The Arab American News
Author's Posts
Israel clears soldiers in killing of Palestinian journalist, youths
The Israeli government has announced it won't prosecute soldiers involved in the death of Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana and eight Palestinian youths. The twenty-four-year-old Palestinian died on April 16 in Gaza when an Israeli tank shelled his vehicle clearly marked "press." Shana's final piece of footage shows the tank firing a...An awful shame
The 1980s were a difficult time for Arab Americans. Politicians returned our contributions, rejected our endorsements, and many effectively hung "No Arab Americans allowed" signs on their campaign doors. Back then, we wrote about this situation, calling it "the politics of exclusion." We fought back. We organized, worked hard, and...Little hope of peace after Olmert
CAIRO (IPS) � With Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's recent resignation announcement, the self-proclaimed Jewish state is headed for new leadership. Egyptian commentators, though, entertain few hopes that Olmert's successor � whoever he or she may be � will temper Israel's hard-line approach to the peace process. "Israeli...Newly released documents show preferential treatment for Israeli lobby
WASHINGTON � More than one thousand documents released under Freedom of Information Act filings reveal details of a secret battle that raged between founders of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and top U.S. law enforcement officials. The new book "America's Defense Line: The Justice Department's Battle to Register...Gaza and West Bank in muddied separation
RAMALLAH (IPS) � Over a hundred Fatah fighters loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement fled to the West Bank from Gaza last week, fearing for their lives at the hands of Hamas, the Islamic movement which took over the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after it routed Fatah forces. The Fatah men barely managed to escape...One-fifth of Iraq funding paid to contractors
NEW YORK (IPS) � As a new report forecasts that the 190,000 private contractors in Iraq and neighboring countries will cost U.S. taxpayers more than 100 billion dollars by the end of 2008, an under-the-radar Florida court case suggests that U.S. President George W. Bush � a staunch contractor supporter � is preparing to throw...U.S. officials admit worry over a “difficult” al-Maliki
WASHINGTON (IPS) � U.S. officials privately admit being concerned that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki has become "overconfident" about his government's ability to manage without U.S. combat troops, according to an Iraq analyst who just returned from a trip to Iraq arranged by U.S. commander General David Petraeus. Colin...
Arab American beaten to death outside Detroit gas station
August 22nd, 20080 DETROIT � A 21-year-old Yemeni American was beaten to death Thursday morning at a Sunoco gas station on Detroit's southwest side. Maher Almaweri's family told local television news stations a group of men beat him to death at the gas station located at McGraw and Tarnow Roads. EMS arrived at the scene around 1 a.m. and...
Presidential candidate to celebrate Labor Day in Detroit
August 22nd, 20080 Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney plans to visit Michigan over Labor Day weekend, Aug. 30 - Sept. 1. The Green Party of Michigan is set to host a press conference for the former Congresswoman from Georgia at 7 p.m. on Aug. 30 at the International Institute, 111 East Kirby in Detroit. The...Voting rights of Arab American citizens
No day is more important in the United States than election day. It is a day on which all Americans are equal as they go to the polls. Too often, though, discrimination, ignorance or incompetence take away the right to equal treatment and interfere with the right to vote. In 2000, the Department of Justice successfully...
Priest irks community with bizarre, offensive comments about Islam
August 15th, 20080 Local religious leaders believe they've successfully convinced a local AM radio station to force a regular guest on one of its programs to tone down his intense, often strange commentaries critical of the Islamic faith. Egyptian Coptic priest Zakaria Botros, known around the world for his controversial theological rants about...
Dearborn Recreation Department Summer Theatre Fest presents Disney’s High School Musical
August 15th, 20080 DEARBORN � The Dearborn Recreation Department's Summer Theatre Fest program will present Disney's "High School Musical" on stage in the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center's Michael A. Guido Theater on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 22-23, at 8 p.m. Reserved seating tickets are $15 and $10 per person and are available by phone at...
La Hookah Lounge spreads family’s love of good food
August 15th, 20080 WESTLAND, Mich. � When La Hookah Lounge first opened two weeks ago on Ford Road in Westland between Wayne and Wildwood Roads, passers-by didn't know what to make of it. Most thought it was a hangout spot for smoking hookah only, which shied many possible customers away. But once people started coming in and seeing that...
ADC seeks donations to continue construction
August 15th, 20080 DEARBORN � With mostly clear weather, summer is the best time of year for construction workers to make progress on their building projects. But in the case of the new American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) building on Chase Road near Ford Road, construction has been halted while the organization attempts to gather more...Book makes good start, doesn’t go far enough
Years from now, when historians look back on this decade and try to understand the first years of the so-called "war on terror," any progress made will be determined by whether the narrative of the Muslim experience is included in this historiography. If it is, then Moustafa Bayoumi's book, "How Does It Feel To Be A Problem?" will......
Chicago Jewish museum cancels show of Israeli and Palestinian maps
An exhibit of Israeli and Palestinian maps of the Holy Land was designed to further the Spertus Museum's mission of "addressing questions of contemporary relevance." But after shutting the exhibit down twice, the museum is raising questions not about the exhibit's content but about its own legitimacy and relevance. In the catalog...Arab-Chaldean festival to be held at Detroit Zoo
ROYAL OAK � The Detroit Zoo will celebrate Metro Detroit's Arab-Chaldean community and culture at the Arab-Chaldean Festival on Saturday, August 23, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The event is part of a series of ethnic festivals at the zoo that also featured Asian, Hispanic and African cultures earlier in the summer. Live......
Laugh it up at second annual comedy showcase
DEARBORN — Arab American comedy has been rising in popularity in recent years as a great source of laughter and therapy for a group of people caught between two identities. On Friday, Aug. 15 at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center in Dearborn, Arabs and non-Arabs alike can soak up all the ethnic idiosyncrasies and...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...Opposition critic talks of Palestine and Israel
Bob RaeBob Rae, the opposition Liberal Party's foreign policy critic, spoke to an audience on Parliament Hill on August 6, at the invitation of the National Council of Canada Arab Relations and the Middle East Discussion Group. He made an important observation: Israelis to whom he spoke when he visited there recently were......
Businesses collaborate on Kitty Klassic Kruise adoption event
August 15th, 20080 DEARBORN � The Friends For the Dearborn Animal Shelter, along with six local businesses, invite everyone to "cruise on in" to the first annual Kitty Klassic on Saturday, August 16. The Kitty Klassic Kruise is a unique attempt to solve a seasonal problem: the Dearborn Animal Shelter is bursting at the seams with over 240 cats and...Businesses collaborate on Kitty Klassic Kruise adoption event
DEARBORN � The Friends For the Dearborn Animal Shelter, along with six local businesses, invite everyone to "cruise on in" to the first annual Kitty Klassic on Saturday, August 16. The Kitty Klassic Kruise is a unique attempt to solve a seasonal problem: the Dearborn Animal Shelter is bursting at the seams with over 240 cats and......
Local saxophonist uses music as escape
Kamal Kareem was once an engineer with a good job in Iraq, but there was always something missing inside him. His uncle taught him to play the saxophone as a young man, and he later taught himself to play guitar, keyboard and flute. But, Kareem said, a tense political and religious atmosphere in the city he lived in prevented...Arab countries win three Olympic medals
After a week of competition at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, two Arab countries are on the board with medals, all of them coming in judo. Judo is a modern Japanese martial art and combat sport of grappling and throwing. It usually features a heated field of competitors. Competitors are typically called judoka and wear a......