The Arab American News
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CAAO delegation meets with State, Justice officials
CAAO leaders described their meetings with the State and Justice Departments as productive but added that there is much work to be done. PHOTO: TAAN DEARBORN — The Congress of Arab American Organizations (CAAO) sent delegates to Washington D.C. this past week to meet with senior officials from both the U.S. State Department...BRIDGES meeting discusses border patrol issues, paid informants
DEARBORN — Congress of Arab American Organizations (CAAO) representatives met on Thursday at a BRIDGES meeting to discuss with law enforcement officials new travel requirements and allegations of FBI agents sending informants into community mosques. Arab American community leaders meet with federal law enforcement officials on...Corruption in Lebanon elections?
BEIRUT — When Lebanon heads to the polls Jun. 7 to decide whether the Hizbullah-led opposition alliance will unseat the ruling Western-backed coalition, voter anonymity could be compromised by shortcomings in the 2008 parliamentary election law. A Lebanese woman shows her ink-stained finger after casting her vote at a polling...Family history counts for women in race to parliament
BEIRUT (IPS) — In Lebanon's Jun. 7 parliamentary poll, women represent only two percent of the candidates, many of them with family names that have been appearing on ballots for generations. A banner of Nayla Tueni, parliamentary candidate and daughter of assassinated MP Gebran Tueni, hangs from a building in Beirut May 27,...West Bank settlements are anathema to the entire world
Moshe Ya'alon, the Strategic Affairs Minister of Israel told Meet the Press last Saturday that his country will not follow American dictates and will not halt construction in the settlements. He was referring to the American demand that Israel halt all settlement activity, voiced by U.S. President Barack Obama to Prime Minister Binyamin...
Obama to address world’s Muslims
May 30th, 20090 White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that President Barack Obama will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in early June to discuss Mideast peace with that country's King Abdullah, ahead of a much anticipated speech Obama is scheduled to give in Cairo on June 4. U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Palestinian...U.S.-Seoul alert raised over North Korea
The U.S. and South Korea raised the alert level for their security forces on Thursday, a day after North Korea declared it was scrapping the 1953 armistice that brought a halt to the Korean War. A South Korean soldier stands at a guard post near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, about 45 km (28 miles)...Provoking the inevitable in Iraq
On Monday, Iraqi government security forces arrested two prominent Sunni leaders in Iraq's volatile Diyala Province. One of them, Sheikh Riyadh al-Mujami, not coincidentally, is a prominent leader in the local Sahwa (Sons of Iraq), the 100,000-strong Sunni militia that was set up by the U.S. military to quell attacks against...
Obama picks first Hispanic Supreme Court justice
May 30th, 20090 WASHINGTON — President Obama made history Tuesday by nominating the first Hispanic to the U.S. Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. U.S. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor (L) steps up to speak after U.S. President Barack Obama announced her as his choice of...Saving Israel from itself
The United States and Israel fundamentally disagree about the need to establish a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel. President Obama is committed to a two-state solution, while Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu is opposed and has been for many years. To avoid a direct confrontation with Washington, Netanyahu will...
Palestinian intern in Detroit to tackle homeland water crisis
May 30th, 20090 Despite a collective outcry from human rights groups, the humanitarian situation in Palestine remains on shaky ground. Manar Sami Shraideh And without adequate outside support, some Palestinians, like Manar Sami Shraideh, have begun to seek help for the problems that plague the country in the face of Israeli checkpoints...
‘Gender-bender’ election raises optimism
May 30th, 20090 Four women elected to the 50-member national assembly in Kuwait: from left, Aseel al-Awadi, Rola Dashti, Salwa al-Jassar and Massouma al-Mubarak. Women gained the right to vote and run for office in 2005. DUBAI (IPS) — Despite the reappointment of the Kuwaiti ruler's nephew as premier, the results of last week's elections here...The day of the dead
Cindy Sheehan I was on an airplane flying to Orange County from Sacramento to attend the al-Awda Conference, which is a Palestinian Right's Conference (al-Awda translates to "The Returning"), when the pilot's voice filled the cabin to make an announcement that I think went unnoticed by most of my fellow passengers, but I...Aerial bombing makes terrorists
During the last thirty years of wars in Afghanistan, Afghan civilians have had one safe place to escape to: Pakistan. Men carry a victim of a bomb blast through the streets of Peshawar, in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province May 28, 2009. Two bombs exploded on Thursday in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, killing...Bigger, badder jihad plot in ‘Obsession’ rebooted
WASHINGTON (IPS) — A new documentary from a shadowy non-profit, the Clarion Fund, has ties to groups widely accused of Islamophobia. "The Third Jihad" purports to educate U.S. citizens about the threat of a "cultural jihad" by the country's own American Muslim population. The film goes to great lengths to define itself as an expose......
Holy Land Foundation, AIPAC cases are a travesty of justice
In case you happen to think that the "war on terror" is no more because the Obama administration won't use that Bushian phrase, think again. The legal and policy structures that made the war on terror so objectionable are still in place, and they are still trampling on Arab and Muslim rights. In this most recent case, an unfair...Arab American defensive tackle takes game to the NFL
He began his college career as the only Palestinian player to ever play Division-I football, and now former Ohio State defensive tackle Nader Abdallah is taking his game to the next level. Jacksonville Jaguar Nader Abdallah Abdallah, an undrafted free agent following last month's NFL Draft in New York, signed with the...NEWS BRIEFS: Senate bill builds momentum for immigration reform
Four Democrats have introduced a measure in U.S. Congress that ethnic community advocates say would help legal immigrants reunite with their families and end decade-long waiting times for legal immigrant visas. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ, along with co-sponsoring Sens. Kristen Gellibrand, D-NY, Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Charles...
FILM REVIEW: Lemon Tree
May 29th, 20090 Starring Hiam Abbass, Doron Tavory, Ali Suliman and Rona Lipaz-Michael. Written by Suha Arraf and Eran Riklis. Directed by Eran Riklis. Not rated. Now playing at the Landmark Maple Art Theatre. Life often gives lemons to the Palestinians, and they don't always have the option of making lemonade. When an Israeli Defense......
Red Wings four wins away from back-to-back Stanley Cups
After a 4-1 series win over the rival Chicago Blackhawks, there's just one team standing between the Detroit Red Wings and back-to-back Stanley Cups: the Pittsburgh Penguins, their finals opponent in 2008. Detroit Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood (L) and Tomas Holmstrom wave to the fans after the Red Wings defeated the...Israel abuzz with Obama Plan rumors
JERUSALEM — The Middle East has been abuzz in anticipation of the peace plan U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to unveil in Cairo next month. Some who can't wait to hear official details have extracted what they claim is a preview of it, reported today in Israeli newspapers and the London-based Al-Quds......
Hamas condemns Palestinian cabinet
The Palestinian Hamas faction that governs Gaza has condemned the appointment of a new government by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and leader of Fatah. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad holds a news conference after the first cabinet meeting of the new Palestinian government in the West Bank city of Ramallah May...Netanyahu up against a new U.S.
JERUSALEM (IPS) — June 5 is a date that resonates powerfully in the troubled modern history of the Middle East. On that fateful day, 42 years ago, the seminal 1967 Arab-Israel war erupted. Six days later, Israel was in control of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Syria's Golan Heights and all of the Palestinian territories. Israeli......
