The Arab American News
Author's Posts
Mourning two Palestinian giants
When I began seeing e-mails with the name "Dr. Haidar Abdel Shafi" in the subject line, I figured he must be speaking somewhere. In August 2002, I saw him speak at the Palestine Center in Washington, DC. I remember thinking how sharp his analysis was. It was so sharp, I forgot how old he was (he was born in 1919). Dr. Haidar Abdel...Why we must stop the war against Iran
To bomb or not to bomb Iran, that's the question the Bush administration appears to be debating these days, once again revealing the extraordinary disconnect between the White House and the American people. With a catastrophic occupation of Iraq and polls showing the American public so skeptical about the use of military force that only...Army needs to leave Iraq, not recruit more Arab Americans
The article "Army wants more Arab Americans to serve their country", with Brigadier General Anthony A. (Tony) Cucolo III, Chief of Public Affairs for the U.S. Army, in last week's issue, was not convincing enough as to why more Arab Americans should serve their country by enlisting in the army to serve in Iraq. I don't question the...The wider dilemma of Iraq
The intense political focus on Iraq in the United States continues to revolve around the theme of how soon the U.S. might be able to substantially withdraw its troops. Democrats who won a majority in the Congress last November have run up against the limits of their slim majority. Their lack of a two-thirds majority to override a...U.S. Senate votes to partition Iraq. Softly.
On 26 September 2007 the United States Senate voted 75–23 in favor of an amendment to the defense spending bill for 2008 that authorizes the U.S. government to "encourage" Iraqis to find a "federal" solution to the internal conflicts in their country. At least two different interpretations of the bill are possible. First, one may...Visa Lottery registration starts October 3rd
Fifty thousand people from around the world each year receive visas to come to the U.S. through the Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery Program. Created by Congress in 1990, the program is intended to boost racial and ethnic diversity in the United States, according to the State Department. Winners, chosen randomly from a pool of...Congress passes Mideast measures
WASHINGTON — Coinciding with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to New York, the House of Representatives voted 397-16 Tuesday to pass a bill that would expand economic sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. The bill also calls on the State Department to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps...Clinton’s rivals tread carefully in N.H.
Washington — As some of this city's chattering classes had it, the Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire Wednesday night was supposed to be a Hillary Clinton takedown. Senator Clinton had pulled so far ahead in the polls, the theory went, that her rivals would have to go negative to start to narrow the gap. But on the stage...Bush’s fake sheik whacked
Did you see George all choked up? In his surreal TV talk two weeks ago, he got all emotional over the killing by Al Qaeda of Sheik Abu Risha, the leader of the new Sunni alliance with the U.S. against the insurgents in Anbar Province, Iraq. Bush shook Abu Risha’s hand two weeks prior to that for the cameras. Bush can shake his hand...Making Ahmadinejad public enemy No. 1
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to New York to address the United Nations General Assembly has become a media circus. But the controversy does not stem from the reasons usually cited. The media has focused on debating whether he should be allowed to speak at Columbia University on Monday, or whether his request to visit...Abizaid: World could abide nuclear Iran
Every effort should be made to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, but failing that, the world could live with a nuclear-armed regime in Tehran, a recently retired commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said this week. John Abizaid, the retired Army general who headed Central Command for nearly four years, said he was...New naturalization test to debut in October 2008
WASHINGTON - U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) this week announced the 100 questions and answers that comprise the civics component of the new naturalization test. USCIS will administer this new test to citizenship applicants beginning in October 2008. Earlier this year, more than 6,000 citizenship applicants...Islamic banks in Canada?
The Canadian Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions is considering two proposals to open sharia-compliant banks. Such institutions would neither give nor charge interest and would not engage in speculative transactions. As well, they would not be involved in transactions having to do with pork products, alcohol,...Copts arrested in Egypt
The Toronto-based Middle East Christians Association (MECA), a Copt organization, reports that three of its members in Egypt have been arrested. Founder Nader Fawzy says that the charges against the three — Adel Fawzi, Peter Ezzat Mounir, and Adeeb Ramses—are not exactly known, but it appears that they may be accused of insulting Islam...Canadian interview shuts down Iranian paper
When Iran's most important liberal newspaper Sharg ran an interview with Iranian-Canadian Saghi Ghaharaman, it did not foresee the consequences. The Tehran government shut the paper down. Why? According to Alireza Malekian, an official with the government's "culture" ministry, the punishment was for "an interview with a......
Arab-Canadian released from Israeli jail
Jamal Akkal, a Canadian citizen born in Gaza, returned home to Windsor on August 30, having been released from an Israeli prison where he spent close to four years. Akkal was convicted of plotting with Hamas to shoot prominent Jews in North America. While he refused to be interviewed by the Windsor Star on his arrival, he previously...Gaza youth killed by IDF bulldozer
GAZA — A 17-year-old Palestinian was crushed to death by an IDF bulldozer in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, Palestinians sources reported. The youth was transferred to al-Aqsa hospital in the Strip, and hospital officials reported many signs of trampling on his body. Palestinians reported that IDF choppers participated in the......
First cholera case confirmed in Baghdad
Baghdad — The World Health Organization on Thursday confirmed the first cholera case in Baghdad, raising fears the disease is spreading. A 25-year-old woman from western Baghdad was found to have cholera after she turned up at the hospital with a severe case of diarrhea, said Dr. Naeema al-Gasseer, the WHO's representative in...UNICEF urges Egypt to stop female circumcision
GENEVA—The UN children's fund this week called for pressure to be maintained to stop female circumcision in Egypt, where more than three quarters of 15- to 17-year-old girls are subjected to the practice. The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) acknowledged progress by authorities in the country, which has...Khadr case back on
On September 24, the U.S. Court of Military Review, set up for appeals on Guantanamo cases tried by military courts, reversed the military court decision throwing out charges against Omar Khadr. The lower court had ruled that it could not deal with the charge of his being an "enemy combatant" because it had been established to try people...Art expert to lecture on 12th century Muslim-Christian cooperation
Hashim TawilOn Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007, local artist and art expert will present a lecture entitled "Arab-Norman monuments in Sicily: Manifestation of Muslim-Christian cultural partnership in the 12th Century," at the Eugene A. Forfa Auditorium, ASCC Building at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, Michigan. Twelfth......
Disappointing architecture, stunning Islamic arts
Many reviewers have hailed the Institute of Contemporary Art's (ICA) new $51 million building on the Boston Harbor waterfront as all but a divine gift to architecture. Writing in The Boston Globe, Robert Campbell called the building "the most inventive, most interesting piece of local architecture since the Hancock Tower of a generation...There may be movement on the Jewish community front
Believe it or not, there seems to be some movement, slight and certainly not earth-shaking, within the American Jewish community and outside it vis-a-vis the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But whether this will bring about more rational thinking in the United States and help in paving the way for a final settlement to this chronic......
The unstated message from Petraeus and Crocker
After weeks of leaks and media preparation, after staging the event and using very vague and manipulative language hiding the facts rather than elucidating them, the reports of Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker came down to this: the United States is in Iraq to stay as long as the oil reserves in Iraq are expected to last —...Maliki blasts Blackwater firm for other attacks
BAGHDAD — Blackwater security guards who protect top U.S. diplomats in Iraq have been involved in at least seven serious attacks, some of which resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said Wednesday. Maliki didn't detail the incidents, which he said add to the case against the North......