The Oakland Press tortures the truth
One of the gratifying things about the Fair of Shame protest on August 21st was the response of so many of the Israeli youth. As we stood outside the Jewish Federation's celebration of Israel's creation, dozens of big, yellow school buses passed by. Because traffic was backed up the teens inside had a chance to read our anti-Zionist,...Shame on The Oakland Press
In an editorial this week, The Oakland Press attacked The Arab American News for running an opinion piece by Michelle Kinnucan on the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's celebration at the Michigan State Fairgrounds of Israel's 60th anniversary. ("Detroit Jewish Federation: Celebrating racism and making money at it," The Arab...Sarah Palin’s frontier justice
Long before any of us knew about Sarah Palin's daughter's baby-daddy, the stage was being set. And the narrative that preceded her apotheosis was one of life and death. The Palin family "chose not to murder that beautiful soul," said an evangelical friend, as she closed her eyes and lifted her palms heavenward. "Choosing not" to...Neither respected nor feared
In an exalted phrase, the keynote speaker at the Republican convention reviewed the record of the administration, and asked, "When have we rested more secure in friendship with all mankind?" That wasn't in St. Paul, where the Republicans are gathered this week, but at the 1904 Republican convention in Chicago, when the speaker was Elihu...
Our twenty-fourth year
September 6th, 20080 With this issue of The Arab American News, we head down the stretch to our Silver Anniversary. That momentous event will occur September 7, 2009. Twenty four years ago, not many people believed it would ever happen. Over the past year, we have strengthened our outreach to and coverage of the local community, one of our primary...My response to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit
In a press release issued August 27, 2008, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit (JCRC) criticized my article "Detroit Jewish Federation: Celebrating racism and making money at it" as "despicable." The article was published in the August 9-15, 2008, edition of The Arab American News and is available on the...The audacity of critique
African Americans should pressure Senator and Democratic presidential nominee Barak Obama to change U.S. policy toward the occupation of Palestine. Despite the warm response Obama enjoys from American Muslim and Arab American voters, we should stand for the right of our Muslim and Arab brothers and sisters to critique Obama. We should in...Hang up on Motorola
Advocates for Palestinian rights are calling for a boycott of Motorola phones. The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, an advocacy group based in Washington, DC, urged its members to contact Motorola leaders about the company's role in providing communications technology to Israeli occupation forces. Motorola...Lebanon’s economic task is daunting but possible
The challenge for the national unity government in Lebanon is how to pull the country out of poverty and address its many problems. For Lebanon to grow at self-sustaining rates of seven to ten percent for one or two decades, it must significantly increase its economic freedom. This can be achieved by implementing three top-priority...Collapse of the Middle East peace process
Political turmoil and uncertainty in both Israel and the United States have now brought an end to the grim farce of Middle East peace-making. Under the faltering sponsorship of U.S. President George W. Bush, no discernable progress has been achieved since the Annapolis summit of November 2007, and no progress can be expected for...Three wrongs make a big mess
Trivia time: This Middle Eastern country has long denied a genocide happened in the past. It has worked, in public and behind the scenes, to convince others this genocide didn't happen and undo any efforts to recognize the event as such. Now, what country am I talking about? If your answer is Iran, that's understandable, given the...After ordeal, U.S. cancels some Palestinian Fulbright scholarships
Public disagreements between top Israeli and American officials are not too common. The most recent conflagration occurred over Israel's refusal to allow seven Palestinian Fulbright scholars to leave Gaza. It was widely seen as an embarrassment to American diplomats. After pressuring Israel to allow them...A one-state solution for Israel and Palestine
At first sight, the idea of a single state in Israel-Palestine is barely intelligible; the region is permeated by bitterness and hate, everyday life there involves pervasive fear and violence, and there is calculated interference by foreign lobbies and other states. Even the most conciliatory positions seem to offer some form of...Detroit Jewish Federation: Celebrating racism and making money at it
On Thursday, August 21, 2008, one of the country's wealthiest communities will celebrate the Nakba ? the violent ethnic cleansing and colonization of Palestine in 1948 ? in a poor neighborhood in Detroit. And if all goes well, a large group of folks, representing metro Detroit's large Black and Arab communities and other Palestinian...Our endorsements for the primary
Primary election day is Tuesday, August 5. Polls are open from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. It's summer and many people are away. But important local races are taking place. They will decide who is to be on the ballot in November when the general elections, including for president of the country, will happen. We urge everyone to......
Despair driving attacks in Jerusalem
In one of the most beautiful songs in the Bible, the poet vows: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, / Let my right hand forget her cunning. / If I do not remember thee, / Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; / If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy!" (Psalms 137:5) For some reason, the poet did not write: "If I forget...
The wall at the end of history
July 26th, 20080 Beginning around 100 BC, the fabled Silk Road brought goods and travelers from China and Central Asia, through the lands of Persia and Mesopotamia, and over to Palmyra in Syria. One branch of the road then turned south, crossing through Bethany, the Biblical village on the outskirts of Jerusalem, as it headed west from Jerusalem to...Rethinking Afghanistan
If elected, Senator Barack Obama has the possibility of reengaging a world which seeks an America not defined by Abu Ghraib or Guantánamo — but a familiar America that is defined by the democratic ideals to which we aspire. His election, allied with smart and humane policies, could help restore this country's global reputation — and...A new moderate voice on U.S./Israeli relations
For too long now, when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other issues of war and peace in the Middle East, the mainstream media and too many politicians in the United States have deferred to the most extreme right-wing positions represented by organizations such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)......
Linking Obama with Islam and terror is a double offense
The cartoon cover page of the July 21st issue of The New Yorker depicts Obama the "Muslim," and his wife the "terrorist." While the Obama campaign finds the cartoon unfair, Muslims find it pejorative and profane. Muslims wonder: "Is Islam considered a plague in America?" The New Yorker has taken an aggressive editorial step...Imperialism, Islamophobia and the “war on terror”
The events of Sept. 11 have to be seen in two ways — as the predictable and inevitable consequence of our unchecked imperial policies and as the growth of Islamism as the only popular alternative to the status quo. The irony is that these aren't mutually exclusive forces; in fact, more than anything, they reinforce each other.......
Prospects for the Syrian-Israeli talks
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last week that the indirect talks which his country has been conducting with Syria in recent weeks through Turkish intermediaries would shortly make way for direct negotiations. This has been widely interpreted as a sign that progress is being made. By highlighting the talks with Syria,...Militance and defiance in the Middle East
WASHINGTON — One of the frightening lessons one learns from spending time in Washington, DC is that most of the men and women who make or influence American policy in the Middle East actually have little or no first-hand experience in the region. They know very little about its people, or its political trends at the grassroots level......