Palestinian Authority and Hamas meet to reconcile: What to expect?
What would most effectively unite Palestinians is not holding elections, reconciliation of leaders or the appointment of a new prime minister. Unity is best achieved when the people collectively build a common vision on how to tackle the occupation.It is breaking news that the two major Palestinian leaders, Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled...
Karman galvanized Arab women in ‘Arab Spring’
November 26th, 20110 Tawakkul Karman, the first Arab woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, has achieved an important honor for all Arabs. This activist has worked tirelessly for years standing up for justice, freedom, human rights, and a better life for all Yemeni people. Karman has bravely faced the dictatorial regime (of Ali Abdullah Saleh), his police,...Nuclear Israel revisited
To have or not to have nuclear weapons is a question of human security and not European privilege.NEW YORK CITY — How many times must this story be retold? It is common knowledge in the United States, in Europe, in the Arab World, indeed in the entire world. The international press has been reporting on it since the late 1960s. The...Syria on the brink: Uprising victim to regional, international power play
Syrians continue to be victimized, not only in violent clashes with the Syrian military, but also by regional and international players with various agendas. Pro-Syrian President Bashar Assad demonstrators, shout slogans during a buffer between pro and anti-Assad protesters, in Beirut, Lebanon, on Monday May 23, 2011. Protests in Syria...Striking Iran would be a dangerous mistake
An attack on Iran could turn out to be a reckless "solution" to a complex problemLast week a well informed Israeli journalist revealed that his country is ready to eliminate Iran's nuclear facilities with an air strike. Israel's current political leadership proclaims it is "close" to decisive action. Arguments for intervention in...Inside the Mideast prisoner swap
In recent days, we've witnessed the rare spectacle of Israelis and Palestinians celebrating at the same time. Ironically, this was the result of negotiations between the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian resistance organization Hamas, which Israel and the United States describe as "terrorists" It...Libya and Iraq: Mirror images in the grip of big oil
The U.N. Security Council's mandate, which authorized NATO's military operations to "protect civilians" in Libya, was just as specious as the one that allowed the Bush administration to invade Iraq to destroy stockpiles of nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. Just as George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were focused on securing Iraq's oil...One more failed round of Middle East negotiations could kill the “peace process”
As the Palestinians made their long-awaited request for United Nations membership, Washington called for a new round of Mideast negotiations. The Palestinian bid was a move of desperation. The Obama administration and Israel saw Palestine membership as an unsettling, game-changing event. But to most of the international community,...Abbas battling on many fronts
Omar did not expect his family to be so distraught and despondent when he came home Friday to his home in the town of Al-Khedr on the outskirts of Bethlehem. His father's health took a sharp blow after occupation forces seized large sections of family land to expand the Jewish settlement of Nogdeem, where Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor...
Yemen strikes perpetuate America’s false sense of security
October 8th, 20110 Americans Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan were hardly household names before their assassination by a drone missile strike occasioned a news cycle of jubilation in Washington's endless war on terror. Yet far from winning greater security, such strikes serve only to terrify local populations across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA),...The flight of the plucked chicken
A wonderful speech. A beautiful speech.The language expressive and elegant. The arguments clear and convincing. The delivery flawless.A work of art. The art of hypocrisy. Almost every statement in the passage concerning the Israeli-Palestinian issue was a lie. A blatant lie: the speaker knew it was a lie, and so did the audience.It was...Palestine and the UN: History of a double standard
Nowhere have the U.N. ideals and mechanisms been more mired in power politics than in Palestine. The efforts to neutralize U.N. intervention have been championed mainly by the United States. This week's efforts by the Obama administration working on behalf of Israel took advocacy to a whole new level. Failure to...All victims of 9/11 should be remembered
"To govern is to choose, and the choices made in 2002 were fateful. The United States began that year shocked and wounded, but with tremendous strategic advantages. Its population was more closely united...World opinion was strongly sympathetic. Longtime allies were eager to help...The federal budget was nearly in balance...All that was...Remembering a 9/11 Yemeni American hero
This year closes the first decade since that horrific day, the 11th of September 2001, the day that changed the entire world and certainly changed history. Ten years later, we remember the innocent lives that were taken on that day, as well as the thousands and perhaps millions of innocents who passed away in other countries as a...
Lessons in freedom from the CIA
September 17th, 20110 Agency pulls ads over spying article Three weeks ago, The Arab American News published a story written by The Associated Press about the CIA and the NYPD cooperating in a massive spying operation on the entire Muslim community in the New York/New Jersey area. The following week, we published an article detailing the CIA's......
Understanding Muslims’ feelings toward America
On the ten-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, many Americans are wondering whether the risk of a terrorist attack against America has been reduced. The picture is mixed. With the death of Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda is weaker. With revolutions in several Arab countries, frustrations with unpopular autocratic governments — a recruiting...A Libyan American perspective of the war in Libya
I was born and raised in the United States of America, I had seldom thought about where my father and his family came from until the war broke out in Libya a few months ago. But now, it seems as if my days are centered on the conflict. I find myself watching YouTube videos, reading blogs and having discussions about the war to oust the...
27 years of defining and defending our community
September 3rd, 20110 This week marks the 27th anniversary of The Arab American News. It has been a very long roller coaster ride — the ups when we were able to make the community's mark on policy formation or public discourse, the downs when we couldn't make payroll or pay the printer. The news itself has been difficult to bear, even as we have been able...Obama administration’s immigration announcement not an amnesty program
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it would put guidelines in place across all immigration agencies to ensure that its enforcement priorities are focused on removing persons who are most dangerous to the country. In a letter to Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and other senators who had requested that DHS......
Holding our hands out for the children
Often we do things because we think they are the right thing to do. However, when thinking is replaced by knowing, that's when our perspectives on life can change forever. I thought I understood why I had been serving the renowned and respected Al-Mabarrat organization for almost 4 years—to help and serve orphans....DOJ should reverse immigration appeals board ruling
When a criminal suspect is placed under arrest, no interrogation can begin until police recite the famous "Miranda" warnings required by the Supreme Court: You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you. You have a right to have an attorney present. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be......
Wrong time to stop cash assistance
Legislation which closes 12,600 public assistance cases, affecting 25,000 children, is making its way through the Michigan House and Senate. Gilda Jacobs, a former state legislator and the current Director of the Michigan League for Human Services (an independent human services "watch dog" agency in Lansing) reminds us that...Michigan House Bill 4769 discriminatory
Michigan House Bill 4769, "The Restriction of the Application of Foreign Laws," was recently introduced by a number of Republican state representatives, led by State Representative Dave Agema. Even though the word shari'a is omitted, the language of this bill is a replica of other anti-shari'a bills that have been introduced and in......
