February 16th, 20180The only times that Congress will attend to international matters is when there is, at stake, a domestic political advantage in appeasing supporters or striking out at rivals.
Domestic American politics have become so cripplingly partisan that Congress can't pass a long-term spending bill or deal with critical issues like immigration...
February 16th, 20180Despite massive sums of money spent to channel public opinion in the United States in favor of Israel, unmistakable trends in opinion polls are attesting to the changing dynamics of Israel's support among ordinary Americans.
Not only is Israel losing its support and overall appeal among large sections of American society, but among...
February 15th, 20180BEIRUT — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday warned Lebanon over the Iran-backed Hezbollah group’s growing arsenal and said the movement’s involvement in regional conflicts threatened Lebanon’s security.
Speaking alongside Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in a Beirut news conference, Tillerson also said the...
February 13th, 20180JERUSALEM — The teenage girl who became a hero to Palestinians after she was filmed slapping and kicking an Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank appeared in an Israeli military court on Tuesday for the start of her trial.
Ahed Tamimi, 17, has drawn international attention following her arrest after the Dec. 15 confrontation...
February 9th, 20180BEIRUT — A U.S. envoy has assured Lebanon that Israel does not seek an escalation between the countries following a surge in hostile rhetoric, Lebanese and Israeli officials said on Thursday.
Lebanon and Israel have exchanged threats and condemnation over a border wall being built by Israel, a tender issued by Beirut for oil and gas...
February 9th, 20180The main motivation behind the closeness in relations is the Leviathan and Tamar gas fields, located in the territorial waters of several countries, including Lebanon.
By Ramzy Baroud
For a brief historical moment, Alexis Tsipras and his political party, Syriza, ignited hope that Greece could resurrect a long-dormant Leftist tide in...
February 5th, 20180JERUSALEM — Israel has started handing out notices to 20,000 male African migrants giving them two months to leave the country or risk being thrown in jail.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is offering the migrants, most of whom are from Sudan and Eritrea, $3,500 and a plane ticket to what it says is a safe...
February 2nd, 20180BEIRUT — President Michel Aoun said on Thursday that Lebanon was using diplomatic means to counter Israel's stance regarding an offshore energy block in disputed territory on their maritime border.
On Wednesday Israel described as "very provocative" Lebanon's first offshore oil and gas exploration tender and said it would be a...
February 2nd, 20180UNITED NATIONS — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address the United Nations Security Council on Feb. 20 during the body's monthly meeting on the Middle East amid tensions over the United States decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
Since President Trump broke from decades of United States policy with his Dec....
February 2nd, 20180The real danger of seeing the world through a narrow ideological lens is that while the lens may be your own, the world being viewed through it is not yours to control.
By Dr. James J. Zogby
Vice President Pence's recent foray into Middle East politics has been nothing short of a disaster. Because he sees the world through the lens...
February 2nd, 20180In the last decisive moments, Lebanon avoided the edge of a cliff and perhaps saved fragile peaceful coexistence among its people, which for the past few days has been hovering over that fine edge.
A telephone call from President Michel Aoun to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was enough to defuse a potential civil war that would have...
January 31st, 20180BEIRUT — The United States pledged continued support for Lebanon’s military on Wednesday, calling it a potential counterweight to Iranian-backed Hezbollah, even as Israel said the two forces were indistinguishable and fair game in any future war.
Such a public difference of opinion between the allies was remarkable enough, but...
January 24th, 20180LONDON - Just days into her role, a British Muslim model has quit a major beauty brand's campaign after right-wing media outlets published her tweets from 2014, in which she criticized Israel's war in Gaza.
Amena Khan, who runs the Pearl Daisy fashion blog, became L'Oreal's only hijab-wearing model to front its haircare campaign,...
January 12th, 20180WEST BANK — The Israeli government has given its final approval for 352 homes in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, an anti-settlement movement said on Thursday — construction that Palestinians see as jeopardizing their prospects for an independent state.
The Peace Now group said a meeting on Wednesday by a planning...
January 5th, 20180UNITED NATIONS — President Trump said in tweets on Tuesday that the United States may withhold future aid payments to Palestinians, accusing them of being "no longer willing to talk peace" with Israel.
Trump said that Washington gives Palestinians "HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and gets no appreciation or respect. They don't...
January 5th, 20180TEL AVIV — Israel said on Wednesday it would pay thousands of African migrants living illegally in the country to leave, threatening them with jail if they are caught after the end of March.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in public remarks at a cabinet meeting on the payment program, said a barrier Israel completed in 2013 along...
January 5th, 20180By Ramzy Baroud
2017 will be remembered as the year that the so-called "peace process", at least in its American formulation, ended. And with its demise, a political framework that has served as the foundation for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has also collapsed.
The Palestinian leadership and its Arab and international...
January 5th, 20180By Ali Abunimah
A million Palestinians in Gaza depend on UNRWA emergency food rations. That number soared from just 80,000 in 2000, after years of Israeli siege and military assaults on the territory.
What would happen if Donald Trump carries out his threats to stop U.S. aid to Palestinians?
If he means a cutoff of U.S. funding...
January 5th, 20180Here's our 2017 year-in-review of the most important news and developments as reported by The Arab American News locally, nationally and internationally.
Community and local
1. Former Dearborn City Clerk Kathy Buda was convicted on embezzlement charges, after clerk office employees reported suspicions she was stealing cash from fees...
January 3rd, 20181PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said it was important to maintain dialogue with Iran, warning that the tone of comments adopted by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia toward Tehran was virtually a path to war.
“The official line pursued by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, who are our allies in...
January 2nd, 20180JERUSALEM — Israel’s parliament passed an amendment on Tuesday that would make it harder for it to cede control over parts of Jerusalem in any peace deal with the Palestinians, who condemned the move as undermining any chance to revive talks on statehood.
The legislation, sponsored by the far-right Jewish Home coalition party,...
December 28th, 20170OFER PRISON, West Bank — A 16-year-old Palestinian girl who slapped an Israeli officer two weeks ago will face assault charges in an Israeli military court, prosecutors said on Thursday.
The Dec. 15 incident in the occupied West Bank was captured on video and posted on the Internet, drawing attention on both sides of the...
December 28th, 20170BEIRUT - Lebanese politicians on Thursday criticized Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil over a television interview in which he was shown saying that Lebanon did not have an ideological problem with Israel and was not against it having security.
The comments, made to al-Mayadin satellite channel during a long interview on Tuesday, had...
December 24th, 20170GAZA —Hamas’ leader in Gaza said on Thursday a reconciliation deal with President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction was collapsing, just 10 weeks after the agreement was reached.
The rivals signed a deal brokered by Cairo on Oct. 12 after Hamas agreed to hand over administrative control of the Gaza Strip, including its border...
December 22nd, 20170By Rashid Khalidi
The brilliant diplomacy over Jerusalem of the self-proclaimed master deal-maker has produced a situation where it is now D. Trump vs. almost the entire world. And in the face of what is likely to be a sweeping defeat for the U.S., Trump and his minions are not taking the reluctance of the world to go along with his...
December 22nd, 20171DEARBORN — This week, world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council voted to condemn President Trump for his decision to designate Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
On the grand stage, they reflected their respective countries' shared sentiments of solidarity with the Palestinian people and criticized Trump...
December 21st, 20170UNITED NATIONS — More than 120 countries defied President Trump on Thursday and voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for the United States to drop its recent recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favor. A total of 128...
December 18th, 20170UNITED NATIONS — The United States was further isolated on Monday over President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital when it blocked a United Nations Security Council call for the declaration to be withdrawn.
The remaining 14 council members voted in favor of the Egyptian-drafted resolution, which did not...