September 22nd, 20170By Nabil Mohamad
On September 16, 1982, following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the right-wing Christian Phalange militia stormed the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut and began a massacre which ended in the deaths of hundreds, maybe thousands, of mostly Palestinian civilians. I was 19-years-old at the time. By chance...
September 22nd, 20171DETROIT — Palestinian activist Rasmea Odeh, was deported to Jordan and left the U.S. from Chicago O'Hare Airport on September 19. Odeh was convicted of lying on immigration forms and sentenced last month.
Federal prosecutors said Odeh lied about being convicted in Israel in the late 60s for two bombings, one of which killed two...
August 20th, 20170By James J. Zogby
It is fascinating to watch some U.S. senators tripping over themselves as they attempt to defend their support for or opposition to proposed legislation that would make it a federal crime to support the international campaign to Boycott, Divest or Sanction (BDS) Israel for its continued occupation of Palestinian...
August 4th, 20170Neither Fatah nor Hamas have been of much relevance to the mass protests staged around the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem. Neither have American pressure, half-hearted European "concern about the situation" or cliché Arab declarations made one iota of difference. United Nations officials warned of the grim scenarios of escalation,...
July 28th, 20170
DEARBORN HEIGHTS— In November 2012, a 12-year-old cancer survivor from Gaza arrived in Michigan to the open arms of Yasmeen Hamed and her family, who had hosted his three-month stay through the Palestinian Children Relief Fund (PCRF) — a non-profit organization devoted to “healing the wounds of war and...
July 27th, 20170DEARBORN — The outcries of thousands of Arab and Muslim American men, women and children from outside Dearborn’s City Hall could once be heard throughout the nation.
While demonstrating in a mosaic of green, red and white, Dearborn’s Arab Americans were branding a newfangled Arab unity, amid divisions in their...
July 27th, 20170Early October 2016, Misbah Abu Sbeih left his wife and five children at home and then drove to an Israeli police station in occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem.
The 39-year-old Jerusalemite was scheduled to hand himself over to serve a term of four months in jail for, allegedly, trumped up charges of "trying to hit an Israeli...
July 21st, 20170JERUSALEM — For the first time in decades, Israel closed the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City to worshipers on Friday, July 14.
The closure followed an attack near an entrance to the compound that houses the al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites for Muslims, following a deadly shootout that killed two Israelis and...
July 21st, 20170By Ramzy Baroud
Early October 2016, Misbah Abu Sbeih left his wife and five children at home and then drove to an Israeli police station in occupied Palestinian East Jerusalem.
The 39-year-old Jerusalemite was scheduled to hand himself over to serve a term of four months in jail for, allegedly, trumped up charges of "trying to hit...
July 18th, 20170JERUSALEM - A Palestinian driver rammed his vehicle into a group of Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday and was shot dead by the troops, the Israeli military said.
There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials. According to Israel's Magen David Adom, two of their soldiers were slightly wounded.
"In...
July 17th, 20170GUSH ETZION SETTLEMENT, WEST BANK – Taking in the scene of a simulated fruit market in an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, a group of tourists ponders whether a poster-size figure of an Arab man holding a cellphone is a threat and should be shot.
The aim of the mock scenario is to teach rapt foreign visitors how to deal...
June 12th, 20170JERUSALEM — Israel has advanced plans for a further 1,500 homes in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, Peace Now, an Israeli non-profit organization advocating for a two-state solution, said on Thursday, the second such announcement in a week.
More than 3,000 units have been advanced this week, a spokeswoman for the group...
June 10th, 20171DEARBORN — The 1967 Six Day War was one of the most salient events of the Arab-Israeli conflict, its effect evident through its shaping of Israeli and Arab political discourse.
While its byproducts continue to resonate, the events of the Six Day War are solidified largely through oration and narrative.
"There's historical...
June 1st, 20170WASHINGTON — President Trump signed an order on Thursday to keep the U.S. Embassy in Israel in Tel Aviv temporarily instead of relocating it to Jerusalem, despite his campaign pledge to go ahead with the controversial move.
After months of fierce debate within his administration, Trump chose to continue his predecessors' policy of...
May 22nd, 20171Berkeley, CA-University of California lecturer Hatem Bazian noticed a flyer placed on his winsheild when he went to drop off his daughter at school the morning of May 10.
He was appalled to confront an image of himself on a flyer that claimed he "supports terror."
Pictured alongside Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish...
May 19th, 20170May 15 marked the 69th year of systematic expulsion and pillaging of Palestinian communities, in addition to the centennial of the Balfour declaration that began the travesty.
In May of 1948 alone, after the Israeli militiamen of the Haganah, Irgun and Palmach liquidated entire villages via massacres, forcing the spared from their...
May 5th, 20170DETROIT — Arab Americans are typically not regarded as a subset of immigrants with a history tied to labor movements.
However, Arab American involvement in labor movements is interwoven within the greater framework of workers' protests in the United States.
This renders Arab American history in the U.S., via its political...
May 5th, 20170Gaza 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...
May 5th, 20170DEARBORN — More than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners have joined a hunger strike led by Palestinian parliamentarian and prisoner Marwan Barghouti, beginning April 17.
People all over the world showed their solidarity by organizing demonstrations and vigils. Some have participated in the "#SaltWaterChallenge", in which they share videos...
May 4th, 20170WASHINGTON ― President Trump will travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel this month as part of his first foreign trip, wading directly into the tangled diplomacy of Middle Eastern politics, a senior administration official said on Thursday.
The swing through the Middle East, added to a trip that includes a NATO meeting in Brussels on May...
April 27th, 20170DETROIT— Hours before Rasmea Odeh entered her plea in court on Tuesday, dozens of supporters, ranging from organizers and Chicago-based defense team members, rallied outside the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in opposition to the parameters set around her conviction.
Groups in attendance included the U.S....
April 24th, 20170WASHINGTON, D.C.- Federal authorities have dropped charges against AMP (American Muslims for Palestine) staffers Taher Herzallah and Kareem El-Hosseiny.
The two men, both employees for the group, faced charges for disrupting David Freidman's Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, vocalizing opposition to the U.S. Ambassador to...
April 14th, 20170BALTIMORE —Author Susan Muaddi Darraj intersects her identities as a Palestinian and as an American to tell stories from the "third space— the space between two cultures" that ultimately shapes the characters involved in her tales.
According to Darraj, there are so many stories that could be told about the Palestinian immigrant...
April 8th, 20171Once 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...
March 24th, 20170JERUSALEM — A law barring foreigners from entering Israel if they back boycotts against the country is causing alarm among liberal American Jews and others who perceive an attempt to suppress critical political opinion.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government has long campaigned against the Palestinian-led Boycott,...
March 24th, 20170The trepidation journalists, officials, and workers of non governmental organizations (NGOs) have to operate under in reporting on Palestine and Palestinians under occupation is not a phenomenon limited to the United States. Worldwide, Israel's hegemonic hold on an international political narrative leaves officials tasked with defending...
March 23rd, 20170JERUSALEM -- An Israeli teen who also holds U.S. citizenship was arrested in Israel on Thursday on suspicion of making dozens of hoax bomb threats against Jewish community centers in the United States and several other countries.
At a court hearing near Tel Aviv, the suspect's defense attorney said the young man has a growth in his...
March 17th, 20170Palestinian painter Samia Halaby has blunt advice for aspiring Arab artists — get your inspiration firsthand, whether from ordinary people or historical documents, avoiding the "lies" of the media.
Halaby, who made her name with abstract paintings, drew on both kinds of source for her most overtly political project, a series of...
