December 9th, 20180WASHINGTON, D.C. — Due in large part to the abundance of pro-Israel lobbying from organizations like AIPAC, Congressmen and Congresswomen in the United States have largely avoided pledging any support for Palestinians, vocal or otherwise.
But newly-elected Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from the 13th District,...
November 24th, 20180DEARBORN — On Tuesday, November 20, the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Michigan-Dearborn hosted its second art expo dedicated to the theme of resistance and spreading awareness of oppression.
The event, which follows up on one held in 2016, featured artwork submitted and presented by students at the...
November 24th, 20180
It has never been easy for Arab Americans to advocate for Palestinian rights; and while we have made real progress, the challenges continue to grow.
I learned early on that this was not ever going to be a fair fight. In their relentless effort to silence our voice, supporters of Israel waged a relentless campaign to delegitimize...
November 18th, 20180Former Bahraini Minister Mohammad Ali Fakhro, a board member of the Arab Anti-Corruption Organization, criticized the Arab world’s normalization with Israel, blaming these ties for Tel Aviv’s continuous targeting of Palestinians, Arabi21 reported on Wednesday.
“The Israeli occupation continues its efforts to get rid of the...
November 3rd, 20180Although ties between Washington and Tel Aviv are stronger than ever, Israeli leaders are aware of a vastly changing political landscape. The U.S.' own political turmoil and the global power realignment — which is on full display in the Middle East — indicate that a new era is, indeed, in the making.
Unsurprisingly, this new era...
October 19th, 20180DEARBORN – As varied as the issues facing Arab Americans are, it’s rare to hear them all addressed with clarity and poignancy in one place.
On October 11, several hundred community members and elected officials from every level in government convened at the Arab American Civil Rights League’s (ACRL) Fight for Justice Gala. Its...
October 16th, 20180As the frail body of 12-year-old Nassir Al-Mosabeh fell to the ground on Friday, September 28, history was repeating itself in a most tragic way.
Little Nassir was not just another number, a “martyr” to be exalted by equally poor refugees in Gaza, or vilified by Israel and its tireless hasbara machine. He was much more than...
October 1st, 20180Seth Anziska’s Preventing Palestine: A Political History From Camp David to Oslo is a deeply insightful and profoundly disturbing book that traces the tortuous path of Middle East peace-making during the past four decades. It was quite painful to read.
Having been a close observer and sometimes participant in many of the...
October 1st, 20180Israel is ready to reopen a crossing point into the Syrian-controlled Golan Heights now that Syrian government forces have regained control from rebels, according to Israeli Minister of War Avigdor Lieberman.
But Lieberman, on a visit to the Israeli-occupied side of the Quneitra crossing on Thursday, said any resumption of operations...
September 30th, 20180NEW YORK — A United Nations agency that supports Palestinian refugees received contributions of $118 million on Thursday, narrowing a budget gap for this year to $68 million as it aims to fill a shortfall left by a cut in U.S. funding.
Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA),...
September 25th, 20180
Facing criticism over his use of the slur “filthy Arab” in a tweet last week, Zionist Organization of America national president Morton Klein repeated the phrase in a voicemail to the Forward — and pointedly refused to back down.
Klein asserted in the lengthy voicemail that he had meant that “Arab murderers are filthy...
September 22nd, 20180Palestine, Israel and the right to boycott (BDS) have made their way to the front and center of Michigan’s gubernatorial race. In the past few weeks, Democratic candidate Gretchen Whitmer has publicly expressed support for the right to boycott Israel, after which her Republican opponent, Bill Schuette, vehemently attacked her for it,...
September 21st, 20180ANN ARBOR — A University of Michigan associate professor is facing criticism for not writing a student a letter of recommendation to study in Israel.
John Cheney-Lippold, who teaches in the American Culture Department on the relationship among digital media, identity and the concept of privacy, had initially agreed to write the...
September 17th, 20180Yossi Beilin is back. This unrepentant Israeli “peacemaker” is like the mythical phoenix, constantly resurrecting from its own ashes. In a recent article in Al-Monitor, Beilin wrote in support of the idea of a confederation between Israel and Palestine.
A confederation "could prevent the need to evacuate settlers and allow those...
September 15th, 20181DEARBORN – Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gretchen Whitmer has reaffirmed her “unwavering support” for Israel and said she is 100 percent opposed to BDS.”
In response to what Whitmer’s campaign calls “baseless smears” from her Republican opponent Bill Schuette's “partisan attack dogs” in the form of articles...
September 14th, 20180The Oslo Accords 25 years later.
As Palestinians prepare to lower the flag over their shuttered mission in Washington, no one can predict when they'll return to the city where just a quarter of a century ago a diplomatic triumph was celebrated on a sunlit White House lawn.
Hosted by then-President Clinton, Palestinian and Israeli...
September 12th, 20180DEARBORN — Famed Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, held at an Israeli jail at 16 for slapping an Israeli officer, will be the keynote speaker at the Arab American Civil Rights League's (ACRL) seventh annual Fight for Justice Gala on October 11 at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center.
If Tamimi, who had previously been...
September 12th, 20180JERUSALEM — As Palestinians prepare to lower the flag over their shuttered mission in Washington, no one can predict when they will return to the city where just a quarter of a century ago a diplomatic triumph was celebrated on a sunlit White House lawn.
Hosted by then-U.S. President Bill Clinton, Palestinian and Israeli leaders...
September 11th, 20180WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration on Monday threatened tough action against the International Criminal Court should it try to prosecute Americans for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan and said the PLO’s office in Washington would be closed for seeking to punish Israel through the court.
“The United States will use any...
September 10th, 20180The Israeli government wants to change the rules of the game entirely. With unconditional support from the Trump administration, Tel Aviv sees a golden opportunity to redefine what has, for decades, constituted the legal and political foundation for the so-called "Palestinian-Israeli conflict."
While President Trump’s foreign policy...
September 8th, 20180ANN ARBOR — For the first time, students from Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU) were able to have the opportunity to be a part of the abroad Entrepreneurial Education Program taking place in Ann Arbor and Detroit.
Global Ties Detroit, in partnership with the University of Michigan (U of M) and the Arab American Women’s...
September 5th, 20180Pop singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey has canceled her September 7 appearance at Israel’s Meteor Festival.
Del Rey (real name Elizabeth Woolridge Grant) had pulled out of an earlier engagement in 2014. According to Variety Magazine, the entertainment trade paper, “the organizers are said to be livid”, especially since Grant...
September 1st, 20180Hanan al-Khoudari, a Gaza resident, resorted to Facebook in a cry for help when Israeli authorities rejected her request to accompany her 3-year-old son, Louay, to his chemotherapy treatment in East Jerusalem.
The boy is suffering from an “aggressive soft tissue sarcoma.” Israeli authorities then justified their decision based on...
August 26th, 20180It is almost comical that recently Israel finally decided to release more than 10 tons of mail that it has prevented from reaching Palestinians in the West Bank, much of which was sent eight years ago. Not eight weeks or months, but years. In the U.S., many people become irritated when their Amazon packages arrive late on the third day,...
August 26th, 20180On Sunday August 12, news from Gaza was distressing: The Ministry of Health announced that it would no longer be able to treat cancer patients in the Israel-besieged Strip.
"Colon and lung cancer, as well as lymphoma patients, cannot be provided with the necessary therapy now," said Dr. Mohammed Abu Silmiya, director of Abdulaziz...
August 13th, 20180The father of 11-year-old Abdul Rahman Nofal contacted me, asking for help. His son was shot in the leg during Gaza's "Great March of Return" protests. The Strip's dilapidated health care system could not save the little boy's leg, as it was later amputated.
His father, Yamen, himself a young man from the Buraij Refugee Camp in...
August 3rd, 20181By Mohamed Mohamed
Since its inception, Israel has been a discriminatory state, posing as a (false) democracy. This is not a matter of opinion; it is a fact and there is plenty of evidence to back it up.
On Thursday, July 19, the Israeli Knesset passed the “Israel as the Nation State of the Jewish People” bill into...
July 30th, 20180WEST BANK - Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian teenager released by Israel on Sunday after completing a prison term for kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier said she wanted to become a lawyer so she could continue her struggle against the occupation of her country.
Tamimi, 17, became a hero to Palestinians after the incident last December...