The real reasons behind the Palestinian hunger strike
May 5th, 20170 Gaza is the world's largest open air prison. The West Bank is a prison, too, segmented into various wards, known as areas A, B and C. In fact, all Palestinians are subjected to varied degrees of military restrictions. At some level, they are all prisoners. East Jerusalem is cut off from the West Bank, and those in the West Bank are...
Palestinian, Jewish voices must jointly challenge Israel’s past
April 29th, 20170 Israel has resorted to three main strategies to suppress Palestinian calls for justice and human rights, including the Right of Return for refugees. One is dedicated to rewriting history; another attempts to distract from present realities altogether and a third aims at reclaiming the Palestinian narrative as essentially an Israeli...
When ISIS is defeated: Who will fill the intellectual vacuum in the Arab World?
April 21st, 20170 Back in the Middle East for a few months, I find myself astounded by the absence of the strong voices of Arab intellectuals. The region that has given rise to the likes of Michel Aflaq, George Habash, Rached al-Ghannouchi, Edward Said and numerous others has marginalized its intellectuals. Arab visionaries have either been co-opted...
We need to safeguard the ‘public’ in public office
April 16th, 20170 For the last few years, I've been keeping a file of clippings about the erosion of transparency and candor in government. I'm sorry to report that it's getting rather full. This is not a good thing. Public officials should feel strongly obliged to do their business in an open and upfront manner. When you hold public office, the...
How Israel understands the Arab Peace Initiative
April 8th, 20171 Once more, the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 is taking center stage. Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas insisted during his speech before the recently concluded Arab League Summit in Jordan that the initiative is the only solution on the table; asserting that it will not be changed or even tweaked. But why is this...
The next phase in the war on BDS: Why Israel detained Omar Barghouti
March 31st, 20170 The Israeli state has violated international law more than any other country, yet has rarely, if ever, been held accountable for its crimes and misconduct. Israel's successful public relation campaigns through the ever-willing Western media partners, coupled with the relentless work and pressure carried out by its powerful backers in...
Sanctuary cities and DOJ funding: The hypocrisy of Jeff Sessions
March 31st, 20170 In a surprise White House appearance on March 27, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced his intent to make America's cities less safe and more vulnerable to crime unless he gets his way. He didn't say it quite like that, of course. In fact, he asserted the opposite, accusing so-called "sanctuary cities" of "mak our nation less safe...
Using Hollywood celebrities to validate Islam
March 24th, 20170 When Terry Holdbrooks Jr., converted to Islam in 2003, he was inundated with death threats and labeled a "race traitor." If a religious conversion ever deserves to be admired, Holdbrooks' conversion does; not because Islam has "won" yet another convert, but because the new convert was assigned the very rule of subjugating his Muslim...
Hispanics shouldn’t over-interpret Trump’s election
March 24th, 20170 It's safe to say that Donald Trump doesn't have many fans in the Hispanic community. The real estate mogul rose to power spewing rhetoric that was openly hostile to Latinos. He's promised to deport more undocumented immigrants and build a wall along the nation's southern border. And who can forget his smear of Mexican immigrants as...
U.S. and Israeli codependent relationship not just about money
March 17th, 20170 "We must look back 25 years to realize how far Israel has fallen in world support," wrote famed Jewish scholar and Harvard sociologist Nathan Glazer in 1976. In the last 40 years since Glazer wrote his piece, which was uncovered and transmitted by Philip Weiss, Israel's global support has fallen much further. The country that once...
Ambassador David Friedman: A diplomatic oxymoron
March 17th, 20170 American ambassadors are stationed in nearly 200 countries across the globe, each of which has a unique relationship with the United States. Depending on the diplomatic conditions and challenges present, an ambassador's responsibilities and functions can vary widely from country to country. At the most fundamental level, however, all...
Only the Israeli dead matter: Israel’s failure at investigating its bloody wars
March 10th, 20170 At a glance, Israel appears a true democracy. Take a closer look and that facade of democracy will soon dissipate, turning into something else entirely. Tuesday, February 28 was one of those moments. The chain of events was as follows: An official Israeli state comptroller issued another report on the Israeli government's handling...
Descendants of slaves, forerunners of justice: American Muslims must stop apologizing
March 6th, 20170 I had recently been asked to give a talk about "being an American Muslim in the United States." Although wary of the uses and abuses of the term, I obliged. Islam is a religion propelled by values, not race. Nor, theoretically, by blind tribal allegiances, I explained. The "American Muslim" identity which has been under constant...
Can the media hold politicians accountable?
January 21st, 20170 If you watched Donald Trump’s recent press conference, you may have overlooked a telling and worrisome moment. A CNN reporter tried to ask the president-elect about the extent of his ties to Russian officials. “No! Not you. No! Your organization is terrible,” responded Mr. Trump, and moved on to the next question. The fact...
Less symbolism, more action: Towards meaningful solidarity with Palestine
December 2nd, 20160 The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has designated the week, November 25 to December 3, as the 'biggest-ever campaign' aimed at boycotting Israeli products and those of companies that contribute to the Israeli military occupation of Palestine. In a recently issued press release, the civil society-led group highlighted "99 actions......
What should Palestinians expect – can Trump be any worse?
November 24th, 20160 Fear and trepidation are slowly building up, as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is fortifying his transitional team with people capable of bringing about a nightmare scenario, not only for Americans but for the rest of the world as well. For Palestinians, however, the signs are even more ominous. From former New York Mayor,...
Praying for Freedom: Why is Israel silencing the call for prayer in Jerusalem?
November 18th, 20160 As I was growing up, I was always reassured by the sound of the "Muadhin" making the call for prayer in our refugee camp's main mosque in Gaza. Whenever I heard the call very early in the morning, announcing in a melodic voice that the time for the "Fajr" (dawn) prayer was upon us, I knew it was safe to go to sleep. Of course, the......
America’s liberals unleashed the Trump monster
November 11th, 20160 The Earth has been shifting under our feet for a while, but all liberals want to do is desperately cling to the status quo like a life-raft. Middle-class Britons are still hyperventilating about Brexit, and now middle-class America is trembling at the prospect of Donald Trump in the White House. And, of course, middle-class Americans...Looking past identity politics: Dearborn Court’s Judge-elect Gene Hunt
Vote for Susan Dabaja, because she's an Arab." This is what my mother repeatedly exclaimed to me throughout the 2016 election cycle, where Gene Hunt, a longtime resident and lawyer from Dearborn, squeezed a victory over a young attorney and city council president, Susan Dabaja to secure his new role as 19th District Court Judge. I...
Public servants or corporate security? An open letter to law enforcement in North Dakota
November 3rd, 20160 A protester against the building of a pipeline on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation near Cannonball, North Dakota, Nov. 2So you joined law enforcement or the National Guard because you wanted to uphold the law, protect innocent civilians against the bad guys, and help your community in times of need. Instead, they're having you...
Muslims have a critical role in this election
October 28th, 20160 We are just days away from one of the most important presidential elections in American history – a contest that is important for all the wrong reasons. On Nov. 8, we are faced with two simple choices; a candidate who offers us all inclusion, and a candidate who offers us isolation. How we vote on Election Day will have wide......
The battle for Mosul: Relocating terrorists to Raqqa is a dangerous game
October 21st, 20160 American calculations surround the battle for Mosul and its ramifications on the Middle East — the first aim is geopolitical and the second is electoral. Mosul, considered the Iraqi capital of ISIS, is Iraq's second largest city. The first goal is connected to the war in Syria and the international showdown between Moscow and...
How Israel convinces the world it is under constant ‘existentialist threat’
October 14th, 20160 The Israeli official narrative regarding its conflict with the Palestinians is deliberately confounded because a muddled up discourse is a convenient one. It allows the narrator to pick and choose half-truths at will, in order to create a falsified version of reality. For instance, this is what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin......
A sobering look beyond the election
October 7th, 20160 This campaign year has been full of twists and turns. We don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, let alone on November 8. So talking about what comes afterward seems premature. But it’s been on my mind a lot, because I’m worried. This is not about who wins the presidency. I’m concerned about the aftermath of this...
Cliché and banality at the debates: Trump and Clinton on the Middle East
September 30th, 20160 Watching them both yacking on about the Middle East as a pink dawn glowed from behind the Lebanese mountains above Beirut, I found the Trump-Clinton show a grimly instructive experience. In the few hundred miles east and north of Lebanon, hundreds are dying every week – in Syria, in Yemen, in Iraq – and yet there were the......
