The Arab American News
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Celebrating 30 years of success
DETROIT — The Renaissance Center in Detroit was the site of the Arab and Chaldean Council's (ACC) Annual Civic and Humanitarian Awards Gala on Saturday, October 17, as the organization celebrated 30 years of service and accomplishments. ACC President and CEO Dr. Haifa Fakhouri extended her gratitude and appreciation to ACC...Pro-Israel group’s money trail veers hard right
WASHINGTON (IPS) — StandWithUs — an organization that "ensures that Israel's side of the story is told" — has become increasingly aggressive in challenging the "pro-Israel" credentials of moderate Jewish-American groups, going so far as to suggest that receiving money from Arab donors and supporters of Human Rights Watch undermines...Lebanese banks flourish as ailing world looks on
BEIRUT — A healthy suspicion of the subprime market appears to have paid off, as Lebanese banks flourish in the face of the global economic crisis. A recent report released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) on the Lebanese banking sector said that Lebanese banks are continuously attracting inflows of deposits, which in current...
Rabbis take on settlers
October 24th, 20090 AWARTA, West Bank (IPS) — Away from the media spotlight that focuses on the widening chasm between Israelis and Palestinians, a group of Israeli humanists is quietly working to break down barriers with their Palestinian neighbors. Rabbi Arik Ascherman, director of Israel’s Rabbis for Human Rights. Rabbi Arik Ascherman,...U.S. diplomatic adviser’s troubling role in oil politics
WASHINGTON (IPS) — In 2003, U.S. diplomatist Peter Galbraith resigned at the end of a distinguished, 24-year government career. Over the years that followed, he worked as a contract-based adviser to leaders in Iraq's Kurdish community, while also arguing passionately in public media that Iraq's Kurds should be given maximum...Time for health insurance reform
Who among us hasn't heard the stories of small businesses struggling to balance their books forced to cut jobs because they can't afford the rising cost of insuring their employees? Perhaps you're the small business owner having to make these tough choices; or the parent deciding whether you can afford to get your children their flu...Democratic discourse needed
This weekend, J Street, a new Jewish "Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace" Washington-based public action committee, is holding its first national conference. The two of us, along with another artist, were scheduled to perform and read poems at several sessions during the conference. Specifically, we were invited to lead a workshop on how culture and...Part 7: Reflecting on 25 years of The Arab American News
Local and national community leaders and elected officials comment on The Arab American News' silver anniversary: "I extend my heartfelt congratulations to The Arab American News as you celebrate your 25th anniversary. I am honored to recognize a publication that has shared the voice, vision, and views of Arab Americans in the 13th...Lebanon needs both security and freedom
In Lebanon, the rulers are proud of existing freedoms and the reformers are obsessed with national security. All summer the Lebanese have been waiting for a new cabinet of ministers to emerge, with no results yet. For the people it feels like going through a ten-month pregnancy. Lebanon's sectarian formula of power sharing offers a...
Imams settle with U.S. Airways in civil rights case
October 24th, 20090 The Council on American-Islamic Relation (CAIR) today hailed what it called a "victory for justice and civil rights" in the case of six imams who said their rights were violated in 2006 when they were removed from a US Airways flight in Minnesota and arrested. Omar Shahin, one of six imams removed from a US Airways Phoenix-bound...CIA to interview local applicants Nov. 17
CIA recruiters plan to conduct interviews in the Detroit area in mid-November for top applicants seeking analyst positions who turn in resumes by Nov. 2. CIA Program Manager for Middle East Outreach, Zahra Roberts, said part of the goal in the Detroit-area recruitment effort is to gain recruits with Middle Eastern cultural and...Berry seeking second term in Dearborn Heights
It's been almost four years since Tom Berry began serving on Dearborn Heights' city council, but the way he sees it, he's just getting started. Dearborn Heights City Council member Tom Berry (center) believes his experience will help if re-elected to a second term. PHOTO: Nick Meyer/TAAN Berry, who is Lebanese and the only...ASU hosts candidates forum at Michigan-Dearborn
DEARBORN — The Arab Student Union at the University of Michigan-Dearborn hosted a forum for the Dearborn City Council race last Thursday, giving the candidates one more chance to let the public know where they stand on key issues. The event was attended by seven of the 14 candidates on the ballot for the November 3 election, during...Dearborn Heights mayor denies discrimination allegations
A former Dearborn Heights department head is suing the city and its mayor for alleged discrimination and retaliation for whistle-blowing. Hassane Jamal Hassane Jamal, former Community & Economic Development Department head, alleges in a complaint filed Oct. 2 in U.S. District Court that city officials including Mayor...Custom accessories, spa services in one place
DEARBORN — When Souheir Mokadam first came to America from Lebanon six years ago, she had no plans to open a shop of her own despite her experience in fashion design and the fact that her father Mustapha owned the popular El-Mokadam clothing company. Souheir Mokadam But then people started noticing her one-of-a-kind......
Can Detroit go green?
October 17th, 20090 DETROIT — Just as the auto industry was ripe for change in 1903 when Henry Ford set up Ford Motor Company in Detroit, carmakers again seem on the cusp of revolution. Hybrid and pure electric vehicles threaten to overthrow the dynasty of the old internal-combustion engine even as proposed greenhouse-gas legislation would undermine...ACC to celebrate three decades of service
Bahrain's ambassador to the U.S. Houda Nonoo, is expected in Detroit on Saturday, Oct. 17 to help the Arab American and Chaldean Council (ACC) celebrate 30 years of service at its annual Civic and Humanitarian Awards Gala, 6 p.m. at the Detroit Marriott in the Renaissance Center. Bahrain's ambassador to the U.S. Houda......
Rift developing between PA and Fatah
October 17th, 20090 RAMALLAH (IPS) — An increasingly isolated and unpopular Palestinian Authority (PA) has again made a 180-degree turn in the Goldstone Report fiasco as it tries to fend off mounting criticism from all and sundry, including its own organization. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during his visit to the West Bank city...
Head of local Muslim academy denies wrongdoing, blames abrupt closure on financial distress
October 17th, 20090 The former head of a Detroit private school spoke out Thursday about the academy's abrupt closure in September. Mahmoud Hazime, once director of the shut-down American Muslim Academy, said he had to close the school after a last ditch effort to secure a large donation to save it fell through. "I was hoping to the last minute that...
AAPAC releases endorsements for November election ahead of 12th annual banquet
October 17th, 20090 The Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) on Tuesday released endorsements for the upcoming Nov. 3 election, showing support for 20 candidates in eight different races spanning five cities. The group, founded in 1997, conducts interviews with candidates who request endorsement in the weeks before announcing choices, ahead of...Children flee fighting in Yemen
AMRAN, Yemen (IPS/AJ) — As the conflict between government forces and Houthi fighters grinds on in the mountains of Saada in northern Yemen, thousands of Yemeni civilians, many of them children, are being forced from their homes by the fighting. The latest U.N. figures estimate that 150,000 have so far been displaced by the bloodiest......
Abbas and the Goldstone Report: Our shame is complete
As Israeli bombs fell on the Gaza Strip during its one-sided war between Dec. 27, 2008 and Jan. 18, 2009, millions around the world took to the streets in complete and uncompromising outrage. The level of barbarity in that war, especially as it was conducted against a poor, defenseless and physically trapped nation, united people of...Independent journalist documents Israeli media bias
DEARBORN — As a self-described "independent journalist," Alison Weir doesn't have to worry about whether or not a higher-up at a newspaper or TV station will approve of her story ideas. Alison Weir, founder of www.IfAmericansKnew.org. And it is for this reason that Weir believes she is able to cover the Israeli/Palestinian......
Veteran army officer urges Afghan troop drawdown
October 16th, 20090 WASHINGTON (IPS) — A veteran Army officer who has served in both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars warns in an analysis now circulating in Washington that the counterinsurgency strategy urged by Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal is likely to strengthen the Afghan insurgency, and calls for withdrawal of the bulk of U.S. combat forces from the...
Pilots on food stamps
October 16th, 20090 We're on the descent from 20,000 feet in the air when the flight attendant leans over the elderly woman next to me and taps me on the shoulder. Filmmaker Michael Moore "I'm listening to Lady Gaga," I say as I remove just one of the ear buds. I know not this Lady Gaga, but her performance last week on SNL was......