Detroit businesses should join Project Green Light
June 17th, 20160 Mayor Duggan and city leaders announcing new businesses joining Project Green Light, May 23.Detroit is a city for the future. Despite the remaining challenges, there is a financial and political willpower to turn the city around. Arab American business owners have no choice than to adapt and contribute to this turnaround or be left out...
It’s Ramadan, we should celebrate considerately
June 10th, 20160 Customers eat in the early morning at Golden Bakery in Dearborn.Ramadan is a month of spirituality and forgiveness for Islamic communities around the world. It is also a time of joy and celebration. As local Muslim Americans celebrate the month, they should have compassion and consideration for those who do not observe...
What’s allowed when dealing with Israel?
June 10th, 20160 Activists rally against Israel.That "terrorism" is a malleable term of propaganda, with no fixed meaning or consistent application, is now quite well-established. Still, its recent application to a spate of violence targeting Israel's occupying soldiers in the West Bank is so manipulative and extreme that it's...
Muhammad Ali: A profile in moral courage
June 10th, 20160 "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong — no Viet Cong ever called me nigger." With those pointed words, Muhammad Ali explained his opposition to the war in Vietnam and justified his refusal to submit himself to the draft. He declared himself a conscientious objector. After declining three times to step forward for induction...
Restricting hookah bar hours is bad for business
June 3rd, 20160 The nature of Southeast Michigan's economy has changed over the past decades. Dearborn's leaders do not seem interested in adjusting to the new realities. Despite the partial recovery of the auto industry, carmakers can no longer sustain the region's economy or operate as go-to employers. We live in a post-industrial,...
Ya’alon’s morality and Israel’s future is terrifying
June 2nd, 20160 Israeli society is constantly swerving to the right. The country's entire political paradigm is redefined regularly. Israel is now "ruled by the most extreme rightwing government in its history." This statement has grown from being an informed assessment to a dull cliché over the course of only a few years. In fact, that exact...
May 25: Liberation Day should be hailed and celebrated
May 27th, 20160 Woman celebrates the victory with Lebanese army soldiers.Six days. It took Israel six days to defeat the combined armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria in 1967. Demoralized Arabs had gotten used to catastrophes and setbacks as Israel colonized their land before the resistance in south Lebanon reclaimed their honor. It wasn't until...
Americans are helping eight million people break this bad law
May 27th, 20160 Last week immigrants, their families and legal advocates rallied outside the Supreme Court as eight justices heard oral arguments in United States v. Texas, an immigration case concerning the Obama Administration's Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) program, which would have offered deferred...
Sykes-Picot, 100 years later: Redrawing the maps
May 20th, 20160 A map of Iraq and Syria showing flags of warring sidesA century has passed since the Sykes-Picot Agreement was struck. The geopolitical madness in the Middle East indicates that the region is heading toward more fragmentation. The 100-year-old plan to control the Arab world is still at work to divide what has already been...
Dearborn DPW’s shady work
May 20th, 20160 The alley behind The Arab American News officeNever mess with writers, they say. Journalists and newspapers often act as deterrents to negligence by officials. Hence, we question the wisdom of the city of Dearborn's display of utter incompetence in The Arab American News' backyard. The Department of Public Works has practically blocked...
On Nakba and other catastrophes
May 20th, 20160 A Palestinian boy holds a large cut-out of a key symbolizing the right to return, near the Apartheid Wall in Bethlehem May 14, 2014The 68th anniversary of Nakba on May 15 came at a time when the Arab masses are dealing with their own catastrophic civil war, while the fragmented Palestinian leadership fails to represent the aspirations...
Dearborn Police needs greater accountability to improve
May 13th, 20160 Dawud Walid among demonstrators at a rally demanding accountability from Dearborn Police after Kevin Mathews death, Jan. 4.The recent settlement of an excessive force lawsuit by the Dearborn Police against a mentally impaired man, Ali Beydoun, of Lebanese origin is part of an ongoing saga regarding this embattled police department.The...
Dearborn Arabs should invest in the city’s bright future
May 13th, 20160 Dearborn's future has never looked brighter. Ford Motor Company will be pouring $1.2 billion in investments into the city over the next decade. The new Ford campus will have positive ripple effects in Dearborn's economy that will trickle down to all residents and small business owners. Arab Americans, who have played a vibrant role in...Congratulations to Dearborn Heights on the “yes” vote
Community activists celebrating the voteFewer than 90 votes made the difference between modern facilities and the decaying infrastructure at Crestwood Schools. Dearborn Heights voters passed a $35 million millage for the school on Tuesday, with the Arab community playing a leading role in its success.Crestwood Schools are in dire need...The spirit of Nelson Mandela in Palestine
The Nelson Mandela statue in RamallahI had mixed feelings when I learned that Palestine has erected a statue of Nelson Mandela, the iconic South African anti-Apartheid leader. I was pleased that the unmistakable connection between the struggles of Palestinians and South Africans is cemented more than ever before. On the other hand,......
Did the Arabs betray Palestine?
At the age of 21, I crossed Gaza into Egypt to pursue a degree in political science. The timing could not have been worse. The Iraq invasion of Kuwait in 1990 had resulted in a U.S.-led international coalition and a major war, which eventually paved the road for the 2003 U.S. invasion. I became aware that Palestinians were...
Answers needed from the Dearborn Police Department
April 29th, 20160 Police recruits with city officials - Photo: City of DearbornAs journalists, our responsibility is not to fix the government, but to point out the areas that need repairs. We can't patch the potholes in the streets. However, we can raise concerns about decaying roads.When we point to an issue and those in charge ignore it, the voices we...Superdelegates from the Middle Eastern perspective
Born in Lebanon, raised in Syria and a resident of Gaza and Ramallah as an adult, I covered elections as a journalist. The concept of elections was very simple in my pre-America experience: you go and cast your vote for the person you would like to govern you. But in the United States, I'm discovering, the concept is a lot more...Failed Abbas is derided and scapegoated
Image: Niño Jose Heredia"We won’t act like them; we will not use violence or force; we are peaceful; we believe in peace, in peaceful popular resistance." This was part of a message issued by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in October, only days after a few incidents took place in which Palestinian youth were accused of......
Washington and Riyadh: Time to divorce
Obama with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in Riyadh, April 21There is a place where the rulers execute people by beheading publicly, silence dissent with deadly force, oppress woman, promote sectarianism and apply extremist interpretations of Islamic teachings in schools. We are not talking about the ISIS-ruled regions in Iraq in...
Vote Yes: Crestwood Schools bond is a worthy investment
April 22nd, 20160 Arab Americans have expanded their presence in Dearborn Heights over the past two decades, they have also enriched the city's culture and revived its economy. The city is another anchor for the community in Michigan. Dearborn Heights' wellbeing matters to Arab Americans. The deteriorating state of the Crestwood School District's......
Thank you, Bernie
April 15th, 20160 Sanders during the debate in New YorkWhen The Arab American News endorsed Bernie Sanders, we wrote, "Arab Americans need to stand for principles. In Sanders, we have a principled politician who is showing strength and courage in his campaign."On Thursday night, Sanders once again demonstrated a rare attribute in politicians — ethical...Syria’s future will profoundly impact the region
"How Syria goes the region will"The atrocities perpetrated by all sides of the civil war in Syria have reached the level of genocide. Half the population of 23 million people has been displaced. 300,000 have died. Over two million injured? The country is in ruins. National unity is severely eroded. The threat of Syria’s collapse......