The Arab American News
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U.S.-Arabs: Finding mutual respect
DOHA — One of the useful new trends in the Middle East is the proliferation of weapons of mass conversation, exemplified by the non-stop international and regional conferences that are hosted in places like Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and other aspiring capitals of talk. Some gatherings are useful and enlightening, including the fifth...A bridge between two tears
This country begets nothing but funerals. It bids farewell to one martyr and returns to the bickering and feuding while it awaits the fall of another. Neither the living nor the martyrs can unite it. This is a country that strips the martyr of his national halo. It draws limits to his blood. It turns him into the martyr of a confession,...Can psychoanalysis explain terrorism?
Sverre Varvin and Vamik D. Volkan, editors. "Violence or Dialogue?" London: International Psychoanalytic Association. 2003, 274 pages. This book tries to examine terrorism from a psychoanalytic perspective. In the final analysis, the effort fails, essentially because terrorism cannot be explained by a Freudian...Is there truth in torture?
As consumers, we know the tough row to hoe in the struggle for truth in advertising. One thinks back to the case in the early part of the last century when one typewriter manufacturer created a "knocker," a defective product which it claimed to be that of a major competitor. Well, there are also problems with allegations made...Brits may use sharia bonds for public spending
LONDON — Britain is set to become the first Western nation to issue bonds approved by Muslim clerics in line with sharia, which outlaws conventional loans involving interest payments. But the move could see the ownership of public buildings and other assets switched into the hands of wealthy Muslim businesses and individuals, many...The Shi’a-Sunni divide: myths and reality
As the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq enters its fifth year, conflicts and political rivalries in the region appear to be assuming a sectarian edge unseen since the 1982-1989 war between Iraq and Iran. Lebanon's Sunni Muslim mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Kabbani and Shi'i Muslim mufti Abdel Amir Kabalan The debate over why this...U.S. detention of Iraqis grows without end
The United States is, once again, expanding the size of its largest detention center in Iraq. According to an October 31 report by the military paper Stars and Stripes, U.S. forces will be increasing the capacity of detainees at Camp Bucca from 20,000 to 30,000. A policeman checks the papers of newly released prisoners in...Border breach raises fundamental questions
CAIRO (IPS) — Authorities sealed the border with the Gaza Strip earlier this month after more than a half million Palestinians flooded into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in late January. But while most have since returned home, the episode served to highlight Egypt's tenuous control over its border with the troubled territory next door....One third of settlements on private land
Not long ago the greengrocer in Ramallah recalled — between weighing locally grown zucchini and stripped hyssop leaves — that his family owned the land on which the gas station at the old entrance to the Jewish settlement of Beit El in the West Bank is located. A Palestinian boy hurling a stone at Israeli troops He would not be...British government deletes reference to Israel’s flouting of nuclear guidelines in Iraq dossier
The full extent of government anxiety about the state of British-Israel relations can be exposed for the first time today in a secret document seen by the Guardian. The document reveals how the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) successfully fought to keep secret any mention of Israel contained on the first draft of the...
Obama pulls ahead in national polling; defeats Clinton, McCain
February 23rd, 20080 NEW YORK — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has opened up a gaping 14-point lead over Democratic rival Senator Hillary Clinton in a national presidential preference telephone survey conducted by Zogby International for Reuters news service. Obama And while Obama leads Republican Senator John McCain in a national general election...Israel’s ‘targeted assassinations’ strategy
Israel has made something of a specialty of "targeted assassinations" — that is to say sending hit teams to kill its enemies abroad in the evident belief that the best way to deal with Arab resistance movements is physically to eliminate their leaders. Over the past several decades, scores of Arab activists, intellectuals and scientists...FISA program allowed to expire by House Dems
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program. The program allowed the National Security Agency to monitor suspect telephone calls and e-mails between the United States and overseas...
Holding McCain to his own standard
February 23rd, 20080 John McCain treads dangerous ground as he defends himself against charges that he may have maintained an inappropriate relationship with a special-interest lobbyist, and that he may have done so with an individual who influenced his actions as a key player on the Senate Commerce Committee on matters involving communications policy....
Sundance Channel to premiere ‘On the Road in America’
February 23rd, 20080 12-part series looks at U.S. through lens of 4 young Arabs during 10-week cross-country journey NEW YORK — Sundance Channel will premiere "On the Road in America," the 12-part documentary series that follows four young Arabs as they travel across the United States, on June 4, 2008. Created by Academy Award-nominated......
Volleyball star gets nationwide exposure
DEARBORN — Growing up here, Mayssa Bazzi always had a love affair with sports as well as great confidence in her abilities. But even though she knew she was one of the best volleyball players in the city while at Dearborn High School, she never thought she'd one day see her picture in the pages of perhaps the most famous sports magazine...Geothermal energy is wave of the future
As the world panics over global warming and Americans struggle with the cost of keeping their homes warm, one Dearborn heating and cooling technician is putting all his energy into spreading the use of renewable resources. Mark Mohamad Nemer helps people harness energy from underneath their backyards to generate heat and air......
ADC welcomes policy shift on immigration delays
Washington — The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) says it welcomes the decision by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, and Director of the United States Citizens and Immigration Services (USCIS), Emilio T. Gonzalez, to address the processing delays of citizenship and legal permanent...U of M group raises awareness about Palestine
ANN ARBOR — At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, student activists put on a week of events to raise awareness about the plight of the Palestinian people. Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) organized the week of events in concert with other week-long commemorations at universities around the U.S., Canada, and the...The war against tolerance
Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani are the three stooges of the Christian right. These self-described former Muslim terrorists are regularly trotted out at Christian colleges — a few days ago they were at the Air Force Academy — to spew racist filth about Islam on behalf of groups such as Focus on the Family. It is a clever...Dissolve the Palestinian Authority
AMMAN — The Annapolis peace process seems to be moving in slow gear, and on the ground Israelis and Palestinians are back to the routine of daily clashes, rockets, assassinations and threats of more to come. Few people seem to have any idea about how to get out of this stalemate and move towards a permanent, comprehensive, fair......
U.S. troops to stay in Iraq beyond 2008
WASHINGTON — U.S. forces will remain in Iraq beyond the end of 2008, but a continued U.S. troop presence will not tie the hands of a future U.S. president, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote in a newspaper column this week. "It is clear ... that U.S. forces will need to operate in Iraq beyond the...Assad meets top U.N. official on Iraqi refugees
DAMASCUS — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres this week to discuss the plight of Iraqi refugees in Syria, official news agency SANA reported. They discussed "cooperation between the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and Syria with regard to improving the conditions (of refugees)......
UNICEF warns of ‘time bomb’ for Somali children
GENEVA — Thousands of children in war-torn Somalia risk dying from the insecurity, famine and sickness as the country's humanitarian crisis worsens, the United Nations children's agency warned this week. Somalian child suffering from the famine"Unless we are able to address the very basic needs of water and food you will see a time bomb...Bahrain-based bank to build Libyan Energy City
TRIPOLI — Bahrain-based Islamic bank Gulf Finance House (GFH) has won a contract to build a multi-billion dollar city in Libya offering support services for oil firms, the state news agency JANA said on Monday. The 3.8 billion dollar Energy City will feature residential and business facilities over 1,300 acres in the Sabratha district,......