had this offensive if there weren't rockets being launched by Hamas, and other extremest groups". She says (and I'm just paraphrasing) "The level of poverty in Gaza and the West Bank as well as the Israeli Occupation they are living under deprives the Palestinians of hope, and it is so much easier to be drawn by these extremist groups, that only form because of the absence of peace." And people should hear these words and this exact answer to understand the situation in the Middle East.

The autobiography that I'm reading now is called "Leap of Faith, Memoirs of an Unexpected Life" by Queen Noor. It's brilliantly written, and it's easy to read. I did not know very much about the country of Jordan, but now I'm starting to appreciate it's role in the Middle East and King Hussein's as well as Queen Noor's work on getting the Arab-Israeli peace process re-ignited. Queen Noor was born in the United States into an Arab-American family. She travelled to Jordan and met King Hussein. They fell in love and married, and she faced a lot of obstacles once she was queen. But she knew that she wanted to accomplish many things, to benefit Jordan and the whole world. She started on projects for the Palestinian refugees in Jordan, and many architectural as well as cultural projects, such as the Jerash Annual Festival. And to this day, she is still working, along with Queen Rania who is side by side with UNRWA, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Take a look at Queen Rania's YouTube channel, and the videos that are on there to build a bridge between the Western World and the Middle East:

http://www.youtube.com/QueenRania