The Arab American News
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No election violations found by committee
December 5th, 20080 DEARBORN — After a complaint that there were stacks of campaign literature inside polling places on Election Day at two different sites, a meeting was called by the city's Election Commission to discuss the matter with local leaders and witnesses. Abed Hammoud, of the Arab American Political Action Commitee (L) and Dearborn...
My Palestinian wife
December 5th, 20080 Every now and then, the rumor arises that I have a Palestinian wife. Some of my kin were highly amused by a debate on that subject that was being conducted by letters to the editor in their local paper recently. Apparently, it does not occur to anyone simply to ask me. As a matter of fact, I don't have a wife. I'm a widower, and the...
U.S. charity found guilty
November 29th, 20080 Zolfa Elaydi, center, with her children Fidaa, left, and Jihad, reacting to news that the leaders of a Muslim charity had been convicted on Monday in Dallas. PHOTO: Dallas Morning News DALLAS — A U.S. court has convicted a Muslim charity and five of its former leaders on 108 charges in the largest "terrorism" financing trial in...Lebanese waiting for death penalty verdict
BEIRUT (IPS) — The Lebanese government will use television to gain maximum attention for its plan to abolish the death penalty, giving one station the first right to question Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar about the details of an abolition bill which will be eventually presented to parliament. Lebanese peacefully protest the...Dems owe Carter an apology
Carter's controversial views on Israel cost him a place on the podium at the Democratic Party convention Jimmy CarterNow that the season of electoral expediency is over, Barack Obama owes Jimmy Carter an apology. At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the Party denied Jimmy Carter the traditional invitation to...Mosque and synagogue together
When Sheykh Zahir Bacchus of Lote Tree Foundation in Brampton (a city near Toronto) and Rabbi Yossi Sapirman of Beth Torah in Toronto met at a seminar on serving the sick and dying, they became friends. And last year, the two were among a group of 13 rabbis and imams invited to a meeting in New York sponsored by the Foundation for Ethnic...End counterproductive racial profiling
Racial or ethnic profiling is nothing new. In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Arabs and Muslims in America are often the targets of ethnic profiling, despite the argument that racial and ethnic profiling runs contrary to American values. Counterterrorism strategists argue that targeting particular ethnicities or...It’s time to end the Fed
The wild fires raging in California no doubt have the finger prints of arson, as did the wildfires that preceded them. A person who is facing foreclosure figures instead of burning his own house and risk being convicted of insurance fraud, he lights up a nearby dry brush, and nature does the rest. The same scenario is taking place in...
Fakhouri accompanies Gov. Granholm, business delegation to Jordan
November 29th, 20080 Arab American and Chaldean Council board member Eliya Boji (L), ACC President Haifa Fakhouri, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Chief of the Jordanian Royal Court Nasser al Louzi at the King's Palace in Amman on Nov. 19. During a four-day trip to the Middle East last week, Michigan Governor...
Fighting for women’s rights in Yemen through film
November 29th, 20080 Khadija Al-Salami, considered Yemen's first female filmmaker, has made more than 20 documentaries for TV stations in France and Yemen. Her latest documentary is "Amina," which was screened during the Arab Film Festival in October in the San Francisco Bay Area. A film still from the movie "Amina." The film's center is Amina...The Struggle For Palestine: Hamas vs. Fatah
I'm not sure where to start with this volume — other than to say it is a history so out of context and so biased in its language that it is essentially meaningless. If a scientist were to isolate human blood cells and study them under a microscope — and only blood cells under a microscope — they could learn and report about all...
Bowling to fight cancer
November 29th, 20080 A local nonprofit is gearing up to fight cancer with bowling balls at its annual fundraising event ahead of the Christmas season. The late Suad Alie holds one of her three grandchildren, Alexa Alie, now 8 years old. The Suad Alie and Friends annual bowling benefit is set for Friday, Dec. 5, 9 p.m. at Cherry Hill Lanes, 300 N....
Dragons’ fire ends Tractors’ ambition
November 29th, 20080 TROY — As their 2008 football season unfolded, the Dearborn Fordson Tractors probably felt like the luckiest team in the state of Michigan. Fordson players huddle up during a break in the action at Fordson's state semi-final game with Lake Orion at Troy Athens High School on Nov. 21. PHOTOS: Nick Meyer/TAAN But from their...
Steel camels: Harleys rumble across Saudi sands
November 29th, 20080 RIYADH — A half-moon directly overhead glows in the gathering daylight as Adel Mallawi straps on his helmet. His tall legs, sheathed in leather chaps that match his black leather jacket, drape over one of the loves of his life: Harley-Davidson's 105th anniversary Electra Glide Ultra Classic. Copper and black. Same colors as his...
Israel lobby’s U.S. treasury follies hurt
November 29th, 20080 According to the Jerusalem Post, the U.S. Department of Treasury's new Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI) unit is going after the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines. TFI targeted the company and 18 affiliates for their alleged effort to "facilitate the transport of cargo for U.N. Designated proliferators." TFI further......
Heated community discussion to air on LBC
November 29th, 20080 PHOTO: Khalil AlHajal/TAAN Audience members comment during taping of a Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation program shot at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn on Monday. The show was hosted by well-known LBC news anchor May Chidiac, who was visiting Detroit for Lebanese Independence Day celebrations. Local Lebanese...
LET IT SNOW… but move your cars
November 29th, 20080 DEARBORN – The city is asking residents to help get roads plowed faster during heavy snowfall this season by getting parked vehicles off streets when storms are predicted. "Keeping parked vehicles off of the street allows snow plows to work faster, and more effectively and safely, since they can plow curb-to-curb instead of working......
Dearborn set to light up its branches Dec. 2
November 29th, 20080 Dearborn Mayor John B. O'Reilly, Jr., leads the city’s 2007 holiday sing-along. Photo courtesy City of Dearborn DEARBORN — Mayor Jack O'Reilly is set to light the city's official Christmas tree on Tuesday, Dec. 2, with the help of five year-old Fayez Kesserwan, a kindergartener at Lowrey School. The annual holiday tradition...
Muslim student group holds discussion on the theory of evolution
November 29th, 20080 DEARBORN — The Thaqalayn Muslim Association at the University of Michigan-Dearborn held an event on the topic of "Evolution and God" on campus this past Tuesday with a turnout of about 80 people. Thaqalayn Muslim Association vice-president Mustapha Mourtada speaks at the "Evolution and God" event at the University of...
Michigan Opera Theatre Children’s Chorus holds “Winter Fantasy” fundraiser
November 29th, 20080 DETROIT — Give the gift of music this holiday season with The Michigan Opera Theatre Children's Chorus as they present their second annual Winter Fantasy fundraiser, on Monday, Dec. 15, 2008 in the Marygrove College Sacred Heart Chapel. The doors will open at 6 p.m. for a silent auction and raffle and the concert begins at 7...Maher Arar: Monia Mazigh’s story
Monia Mazigh. Hope & Despair. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2008 When Canadian citizen Maher Arar was shipped off by the United States to Syria to be tortured, Monia Mazig was left as a single mother with two small children. Fortunately, she had support. Her mother was staying with her and was considerable help in managing the......
Berry responds: “I simply exercised my right”
November 29th, 20080 Prior to the November 2008 general election, 31 members of the local American Arab community and I created a document in support of our choice for 19th District judge, Candyce Abbatt. In that document, we stated, without naming names, that the political organization, of which the publisher of this newspaper also serves as president, does...
No Thanksgiving in Gaza
November 22nd, 20080 On top of humanitarian disaster, a news blackout RAMALLAH (IPS) — Israel has imposed a virtual news blackout on the Gaza Strip. For the last ten days no foreign journalists have been able to enter the besieged territory to report on the escalating humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's complete closure of Gaza's borders for the last......
Congress deaf to pleas of panicky auto execs
November 22nd, 20080 DETROIT (IPS) — The vote on a 25-billion-dollar loan for cash-strapped General Motors, Chrysler and Ford Motor Company — known as the "Big Three" U.S. automakers — has been put on hold by the Senate, after Congressional leaders chastised industry executives for failing to heed early warnings of crisis and for flying to...Palestinian split deepens
CAIRO (IPS) — Palestinian resistance factions were roundly blamed in the mainstream media for their last-minute decision to boycott last week's Egypt-sponsored "comprehensive dialogue" summit, ostensibly aimed at Palestinian national reconciliation. But some independent commentators say the move, led by Gaza-based resistance faction......