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Latest Updates: |
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The Status of Immigrants in New Jersey (pdf)
Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity, a Landmark
Report , (pdf)
The
Politics of Getting Published: The
Struggle of Arab-American Writers
Obama Goes for
the Kill?
What Will
Obama Say in Cairo?
Arab Humor .
. . No Joke
Standing
with the Perpetrator: US State Attorneys defend
Israeli atrocities in Gaza
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Feature Articles and Commentary
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"Every Deed Begins with a Word"
Dalia Mogahed is a member of US President Obama's
Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood
Partnerships. The devout Muslim counters criticism
of Obama's Cairo speech by pointing out that it
represents only the first stage in what will be a
long dialogue process.
By Amira El Ahl |
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Jordanian Cinema:
"Captain Abu Raed""
Captain Abu Raed" is the first feature-length film
from Jordan. The debut film of the
Jordanian-American director Amin Matalqa has been
awarded numerous international prizes.
Martina Sabra had
a look at the film |
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Ignore Hamas and assure violence |
Some Hamas leaders back two-state solution
Fawaz A. Gerges
Now that the guns have fallen silent and the dust is
settling over Gaza, it is time to revisit the
received wisdom in Israel, the United States and
some European quarters that Hamas is a monolithic,
al-Qaida-like terrorist organization bent on
Israel's destruction and that, therefore, Israel has
no choice but to isolate Hamas and use overwhelming
force to overcome it.
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How
and what to teach about 9/11? |
Teaching about
9/11
Aref Assaf
While we laud the State’s effort to develop
a supplemental curriculum to be offered in public
schools about the significance of the horrific
attacks, we however believe the effort would be
incomplete without active participation of and
consultation with our community. We have qualified
Arab and Muslim organizations, educators and
academics whose expertise and views of the world is
pivotal to a more compressive, accurate
interpretation of the "ultimate teachable moment" in
American history.
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Reviving the Arab Peace Initiative: A Way Out of the
Impasse?
Does new
Israeli interest in the Arab Peace Initiative
however tentative and partial represent a softening
of the earlier rejectionist stance that could lead
to successful negotiations? There is little evidence
to support such a thesis. Rather, Israeli
politicians have expressed interest in the API only
after it has been made clear that it does not mean
what it says and likely with the intention of
extracting further benefits for Israel in the form
of normalization with Arab states without conceding
anything to the Palestinians.
More |
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Fifteen Years on from the Oslo Accords From
Asymmetry to Apathy
The altered balance of
international and regional power, continued
settlement growth and acts of violence by radical
Palestinian groupings have brought all hope to a
standstill. Hisham Adem spoke to Jibril Rajoub,
Margret Johannsen, and Akiva Eldar on the legacy of
Oslo.
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To-do list in the Middle East |
The next President and the
Middle East, the must do list
Listen carefully when a new president is inaugurated
next January for the sigh of relief coming from most
of those Middle Easterners whom President Bush
embraced as allies. Conversely, Bush’s rivals in the
region are likely to tune in to the occasion in a
disgruntled mood. For them the Bush years have been
good for business. The menu of grievances on which
they’ve fed has become a veritable feast. Opposition
to American designs in the region -- deployed with
different emphases and with different goals by
al-Qaeda, Iran, Hamas, Syria, and Hezbollah, to name
but a few -- has been an easy sell and has won
countless new adherents.
Daniel Levy writes |
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De-Westernization and Objectivity |
Arab Journalism:
Between De-Westernization and Objectivity
The growing ranks of media experts expressing
opinions on the state of Arab journalism have come
to the conclusion that, in spite of the increased
number of sources, origins and contents, they all
come under the heading of something that is
ideologically evil. This has justified a significant
number of institutions (both governmental and non)
with the objective of providing assistance to
improve Arab journalism and encourage greater
freedom for the media in that region. Arab scholars,
however, tend to see things differently and believe
that Western programming in Arabic is in fact an
euphemism for the word "propaganda".
Read more |
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What Muslims Really Think? |
What Muslims Really Think?
Dr. Fawaz Gerges
In this critical essay, Dr. Fawaz
Gerges disputes the myth that the Muslim world holds
a monolithic and existentially antagonistic view
toward the United States.
Drawing on existing literature as
well as his own extensive research, he shows that
Muslims hold a vast range of opinions on foreign
policy, but that by and large their anti-American
antagonism is rooted in policy differences, rather
than fundamental religious or cultural differences.
Moreover, he shows that support for terrorism and Al
Qaeda, never strong to begin with, is fast on the
wane.
More
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The New Arab Diplomacy |
The New Arab Diplomacy: Not With the U.S. and Not
Against the U.S
A paper offered by Marina Ottaway and Mohammed
Herzallah examines the "new assertiveness and
diplomatic activism" of countries in the Middle East
apart from American foreign policy leadership. The
paper, available through the Carnegie Middle East
Program, is titled, "The New Arab Diplomacy: Not
With the U.S. and Not Against the U.S."
Click here to read the document
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Taking Sides |
Rendering public opinion irrelevant
A new WorldPublicOpinion.org
poll of 18 countries finds that in 14 of them people
mostly say their government should not take sides in
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Just three
countries favor taking the Palestinian side (Egypt,
Iran, and Turkey) and one is divided (India). No
country favors taking Israel's side,
including the United States,
where 71 percent favor taking neither side.
More |
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Ignorance or a deliberate policy? |
The US in the Mideast:
ignorance abroad
American
policy-making throughout the Middle East remains
defined largely by three principal forces:
pro-Israeli interests and lobbies in the United
States that pander almost totally to Israeli
government positions; an almost genetic, if
understandable, need to respond to the 9/11 terror
attack against the US by politically and militarily
striking against Middle Eastern targets; and a
growing determination to confront and contain Iran
and its assorted Sunni and Shiite Arab allies.
Rami khory writes |
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Why do they Love us? |
Misreading the
Arab Media
Rather
than being the enemy, most Arab journalists are potential allies whose agenda
broadly tracks the stated goals of United States Middle East policy and who can
be a valuable conduit for explaining American policy to their audiences. Many
see themselves as agents of political and social change who believe it is their
mission to reform the antidemocratic regimes they live under. When asked to name
the top 10 missions of Arab journalism, they cited political reform, human
rights, poverty and education as the most important issues facing the region,
trumping Palestinian statehood and the war in Iraq. More from the
NYT |
Israel has received more than 50% of total
US foregin aid!
What did the US get in return? |
By Alison Weir
April
1st I participated in a debate in San Francisco that
raised the question of US aid to Israel.
It was highly appropriate that this debate was held
two weeks before tax day, since in Israel’s sixty
years of existence, it has received more US tax
money than any other nation on earth.
During periods of recession, when Americans are
thrown out of work, homes are repossessed, school
budgets cut and businesses fail, Congress continues
to give Israel massive amounts of our tax money;
currently, about 7 million dollars per day.
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Tracking Transience is all
about taking the intrusive "counter-terror" measures
introduced after 9/11 one step further, to the point
of absurdity.
Tracking Transience can be seen
here.
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The eye
of the beholder
"Art is
in the eye of the beholder," as the saying goes.
What is deep and profound to one is just a
meaningless mess of images to another; or in
some cases, smut. The same goes for terrorism —
one man's terrorist is another man's freedom
fighter, and the distinction is based as much on
perception and personal bias as it is on facts.
Unfortunately, for many Americans, a
dark-skinned Muslim with a name like Mohammed,
Ali or Hasan warrants suspicion for being a
terrorist, to be detained and questioned at
places like airports and be sent on their way,
sans dignity. In some cases, people have been
jailed and harassed because their name resembled
someone else's on a watch list.
More
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Online Arab Journalism and views of US |
The Image of the United
States Portrayed in Arab World Online
Journalism
This study is trying to examine to
what extent the online journalism in the Arab World
has adopted biased coverage of the United States.
The study hopes to provide a current assessment of
how the U.S. is portrayed in Arab World online
journalism. This valid, updated information will
enable researchers and communicators alike to better
understand not only what is being done, but may lead
to ways of providing a solid basis for better
dealing with American issues and images in the
future More
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The Racial Divide
Turning a Blind Eye to Injustice
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Race & Ethnicity in America
The American Civil Liberties Union today released a
comprehensive analysis of the pervasive systemic and
structural racism in America. The report,
Race & Ethnicity in America: Turning a Blind Eye to
Injustice, is a response to the U.S. report
to the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination (CERD) released earlier
this year. The U.S. report, which the ACLU called a
“whitewash,” swept under the rug the dramatic
effects of widespread racial and ethnic
discrimination in this country.
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The Arab World Competitiveness
Report 2007
United Arab Emirates is the
most competitive economy in the Arab world among the
countries at the third and most advanced stage of
development according to The Arab World
Competitiveness Report 2007. The Arab World
Competitiveness Report series serves as a platform
for public-private dialogue on issues related to
competitiveness, as is being witnessed at the Arab
World Competitiveness.
More
View a 4-minute video about the
Report
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Overview of Arab American Media
in the United States
There are a total of 81 newspapers
and national magazines or newsletters that currently
produce news in the United States, the majority
serving Arab American populations in 5 regions and
in 22 states. Several distribute editions through
mailed subscriptions across the country. Yet, 28
states do not have official home based Arab American
newspapers. (This list is compiled by members of
NAAJA, the National Arab American Journalism
Association.
Click here for a study report
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Privacy Statement from American Arab Forum |
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More Features
and Commentary, Click Here |
; "photo: Captainaburaed.com")
;)
The autumn/winter edition of
Banipal Magazine is dedicated to the
memory of Palestinian poet Mahmoud
Darwish.
Click here for more...