Press Room

Mahmoud Abbas: Israel's West Bank occupation leading to one-state solution

From Guardian
Posted on Thursday February 4, 2010

Israel’s continuing colonisation of the West Bank is leading to a “one-state solution”, the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has told the Guardian, while indicating that he may be poised this week to accept a US proposal for “proximity talks” with Israel through American mediators.

Ruling Yemen gets even more complicated

From Los Angeles Times
Posted on Thursday February 4, 2010

Reporting from Cairo and Sana, Yemen – President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who once described ruling Yemen as dancing on the heads of snakes, has stayed in power for three decades through a clever mix of money, tribal ploys and government corruption.

But Saleh’s political capital is shrinking and his wiles are straining as Yemen struggles with a civil war in the north, secession troubles in the south and a battle against an Al Qaeda affiliate that has drawn the United States into a new front against the terrorist network.

Arab nations bring relief to Haiti victims

From The National
Posted on Monday February 1, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE // With a drip atatched to her wrist and clean bandages swaddling an infected leg, Nadia Torcheneau, one of the many victims of Haiti’s earthquake, benefits from stepped-up relief efforts from the Arab world.

The 32-year-old, who was crushed under shattered glass and breeze blocks during the disaster on January 12, receives treatment in a makeshift Qatari-run field hospital on the outskirts of this capital city’s crime-torn slum, Cité Soleil.

Israel's war against Goldstone

From The National
Posted on Wednesday January 27, 2010

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said: “We face three major strategic challenges: The Iranian nuclear programme, rockets aimed at our civilians and Goldstone.” He was referring a report by the highly regarded South African judge, Richard Goldstone, the Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, now generally known as the Goldstone report.

In an apparent effort to direct attention away from the content of the Goldstone report which studied the conduct of the Israeli Defence Forces and Hamas in the war on Gaza a year ago, the Israeli government has described the report as anti-Semitic.

US envoy due in Lebanon at start of Mideast tour

From Reuters
Posted on Wednesday January 20, 2010

BEIRUT — US Middle East envoy George Mitchell was due in Beirut on Tuesday at the beginning of a new regional tour aimed at restarting Middle East peace talks, a Lebanese foreign ministry official said.

The tour will also take Mitchell to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Syria.

The peace envoy was set to meet with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Foreign Minister Ali Shami and a number of other officials before leaving Beirut on Wednesday.

FBI broke law for years in phone record searches

From The Washington Post
Posted on Wednesday January 20, 2010

The FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records, according to internal bureau memos and interviews. FBI officials issued approvals after the fact to justify their actions.

AAI Joins Call to Send Relief to Haiti

From AAI
Posted on Tuesday January 19, 2010

The Arab American Institute is deeply saddened by the devastation inflicted on the people of Haiti and expresses sympathy for the earthquake victims and their families.

AAI urges support for the relief effort and encourages our members to contribute to this urgent effort.

The White House has issued the following information about how you can help:

IDF nearly done with Goldstone counter-report

From The Jersusalem Post
Posted on Friday January 15, 2010

The IDF is close to completing a comprehensive report that will respond to the accusations that were leveled at the military by the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, more commonly known as the Goldstone Report.

Terrorism carries no profile

From Gulfnews
Posted on Friday January 15, 2010

Airport profiling is back with a vengeance in US airports and on international flights to the US despite the fact that most experts agree profiling doesn’t work; human rights advocates decry the erosion of civil liberties.

ACLU Official Says It Is Not Realistic to Screen Air Passengers Against the Full Terrorist Watchlist

From CSNNEWS
Posted on Wednesday January 13, 2010

CNSNews.com) – Former FBI agent Mike German, now a terrorism expert with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said that using the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) of 400,000-plus names to screen airline passengers was not realistic, and added that it was “fundamentally ridiculous” to think the list was not flawed.

New airport screening policy under fire

From Congress Daily
Posted on Wednesday January 13, 2010

Muslim and civil rights advocates on Monday called on the Homeland Security Department to rescind a new policy under which airline passengers traveling from countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism and other “countries of interest” to the United States are put through extra screening measures, arguing it is discriminatory and counterproductive.

2009 recipient of "Najeeb Halaby Award for Public Service" is US Science Envoy

From State Department Press Office
Posted on Monday January 11, 2010

Mitchell: Mideast stagnation endangers US aid

From Ynetnews
Posted on Friday January 8, 2010

WASHINGTON – On the eve of his visit to the Middle East, US special envoy George Mitchell threatened that his country would freeze its aid to Israel if the Jewish state failed to advance peace talks with the Palestinians and a two-state solution.

Mitchell clarified in an interview to the PBS network that the United States would use incentives or sanctions against both sides.

Privacy Isn't the Price for Security

From The Huffington Post
Posted on Friday January 8, 2010

There is no doubt that the events aboard an airliner heading for Detroit on Christmas Day sent a collective chill down the spines of travelers everywhere. The attempted attack on that plane could easily have ended tragically, and we’re all grateful it didn’t. In the aftermath, it’s necessary for political leaders to find out what went wrong and what more can be done to protect our nation against terrorism.

Obama Details New Policies in Response to Terror Threat

From The New York Times
Posted on Friday January 8, 2010

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Thursday ordered intelligence agencies to take a series of steps to streamline how terrorism threats are pursued and analyzed, saying the government had to respond aggressively to the failures that allowed a Nigerian man to ignite an explosive mixture on a commercial jetliner on Christmas Day.