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Feature Articles and Commentary
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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.
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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".
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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 Mmonolithic 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.
Read the entire article here
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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."
Clcik 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.
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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.
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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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