One more farcical tour of the Middle East
It was almost dreamlike, watching Secretary of State Hillary Clinton make her visit to Israel, one that can be called the first of many trips pretending to encourage peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. It's a dream I've had several times over; one needs only to simply fill in the names of the various U.S. secretaries of...
Community briefs: Three locals charged with mortgage fraud
March 14th, 20090 Belly dance show at DSO Miles Copeland, former manager of the groundbreaking '80s rock trio The Police, began putting together a troupe of American bellydancers in 2002 with the intention of doing for the Middle East what "Riverdance" did for Ireland. The Bellydance...
Finkelstein to keynote ASU banquet
March 14th, 20090 DEARBORN — An energetic group of college students hopes to add an extra spark to their efforts as Arab American youth activists when they bring Norman Finkelstein — a well-known scholar on Israeli-Palestinian conflict who causes a stir every time he speaks in the Detroit area — to keynote their annual "Empowering the Youth" dinner...
Oakland International Academy garners award
March 14th, 20090 When it comes to handing out funds to local schools, scores on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) tests are an important factor. Oakland Superintendent Ahmed Saber (left), and faculty members Conrad Koch, Adnan Aabed, and Eraqi Eraqi. Photo courtesy of Conrad Koch But doesn't mean that they are always fair....
Group celebrates Saadeh birthday, legacy
March 14th, 20090 SOUTHFIELD — Syria's ambassador to the U.S. Imad Mustapha spoke at the Silver Garden Theater on March 7 during a commemoration of the birthday of Antun Saadeh, founder of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. Syria's ambassador to the U.S. Imad Mustapha speaks at the Silver Garden Theater in Southfield on March 7 during a...
CAAO delegation to visit Qatar, meet emir
March 14th, 20090 A delegation of local Arab Americans organized by the Congress of Arab American Organizations (CAAO) is to depart Saturday for Doha, Qatar, where the group is scheduled to meet with the Gulf nation's leader Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani on Sunday. A plaque to be presented to the emir of Qatar by a delegation of Arab Americans...
Attorney relates horror of Gaza
March 14th, 20090 A member of a delegation of lawyers that traveled to Gaza in February spoke to a group of Palestinian rights activists in Dearborn on Tuesday about the fact-finding mission. Linda Mansour, one of nine National Lawyers Guild delegates who traveled to Gaza in February on a fact-finding mission, speaks to representatives of the...
GM warns it may not survive
March 7th, 20090 DETROIT — General Motors Corp on Thursday said its auditors had raised "substantial doubt" about its ability to survive outside bankruptcy if it fails to stem its losses and stop burning cash. A flock of birds sits on a covered General Motors sign at an abandoned auto dealership in Warren, Michigan, in this December 18, 2008...
Video: Arab culture celebrated in nation’s capital
March 7th, 20090 Last Friday, the "Weekend" section of the Washington Post featured a cover story on "Arabesque: Art of the Arab World," the Kennedy Center's three-week-long festival of Arab arts and culture. There is no better way to begin a reflection on the program, than to quote the opening lines of the marvelous "Weekend" review by Ellen McCarthy....Divestment from the Israeli occupation of Palestine
A coalition of Columbia University students released a series of demands this week that clearly and forcefully lay the groundwork for the divestment of the University's endowment funds from those corporations currently profiting from the illegal occupation of Palestine. This step is long overdue. The recent assault on the...
Sadr Foundation: Raising hope from despair
March 7th, 20090 DEARBORN — Hiam and Ibtisam Bazzi were seven and four years old when their mother died in 1977. Their father, unable to care for them alone in impoverished south Lebanon, placed them under the care of the Sadr Foundation, a network of orphanages, schools and clinics based in Tyre that has served tens of thousands of Lebanese over the...
“The Big Read” to encourage literacy and celebrate late Egyptian Nobel winner
March 7th, 20090 DEARBORN — The Arab American National Museum in Dearborn is hosting a month-long celebration of the life and works of Naguib Mahfouz, the first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988, with free books available all month. Called "The Big Read" and made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts...
ACC program tackles mental health
March 7th, 20090 Severe mental health issues are almost never at the forefront of conversation, but discussion in the Arab community is even more rare according to ACT Team Leader Amy Rahhall. Amy Rahhall The Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) program, which is run through the Arab American and Chaldean Council through funding from the...
CIA holds appreciation dinner
March 7th, 20090 The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) held an appreciation dinner for leaders of the Arab American and Chaldean community on Wednesday at the Westin Hotel in Southfield. CIA Associate Deputy Director Scott White Members of the Congress of Arab American Organizations (CAAO), the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee...Community news briefs: Huge crowd expected for ACCESS job fair
DEARBORN — With the job market as tough as it's been in decades, the first ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services) job fair of 2009 is expected to be as packed and competitive as ever. The spring job fair, one of three held during the year at ACCESS, will take place on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at the Dearborn......
Muslims reject terror tactics, back some goals
WASHINGTON – Strong majorities of people in predominantly Muslim countries reject terrorism but support key goals of Al Qaeda, notably expelling U.S. military forces from the Islamic world, according to a major new study of public opinion in seven nations and the Palestinian territories released here Wednesday. Nearly 90 percent...Memo to Obama: Urgent action needed in Mideast
We do not know what special envoy George Mitchell told President Barack Obama after his tour of the Middle East. But here is what I hope he is telling the president now. "Mr. President, unfortunately I do not have good news. It is easy to misjudge Israel. It is indeed a country that thrives in certain respects, but politically it has......
The Israeli occupation binds together Syria, Iran and the resistance
Washington is now listening intently to Syria. Last week, the Democratic Chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator John Kerry, met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. And this week, Syria's ambassador to the United States visits a high level official in the State Department. There is an improvement in relations as...
Money, name recognition push Bing, Cockrel past primary
February 28th, 20090 DETROIT — Detroit businessman Dave Bing and incumbent Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr. came out on top in Tuesday's special mayoral primary election. The two will face off in a May 5 runoff. Detroit businessman Dave Bing Reuters The winner will serve out the remainder of ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's term,...
CAAO meets with U.S. Congress members to push community agenda
February 28th, 20090 Congress of Arab American Organizations representatives Nabih Ayad, L, Sufian Nabhan, Imad Hamad with Sen. Carl Levin, CAAO member Abed Hammoud, Jim Allen, Osama Siblani and Ali Baleed Almaklani at Levin's Dearborn office on Feb. 18. Representatives of the Congress of Arab American Organizations met with or held a conference...
First web issue of school paper pulled over article critical of Israel
February 28th, 20090 DEARBORN — A group of young journalists taking their school newspaper online for the first time suffered a setback last month when all of its web content was ordered removed after a controversial editorial on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was published. Deanna Suleiman, R, works on the Edsel Ford High School newspaper The......
Dearborn Police on the lookout for a bank robber
February 28th, 20090 Photo of the robber captured by a bank security camera and distributed by Dearborn Police Department. DEARBORN — An armed robber made away with an undisclosed amount of cash and dye packs from the Key Bank in Dearborn after pulling a gun on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at approximately 9:10 a.m., according to Dearborn police. The money...
Dearborn mayor takes on new role, changes appearance
February 28th, 20090 Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly changed his appearance Monday to portray an Amish judge in the Dearborn High School student film "Dare to be Amish." The mayor shaved his mustache. Photo courtesy City of Dearborn DEARBORN — Tom Hanks famously lost 50 pounds for his role in "Cast Away," Tommy Lee Jones shaved his head to......
Arab medical society raises funds for Gaza
February 28th, 20090 The National Arab American Medical Association of Birmingham held a fundraising dinner entitled "Gaza: The Aftermath" on Feb. 21, with all proceeds going to humanitarian assistance organizations for food and emergency medical relief in the Gaza Strip. The dining room was packed almost to capacity at Bint Jebail Cultural Center in...
State Dems meet, elect leaders
February 28th, 20090 About 2,000 Democrats gathered in Lansing for the pary's state convention on Feb. 21. Dozens of caucuses came together to conduct business and to hear from candidates and elected officials. Elections were held, resulting in the reelection of Ismael Ahmed, a leader in the Arab American community and Director of the......
