Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem
By Ali Rizk In August 2013 Israeli defense minister Moshe Yaalon said the following to visiting US joint chief of staff Martin Dempsey: “We must also be prepared for a long conflict and instability in Syria. We cannot let the Tehran-Damascus-Beirut axis of evil to win this fight”. Over a year has passed since then,…
Read More “Watch for growing Israeli-Iranian & hezbollah tension in Syria” »
By Jafar M. Ramini The late John F. Kennedy, the only President of the United States of America since WW2 with any integrity, once said about justice, “We cannot negotiate with people who say what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is negotiable.” (The White House, July 25, 1961) Let’s try to equate this with…
Read More “The Death of Reason: American bias when it comes to Justice” »
By Ray Hanania U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivered opening remarks to attendees at the Journalists’ Security Conference held this week in Washington D.C. Kerry, who has been far more principled than his Bush administration predecessors, reminded the group that a free press ensures that flow of accurate information, but the price has been high in…
By Mohammed Asad Palestine Strawberries from the Gaza Strip are ranked as being among the world’s best. Every year, the Palestine Strawberry industry employs hundreds of farmers to harvest the strawberry crops to pick, package and ship the popular fruit to locations around the world. Despite exporting restrictions imposed by Israel’s military occupation, which controls the flow of…
Read More “Strawberry harvest continues in Gaza Strip, Palestine” »
By Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D. It was simply a most glorious celebration of the Epiphany on the Jordan River today according to the Old Julian calendar. There were hundreds of priests, nuns and thousands of people from all walks of life coming to the precious site where over 2,000 years ago “…the heavens were…
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By Eileen Fleming Ned Rosch, a certified yoga teacher and graduate of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine’s “Healing the Wounds of War,” program said he “was raised in a traditional Zionist Jewish home and torn apart by an internal conflict between my increasingly progressive politics and my Zionist upbringing. Ultimately, I realized I needed to…
Read More “Healing Gaza Palestine Israel with Yoga and Physicians for Social Responsibility” »
Ambassador Riyad H. Mansour, the permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, will visit Indiana University and speak at its Maurer School of Law on Tuesday, Jan. 20. Mansour will speak on the theme “States of Palestine at the International Arena: A Discussion on Current Events in Palestine,” beginning at 7:30…
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By Ray Hanania The absence of our story as Arab-Americans may explain why so many Americans hate Arabs and Muslims, especially in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo Massacre. Most Americans lump Arabs and Muslims into one category of spite because, to be honest, most Americans are uneducated and ignorant about the facts. I blame…
Read More “I Am Not Charlie Hebdo: I Am Not the Terrorists Either” »
By Eileen Fleming Israeli dissident and prolific writer, Roi Tov was born in South America and grew up as Reuven Schossen, in a tight-knit communist kibbutz along the Jordan Valley. After four years of service in the Israeli Defense Force, Captain Schossen became a reservist and graduated with four degrees; three in chemical physics….
Read More “Orwell’s Nightmare Vanunu’s Reality and Roi Tov’s Silencing” »
By Jafar M. Ramini In the last 125 years, Zionism has enjoyed what I would call ‘a golden age’. They had a plan. They had the finances. They had the cunning. They had brute force and they were not bashful about using it. A group of Atheists looking for a destination to put down roots…
By Amer Sabaileh The Palestinian leadership is facing many problems and conflicts not only with Israel in trying to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, but also facing major serious conflicts from within its ranks. Intra-Palestinian squabbles are no longer along the Fatah-Hamas divide that define these conflicts, but now it is within the…
Read More “Analysis: Palestinian leadership not immune to change” »
Retaliation Against Palestine’s Welcome Accession to ICC Must Stop Israel, the USA and EU member states must refrain from punishing or threatening Palestine for taking the positive step of granting the International Criminal Court (ICC) jurisdiction over crimes under international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), Amnesty International said today. Amnesty International welcomes Palestine¹s…
Read More “Amnesty International blasts Israel on ICC response” »
By Ray Hanania View image | gettyimages.com Ziad Asali, the President of the American Task Force on Palestine, the nation’s most influential pro-Palestinian lobbying group in the United States, called it imperative that Israel’s Arab civilians participate and not boycott the next Israeli elections which are scheduled for March 17. Asali said that those who urge a…
Read More “American Arab leader urges Israeli Arabs to vote” »
By Eileen Fleming AIPAC praises failure of UN resolution to recognize Palestine as a state, an effort by Palestinians to kickstart the peace process killed by Netanyahu’s extremist government On December 19, President Obama signed bills to bolster the ‘special relationship’ with Israel, support Syrian rebels, to disrupt Native American land rights, and to protect…
Read More “AIPAC Commends Obama’s Failure to Recognize Palestine’s Rights” »
By Ray Hanania As a Christian, no city in the world means more to me than the “Little Town of Bethlehem.” I write about it often, mainly to remind American Christians — many of whom have forgotten the roots of their faith and therefore the spirit of their Christianity — that Bethlehem is a real…
Read More “A virtual visit to the birthplace of Christianity, Bethlehem” »
By Mohammed Asad Students in the Gaza Strip held protests this week to urge a speedier repair and rebuilding of the dozens of schools that were destroyed by Israel’s military this past summer during its assault on the civilian population. More than 2,200 people were killed with more than 90 percent civilians, including about 500 children,…
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By Eileen Fleming Banksy, the graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter depicts 21st century Bethlehem reality onto holiday greeting cards and informational cards with this message: Towering walls and militarized fences now encircle Bethlehem, turning the 4,000-year-old city into a virtual prison for its Palestinian Christian and Muslim citizens. Bethlehem has…
By Ali Younes For Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, this year was an emotional roller coaster that had the potential to destroy his fledgling and increasingly powerful organization or make it even more powerful and relevant than ever before. Speaking to chairman of Hamas political Bureau in the Qatari capital, Doha last week on wide range…
Read More “Exclusive: Hamas leader Meshaal: Israel risks religious war over Jerusalem” »