Blog — Gaza
Wednesday November 09, 2011
Since surely no AIPAC National Council Member would ever be so foolish as to falsely impersonate an “Arab Palestinian” in an effort to afford undue credibility to her condescending lecturing of Arabs, Pinkus must really be an Arab Palestinian! Read More »
Posted by Omar Baddar at 4:19 pm / / Leave a comment
Wednesday October 05, 2011
Congress officially announced on Monday that security aid to the Palestinian Authority as well as much needed humanitarian aid has been blocked in response to the Palestinian leadership’s attempt to gain UN recognition. “These are mainly humanitarian and development projects – it is another kind of collective punishment which is going to harm the needs of the public without any positive contribution,” PA spokesman Ghassan Khatib said. Read More »
Posted by Yasmine Taeb at 3:08 pm / / Leave a comment
Saturday October 01, 2011
Watch coverage of the Arab American Institute (AAI) and National Network for Arab American Communities' (NNAAC) joint three-day National Leadership Conference, September 30 - October 2, 2011, in Dearborn, Michigan. The National Leadership Conference is a quadrennial conference at which the Arab American community discusses foreign and domestic policy priorities and strategizes for the national elections. Read More »
Posted by AAI at 12:00 pm / / Leave a comment
Wednesday August 03, 2011
It’s more of the same for the TSA – they just can’t seem to get it right. Yesterday the Boston TSA, never far from scandal, began training on an Israeli-style screening process which, the Boston Herald reports, “requires screeners to make quick reads of whether passengers pose a danger or a terror threat based on their reactions to a set of routine questions.” The $1 billion national initiative has been underway for a few years now, and a number of airports throughout the country have adopted the Israeli method called Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques or SPOT. The intent is to implement SPOT within two weeks’ time, by August 15. SPOT uses Behavior Detection Officers or BDOs to monitor passengers and gauge their responses to questions and determine their level of suspicion. See the Department of Homeland Security website to review a more in-depth explanation of screening methodology. Read More »
Posted by Omar Tewfik at 1:11 pm / / Leave a comment
Tuesday July 12, 2011
A couple of days ago, the House of Representatives passed H. Res. 268 with a vote of 407-6-13. As previously noted in an AAI action alert, H. Res. 268 is an anti-Palestinian bill that was introduced by Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA), blaming the failure of the peace process entirely on the Palestinians (ignoring Israel’s steps that have rendered productive negotiations impossible), prohibiting assistance to the Palestinian national unity government, and calling for vetoing Palestinian efforts for recognition by the UN. Notwithstanding its distortion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the bill had collected 356 cosponsors by the time it passed. Read More »
Posted by Omar Baddar at 12:13 pm / / Leave a comment
Thursday June 30, 2011
In a statement that seemed to justify another violent raid by Israel, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the humanitarian flotilla en route to Gaza entitled the Israelis “to defend themselves.” Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) went a step further, calling for a join US-Israeli military operation against the flotilla. Read More »
Posted by AAI at 3:50 pm / / Leave a comment
Thursday June 30, 2011
Just over a year ago, a humanitarian convey of ships (“the flotilla”) headed towards Gaza to break the unlawful blockade and deliver urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the people there. Its journey was disrupted in international waters when Israel attacked it with a commando raid, leaving several Turkish activists killed, including one young American dual-citizen. Despite assiduous efforts on the part of Israel to spin the incident (confiscating all of the activists’ recording equipment and releasing selective footage of activists attacking commandos with bars and sticks), the incident caused a major uproar, and focused attention on the effects of Israel’s unconscionable blockade on Gaza. Read More »
Posted by Omar Baddar at 11:03 am / / Leave a comment
Friday May 20, 2011
Arab American Institute President Jim Zogby comments on today's meeting between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Read More »
Posted by Jim Zogby at 3:20 pm / / Leave a comment
Monday April 25, 2011
But what if the situation were reversed? What if Israeli soldiers fired at suspicious Palestinians who drove into restricted Israeli areas without authorization? Would there be “severe” punishment for the “cold-blooded murder” of Palestinians? We don’t have to wonder. We merely need look a few years back at the case of Iman al-Hams. Read More »
Posted by Omar Baddar at 5:01 pm / / Leave a comment
Wednesday April 20, 2011
I wanted to draw your attention to the work of the National Arab American Medical Association (NAAMA). Today NAAMA sent out a press release announcing their efforts to provide "urgently needed" medical supplies throughout the Arab World. The release cites the abysmal state of emergency medical care in Arab countries and highlights the organization's commitment to provide supplies where they are needed. NAAMA's future goal is to "have funds available not only for the ongoing tragedy in Libya but to have contingency plans for emergency medical relief wherever the need may suddenly arise in other parts of the Arab world." Read More »
Posted by Omar Tewfik at 2:42 pm / / Leave a comment
Tuesday April 05, 2011
If I can put Goldstone’s “reconsideration” into my own blunt words, it would sound something like this: while Israel’s lengthy and nontransparent investigations raise concerns, their conclusions about the cause of civilian deaths would have nevertheless been taken into account and probably influenced our report if Israel had cooperated with our investigation. Read More »
Posted by Omar Baddar at 1:00 pm / / Leave a comment
Wednesday March 16, 2011
Rachel was a 23 year old American activist who was moved into action by the assault on the humanity of Palestinians living under occupation. Her eloquent, thoughtful, and moving writings have brought her back to life for many of us who never had the privilege of knowing her. Read More »
Posted by AAI at 1:00 pm / / Leave a comment
Wednesday January 19, 2011
A group of over 40 former senior foreign policy officials, prominent academics and political figures have signed a public letter to President Obama urging him to vote in favor of a U.N. Resolution condemning illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories. Among the letter's signatories were AAI President, Jim Zogby and Chairman, George Salem. Read More »
Posted by AAI at 3:04 pm / / Leave a comment
Thursday August 05, 2010
A few weeks ago, Israel's attack on a Turkish flotilla heading to Gaza marked a turning point in international opinion about the Gaza Blockade. Since then, the Obama Administration has called on Israel to take steps to ease the blockade. We believe that Israel's policy is impossible to defend, and instead of just easing the blockade, it should be ended. Read More »
Posted by AAI at 1:10 pm / / Leave a comment
Wednesday August 04, 2010
Israel’s blockade of Gaza is counterproductive, immoral and illegal. Our government’s position on this flawed and tragic policy must change. We ask policymakers to consider the facts and work with our allies to end this policy. Doing so is in the best interest of the Palestinians, the Israelis, and our own national security interests. Read More »
Posted by AAI at 10:45 am / / Leave a comment
Wednesday August 04, 2010
Nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are trapped in Gaza, with 4 out of 5 depending on humanitarian aid agencies for basic necessities. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described the suffering inflicted on the people of Gaza by the blockade as “unacceptable.” The blockade’s purpose was not merely to keep weapons out of Gaza, but was deliberately designed to target the civilian population of Gaza, with bans on things like potato chips, soda pops, pasta, and other things that clearly posed no security threat. Read More »
Posted by AAI at 10:01 am / / Leave a comment
Wednesday August 04, 2010
The health situation in Gaza, already worrisome during the early period of the blockade, was severely exacerbated in the aftermath of Israel’s assault on Gaza in 2008/09 (known as Operation Cast Lead), in which much of Gaza’s infrastructure destroyed with the possibility of repair due to the blockade. Read More »
Posted by AAI at 9:57 am / / Leave a comment
Wednesday August 04, 2010
Under the blockade policy, Palestinians are forbidden to leave Gaza except in special cases. Those who can’t leave Gaza include many patients who need to leave for necessary treatment. Movement inside Gaza is also restricted by a unilaterally imposed “buffer zone” along the inside of the walls and fences surrounding Gaza. The buffer zone as enforced goes much deeper into Gaza than publicly acknowledged, taking up “between a quarter and a third of Gaza’s agricultural land.” Read More »
Posted by AAI at 9:43 am / / Leave a comment
Tuesday July 27, 2010
According to press accounts, a senior US envoy has warned Palestinian President Abbas that he must quickly engage in direct negotiations with Israel if he wants President Obama’s help in the establishment of a Palestinian state Read More »
Posted by AAI at 4:21 pm / / Leave a comment
Friday July 09, 2010
Appearing on Viewpoint with James Zogby yesterday, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi offered the perspective of Palestinians on the Israeli blockade of Gaza stating unequivocally, “It’s a cruel, illegal, immoral war crime." Read More »
Posted by AAI at 11:36 am / / Leave a comment
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