Monday December 13, 2010
Lebanon and its friends around the world are on edge waiting for indictments to be issued related to the assassination of Prime Minister Rafiq al Hariri. The investigators working on this case are apparently nearing the completion of their inquiry and are preparing to submit their findings to the International Tribunal—possibly within a matter of days. Read More »
Monday December 06, 2010
From the day the first batch of Wikileaks appeared in the international press, the Israelis were crowing "this is good for us". Seizing on documents demonstrating that some Arab leaders bear ill-will toward Iran, the Israeli spin machine went into action. Read More »
Monday November 29, 2010
As I have read press reports of the U.S. offering massive incentives to Israel in an effort to secure a three month settlement freeze, I've wanted to give the U.S. peace negotiators the benefit of the doubt. On too many levels, however, I'm having trouble understanding the logic behind all of this. Read More »
Monday November 22, 2010
As I have been traveling around the U.S. discussing my new book Arab Voices, attempting to shatter the myths that many Americans have about Arabs, I frequently get the question, "but do Arabs understand us?". Read More »
Monday November 15, 2010
Israel's announcement, last week, of a radical expansion of Har Homa (an already massive settlement community between Jerusalem and Bethlehem) makes a mockery of the so-called "peace process". Read More »
Monday November 08, 2010
With Republicans now in control of the House of Representatives, President Obama's efforts to achieve Middle East peace and repair frayed relationships across this region have become more difficult. Read More »
Monday November 01, 2010
The partisan divide on issues related to Arabs and Muslims has become disturbingly wide. For example, when, in a recent poll, we asked American voters whether they had favorable or unfavorable attitudes toward Arabs and Muslims, the results were shocking. Read More »
Monday October 25, 2010
After decades spent trying to better explain the Arab World to other Americans, all too often I have found myself running up against the same mythologies and half-truths that, year after year, stubbornly maintain an alarming ability to shape thinking about the region. Read More »
Monday October 18, 2010
In Arab Voices I describe Lebanon as "a tinderbox, with too many groups still playing with matches". Iranian President Ahmadinejad's visit to that dear but fragile country has to be seen in that context. Read More »
Monday October 11, 2010
When the Texas Board of Education passed a resolution late last month decrying the "pro-Islamic/anti-Christian bias [that] has tainted... Texas Social Studies textbooks,” indicating that they would "look to reject [such] prejudicial textbooks" in the future, they were basing their criticism on a biased anti-Arab review. In doing so, they took a dangerous step backward... Read More »
Monday October 04, 2010
A poll of Arab American voters completed just one month before the 2010 mid-term elections shows Arab Americans favoring Democrats over Republicans by a wide margin. Read More »
Monday September 27, 2010
This past Thursday, I hosted Congressman Brian Baird on my weekly television program, "Viewpoint" (on Abu Dhabi TV, across the Middle East and Europe, and Link TV and Mhz Networks here in the U.S.). Read More »
Monday September 20, 2010
The US electorate is more volatile than ever. Many voters are angry, somewhat confused and looking for targets at which they direct their rage. Read More »
Monday September 13, 2010
For Muslim Americans, this year’s anniversary of September 11, may be the most stressful one yet, and possibly the most consequential. A confluence of events and political developments has produced a situation more volatile than any since the immediate aftermath of the horrific terror attacks of 2001. Read More »
Monday September 06, 2010
During the past week, as President Barack Obama announced the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq, there was considerable media commentary focusing on the lies that had been utilized to build public support for the war. Read More »
Monday August 30, 2010
A few years back when Washington was preparing for the then highly touted Annapolis Peace Conference, I remember commenting that I was "hopeful, but not optimistic". Read More »
Monday August 23, 2010
Something remarkable happened on November 4, 2008. Despite economic distress, uncertainty and insecurity, voters went to the polls and chose hope over fear electing Barack Obama President of the United States. Read More »
Monday August 16, 2010
OCRACOKE ISLAND, N.C. We are just ending a family vacation on this little island off the coast of North Carolina. We have been coming here for 35 years now, and though so much has changed, the simple beauty of the place remains. It was Ocracoke's remoteness and its simplicity that brought us here 35 years ago. That, and stories about the Wahabs who lived there. Read More »
Monday August 09, 2010
Republicans have dug a deep hole for themselves on matters related to the Middle East and Islam reflecting the extent to which the Party has become captive of the neo-conservative "clash of civilization" crowd and their partners on the evangelical Christian right. This drift becomes clear listening to statements by Republican leaders and surveying the attitudes of the party's base. Read More »
Monday August 02, 2010
After a century in which tragedy has been heaped upon tragedy across the Middle East, it is distressing to see how many dangerous illusions still shape the behavior of so many of the region's principal players. Read More »
#FF Arab American Orgs @AAIUSA @NAAP_NY @TheAANews @AAFSArab @ArabCCC @ArabDawn @ArabAmericans @Arab_America @ArabVoters @ADCtweets
about 3 hours, 5 minutes ago.
only 33% of Americans have positive view of #Egypt, +30pt drop http://t.co/GEXSvziQ 'growing gap btwn us must be taken seriously'
about 7 hours, 34 minutes ago.
'If Washington was confident of innocence of its citizens it would wait for #Egyptian judiciary to acquit them' http://t.co/GBLcV50G @aaiusa
about 9 hours, 28 minutes ago.
Kahlil Gibran Awards Gala - April 18
Be Part of the Change!If we are to believe what we are hearing and reading from a variety of confirmed and unconfirmed sources, in Israel and the U.S., some day in the next few months we may wake up to the news that Israel has bombed Iran's nuclear facilities. Or maybe not. Read More »
Air Date: 12/29/2011
Rob Malley, Middle East and North Africa Program Director at the International Crisis Group; Amb. Hussein Hassouna, Chief Representative of the League of Arab States to the United States; Lara Friedman, Director of Policy and Government Relations for Americans for Peace Now. Read More »
The subcommittee's meeting today to explore whether there are risk factors or preincident indicators of terrorist activity identified by intelligence and law enforcement organizations to enable them in thwarting attacks while preserving -- let me repeat that -- preserving individuals' right to privacy and civil liberties. Read More »
