The Arab American News
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Obama closes gap with Clinton in fundraising
Democrat Barack Obama raked in $25 million for his presidential bid in the first three months of 2007, placing him on a par with front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton and dashing her image as the party's inevitable nominee. The donations came from an eye-popping 100,000 donors, the campaign said in a statement Wednesday. The figures...Israel leaves few Christians in Holy Land
Palestinian Christians are on their last breath in the Holy Land. This was the overwhelming conclusion of more than 300 international religious leaders and scholars recently at an impressive conference in Cleveland. The conference was co-sponsored by the Interfaith Council for Peace in the Middle East and Sabeel, a voice for...Public anxiety over foreign policy nears crisis
American peace activist Cindy Shehan wearing a t-shirt written on it in Arabic: We will not be silentWASHINGTON (IPS) � Increasingly anxious about the course of U.S. foreign policy under President George W. Bush, particularly in Iraq, the country appears to be moving toward a "full-blown crisis of public confidence," according to...Groups welcome Pelosi trip to Mideast
Nancy Pelosi meeting with Syrian foriegn minister Walid Al Moualim Washington � The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) this week welcomed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's efforts on her recent trip to the Middle East. Specifically, the nation's largest Arab-American grassroots organization said it viewed Speaker...Belly headlines Detroit Hip-Hop Summit on finance
DETROIT - When Ahmad Balshe was seven years old, he fled war-torn Palestine with his family and settled in Ottawa, Canada. At age 10, his passion for hip-hop music surfaced and was enhanced by a love of poetry and creative writing. Today, at age 22, Balshe is referred to as "Belly" and is considered to be a "heavy-weight" in rap music....The cold war that could explode
Iran's President AhmadinejadsThe release of the 15 British naval personnel this week should not be seen solely within the context of the U.N. sanctions placed on Iran or the tough rhetoric from President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair. Neither should it be attributed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim of doing...
Tough week for Bush Middle East strategy
April 9th, 20070 WASHINGTON (IPS) � To the extent the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has a coherent Middle East policy, it took some serious hits this past week. No, not the democracy-promotion strategy, although that didn't fare very well either given what even the State Department conceded was the obvious rigging of the...
Jack Shaheen: A life dedicated to fighting racism
April 8th, 20070 Offensive, inaccurate, demonizing depictions of Arabs in American media is one of the most frequently lamented, painful aspects of the Arab American experience. Most have only complained in helpless frustration. But for the past 30 years, one green-eyed, soft-spoken, animated man from a polluted, working-class Pittsburgh-area steel...
The Arab peace initiative and the changing Middle East
April 5th, 20070 The rapid, almost hasty, developments on the Arab Israeli front, almost immediately following the Saudi sponsored Makkah Agreement on February 2, should be examined in their proper context, as a part and parcel of the regional shifts, exacerbated by the U.S. war in Iraq and the dramatic adjustment in Iran's position vis-�-vis the...
Will there be another civil war in Lebanon
April 5th, 20070 BEIRUT � A recent poll in Lebanon suggests deep pessimism about the chances of avoiding another civil war. Plenty of "wise owls" here think civil war is just a matter of time. No less an oracle than Tarek, the doorman at the Alexandria Hotel in Ashrafiyeh, where the Israeli Military Command had its headquarters during its 1982...
Arab leaders re-launch Mideast peace plan
April 4th, 20070 Servers offer Arabic coffee at the Arab summitRIYADH � Arab leaders on Thursday wrapped up a summit where they relaunched a five-year-old blueprint for peace in the Middle East, although Israel has rejected the plan as it stands. The 22-member Arab League gathering was declared over after Secretary General Amr Moussa read out a...Shaheen scholarship to be awarded at ADC Convention
Washington - The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is currently accepting applications for the 2007 Jack G. Shaheen Mass Communications Scholarship. Dr. Shaheen is the world's foremost authority on media images of Arabs and the author of "Reel Bad Arabs," "Arab and Muslim Stereotyping in American Popular Culture,"...
Raji Rammuny: Internationally renowned Arabic language professor
April 4th, 20070 Professor Raji Rammuny has been teaching Arabic for nearly 50 years, and now, at 74, he is seeing what he calls the "Golden Age of Arabic and Islamic studies." As coordinator of the Arabic program at the Department of Near Eastern Studies of the University of Michigan, Rammuny is watching his programs expand and his class rosters...
Ed Deeb: A mover, a shaker and a peacemaker
April 4th, 20070 Ed Deeb goes to where there's trouble, and fixes things. For decades Deeb has brought together groups in conflict, whether unions and businesses, businesses and government entities, business-owners and residents, or clashing ethnic communities. "I'm a peacemaker. I make peace� The only way to make peace is to talk," said...
Syrian ambassador keynotes ASU dinner
April 4th, 20070 The Syrian ambassador to the United States spoke in his usual candid style to attendees at a fundraising dinner for an active local student group in Dearborn on Friday, March 23. Ambassador Imad Moustapha was asked to keynote the second annual dinner of the Arab Student Union at University of Michigan-Dearborn because students......
Image opportunity in British Marines’ arrest
April 4th, 20070 TEHRAN (IPS) � Whether or not the 15 British Royal Marines in Iranian custody actually trespassed into the country's territorial waters, the incident has provided Tehran with an opportunity to build up an image of a peaceful, non-aggressive nation set upon by Western predators. ''Tensions between Iran and the West are running quite...
Can American Jews unplug the Israel lobby?
April 4th, 20070 Last week, a familiar Washington ritual took place: Leading American politicians from both parties lined up at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to vie with each other over who could pledge the most undying fealty to Israel. As usual, much of Congress showed up � half of the members of the U.S.......
You think peace is at hand?
April 4th, 20070 According to the U.S. and Israeli foreign ministers, the Arab peace initiative is a non-binding Arab position for which the Arabs deserve a pat on the back and a friendly nudge to modify it. The very quality of eliciting such encouragement is what keeps the initiative from being an initiative. Dr. Azmi BisharaEvidently, the...
Film on Islam tied to pro-Israel groups
April 4th, 20070 WASHINGTON (IPS) � A controversial documentary on the threat of radical Islam, promoted by the two most-watched U.S. cable news networks, was marketed and supported in part by self-described "pro-Israel" groups, according to an IPS investigation. Abbreviated versions and segments of "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West"...
Showdown looms over Iraq withdrawal
April 4th, 20070 WASHINGTON (IPS) � With U.S. President George W. Bush reiterating his threat to veto legislation that makes funding for the Iraq war conditional on a deadline for withdrawing at least some U.S. troops, Washington moved rapidly this week toward a major confrontation between the White House and Democrats in Congress. The latter won...
General seeks dialogue with Arab Americans
April 3rd, 20070 General shaking hands with Imad HamadDearborn � A senior U.S. military official reached out to the Arab American community on Monday, March 26, with a visit to Dearborn and a luncheon meeting with the editorial board of The Arab American News. Guests at the meeting from the community represented a variety of ethnic and religious......
Arab comedians wow Ann Arbor crowd
March 17th, 20070 Comedian Dean Obeidallah has only been an Arab for five years, but he's pretty good at it. "I went to bed on September 10 (2001) a white guy, and I woke up on September 11 an Arab," said Obeidallah, of New York, who's performed around the country and on Comedy Central as part of the Axis of Evil Comedy tour. New York...
Not another immoral, illegal war in our name
January 1st, 20000 Without a doubt, the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq will be remembered as shameful and devastating events in our nation’s history. One would have hoped that the worldwide criticism of the U.S. for entering these wars would prevent the same mistakes from happening again. However, that is clearly not the case, as the U.S. government......