The Arab American News
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Longtime activist to receive community peacemaker award
A Livonia Arab American is being recognized as a community peacemaker by the Wayne State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, which is expected to honor the Vietnam veteran during a May 14 reception at the Next Energy building, 461 Burroughs Street in Detroit. Ron Amen, pictured with wife Mona Amen, is to receive an...Dearborn Stars back at it in ’09, Michigan Eagles kick off inaugural season
The Dearborn Stars welcomed the new season at a gathering at the Lebanese American Heritage Club this week. PHOTO: Tariq Abdal Wahid DEARBORN — The Dearborn Stars' 2008 season was a successful one as they became one of the top teams in the Michigan Premier Soccer League in their first season since 2000. The Lebanese...ACCESS celebrates 38th anniversary
DETROIT — A crowd of more than 2,000 people settled into the Renaissance Center in Detroit on May 2 to celebrate the accomplishments of the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services and to look ahead to the challenges of the future. Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow, C, poses with ACCESS leaders after...Disappointing turnout in Dearborn Heights school election
Once more, the voters of the city of Dearborn Heights showed us how every vote counts, or more specifically, how a mere 38 votes can deprive a qualified community activist like Wanda Saad from serving on the Crestwood Board of Education. In a special election held Tuesday, May 5, only a handful of voters cast their ballots, most of...
Upset victory for Bing in Detroit
May 9th, 20090 Detroit Mayor-elect Dave Bing met with Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. on Thursday and prepared to meet with the city's top financial officials, beginning his transition into office, after upsetting Cockrel in Tuesday's special election to complete the term of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who resigned in September. Detroit...Arab American Service Day spans country
Arab Americans across the country will unite for the common good on May 16 across 19 American cities from New York to San Francisco for the 5th Annual Arab American Service Day. The event, which runs from 11:30 a.m.-4 p.m. is coordinated by the National Network for Arab American Communities (NNAAC), a project of the Arab Community...
Obama and “two states”: Seamless continuity from Bush time
May 9th, 20090 A false claim is wafting through the press: Obama is hanging tough with Benjamin Netanyahu, he's going to "twist Israel's arm" and at long last force the Jewish state into a two-state agreement, settling the Israel-Palestine question for good. There's even talk that Obama backs the Arab League's 2002 peace initiative, complete with its...
Politics, family matter in Lebanon vote
May 9th, 20090 BEIRUT — The political heirs of slain Lebanese leaders are poised to make a strong showing in June's parliamentary election, keeping a tradition of Kennedy-like dynasties very much alive. Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (2nd L) and Lebanon's Interior Minister Ziad Baroud (C) meet with women working in the...
The question of our time
May 9th, 20090 Why does Israel have a right to exist, but Palestine doesn't? A Palestinian protester runs from incoming tear gas fired by Israeli security forces during a protest against the construction of the controversial Israeli separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin near Ramallah May 8, 2009. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside This is...Obama faces Israel’s angst
"Could the Taliban get the bomb before Iran does?" read the headline in my favorite Israeli newspaper, Haaretz. The columnist, Bradley Burston, was joining Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in thinking the unthinkable, that the Taliban in Pakistan might soon have their hands on what the country's former President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto...
The Palestinian Authority’s authoritarian turn
May 9th, 20091 Last week, less than two weeks after I had talked with him in his an-Najah University faculty office, Abdel Sattar Qassem was arrested by the Palestinian Preventive Security forces in Nablus, occupied West Bank. Palestinian dissident Abdel Sattar Qassem, C, walks with students at An Najah University on May 20, 2002 in the...LAHC to award scholarships
The Lebanese American Heritage Club will continue promoting higher education in the Arab American community with a reception honoring 55 scholarship winners at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dearborn at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 8. Lebanese American Heritage Club and Arab American Scholarship Foundation executives Hassen Hammoud (L),...Walk2Gether event on Belle Isle to support diversity and inclusion
DETROIT — The Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion expects thousands of participants at its May 9 Walk2gether event on Belle Isle, where walkers will demonstrate their support for diversity and inclusion. "This event is the premier celebration of Michigan's rich diversity and brings together people from the business,...Detroit Zoo Kidney Walk on May 17
ROYAL OAK — More than 900,000 Michigan adults have chronic kidney disease and most don't even know it. The National Kidney Foundation of Michigan (NKFM) wants you to help in the fight against kidney disease. The Detroit Zoo will host the 13th annual Kidney Walk on Sunday, May 17. The NKFM welcomes people of all ages to...Star International Academy welcomes special visitor
DEARBORN — Star International Academy of Dearborn was the recipient of a visit from the mayor of Amsheet, Lebanon on Monday for a first-hand look at how the highly-regarded preschool-12th grade school operates. Star Academy founder and superintendent Nawal Hamadeh, L, enjoys lunch with Ghattas Sleiman, Mayor of......
Muslim group honors media stars
LOS ANGELES — The Muslim Public Affairs Council honored the makers of "Slumdog Millionaire," "The Simpsons" and journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! during the 18th Annual MPAC Media Awards gala dinner on Saturday, April 25. Democracy Now! co-founder and co-host, Amy Goodman. MPAC Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati...Senate report casts grim light on Bush era
NEW YORK — Pentagon interrogators continuously ramped up their abusive techniques against prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq and Afghanistan in a vain attempt to establish a link between the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. on Sep. 11, 2001. This is among the principal......
UN tribunal for Lebanon frees Hariri suspects
May 2nd, 20090 Supporters of newly released prisoner Ali Hajj (C), former police chief, carry him during a welcome ceremony to mark his release, in Beirut April 29, 2009. REUTERS BEIRUT — Lebanese officials have released four generals held without charge since 2005 over the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, the former prime...
Gazans dying due to border closings
May 2nd, 20090 Palestinians build a house with clay in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip April 29, 2009. More than three months since the end of an Israeli military onslaught which killed hundreds of Palestinians and destroyed or damaged thousands of homes, the people of Gaza are still waiting for the reconstruction materials they need to...
State’s oldest mosque celebrating 70 years
May 2nd, 20090 American Moslem Society congregation members before praying at an Eid Al-Adha gathering. When telling about the roots of their experience in the U.S., all the old-timers of metro Detroit's Arab American community always flash back to times in Dearborn's south end. And waves of new immigrants have never stopped moving into...Gaza resistance destroys Fatah faction
A Palestinian man paints portraits of late Fatah leaders on a wall in Gaza City. CAIRO — The recent onslaught against the Gaza Strip — and Israel's failure to achieve its military objectives there — left Palestinian resistance group Hamas politically stronger than ever. Concurrently, it dealt a possible death blow to the......
Dubious claims spark row with Hizbullah
Hizbullah chief Hasan Nasrallah CAIRO — Egyptian authorities announced earlier this month the discovery of a Hizbullah "cell" allegedly planning to carry out violent operations in Egypt. Although Hizbullah chief Hasan Nasrallah insists the group was only tasked to assist the Palestinian resistance in Gaza, the government has...
Storm clouds ahead for Obama and Netanyahu
May 2nd, 20090 WASHINGTON — A big confrontation is brewing between the United States and Israel's new government over the Palestine issue. Since his first days in office, President Barack Obama has expressed clear support for speedy action toward the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Since then, he and his key advisers —......
Court should not ban niqab
May 2nd, 20090 The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, with the support of a diverse group of religious, ethnic and domestic violence organizations, submitted a comment this week to the Michigan Supreme Court asking the court to change a proposed court rule that would effectively close the courthouse doors to Muslim women who wear a niqab, a...
Time to end U.S.-Israel free trade agreement
May 2nd, 20090 A legal filing to the United States Trade Representative (USTR) by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) calls for suspension of the US-Israel Free Trade Area. We agree it's high time this drain on U.S. jobs and income is stopped. The "Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974" filing includes previously unreleased......