The Arab American News back issues from May 2008:
Detroit Riverfront's the place to be
May 03, 2008; ... DETROIT - The Detroit RiverFront Conservancy released details this week on several new initiatives that will be bringing new activity to the Detroit Riverfront in 2008. New to the riverfront this summer will be the RiverWalk Café, with locations at Rivard Plaza and Pavilion and Gabriel ...
Israel told to tackle West Bank plight
May 03, 2008; ... JERUSALEM - Israel is coming under concerted international pressure to give swift agreement to specific measures to improve Palestinian life in the West Bank which senior diplomats believe could eventually make or break negotiations between the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and the ...
Pollard is the Americans' Vanunu
May 03, 2008; ... Like a particularly dirty cloud of smog, the Pollard case has been following us for decades, polluting everyone who comes in contact with it. Many of the young men and women who worked on behalf of Jonathan Pollard in the various political frameworks were not even born in his finest days, while ...
Tunisia strives for religious tolerance
May 03, 2008; ... TUNIS - In Tunisia, synagogues and churches stand side by side with mosques. Jewish and Christian minorities freely practice their religious rituals. This tolerant climate is ensured by the constitution which provides for habeas corpus, guarantees freedom of conscience and protects freedom of ...
Christian divisions complicate politics
May 03, 2008; ... Inexplicable alliances have long been a tradition of Lebanese politics, defined by short-sighted tactical partnerships rooted in the intense rivalry of opposing parties, communities and political families. Such alliances have played a key role in the struggle for power among the various ...
Shirin Ebadi on Iran and the world
May 03, 2008; ... While Bush administration's actions and threats of "regime change" increase the repression by the Iranian state, and economic sanctions only hurt the people, Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi says there are ways the outside world can support reform in Iran. At least 400 dissidents, activists ...
Powering down the PATRIOT Act
May 03, 2008; ... In the wake of another damaging report detailing the bureau's abuse of its data-gathering power, Congress is seeking to limit the use of national security letters. There's a move afoot on Capitol Hill to rein in some of the vast powers conferred upon government investigators by the ...
More Canadians fighting in Iraq
May 03, 2008; ... The lie that Canada has stayed out of the war in Iraq is becoming less and less believable. There is an ongoing rotation of Canadian generals serving with the international forces there. Canada continues to have some soldiers there on troop exchanges with the Americans and British. Now new ...
Bush to Nasrallah: An offer Hizbullah cannot refuse?
May 03, 2008; ... The Bush administration no longer believes there is a viable military option - American, Israeli or combined - for destroying Hizbullah "The Bush administration parking a flotilla from its U.S. 6th fleet off the coast of Lebanon was made necessary, it claims, to demonstrate Washington's ...
Dabke appeals to Westerners, Arabs alike
May 03, 2008; ... TUSCON - Hani Ghaziz has a loud stomp. The dabke instructor stomps his feet forcefully on the ground, kicks his heels forward and pushes them back down on the floor, making the smooth, wooden floorboards shout. He sashays gracefully forward and tip-toes in place, balancing on his left foot while ...
Jewish Defense League energized by Israel's far right
May 03, 2008; ... TORONTO (IPS) - Like an aging group of retro rocker musicians, the Jewish Defense League (JDL) resurfaced in Toronto recently after a decade of dormancy, trying to look a little more mainstream. The group made its largest public foray in quite some time on Mar. 27, when it hosted a ...
Why Palestinian unity is not an option
May 03, 2008; ... Just days after the HAMAS-Fatah clash last June in Gaza, Palestine Authority President Mahmoud Abbas looked firm and composed as he shook hands with members of his new emergency government. He made sure his move appeared as legitimate as possible, issuing decrees that outlawed the armed militias ...
Open letter on 'Toronto 11' to authorities
May 03, 2008; ... OTTAWA, Canada - In an open letter, the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) in partnership with the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF), Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), Federation of Muslim Women (FMW), Islamic Ahlul Bayt Assembly of Canada, Islamic Circle of North America ...
What the Iraq war is all about
May 03, 2008; ... The Bush regime has quagmired America into a sixth year of war in Afghanistan and Iraq with no end in sight. The cost of these wars of aggression is horrendous. Official U.S. combat casualties stand at 4,538 dead. Officially, 29,780 U.S. troops have been wounded in Iraq. On April 17, ...
Dearborn Stars kick off soccer season
May 03, 2008; ... DEARBORN - When it comes to most sports teams, the only thing on their mind is winning as many games as possible. But ask just about anybody on the Dearborn Stars Michigan Premier Soccer League team what their main goal is for the upcoming season, and odds are they'll tell you it's to ...
Small victories to celebrate
May 03, 2008; ... Those advocating for issues of importance to Arab Americans rarely have anything to celebrate. In an era defined by the growth of anti-Arabism and Islamophobia in the West, activists' work is necessary, although uphill. Last week, activists fighting for related causes won rare, but small, ...
Washington cedes its role
May 03, 2008; ... It is telling of the damage the United States has done to its influence in the Middle East that the potentially most important diplomatic development in the past generation - a possible Israeli-Syrian treaty - seems to be taking place without any significant American role. LOS ANGELES - ...
Why Israel is demonizing Jimmy Carter
May 03, 2008; ... The Jewish state is determined to avoid serious negotiations. Little wonder, therefore, that the gentle, peace-loving Jimmy Carter is seen as an enemy, not a friend - by Israel and the Bush administration. Why did Israel treat the former U.S. President Jimmy Carter so rudely during his ...
Professor oversees new research center
May 03, 2008; ... SOUTHFIELD - Lawrence Technological University will dedicate its Center for Innovative Materials Research (CIMR) on Friday, May 2, from 4 to 6 p.m., on its campus at 21000 West Ten Mile Road in Southfield. And Civil Engineering Department Chair Nabil Grace and his research team are an integral ...
Outspoken preacher gives NAACP talk
May 03, 2008; ... DETROIT - Rev. Jeremiah Wright spoke in Detroit to a crowd of 10,000 at an annual NAACP dinner on April 27, one of a series of outspoken public appearances that eventually prompted presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama to denounce his former pastor "very clearly and unequivocally" on April ...
Nine ways to teach kids that money doesn't grow on trees
May 03, 2008; ... If you're looking for a silver lining to the economic slowdown, Eric Tyson says it's the perfect impetus for your kids to learn smart personal finance habits. INDIANAPOLIS -With inflation on the rise (gas prices, grocery bills, health insurance premiums, etc.) and many companies being ...
Bint Jebail Cultural Center awards scholarships
May 03, 2008; ... DEARBORN. - The Bint Jebail Cultural Center awarded outstanding Arab American students during its 14th Annual Scholarship Celebration on Friday, April 25, 2008, at its center in Dearborn. The Bint Jebail Education Committee awarded 40 high school seniors who earned high grades and exhibited ...
Fenton honors Arab American icon
May 03, 2008; ... FENTON - Arab American entertainment icon casey Kasem was honored in Fenton on April 26, where residents celebrated "Casey Kasem Day." Kasem, born Kemal Amin Kasem in Detroit in 1932, is a popular radio personality and accomplished voice-over actor. On the radio, Kasem is most famous for ...
LAHC to distribute $70,000 in scholarships
May 03, 2008; ... DEARBORN - Seventy high school seniors and college students are set to receive $1,000 scholarships from the Arab American Scholarship Foundation (AASF) on May 8 at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Dearborn during the organization's 20th anniversary dinner. The foundation, which operates ...
ISPU dinner highlights issues facing American Muslims
May 03, 2008; ... BIRMINGHAM - The Institute for Social Policy & Understanding (ISPU) hosted its annual event on April 25, 2008, at The Townsend hotel in Birmingham, MI, focusing on the many political and social issues faced by Arab Americans and American Muslims today. ISPU is a nonprofit research ...
New restaurant serves Westland well
May 03, 2008; ... WESTLAND - With such UtUe competition in Westland, it would have been easy for Al-Nor Restaurant to skimp on the quality of its ingredients. But when the restaurant opened on February 10th, 2008, it did so with one goal in mind: to offer up Middle Eastern fare similar to the La Shish ...
American Cancer Society * Relay For Life Dearborn
May 03, 2008; ... DEARBORN - Relay For Life is a time for Dearborn to come together as a community to celebrate survivors of cancer, remem- ; ber those lost to cancer, and to fight back against a disease that takes too much from too many. As they celebrate life and hope at the Relay For Life of Dearborn, ...
The prospects for Syrian-Israeli peace
May 10, 2008; ... Turkey's prime minister seems determined to bring Israel and Syria to the negotiating table A faintly hopeful aspect of the current frost between Syria and Israel is that Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan seems determined to bring the two countries to the negotiating table ....
Hillary, Rush, Michigan and Florida
May 10, 2008; ... Hillary's speech on the night of her squeaker of a win in Indiana was pure chutzpah. Before the vote was even tallied - and while it was still too close to call for CNN - she announced she'd won the "tie-breaker" (even though she had already lost so badly in North Carolina that, even with her ...
Pressure to cut costs, troops strains "surge"
May 10, 2008; ... WASHINGTON (IPS) - Growing impatience in Congress over the enormous costs being racked up by the Iraq war, as well as the Pentagon's belief that it needs more troops in Afghanistan to fight insurgents there, is putting the vaunted success of the George W. Bush administration's "surge" strategy ...
A human rights crime in Gaza
May 10, 2008; ... The world is witnessing a terrible human rights crime in Gaza, where a million and a half human beings are being imprisoned with almost no access to the outside world by sea, air, or land. An entire population is being brutally punished. This gross mistreatment of the Palestinians in ...
Nasrallah hits out at government
May 10, 2008; ... BEIRUT - Hizbullah's leader Hassan Nasrallah has warned that any crackdown by the government on the Shi'a organizaion would be tantamount to a "declaration of war." Hassan Nasrallah's comments were broadcast on television on Thursday, as street clashes in Lebanon between government ...
Why we're not celebrating
May 10, 2008; ... Between December 1947 and December 1950, over 530 Palestinian villages and towns were destroyed. Half of the Palestinians were ethnically cleansed by underground Zionist forces even before Israel was unilaterally declared a state. Palestinians call these events of the late 1940s the Nakba ...
Troubles pile up in Yemen
May 10, 2008; ... This year, Yemen's President M Abdallah Saleh, 66, celebrates his 30th year in power - a record of political longevity beaten among Arab heads of state only by Muammar al-Qadhafi, Libya's ruler since 1969. But, whereas Qadhafi's Libya, flush with oil money, is enjoying an unprecedented ...
Finklestein: Middle East powder keg ready to blow
May 10, 2008; ... According to Norman Finklestein, not only Israel and the Arab world but all of us may be on the edge of the pit. Speaking at the University of Ottawa on May 2 at a meeting sponsored by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, he said that Hizbullah could undertake an attack on Israel ...
The Israeli project has failed in Lebanon
May 10, 2008; ... Why the Bush administration wants to negotiate now with Hizbullah Note: This is the second installment in Franklin Lamb's extraordinary series. The third and fourth installments will appear in the next two issues. DAHIYEH - As discussed below, and contrary to conventional wisdom, ...
When will Israel learn?
May 10, 2008; ... In present form, it looks as if Israel might need another six decades to grasp that Middle East security is indivisible - in other words, that its own security cannot be won at the cost of the insecurity of its neighbors. For all its achievements over the past six decades, Israel has ...
Israel is suppressing a secret it must face
May 10, 2008; ... How did a Jewish state founded 60 years ago end up throwingfilth at cowering Palestinians? When you hit your 60th birthday, most of you will guzzle down your hormone replacement therapy with a glass of champagne and wonder if you have become everything you dreamed of in your youth. In a ...
Democrats okay funds for covert ops
May 10, 2008; ... Six weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, is "unprecedented in its scope." Bush's secret directive covers actions across a huge geographic area - from Lebanon to ...
The man behind the Mahdi Army
May 10, 2008; ... The man behind the Mahdi Army An excellent work, "Muqtada" ends off right where current events pick up with the recent Iraqi army attacks ordered by Nuri al-Maliki in southem Iraq, Basra in particular. The media view that this was purely an Iraqi effort is put into place with one of ...
Harold and Kumar offers cheap laughs, light politics, and little else
May 10, 2008; ... Harold and Kumar offers cheap laughs, light politics, and little else Just as the movie "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" hit theaters across the country, the reviled American prison camps were in the headlines once again. An Al-Jazeera cameraman detained by the American ...
What, if anything, is Arab American poetry?
May 10, 2008; ... What, if anything, is Arab American poetry? To what extent is "Arab American" a title that can be defined concisely rather than atmospherically? Does it carry any weight if it is externally and involuntarily imposed, rather than adopted willingly? Is it something to be championed and ...
Man charged with deed fraud
May 10, 2008; ... DEARBORN - A Grosse Pointe Woods man accused of swindling an elderly couple faces up to 38 years in prison after being charged on April 30. A preliminary hearing was to be held Friday. John Matouk, 41, was charged with forgery, uttering and publishing and false ...
A day to remember in Jericho
May 10, 2008; ... Caritas Jerusalem celebrates Mothers Day for members of the Ramallah Elderly Day Care Center with a special outing to Jericho JERUSALEM - Catholic relief group Caritas Jerusalem took members of its elderly day care center in Ramallah to Jericho on March 30 to celebrate Mother's ...
ACLU supports doctor fired from clinic
May 10, 2008; ... ANN ARBOR - The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has issued an opinion critical of Packard Community Clinic's policy regarding speech of employees. In a letter to Executive Director Kim Kratz, the ACLU states: " ... the policy is extremely broad and poses serious civil liberties ...
Annual Mother's Day brunch honors Rehab Amer
May 10, 2008; ... DEARBORN - The American-Arab AntiDiscrimination Committee (ADC) Greater Detroit Chapter celebrated exemplary mothers in the Arab American community during its Second Annual Mother's Day Brunch on Sunday, May 4, 2008, at the Bint Jebail Cultural Center here. The event hosted approximately ...
From Ugarit to the world
May 10, 2008; ... Syrian composer and pianist Malek Jandali is first Arab composer to arrange world's oldest music notation: 'Syria is the birthplace of alphabet, music and harmony.' Perhaps it was inevitable that Syrian composer and pianist Malek Jandali would one day find himself in Ugarit, Syria, ...
Anniversary should be turning point
May 10, 2008; ... As Israelis finalize preparations for their momentous 60th anniversary - a date marking 10 years of consistent economic growth and industrious expansion - there remains the underlying question that will go unanswered yet another decade: What will be done with the West Bank and the Golan Heights? ...
Business treats customers like family
May 10, 2008; ... DEARBORN - When it comes to comer auto repair shops, most places only care about one thing: their bottom line. But the problem with that philosophy is that sooner or later, customers find out, and most of the time, they don't come back. Luckily, Dabaja Tire Center on the corner of ...
Deeb to be awarded Ellis Island Medal of Honor
May 10, 2008; ... WARREN - Edward Deeb, native Detroiter and president and CEO of the Michigan Food and Beverage Association, and the Michigan Business and Professional Association, headquartered in Warren, MI, will be awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, at ceremonies on Ellis Island in New York City May 10 ....
Arab Americans oppose McCain slight
May 10, 2008; ... DEARBORN - With TV cameras and voice recorders rolling, a panel of Arab American and Muslim leaders spoke out about their perceived injustices with presidential campaign John McCain's treatment of local businessman Ali Jawad. The press conference, held at the Lebanese American Heritage ...
The five percent solution to America's crises
May 10, 2008; ... DEARBORN - Green Party U.S. presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney is hoping to get support from five percent of voters in November, in an attempt to change the way the country's political system operates, she said Monday in an interview with The Arab American News. In an appeal for ...
Women's Foundation honors ACC leader
May 10, 2008; ... NOVI - The Michigan Women's Foundation (MWF) hosted its 19th Annual Women of Achievement and Courage Celebrations by honoring five dynamic women who have made significant contributions to arts, advocacy and activism. As the first and most experienced statewide organization that supports and ...
The first song in the soundtrack of my life
May 10, 2008; ... My heavy eyelids slip slowly downwards. As they continue to droop I take one final, albeit increasingly blurry, look at the comforting image of my childhood bedroom. Upon my lush peach-coloted armchairs, I catch sight of my many beloved dolls, the dolls that never fail to entertain my ...
Bush hails Israel on 60th anniversary visit
May 17, 2008; ... On his second trip to Israel, President Bush will address the issue of settlement building and try to push for progress on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. JERUSALEM - President Bush landed here Wednesday to join the Jewish state in its 60th anniversary gala - ...
Edwards endorses Barack Obama
May 17, 2008; ... Hillary appears to be over, at least as president It was a weary and wistful Hillary Clinton who sat down with CNN's Wolf Blitzer and other network anchors for extended interviews on the day after her West Virginia victory. She knew that no matter what she said and how well she said it, ...
Jewish activists arrested disrupting community celebrations for Israeli anniversary
May 17, 2008; ... Jewish activists draw attention to 60 years of forced exile and dispossession in Palestine SAN FRANCISCO - Twenty Jewish activists were arrested while demonstrating opposition to Israel's 60 year-old policy of dispossession and highlighting the often-silenced Struggle of Palestinian ...
The Israeli project has failed in Lebanon
May 17, 2008; ... Note: This is the third installment in Franklin Lamb's extraordinary series. The fourth installment will appear in the next issue. DAHIYEH - Despite the media hype these days, many Middle East analysts as well as the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by former presidential ...
Iran shifts attention to brokering peace in Iraq
May 17, 2008; ... Details from a secret meeting between top Iranian and Iraqi officials signal Iran's aim to 'stop arming' militias ISTANBUL and BAGHDAD - Iran's role in helping broker a ceasefire in Baghdad's Sadr City may be the first sign that it is acting to fulfill recent promises to stop arming ...
Siege hits Palestinians before they are born
May 17, 2008; ... GAZA CITY (IPS) - The Israeli siege of Gaza that has restricted access to food, water and medicine is now beginning to hit unborn children and newborn babies. "Many babies are born suffering from anemia that they have inherited from their mothers," Dr. Salah Al-Rantisi, head of 'the ...
New Israeli scholars face up to country's origins
May 17, 2008; ... A former French ambassador reviews a wealth of texts documenting Israel's ugly history In the 1980s in Israel, a new generation of men and women who had not lived through the Holocaust or the creation of their country came of age intellectually and embarked on a remarkable period of ...
Israeli ambassador fears Muslim immigrants
May 17, 2008; ... On the occasion of Israel's 60th anniversary, Alan Baker, Israel's ambassador in Ottawa, expressed concern about the impact that the growing Muslim population in Canada would have on Canada's foreign policy. In spite of the strong pro-Israel stance of the current Conservative government, Baker ...
Lebanon's Sunni bloc built militia, officials say
May 17, 2008; ... The Future Movement used a security firm to assemble a private force, officials say. But the fighters were no match for Hizbullah. BEIRUT - For a year, the main Lebanese political faction backed by the U.S. built a Sunni Muslim militia here under the guise of private security companies, ...
Transformation in Lebanon
May 17, 2008; ... Events in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon continue to move erratically, with simultaneous gestures of political compromise and armed clashes that have left 46 dead in the past week. The consequences of what has happened in the past week may portend an extraordinary but constructive new ...
Refugees, peace activists mourn
May 17, 2008; ... As Israel celebrates 60 years of statehood, Palestinians worldwide mourn the loss of their homes and homeland. While one people - Jews fleeing persecution in Europe - gained a country, another people - the land's indigenous Palestinians -lost nearly everything they had. In 1948 ...