Author Archives: Arab America

Arab Orthodox youths in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem are accusing ruling Greek monks of selling church land to Israel and discriminating against the Arab Christian flock.

By Ahmad Melhem, trans.Kamal Fayad, Al Monitor / Palestine Pulse
January 20, 2015

 The Greek Orthodox Church in Palestine and Jordan is witnessing a movement akin to an intifada against Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, Palestine and Jordan over actions that organizers of the movement call “racist and wasteful.”

On Dec. 27, the executive committee of the Arab Central Orthodox Council in Palestine and Jordan began a campaign against the patriarch, coinciding with his participation in Christmas celebrations. A number of protesters raised banners that read “unworthy” during sit-ins and marches organized in Bethlehem on Jan. 6 and posted “Theophilos is unworthy” on social networking sites.

Movement organizers accuse the patriarch of “diverting church lands to Israel and making unfair decisions against Arab monks,” the latest being the removal from office of Archimandrite Christophoros and the reduction of the salaries of Archbishop Atallah Hanna and Archimandrite Meletios Basal.

Protesting Arab Orthodox youths in Jordan and Palestine issued a Dec. 16 statement describing the decision as “uncanonical and taken by an unqualified synod,” adding, “Theophilos is not the legitimate patriarch of the Church of Jerusalem. He is unworthy of trust and neither he nor his synod represents us or represents the Arab Orthodox flock in Jordan and Palestine.”

Source: jfjfp.com

is graphic keeps a track of the death tolls, major figures and geographic location of the various conflagrations that together form the Arab-Israeli conflict. Of course this conflict is not simply about casualties on either side, or the transition of territory, but these facts are worth bearing in mind when one contemplates the historic origins of a constantly mutating conflict.

Source: madefrom.com

Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is known to have a wicked sense of humor, and some mean driving skills. One day back in 1998, she deployed both spectacularly to punk Saudi Arabia’s late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz. Back then, Abdullah was a Saudi crown prince visiting Balmoral, the vast royal estate in Scotland. The Queen had offered him a tour of the grounds—here’s what happened next, according to former British ambassador to Saudi Arabia Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles:

The royal Land Rovers were drawn up in front of the castle. As instructed, the Crown Prince climbed into the front seat of the Land Rover, with his interpreter in the seat behind. To his surprise, the Queen climbed into the driving seat, turned the ignition and drove off. Women are not—yet—allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, and Abdullah was not used to being driven by a woman, let alone a queen. His nervousness only increased as the queen, an Army driver in wartime, accelerated the Land Rover along the narrow Scottish estate roads, talking all the time. Through his interpreter, the Crown Prince implored the Queen to slow down and concentrate on the road ahead.

Royal custom discourages repeating what the Queen says in private, Cowper-Coles explained, but the anecdote was corroborated by Abdullah, and became, in the diplomat’s words, “too funny not to repeat.”

Abdullah went on to cultivate the image of a reformer as king. One thing he didn’t change, despite the Queen’s badass stunt: women still can’t drive in Saudi Arabia.

Source: www.motherjones.com

The Strategic Report of the Supreme Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research, soon to be submitted to King Mohammed VI, is recommending replacing French with English in Moroccan Curriculum, according to sources in the government.

The recent session of the General Assembly of the Council saw a heated debate over adopting the English language as a medium of instruction in Moroccan schools. Many members of the Permanent Committee on Curriculum, Programs, Trainings and Teaching Tools, hailed the proposal while others defended the use of French. Even though the proposal did not gain unanimous approval, the idea paved the way for adopting the recommendation in the strategic report.

Last July, the Minister of National Education and Vocational Training, Rashid Ben Moukhtar, signed a new partnership agreement with Martin Rose, the head of British Council Morocco, to establish the Moroccan International Baccalaureate in English option. Last year, several officials and ministers called for the adoption of English in the Moroccan educational system.

Lahcen Daoudi, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Training, has expressed the government’s willingness to adopt English in the kingdom’s educational system on many occasions, stressing that “English is the world language for scientific research.”

Source: www.moroccoworldnews.com

In a video posted on YouTube, the mosque’s security cameras recorded the shocking moment the man drops dead while praying Al-Fajr prayer.

The incident apparently took place in November.

Two men rushed towards the victim who was having a heart attack in what appeared to be at first an attempt to rescue him. They simply moved him aside and continued with their prayer.

No one was shown in the video trying to perform CPR or intervene to save the man who was left dying alone against a pillar.

The indifference of the mosquegoers towards the man has angered many social media users, describing what happened as the result of “ignorance”.

Source: www.moroccoworldnews.com

ISIS militants have attacked Kirkuk in northern Iraq, an effort that might be an earnest attempt to capture the key oil-rich city or perhaps to divert Kurdish troops fighting to capture the Islamist extremist group’s stronghold of Mosul.

For months, ISIS has been facing off with the Peshmerga — armed fighters who protect Iraqi Kurdistan — to the west of Kirkuk. It had gone into areas on Kirkuk’s outskirts, but not the central city.

Until now, apparently.

Heavily armed militants attacked an abandoned hotel in central Kirkuk that local police had used as their headquarters.

Peshmerga and Kurdish anti-terror units later raided the hotel, wresting control of it from the militants and killing three of them, according to Peshmerga sources. In addition, two suicide bombers detonated themselves in an attempt to keep the Kurdish forces out.

Also Friday, ISIS militants took over Maktab Khalid, an area about 12 miles southwest of Kirkuk, after heavy clashes with the Peshmerga.

Among those killed was Brig. Gen. Shirko Fateh, the highest-ranking operational commander of the Peshmerga brigade located in Kirkuk.

Photos posted by ISIS purportedly show the group’s militants in control of parts of south and southwest Kirkuk, burning tents that had been used by Peshmerga troops.

Source: edition.cnn.com

Masjid Baiturrahman, in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, represents one of the first examples of a domed mosque in Southeast Asia.

Masjid Baiturrahman replaced a mosque built in 1872 by Sultan Nur al-Alam. The original mosque, named Mesjid Raya or Grand Mosque, was said to replicate a 1614 mosque built by Sultan Iskandar Muda with its layers of wide-hipped roofs. When the kingdom of Aceh resisted Dutch mercantile treaties in 1873, the Dutch invaded Banda Aceh, starting the 30 years Aceh War, and destroying the newly constructed Mesjid Raya. In an effort to persuade the Acehnese to end their resistance, the Dutch rebuilt this central mosque

The architect, de Bruchi, modeled the new mosque on a Mughal (ruled the Indian Subcontinent 1526-1858) plan which had not been seen before in Southeast Asia. Whereas the previous mosque was laid out on a square plan with a four-tiered roof, this new Dutch creation copied many stylistic elements of Mughal mosques. These Mughal elements were further embellished with Moorish* touches, such as the tear shaped arches and the arabesque plaster moldings.

In 1936 two side domes were added. In 1957 a fourth and fifth dome were added at the rear, completing a symbolism of the five pillars of the Indonesian Pancasila. Also, in 1957 two minarets were added and the mosque was renamed Masjid Baiturrahman.

Source: ismailimail.wordpress.com

Two major shifts in government on the Arabian Peninsula last week signal increasing instability and long-term impacts for the U.S.

Here’s what happened:

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia died on Friday after almost 10 years on the throne. Leadership was passed to his more conservative brother, King Salman, 79.

The Saudi government is an absolute monarchy influenced by the ultraconservative Wahhabi form of Sunni Islam. Nonetheless, they’ve been a close ally to the U.S. and a key strategic partner in anti-terrorism campaigns across the Middle East.

“These religious beliefs are fused with a family that maintains absolute power and through the benefits that they get from the oil industry, being as profitable as its been, they kind of buy their way into not having to democratize,” said Dr. Arbella Bet-Shlimon, Assistant Professor in the UW History Department and Jackson School of International Studies.

The Saudis monarchs have maintained control through strong religious beliefs and oil wealth, but the younger generation is starting to buck that system.

“They technically live by Islamic law, but its more complicated that that. The young Saudis are modern. They use technology, they’re educated, and they want to live in the modern world,” said Dr. Jawed Zouari, a Ph.D in History of the Middle East and current professor of Political Science at Seattle Central College.

King Abdullah was remembered by some as a reformer, making moves towards freedom of expression and more rights for women. But King Salam is known to be much more conservative.

“King Salam’s policies will be more stringent. He will probably be tougher on the Shia, tougher on the young Saudis who are rallying for rights and for freedom of expression,” Zouari said.

Source: www.seattleglobalist.com

The federal government is considering allowing those of Middle Eastern and North African descent to identify as such on the next 10-year Census, which could give Arab-Americans and other affected groups greater political clout and access to public funding, among other things.
The U.S. Census Bureau will test the new Middle East-North Africa (MENA) classification for possible inclusion on the 2020 Census if it gets enough positive feedback about the proposed change by Sunday, when the public comment period ends.

Arab-Americans, who make up the majority of those who would be covered by the MENA classification, have previously been classified by default as white on the Census, which helps determine congressional district boundaries and how billions of dollars in federal funding are allocated, among other things.

Those pushing for the MENA classification say it would more fully and accurately count them, thus increasing their visibility and influence among policymakers.

The Census Bureau plans to test it later this year by holding focus group discussions with people who would be affected by the proposed change. Congress would still have to sign off on the proposal before the change could be added to the 2020 Census.

“We know the challenges,” says Hassan Jaber, who runs a Detroit-area social services group and serves on a census advisory board formed to evaluate Americans’ changing racial and ethnic identities. “It really does take rethinking … who we are as a population and what our needs are, (but) there are specific needs for Arab Americans that are not being recognized and not being met.”

Jaber’s group, ACCESS, and others that serve U.S. Middle Eastern communities have been pushing for the new Census classification, which could also allow people to identify under sub-categories such as Assyrian or Kurdish.

“Frankly, being under MENA will also give us a chance for the first time for minorities within the Arab communities, such as Chaldeans, Berbers and Kurds, to self-identify,” said Jaber, a Lebanese-American who serves on the U.S. Census’ National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations.

Arabs have been coming to America in large numbers since the late 19th century and their ranks have grown in recent decades due to wars and political instability in the Middle East, with many settling in and around Detroit, New York and Los Angeles. The Census’ 2013 American Community Survey, which had a sample size of about 3 million addresses, estimated that 1.5 million people were of Arab ancestry in 2006-10.

Although Jaber thinks the public comment and testing periods should go well, he said it could be difficult getting congressional approval. Some Republican lawmakers are generally critical of the expense and intrusion of the Census and have sought to eliminate the community surveys, which, unlike the main decennial count, aren’t constitutionally mandated.

Source: www.pbs.org

The Israeli and Spanish armies will conduct a joint investigation into the death of a Spanish soldier who served in the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon and was killed in an exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah last Wednesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu phoned his Spanish counterpart Mariano Rajoy on Friday and conveyed his condolences and sorrow for the death of the Spanish soldier. He also thanked Rajoy for the Spanish presence in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The decision to hold the joint investigation was made during that call.

Rajoy, on his part, conveyed his condolences for the death of two Israeli soldiers, killed by Hezbollah fire on Wednesday, the Spanish PM’s office stated.

The conversation between Netanyahu and Rajoy was the peak of Israel’s conciliatory efforts vis-à-vis Madrid since the death of the Spanish soldier. The Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, announced on Wednesday that Spain is demanding the UN hold a quick and thorough probe of the incident, and laid the responsibility for the soldier’s death at Israel’s doorstep.

Jerusalem wishes to avoid a diplomatic crisis with Spain. This is because of the central role Spanish soldiers have in UNIFIL and because Spain will be a UN Security Council temporary member starting in January, and will vote on many Israel-related issues in the coming two years.

On Thursday, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon talked with his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Morenés, and conveyed his condolences to the soldier’s family and to the Spanish people. Ya’alon told Morenes that Hezbollah attacked an Israeli force with anti-tank missiles, and that the Spanish soldier, who was manning a post between the sides, was killed when the Israeli army returned fire.

Source: www.haaretz.com

Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement and Israel appeared Thursday to be seeking calm a day after clashes between the two raised concerns about another war erupting in the Middle East.

The volatile border zone was quiet, but both sides were on high alert after the fighting Wednesday that claimed the lives of two Israeli soldiers and a U.N. peacekeeper from Spain.Clashes in 2006 in the area led to a brief war that killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon and 165 in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the violence on Iran, which is Hezbollah’s primary financial backer and weapons supplier.

“It is Iran that is responsible,” he said at a memorial Thursday for former prime minister Ariel Sharon.

“This is the same Iran that is now trying to achieve an agreement, via the major powers, that would leave it with the ability to develop nuclear weapons,” he said in an apparent criticism of U.S.-led negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com