The Islamophobic movement – what it is and what needs to be done about it
As we bid farewell to 2007, it's important to look back on three separate events that, taken together are significant, but went largely unreported. A video surfaced on the Internet, showing two masked Russian neo-Nazis with two hostages, one from Tajikistan and the other from Dagestan. With a swastika flag waving in the background,...How children learn religion can make or break their lives, their societies
Is it possible to critique systems of religious education without shocking sensibilities or touching sacred cultural symbols? The way children learn about their religion can lay the foundation of their abilities in critical thinking. When children are made to think that their religion is the only perfect faith, their biased...What’s wrong with the Arab World?
The quick deterioration of political, social, and economic order in most countries in the Arab world reflects a range of underlying tensions, problems and failures that have manifested themselves for almost a century, and most of them are self-made Arab failures. Every regime of the Arab world has proved a failure. Not one has been able...How to win the GWOT
BEIRUT — I do not spend much time mingling with officers in the United States armed forces, but when I do, usually at a conference or international gathering, or reading texts on the web, I always come away from the experience more heartened than threatened. Presumably, so does President George W. Bush, who spends much of his time...Maybe there was a confrontation
I'm no military expert, but I'm pretty sure that five small speedboats armed with machine guns, rocket launchers and "white boxes" are no match for a Navy cruiser, destroyer and frigate, especially when it's between Iran and America. I mean, the last thing that the American nuclear superpower would be afraid of is an oil-producing...Free at last, free at last
Twenty years of government harassment comes to an end For the last 20 years, the U.S. government has accused me of being a terrorist. Along with six other Palestinians and a Kenyan, we were dubbed the "Los Angeles Eight" by the media. Our case even made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Oct. 30, 2007 — 20 grueling years after the...Tips to prevent identity theft in 2008
If you're like most people, you have at least one New Year's Resolution you have committed to keep in 2008 to improve your quality of life. Lose weight. Go to the gym. Stop smoking. Allow me to offer one additional resolution that can help you stay true to all of those others: Resolve to protect yourself against the nation's...Obama shakes up Democratic Party
Des Moines — Iowans shocked the foundation of the Democratic Party Thursday night when Illinois Senator Barack Obama placed first in the Iowa caucuses among the Democratic candidates. I had traveled with friends to Iowa to experience the last minute campaigning and the legendary Iowa Democratic caucus process which, by all...We need to stand up for our own
In a report published December 9 in the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, a poll cited that 74% of Israeli youth believe Arabs are less intelligent and that they are violent. Two thirds of Israelis believe that Arabs are "not clean," and half of them would not accept to live in a building where an Arab lives, nor would they allow an Arab to...A Jewish Israel needs a wholesome, healed Palestine
One of the most complex and confounding elements that emerged during the run-up to the Annapolis meeting was the demand by several senior Israelis, and its parallel rejection by Palestinian officials, that the Palestinians recognize Israel as "a Jewish state" as a precondition for the start of talks. Israel's demand that the Arabs...Bush: It’s a goat even if it flies!
What did President Bush read in his oval office on Monday Dec. 3, 2007? He read a report compiled by sixteen American intelligence agencies concluding that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, contradicting a previous assessment that Tehran was working on, even close to, building a nuclear weapon. This report...What it’s really all about
When Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestinians, responded to Ehud Olmert's statement, "We won't hold negotiations on our existence as a Jewish state," he made an error. Erekat declared that the Palestinians wouldn't accept a Jewish state, because "No state in the world connects its national identity to a religious identity."...Carter documentary makes you care about Mideast
Even before anyone realized that Jimmy Carter's book "Palestine: Peace not Apartheid" would stir up controversy and a lively but sometimes vicious debate, filmmaker Jonathan Demme decided to follow the former president during his book tour. Demme has produced a powerful documentary, "Jimmy Carter: A Man from Plains," now......
A Muslim belongs in the Cabinet
LAS VEGAS — Mitt Romney tells good jokes. I had the chance to hear a few of them this month at a political fundraiser in Las Vegas, where the Republican presidential contender gave his audience a few good chuckles before going into his domestic and foreign policy agenda. His platform seemed sound enough analytically — until he...Two angels on a mission
A friend handed me a leaflet and said I should really check this event out. It had a big title: Anna Baltzer in Detroit. Noted Jewish American author-lecturer-photographer presents her compelling witness of life in Occupied Palestine. There was a photo of the cover of a book titled "Witness In Palestine: A Jewish American......
The thought police are coming
A month ago, the House of Representatives passed legislation that targets Americans with radical ideologies for research. The bill has received little media attention and has almost unanimous support in the House. However, civil liberties groups see the bill as a threat to the constitutionally protected freedoms of expression, privacy...A minute of anger for Palestinians
The Jerusalem meeting in Istanbul was touching, inspiring, saddening and encouraging. It was extremely touching when we began to see people from Al-Quds and from Palestine whom we only usually see on television screens being arrested by Israeli occupation forces and on their way to the prisons which house thousands of Palestinians...More couples’ therapy in Annapolis
Here we go again with another meaningless "couples' therapy" session with no concrete goals or meaningful substance. Palestine is the spouse who wants to discuss tangible issues. Israel appears to be the spouse who doesn't really want to be there but wants to say, "Hey, I showed up. Isn't that proof enough that I want...Averting violence is everyone’s job
A crime wave has hit the Arab American community with sudden force, leaving us to wonder where it came from and how we can stop it. The recent shootings that resulted in the tragic deaths of local two Arab Americans have emplaced a dark cloud over the heads of everyone in the community. The first occurrence, a senseless shooting......
Hands off Iran or forget my tax money
I will not pay my income tax if we go to war with Iran. I realize this is a desperate and perhaps futile gesture. But an attack on Iran — which appears increasingly likely before the coming presidential election — will unleash a regional conflict of catastrophic proportions. This war, and especially Iranian retaliatory strikes on...Democracy as a means and an end
Pervez Musharraf is a liar, and not a very good one at that. How suspending the Supreme Court and postponing elections indefinitely will protect his country against Al-Qaeda and its allies isn't exactly clear, since no known terrorists sit on the court, or for that matter, practice law. The modus operandi of terrorism is guerrilla......
Hello: Iraq is not our country
A few reminders: Iraq is not our country. Our invasion and occupation are illegal, being in violation of both international law and our own traditions. We were lied into war. We are still being lied to. Both the Bush administration and the Democrats intend to maintain American troops in Iraq indefinitely.The catchy little phrase "If you...A moment before the lights go out
Alan Johnston, the BBC corresponded kidnapped in Gaza, related in an interview that at a relatively early stage, he started suffering from all kinds of aches because of the water he drank. This was the same water that the kidnappers drank, but Johnston's unaccustomed body sent warning signals: This is not water that is fit for drinking.......