Author Archives: Arab America

Mona Eltahawy will be speaking in Toronto about her new book Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution. By: Sadiya Ansari The Star.com Controversy ensued after Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy wrote a piece in 2012 for Foreign Policy magazine declaring, “The real war on women is in the Middle East.” It … Continued

[Left to right] Michele (Shaheen) Tasoff (daughter of Dr. Jack Shaheen), Evelyn Alsultany (friend and colleague of Dr. Khaled Mattawa), Maha Freij (ACCESS Deputy Executive Director & CFO), Arab American of the Year Dr. Khaled Mattawa, Arab American of the Year Dr. Jack Shaheen, Bernice Shaheen (wife of Dr. Jack Shaheen), ACCESS Executive Director Hassan … Continued

am reaching out to you from Special Olympics World Games in hopes that you will pass the following message along to your members that might be interested in this opportunity! “With 7,000 athletes and 3,000 coaches representing 177 countries, along with 30,000 volunteers and an anticipated 500,000 spectators, the 2015 Special Olympics World Games – … Continued

  Drop whatever you are doing and sit down to watch this afternoon’s talk by Palestinian lawmaker and Member of the Israeli Knesset Haneen Al Zoubi at the Jerusalem Fund in Washington, DC. Al Zoubi described Israel’s racist treatment of its 1.7 million Palestinian citizens. It has two different legal systems—one for Jews and the other for Palestinians, with more … Continued

When Mohammad Saba’aneh was growing up in Kuwait, his parents used to show him newspapers featuring the work of Naji al-Ali, the famous Palestinian cartoonist who published in Kuwaiti papers. Al-Ali’s cartoons were used to tell the young Saba’aneh about Palestine.

Today, the 36-year-old follows in the footsteps of al-Ali by creating political cartoons about the Arab world, and particularly the plight of the Palestinians.

Source: mondoweiss.net

Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday kicked off a visit to Washington, where he announced that his political camp is trying to spare Lebanon any repercussions from the “drastic disputes” with Hizbullah.

“We must exert efforts to end the rift and elect a president for Lebanon,” said Hariri after talks with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the U.S. capital.

“Lebanon is in the eye of the storm and there are drastic disputes with Hizbullah, but we’re trying to spare Lebanon the impact of the disagreement with Hizbullah,” he added.

The ex-PM also slammed “the role of Iran in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen” as “nonconstructive,” revealing that he discussed with Kerry “means to steer Lebanon clear of the current crises.”

Hariri noted that any foreign support must be offered to “the Lebanese state, not to parties in Lebanon,” pointing out that the recent Saudi donations were offered “to the Lebanese army, not to Lebanese parties.”

Turning to Syria, Hariri called for “putting an end to the regime” in Damascus because “it killed its people.”

Asked whether Syria might witness an Arab operation similar to the Saudi-led Decisive Storm in Yemen, Hariri said: “We hope it will move to Syria.”

The so-called “defiant” Syrian regime “did not carry out any act against Israel,” Hariri added.

Before the meeting with Kerry, Hariri had warned that “the involvement of certain factions like Hizbullah and Iran … in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen has grown to a point that is extremely dangerous.”

Noting that “Iran is a country that we all need to deal with,” Hariri underlined that the Lebanese people reject any “interference” in their domestic affairs.

And as he thanked Washington for its support for the Lebanese army, Hariri reminded that “we’re facing Daesh; we’re facing Nusra (Front) and we’re facing al-Qaida on our border.”

For his part, Kerry emphasized that the U.S. remains “committed to Lebanon’s stability and security.”

“We’re anxious to see the presidency ultimately filled and to try to see the effects of Daesh and Nusra and Syria moved away from Lebanon so that Lebanon can really have its sovereignty respected and its future protected and guaranteed,” the top U.S. diplomat added.

“We are very opposed to entities like Hizbullah and others using locations and places in Lebanon and nearby as pawns in this struggle,” he stated.

Kerry also called on Iran, Syria and other parties to “respect the integrity of Lebanon, and permit it and its people to be able to find the peace and the stability that they have longed for so long.”

“We will continue to support the Lebanese Armed Forces and the forces of moderation and those who want to work together peacefully to provide the future that the people of Lebanon deserve,” he added.

Hariri had kick-started his Washington visit by meeting congressmen of Lebanese origin.

California Congressman Darrell Issa, who is Lebanese-American, said Hariri stressed the importance of resolving the presidential stalemate, which is a “priority.”

“It constitutes a glimmer of hope,” Issa said.

MPs failed on several occasions to elect a new head of state over lack of quorum. President Michel Suleiman’s term ended in May without the election of a successor.

Hizbullah and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc have been boycotting electoral sessions due to a disagreement with the March 14 camp over a compromise presidential candidate.

Issa pointed out that Hariri briefed the congressmen on the needs of the Lebanese security forces and the challenges that the country is facing due to the Syrian refugee crisis.

Lebanon is hosting around 1.5 million Syrian refugees, an enormous strain for a country with a population of just four million. The UNHCR has regularly urged the international community to provide Lebanon with greater assistance to tackle the influx.

Hariri is expected to meet senior U.S. officials during his visit to Washington, including U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.

Sources close to the Lebanese official told al-Joumhouria newspaper that Hariri’s visit is to inspect the U.S. stance on the turmoil in the region and the possible repercussions on Lebanon.

Source: www.naharnet.com

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry late Thursday urging his agency to prioritize the evacuation of U.S. citizens stranded in Yemen amid airstrikes by Saudi Arabia.

“We have an obligation to make every possible effort to safely evacuate U.S. citizens from conflict zones,” wrote Dingell, a Democrat whose district includes a significant Yemeni-American community.

“It is critical that you work with our allies in the region to explore alternative options for the safe evacuation of U.S. citizens in Yemen.”

Saudi Arabia announced an end to its air campaign Tuesday but this week bombings have continued targeting Houthi rebels backed by Iran. The Houthis invaded Yemen’s capital last year and this month forced its president from the country.

Dingell’s office and Arab-American advocacy groups in Michigan are continuing to receive calls from Yemeni Americans desperate for information and help for family members trapped in the war-ravaged country. Roughly 12,000 Americans of Yemini descent live in southeastern Michigan.

The U.S. pulled diplomats and security personnel out of Yemen earlier this year, but the State Department has said it has no plans to evacuate 55,000 Americans living in Yemen.

This week, the department set up a website where U.S. citizens in Yemen can sign up to receive information and updates from the agency, which is collaborating with allies in the region and groups such as the International Organization for Migration, which are evacuating refugees.

“We have let Americans know that have signed up with the State Department how they can avail themselves of these opportunities,” Marie Harf, acting spokeswoman for the State Department, told reporters Thursday. “We also have been warning for many, many years now that people should not travel to Yemen.”

The Michigan Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is part of a federal lawsuit against President Barack Obama and Kerry for failing to evacuate 55,000 Americans from the war-ravaged nation.

“It is evident from the sheer lack of action by the federal government that it places a low premium on the lives of Americans of Yemeni descendent,” CAIR-Michigan director Dawud Walid said in a statement last week.

Source: www.detroitnews.com

If the best way to celebrate and teach others about culture is through good food and comedy, then the fourth annual Arab American Art and Film night was a success.

The event, organized by the Arab American Heritage Council, attracted more than 40 people Sunday, April 26, to the Flint Institute of Arts.

“When you can share people’s art, culture and humor, it’s a good way to understand them,” said Jeanette Mansour, board chairwoman of the Arab American Heritage Council. “It’s a softer way to address serious issues.”

One such issue — the misidentification of Arab Americans on the U.S. census form — was addressed by comedian, producer and college professor Amer Zahr.

“We’re Not White,” a documentary written and produced by Zahr and shot mostly in the Detroit area, was screened at the event.

The movie highlights the discrimination Arab Americans face, Zahr said, when they are forced to identify as “white” on census forms.

Zahr said his intention was to educate those who did not know about the issue and convey the importance of it through comedy, expert testimony and “man on the street” interviews.

“The political power of numbers is something we don’t have access to,” he said, asserting that it is a civil rights issue many do not recognize.  “We don’t have the same tools in our toolbox as other minority groups.”

The event also featured two spoken-word poetry performances, a stand-up comedy set by Zahr, a spread of traditional Arabic food and a table of accessories and art pieces from the Arab American National Museum.

The event cost $10 per person, but Mona Sahouri, executive director of the Arab American Heritage Council, said it was not intended as a fundraiser but as an easily accessible opportunity for cultural exposure in the Flint community.

“In post-9/11 America, our job has become more important,” Sahouri said. “We are here to celebrate and promote Arab culture in the Flint community and to take charge in combating racism and stereotypes while promoting inclusion.” 

Source: www.mlive.com

After nearly three hours of heated discussion, the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico’s senators failed Resolution 12S by a vote of 4-14-2 at their final Senate meeting of the semester on Wednesday.
The legislation would have called upon the University to be transparent in its investments, and it specifically urged UNM to pressure companies, such as Hewlett-Packard and Caterpillar contributing to the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine.
The debate also included comments from several student organizations. About 70 students, teachers, alumni and others packed the gallery, which was clearly divided into supporters and opponents of the resolution: specifically, Students for Justice in Palestine, who authored the resolution, and Lobos for Israel and their respective allies who opposed it.
Andrew Balis, president of Lobos for Israel, said his group’s main concern was what the resolution implied about their country.
“(The resolution) serves that Israel must be dismantled. It will foster an environment of hostility on campus,” he said. “Instead of adopting a resolution that seeks to harm a country politically, ASUNM should foster discussion.”
Elisabeth Perkal, a member of SJP, said that neglecting to put focus on Israel would contradict the group’s objective.
“The reason we wanted to talk about Israel is because it’s important to us that we call out the racist and colonialized policies of that country,” she said. “It doesn’t target a student group, it addresses the state of Israel and these corporations.”
There were multiple points of contention contributing to the length and climate of the discussion, but the dividing line was between senators who prioritized the safety of Israeli students on campus and those who supported Palestinian students and the occupation in their home country first and foremost.
Many senators, including Kyle Stepp and Alex Cervantes, felt that the resolution should fail so that a more complete legislation focused on general transparency can be brought before ASUNM in the future, without alienating certain groups.
Stepp said bringing in more student organizations, as well as focusing on a more globalized picture instead of only a handful of companies to divest from, would make the resolution even stronger.
“Right now this room is divided, but imagine if this room was together, with every single person behind a resolution saying that we want to divest from companies that commit human rights violations in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, in America,” he said. “That’s what we can do if everyone came together.”
Still, some senators believed that it was common sense to immediately support those living in a Palestinian warzone. Sen. Udell Calzadillas Chavez said delaying the resolution would do more harm than good.
“This is something that must be addressed now,” he said. “If we wait, people are going to be dying, people are going to be suffering. We live in a globalized society, and we cannot look to the side when atrocities are being made.”
Sen. Tori Pryor said it was a problem that the resolution didn’t focus on the climate at UNM and the potential impact the resolution would have domestically.
She cited previous resolutions, such as legislation condemning Islamophobia and supporting undocumented students, as ones that were successful because they did not “shift the climate of fear” from one group to another, as she and many senators believed Resolution 12S would if passed.
“You have to value perception more than, if not just as much as, you value intention,” she said. “We want safety for everyone. We listen to our Palestinian students; should we not listen to our Israeli students?”
ASUNM senators weren’t the only ones contributing to the dialogue. On multiple occasions they yielded time for additional comments from those in attendance.
The conversation eventually turned into a debate, and then came to resemble a court case, each organization pleading its side, directly addressing the other group and leaving the floor to raucous applause from supporters.
Several backers of the resolution pointed to its urgency, insisting that it was something that simply could not wait. Izzy Mustafa, a Palestinian-American and member of SJP, said that the senators’ concerns were minute in comparison to those who must live in the occupation.
“I will not tolerate people ignoring the plight of our existence,” she said. “There’s a difference between feeling uncomfortable on campus and not knowing if you’re going to have a life when you go back home.”
Mustafa was among the most vocal supporters, saying it was imperative the resolution pass, and reciting several anecdotes of human rights violations and cruelty she had witnessed in her home country.
“Think about the people who are closest to you and think about not knowing if you’re ever going to see them again,” she said. “UNM is like home to me, and I don’t want home for me to affect another home.”
Alex Rubin, a senior majoring in economics, said that although the resolution does not claim to target individual students, its direction is implied nonetheless.
“If this vote were to pass, I would no longer feel safe,” he said. “I would no longer feel comfortable as a Jewish student.”
Calzadillas Chavez, one of three senators who sponsored the resolution, proposed an amendment removing two clauses referring to the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement that UNM must take part in, citing that as the main source of contention.
It passed, but Balis and Lobos for Israel were not swayed.
“No matter what you strike, the thing is the same,” Balis said. “It’s still calling for BDS even if you don’t talk about it. For that reason we still can’t accept this.”
Sen. Nadia Cabrera eventually expressed her disappointment in how the discussion between senators had gone, questioning the ways they were arriving at certain conclusions.
“I think we’re letting the politics of the people in this room cloud our judgment,” she said.
The resolution had to be called into question six times, meaning the Senate was ready to vote on it, though it usually only takes one or two tries. The vote to call into question requires a two-thirds vote of the Senate, and multiple times it failed by only one affirmation before the resolution was finally voted on around 9:45 p.m., nearly four hours after the meeting began.
Soon after the vote, SJP’s twitter account, @UNMSJP, tweeted “Divestment resolution failed. 4-14-2. We’ll be back next semester, with an even stronger coalition! #UNMDivest.”
After the vote, Sen. Rebecca Hampton, one of the bill’s co-sponsors, resigned from ASUNM.

Source: www.dailylobo.com

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel has added the name of a Palestinian teen to its “Monument to the Memory of the Victims of Terrorism”, upsetting the youth’s parents and a group representing families of slain Israelis with both demanding his name be removed.

Sixteen-year-old Mohammed Khudair, according to a murder indictment, was burned alive in July in Jerusalem by three Israelis avenging the deaths of three Jewish teenagers killed by Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank a month earlier.

Both incidents drew world attention and Israel, citing a nationalist motive for Khudair’s death, swiftly declared the Palestinian youth a “victim of terrorism”, enabling his family in occupied East Jerusalem to receive Israeli state stipends.

His accused murderers are still on trial, and the case has largely faded from public attention.

Source: news.yahoo.com

Five artists of Arab origin feature in the exhibition Artistic Weapons of Mass Communication at Brooklyn’s Five Myles Gallery.

Running until 24 May, the show includes the work of Palestinian American artists Mary Tuma, John Halaka and Rajie Cook, as well as Arab Iranian Samira Abbassy and Egyptian Ganzeer.

Curator Souhad Rafey has said: “With the Middle East in focus, the show reflects opposition to wars of aggression, military occupations of foreign lands and the necessary change to the destructive reality of ‘empire as a way of life.’”

John Halaka’s work, which uses complex drawings full of light and shade, has been widely shown across Europe and North America in recent years. In the photographic-based works on offer here, he “puts a human face on the abstract notion of the displaced masses, making the experiences of the refugees more real, comprehensible and unforgettable,” according to Rafey.

Mary Tuma’s fabric-based works, which grew out of her training in sewing and weaving, focus on a sense of loss and displacement which, she has stated, is present in much of her work.

Tuma has said of works similar to those in the Brooklyn show that “An empty dress implies absence and for me, once the dress is sheer it begins to be like a memory or a shadow…”

The gallery’s website highlights how her “use of old fabrics and found objects is important in creating a work or environment that evokes a feeling of loss, or distant memory. She is interested in the sorting of images from the past, images that are like shadows or ghosts, something not quite whole and no longer real but still of great influence and power.”

And Rajie Cook’s contribution to the show consists of “intricate miniature silent theaters, small boxes attached to the wall, that convey his feelings about the tragic situation in the Middle East.”

One such box resembles a fire extinguisher. With “Gaza” written on its side, the box’s interior is stuffed with dolls’ heads. 

Cook insists that “I take pride in who I am and where my roots are. As a Palestinian American artist I feel strongly, as any artist would, about expressing my feelings and experiences relating to human rights … justice and freedom … living and dying … about hurting … about pride.”

Source: electronicintifada.net

Hollywood star Salma Hayek, in her ancestral homeland Lebanon for the first time, launched the global premiere of her animated adaptation of Kahlil Gibran’s celebrated novel The Prophet on Monday.

The Mexican actress and director described the movie version of the Lebanese author’s spiritually-uplifting book as a “love letter to my heritage”. She said the adaptation, which features an all-star cast, was a “personal film” because her Lebanese grandfather loved The Prophet.

“Through this book, I got to know my grandfather. Through this book, I had my grandfather teaching me about life,” said the star, who has been in Lebanon since Friday.

The Prophet, now in its 163rd edition, is widely considered the second most-read book in the world, after the Bible.
The movie adaptation, being screened in Beirut on Monday evening, features the voices of Hayek, along with actors Liam Neeson, Alfred Molina and Frank Langella.

A collection of poems and prose, originally written in English, The Prophet has been translated into more than 40 languages since its first publication in 1923.

It tells the story of Almustafa, who before returning to his homeland, speaks to residents of the city of Orphalese about different aspects of life – love, work, children, friendship and death.

The movie is entirely animated, with dream-like fantasy sequences as Almustafa – called simply Mustafa in the film – shares his wisdom before being expelled by authorities because of his poetry.

Divided into 26 chapters, verses from The Prophet are often quoted at births, weddings and funerals around the world.

“Your children are not your children, they come through you but not from you,” one popular line reads.

“When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep,” reads another, a regular at weddings.

Gibran wrote most of his books in the United States, where he headed the New York Pen League, the first Arab-American literary society, although he was born in Lebanon under Ottoman rule.

Hayek said visiting Lebanon had allowed her to realise an “old dream” of visiting the birthplace of Gibran, the country’s most famous writer.

She said she hoped her adaptation of the book would demonstrate “to the world that there is an Arabic writer who wrote philosophy and poetry, who brought all religions and all the world together, and has sold more than one hundred million copies around the world for many generations”.

“We wanted to do (him) justice, we want the world to remember” him.

Despite his popularity among readers, Gibran’s most famous work received a lukewarm reception at the time of writing from American critics, who criticised it as simplistic and moralising.

Hayek’s adaptation, first screened at the 2014 Toronto Film Festival, is an international effort involving 10 directors and nine producers from Canada, France, Lebanon, Qatar and the United States.

It will begin screening publicly in Lebanon from April 30, and in the United States during the summer.

Hayek said the adaptation was animated in a bid to better convey Gibran’s message to a younger generation, with the script produced by Roger Allers, who directed Disney’s The Lion King.

The film is scored by French-Lebanese composer Gabriel Yared, who worked on The English Patient.

In tribute to Gibran, Hayek’s visit to Lebanon included a stop in his hometown of Bsharre, where the writer was buried after he died in 1931, aged just 48, of tuberculosis.

Gibran, whose novels include Broken Wings and Spirits Rebellious, was considered something of a rebel in his time and was critical of political and religious authoritarianism.

That theme is reflected in Hayek’s adaptation, which sees Almustafa placed under house arrest and expelled because his poems are considered a “call to rebellion”.

Hayek also acknowledged the region’s ongoing political turmoil during her visit to Lebanon, meeting with some of the nearly 1.2 million Syrian refugees living in the country.

She urged donations to support refugee children. “The conflict should not mean that an entire generation is lost,” said Hayek.

Source: www.straitstimes.com