The Arab American News
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Crowded field in Detroit City Council race
July 31st, 20090 An Arab American couple walks along the Detroit riverfront. PHOTO: Khalil AlHajal/TAAN DETROIT — A field of 168 candidates running to serve on the nine-member Detroit City Council will be cut to 18 after August 4 primary elections. Voters will make their final choices in the Nov. 3 general election. In a city...
Obama gives Arab American painting to Iraq
July 31st, 20090 WASHINGTON — During Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's visit to the United States last week, President Barack Obama presented the leader with a gift, a painting by Arab American artist Helen Zughaib. Zughaib's art work is notable for its rich use of colors and for depicting scenes of Arab life in hopeful, healing and spiritual...Dearborn primary could come down to a few votes
DEARBORN — When it comes to city council elections, many analysts and politicians agree: they have a bigger impact on peoples' lives than the presidential election. But despite that viewpoint, voter turnout for city council primary elections in Dearborn is usually low, especially compared to presidential races, and it's expected to...Tips to catch a homebuyer’s eye
The housing market's financial slip is making it hard to get homes off the selling block. To help speed up the selling process, homeowners and agents may want to consider hiring a stager. Stagers are hired to rearrange a home's contents and furniture to better catch the eyes of buyers. Realtors and sellers who have used staging...
Get out and vote!
July 31st, 20090 Voters go to the polls next Tuesday, August 4, for the city of Dearborn's primary election. Twenty five candidates will vie for 14 spots on the ballot in the November 3 general election, when seven of them will be voted in to seats on the city council. An unprecedented eight candidates are of Arab descent in the city council primary....
Former wrestling coach sues Dearborn Schools, Fordson principal
July 31st, 20090 A longtime Fordson High School wrestling coach whose contract was not renewed last year filed a federal lawsuit against Dearborn Public Schools and Fordson Principal Imad Fadlallah on Monday, claiming he was terminated because of his Christian religious beliefs. The suit was filed in Detroit by a Livonia law firm and the Ann...Passion for life, not for boxing
"Hey it is you! You photographed my wedding," yelled Tarick Salmaci from inside his white Caddy, where I was meeting him at Starbucks in West Dearborn. Tarick Salmaci "Can you believe it has been twelve years since I got married?" he added as he walked toward me. He stopped and chatted with a friend passing in his car,...Netanyahu plays “Deal or No Deal” with Israeli settlements
An Israeli settlement in the West Bank When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argues unjustifiably for the need to continue the construction of West Bank settlements to allow for "natural growth" of settler families, he reminds me of the risk-driven guest player on the popular TV show "Deal or No Deal." In this show, the...
Community stunned after freak car accident in Beirut claims local father and daughter
July 25th, 20090 The deaths of a Dearborn Heights man and his young daughter, killed in a freak car accident in Beirut on July 19, have left many stunned in the local community and abroad. Family members have memorialized them in the following essay. Mohamad A. Habhab of Dearborn Heights, beloved husband and father of three, and his three-year-old...Report urges continued U.S. diplomatic push
WASHINGTON (IPS) — The U.S. should proceed cautiously in its engagement strategy with Iran, while moving quickly toward final-status negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, according to a new report by a team of veteran diplomats and Middle East policymakers. A woman walks in front of the now-defunct Shepherd Hotel,...Israel to drop Arabic names
Thousands of road signs are the latest front in Israel's battle to erase Arab heritage from much of the Holy Land, according to critics in both Israel and the wider Arab world. Israeli Romy Achituv applies a sticker with Arabic writing on a public sign in Jerusalem, July 5, 2009. Most street and public signs in Israel are...
Protecting oil key to invasion
July 25th, 20090 Two years before the invasion of Iraq, oil executives and foreign policy advisers told the Bush administration that the United States would remain "a prisoner of its energy dilemma" as long as Saddam Hussein was in power. A U.S. soldier stands next to an Iraqi family during a patrol with Iraqi forces in Baghdad, July 21, 2009....Rampaging settlers shatter fragile calm
RAMALLAH (IPS) — The northern Palestinian West Bank is turning into a flashpoint as Israeli settlers continue to attack Palestinian civilians and their property as part of a "price tag" policy. Jewish settlers attack a Palestinian woman in 2003 file photo. On Tuesday Walid Assaf, a Palestinian Legislative Council member, was...Black scholar’s arrest raises profiling questions
BOSTON — Supporters of a prominent Harvard University black scholar who was arrested at his own home by police responding to a report of a break-in say he is the victim of racial profiling. Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. had forced his way through the front door of his home because it was...How the Israel lobby took control of U.S. foreign policy
In the early 1960s, Senator William J. Fulbright fought to force the American Zionist Council to register as agents of a foreign government. The Council eluded registration by reorganizing as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC has since become what Fulbright most feared: a foreign agent dominating American......
The Byzantine world of immigration detention
July 25th, 20090 NEW YORK — Duarnis Perez, a native of the Dominican Republic, became a U.S. citizen at 15 when his mother was naturalized. But he didn't know that meant he was also a citizen. He thought he was an illegal immigrant, and so did the authorities. He was deported and subsequently arrested trying to sneak back into the U.S. from Canada....
Palestinians are on their own
July 25th, 20090 I will never forget the image of the elderly woman whose son was dying in a hospital in Egypt. She only wanted to be with him. Crying, her hand touching the glass window of the office of the Egyptian intelligence services, she pleaded, "Please, please. I beg you, show mercy, let me go in." Another woman sat by the State Security office,...
Arab Canadian actress enjoys mentor role
July 25th, 20090 Canadian Christine Solomon, an actress, model, entrepreneur and author of Egyptian, Syrian and Lebanese descent, is a firm believer that passion accompanied by hard work can bring any dream to life. Actress Christine Solomon Solomon hopes to bring this belief to life in the hearts of aspiring actors, as a mentor from the...Third Annual Arab American comedy show ready for breakthrough August performance
The cast members of the five skits that comprise the 3rd Arab American Comedy Show, scheduled to take place August 14 and 15 at the Ford Performing Arts Center (Civic Center), are working hard rehearsing their roles at the Fairlane Club. Director Mike Mosallam rehearses a skit with cast member Amir Makled in preparation for the......
Arab American group supports Sotomayor confirmation
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) last week expressed its support for the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. U.S. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor, L, steps up to speak after U.S. President Barack Obama announced her as his choice of nomination in this May 26, 2009...Local Arabs and Jews meet, address political differences
DEARBORN — A group of pro-Israeli American Jews and pro-Palestinian Arab Americans came together at the Lebanese American Heritage Club on Tuesday in a rare meeting aimed at sparking long-term dialogue acknowledging the two communities' general views on the Middle East conflict. Brenda Rosenberg, L, and Imad Hamad introduced......
Pre-election forum to present Hamtramck candidates
HAMTRAMCK — A candidates' forum is be held on Thursday, July 30, 7 p.m. at the BHA Hall, 2320 Caniff Street. The forum will allow the five mayoral and 12 city council candidates to speak to citizens and answer questions. "We have to get the views of the candidates," said Michael Prentiss, organizer of the event. Each candidate...City looks at anti-profiling measure
KALAMAZOO — Public safety officials may soon implement a city-wide anti-profiling policy in an effort to increase cooperation between police and the community. The policy would ban discrimination or profiling based on appearance, ethnicity, gender, dress, origin, physical characteristics, race, religion or sexual orientation.......
