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Blog — Palestine
Friday October 07, 2011
AAI President Jim Zogby responds to "Arena" Moderator David Mark's question on whether or not Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney can establish himself as a foreign policy leader in the GOP and ultimately position himself ahead of Barack Obama in the foreign policy debate. Read More »
Posted by AAI at 10:29 am / / 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
Tuesday October 04, 2011
As the 2012 election draws nearer, AAI President Jim Zogby once again heads to Iowa and New Hampshire to meet with voters, activists, and newspaper editorial boards. Four years ago Jim made a similar trip, where he was met with thoughtful questions and engaged crowds, particularly on issues related to the Middle East. Voters in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2007 seemed eager to learn more about the challenges faced by the U.S. in the region, but also cognizant of the need for a new foreign policy direction. Read More »
Posted by Frank Matt at 1:41 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
Friday September 23, 2011
In a final attempt to forgo a confrontation at the U.N., the Obama Administration held a closed meeting yesterday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Washington hoped to avoid a showdown at the U.N. by pressuring Abbas to submit a request for recognition for statehood without forcing a vote at the Security Council, in order to re-launch peace talks. Read More »
Posted by AAI at 10:14 am / / Leave a comment
Friday September 16, 2011
The U.S. and Israel are having a panicked reaction to this initiative. The Obama Administration has been clear in stating that should the Palestinians try to push their bid through to the UN Security Council, the U.S. will veto the proposal. Read More »
Posted by AAI at 1:21 pm / / Leave a comment
Thursday September 15, 2011
Yesterday, AAI President Jim Zogby joined Geneive Adbo and Ted Piccone in a panel discussion hosted by the National Security Network (NSN) and the Project on Middle East Democracy to address the current state of political affairs in the Arab world and Iran. Pro-democracy movements in several Arab countries are causing regional dynamics with Iran to shift. These changes are raising questions about the role the United Nations and United States will play in shaping regional politics and policy, and the profound implications for the United States in the region. NSN Executive Director Heather Hurlburt moderated the panel. Read More »
Posted by Omar Tewfik at 3:05 pm / / Leave a comment
Tuesday September 13, 2011
“Today we commemorate 18 years since the launch of a process that was supposed to lead us to freedom and independence. It was meant to last only for a transitional period of five years. Unfortunately, almost two decades later, the Israeli occupation of Palestine is entrenched and Israel’s occupation has turned into de facto annexation" Read More »
Posted by Omar Baddar at 3:55 pm / / Leave a comment
Friday September 02, 2011
This is like a man wrongly accusing a woman of stealing his wife’s purse, but rather than apologizing upon realizing that the woman was in fact holding her own purse, says instead, “you idiot, you must have stolen your own purse.” Read More »
Posted by Omar Baddar at 10:06 am / / Leave a comment
Wednesday August 10, 2011
If there is one thing Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu is known for, besides accommodating the radical right’s colonization of the West Bank, it is his frequent use of platitudes about Israel’s exceptionalism. Bibi recently flaunted Israel’s exceptional stability in a region rocked by mass protests, shortly before Israel itself was hit by large demonstrations. This of course led to a pretty funny and widely popular music video juxtaposing his remarks with scenes of the protests. Read More »
Posted by Omar Baddar at 1:59 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
Monday August 01, 2011
Daniel Levy, director of the Middle East Task Force at the New America Foundation, wrote a great piece in Foreign Policy magazine last week in which he concluded that "American policy on Israel-Palestine is now being driven almost exclusively by a desire to prevent any possible U.N. vote" on Palestinian statehood this fall. Read More »
Posted by Samer Araabi at 9:41 am / / Leave a comment
Friday July 22, 2011
Possible redistricting in Michigan may have a profoundly negative affect on Rep. John Conyers’s (D-MI) chances retaining his office, according to a recent POLITICO article. Conyers represents the 14th district of Michigan, which includes parts of Dearborn, Hamtramck, Highland Park, Southgate, Trenton and Allen Park. Read More »
Posted by Omar Tewfik at 10:50 am / / Leave a comment
Tuesday July 19, 2011
By Ed Gaier
In response to the increasing pressure of boycotts protesting the continued Israeli occupation and settlement expansion in the West Bank and Gaza, the Israeli parliament has passed legislation allowing litigation against groups and individuals calling for the boycott of Israeli economic, cultural and academic establishments. The law also prohibits individuals and organizations involved in boycotts from bidding on state contracts. By passing a bill linking Israel proper with the settlements, which are widely seen as illegal by the international community and the United States, the Netanyahu government has entrenched its position behind a key barrier to a two-state solution. Read More »
Posted by Guest at 2:02 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
Wednesday July 06, 2011
Between 2000 and 2007, Israeli restrictions on Palestinian movement have forced 69 babies to be born at checkpoints, of whom 35 babies and 5 mothers died due to lack of access to medical care. Read More »
Posted by Omar Baddar at 2:47 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
Wednesday June 29, 2011
AAI President Jim Zogby responds to Arena Moderator, David Mark's question on Jewish support for Obama.
Mark writes:
POLITICO's Ben Smith reports on President Barack Obama's potential slide in support among Jewish supporters. Many pro-Israel Democrats are reprising doubts about Obama first raised in 2008. This could, on the margins, cost the president votes and money in 2012 - political damage that would not be easy to repair.
Is Obama's support among Jewish voters really in doubt? Ronald Reagan captured an estimated 39% of the Jewish vote in his 1980 romp, a highwater mark for modern Republican candidates. Can the 2012 GOP nominee come within striking distance of that level? Read More »
Posted by AAI at 10:21 am / / Leave a comment
Tuesday June 07, 2011
In an article that examines the impact of President Obama's Mideast policy on Arab American voters, Salon's Justin Elliott takes on an often overlooked concern. Elliott states, "While the media focus has been on Jewish Americans, this community is less than pleased with Obama's Mideast policy." Read More »
Posted by AAI at 11:39 am / / Leave a comment
Looking at Iran by James Zogby
Kahlil Gibran Awards Gala - April 16, 2013
