The time for sacrificing is over

Ammar Abdulhamid & Elias Aoun / Special to The Daily Star

Earlier this week there was agreement at the UN Security Council over a presidential statement reaffirming the clauses of Security Council Resolution 1559 approved in September and calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon. This has forced Syria to face a critical decision: either to maintain its military presence in Lebanon and deny it is an “occupier,” or pursue a new path aimed at respecting its neighbor’s sovereignty. Continue reading “The time for sacrificing is over” →

Muslims Against the Ideology of Terror

Voice of America – ON THE LINE / Host: Eric Felten

Host: Muslims against the ideology of terror. Next, On the Line.

Host: Leaders of a dozen groups representing Muslim Americans and Arab Americans of other faiths met in Washington to speak out against terrorism and in favor of democratic freedoms. Zainab Al-Suwaij is the executive director of the American Islamic Congress. She said the conference was an effort to confront the fact that Many people use Islam as a reason to kill innocent people. One of the speakers at the conference was Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a physician in Phoenix, Arizona. Continue reading →

The U.S. and the Arabs: so similar, yet so democratically different

Special to The Daily Star

Popular beliefs and perceptions aside, Arabs and Americans have much more in common than they like to think. Selective historical memories and a growing sense of insecurity are only two glaring examples in this regard.

Just consider the way Arabs talk about Saddam Hussein these days. Consider the way they treat his surviving family members, his daughter Raghad for instance. Her face has recently been splashed on the covers and pages of many society magazines. Reading these publications, one is tempted to imagine that the mad tyrant was actually a national hero who did many great things for Iraqis and Arabs in general. Continue reading “The U.S. and the Arabs: so similar, yet so democratically different” →