We Are Michigan : Your Alternative News & Information Resource

Nationalism, Not Islam, Motivates Most Suicide Terrorists
Here is today's discussion question: Suicide terrorism is primarily caused by Islamic fundamentalism. True or false? Although it seems counter-intuitive, especially given everything we read and hear in the mainstream media, the correct answer is ''false.''

Contact ADC if Approached by the FBI
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has noted a recent wave of reports from across the country indicating that FBI agents are contacting Arab and Muslim Americans, including citizens, for what has been described as voluntary interviews. ADC would like to remind members of the Arab, Muslim, and Arab-American communities that equal protection and due process rights are afforded to everyone, including non-citizens, in the United States.

Faith leaders back archbishop with attack on extremism
Muslim religious leaders have joined Christian and Jewish leaders for the first time in issuing a joint plea for tolerance for gay people. In an open letter written in support of Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the group, which includes two bishops, has criticised incitement to religious hatred and aggressive proselytisation as practised by some fundamentalist evangelical Christians. The joint letter, issued today to coincide with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, calls on believers of all religions to unite in opposition to extremism.

"The Arabs Are Coming! The Arabs Are Coming!"
Those who conspired to attack America on 9/11 wanted us to believe this. Many commentators, "experts," and "journalists" keep swearing that this is true. Yet in every town in America, all Muslims cooperated with federal investigators in the biggest investigation in American history. No Muslim terrorists were found.

Qureia strongly defends Arafat
The incoming Palestinian prime minister issued his strongest defense yet of Yasser Arafat, saying Friday that the United States should treat him as a real partner

After night in jail 2 Islamic leaders booted from U.S.
Federal agents detained two prominent Muslim religious leaders overnight in jail. The two men, Sheikh Ahmed Kutty and Sheikh Abdul Hamid, were on their way to Orlando to speak and pray with members of a local Islamic community when they were detained. ''I will never forget this for the rest of my life,'' said Kutty, 59, from Toronto. ``I feel so sorry for America. It has lost everything that sustained it as a nation. America has turned into a police state.''

October 10-12th 2003
North American Student Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement.
The Third Conference will seek to build on our successes, analyze our tactics and develop strategies, skills and knowledge for the future. We will engage in educational sessions and workshops, activist skill-sharings and trainings, collective decision-making, public speaking events, rallies and direct action; we will come together as a movement to build unity and action, recognize and act upon diverse voices, and encourage collective involvement and expression. Douglass College Center, Rutgers University -New Brunswick, NJ.

Join La Resistencia
Build a national movement of resistance to stop the attacks on immigrants!

Preparation for the ICNA/MAS 2003 Convention Has Begun!
ICNA and MAS will be holding their second annual joint convention in Philadelphia, PA on July 4,5,6 2003. The theme will be "America at the Crossroads: The Struggle for Liberty and Justice." Booth reservations have begun, and online registration will be available shortly. Click here for hotel information, and to learn how to register for booths...

Muslim Solidarity Day in D.C.
May 24 (Memorial Day weekend) — Demonstrators will assemble at Freedom Plaza, and then march to the White House. For updates on times, locations, and other logistics information, please see

Face for the Faceless
I was in my classroom at Cerritos College teaching mathematics. The dean entered my classroom and asked me to see him after class. When I went to the dean’s office, he seemed very uncomfortable. He was mumbling a lot—very apologetic. He said, “I don’t know how to put it for you. I am just a messenger.” He told me I was one of the best instructors he had ... One day I was teaching at Cerritos College, and the next thing I knew I was in INS custody in Lancaster.

The Road Map
Finally, the long-awaited Road Map for Middle East peace has been officially launched. Although the text has been on the Internet for months in as many languages as you can count, it was not officially released until the U.S. and Britain washed their hands of the Iraqi regime, and Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and his cabinet were sworn in.

Faces of Iraq: An exhibition depicting the humanity of the Iraqi people
At a time in which the people of Iraq are oft forgotten, the Arab American Institute-Michigan is proud to sponsor the photo exhibit, "Faces of Iraq." It is a photography exhibition depicting the humanity and diversity of the Iraqi people. The exhibit will be in Michigan for two weeks at the end of April and will travel to various sites across Southeastern Michigan.

Asylum seekers not the enemy
A new U.S. asylum policy is likely to punish the very victims of Iraqi tyranny and abusive Middle Eastern practices that America condemns and has gone to war to defeat. In the name of public safety, the Homeland Security Department has issued blanket orders to detain asylum seekers if they are from Iraq and more than 30 other countries.

A Real Policy For Peace
I am not setting out to bash Israel, but merely to point out undeniable facts that most of the America media and American politicians studiously ignore. Is it too difficult for Americans to grasp that the United States has a blatant double standard and that the people in Arab countries justifiably resent that double standard? The Arabs do not expect or demand that the United States become the enemy of Israel. They recognize the close ties between the two countries. All they ask for is simple fairness.

100,000 Calls for Peace Through New Telephone Service
The Parents¹ Circle and Bereaved Families¹ Forum of Israel announced today that its Hello Peace project, which lets ordinary Israelis and Palestinians talk by telephone with each other about their future, showed a dramatic surge in the volume of phone calls during January, the month leading into the Israeli elections. While 50,000 calls were placed during the project¹s first three months (October through December 2002), over 46,000 new calls were made during the month of January alone and the numbers continue to rise.

Hebron Residents Describe an Israeli Reign of Beatings
Almost any young man walking the streets of this gritty Palestinian neighborhood on the eastern rim of the city can tell you the same thing: when the Israeli border police want to give someone a beating.

The Dangers Behind America's Misguided Foreign Policy Plans
Last week, 800 U.S. academics published a public letter against "expulsion of the Palestinians," warning that Israel's ruling coalition may soon initiate ethnic cleansing in Israel and the occupied territories.

Arab Americans: Making a Difference
There are about 3 million Arab-Americans, and as a community, we've been demonstrating loyalty, inventiveness, and courage on behalf of the United States for over 100 years. Here are just a few of the famous and accomplished ones — people you may know!

Action Needed To Defend Our Civil Liberties
Hundreds of Muslim and Arab male immigrants from five different countries were arrested and detained this week. Of note, the Detroit/Dearborn area has the largest concentration of persons of Arab descent in the United States. Our Arab brothers in southeast Michigan are at risk. Demonstrations opposing these detentions and any planned future detentions are being called throughout the United States. Like the mass detentions/internment of the Japanese during World War II, the United States government again is launching a major assault on the most basic principles of human rights.

US jails Arabs who comply with new law
They came forward to comply with a new rule to register with United Statesimmigration authorities but ended up handcuffed and behind bars. ...

Hundreds of Muslims rounded up in California
Hundreds of Iranian and other Middle East citizens were in southernCalifornia jails on Wednesday after coming forward to comply with a new rule ...

Most foreign detainees out on bail
A majority of the foreigners detained Monday in San Diego while trying to register with the US government were released yesterday on bail. ...

Hundreds Detained after visits to INS
Hundreds of men and boys from Middle Eastern countries were arrested by federal immigration officials in Southern California this week when they ...

Hundreds of Muslim Immigrants Jailed When Registering With The US
Hundreds of Iranian and other Middle East citizens were in southern California jails on Wednesday after coming forward to comply with a new rule to register ...

Lawyer: Middle Eastern Men Detained
Numerous Middle Eastern men and youths were detained whent hey lined up at a downtown immigration office this week to meet a new ...

Islam and the West: Incompatibility of Values
In the months following the terrorist attacks of September 2001, it was politically taboo to say that the United States had in some way brought these attacks upon itself. Television talk show hosts and print journalists lost their jobs for suggesting such a thing. Yet anyone with any serious knowledge of the American relationship in recent years with the Muslim Middle East knows that it is true.

The Apartheid Wall Campaign
Under the coordination of the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON), a number of Palestinian NGOs and grassroots organizations are joining their efforts against the building of Israel’s Apartheid Wall. The Apartheid Wall Campaign has just completed a detailed report including maps, data, background, photos, and links about the Apartheid Wall.

Israel shoots UN official
Israel admitted yesterday that its troops shot dead a United Nations official in a West Bank firefight.

Arab, Jewish Americans Agree Widely on Solution
Despite two years of unprecedented violence between Israelis and Palestinians, Arab and Jewish Americans generally agree on the outlines of a final settlement between the two peoples, according to an unprecedented poll released here Thursday.

Good Will Towards Who?
It is strange that we, the American people speak of being thankful and of such noble thoughts as peace on earth and good will towards men while at the same time, we speak of a war against the Iraqi people. Also, in the Holy Land, the Palestinian people suffer horrendously and every day, the toll on the civilian population grows heavier.

A New Crusade?
"Adolph Hitler was bad, but what the Muslims want to do to the Jews is worse," the 700 Club'sPat Robertson said recently. "I think Mohammed was a terrorist," said conservative preacher Jerry Falwell in a televised interview.

US Muslims suffer backlash
Hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims in the United States increased by 1,700% in 2001, according to crime statistics compiled by the FBI.

BREAKING NEWS: Bond hearing scheduled, Friday demonstration still on
The INS, against its wishes, has been forced to schedule a bond hearing for Amer, which will take place next Thursday, November 21st, at 9:00 AM. In one sense, this is a major victory, which everyone who wrote letters, sent faxes, or made phone calls should take credit for. The INS arrogantly told Nelson Brill, Amer's lawyer, that they were going to hold Amer indefinitely (which echoed a previous threat made to Amer himself by the FBI), and thanks to a combination of public and legal pressure, they have already had to back down from their first position.

The US draft resolution on Iraq
Recognizing the threat Iraq's noncompliance with council resolutions and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles poses to international peace and security...

US Students Interest in Islam Surges
Many things have changed in America since the events of September 11, 2001. People are no longer free to follow their friends and loved ones to departure gates at airports. Thousands of Americans now walk through metal detectors every day when they arrive at work. And the terrace in front of the U.S. Capitol building, where people used to go to gaze out over the National Mall and its famous monuments, is now closed.

Muslims prepare for Ramadan
Muslims across the world have started fasting for the holy month of Ramadan, and some used the occasion to condemn militants whose campaign of violence has triggered a backlash against Islamic communities.

U.S. Wants Prints Of Muslim Visitors
The Justice Department announced yesterday that it will require thousands of students, workers and other men from five Muslim countries who are temporarily residing in the United States to be fingerprinted and photographed, the latest step in its program to register visitors from countries linked to terrorism.

Meet the new Zionists
The members of the Christian Coalition of America are some of the most passionate defenders of Israel in the United States. There's just one catch: they want to convert all Jews to Christianity.

Web warfare
Academics who criticise Israeli actions against the Palestinians are being targeted by computer hackers.

Palestine Activism Spammed
Welcome to the concerted cyber-campaign to intimidate pro-Palestine activists from organizing on the Internet.

In Olive Groves of the West Bank, a Harvest of Fear
Fear kept the olive pickers off the terraced hillsides today ... On an olive-clad slope facing a ridge studded with outposts stretching from the Jewish settlement of Itamar, a few Palestinian villagers hesitantly ventured out to the spot where their neighbor, Hani Bani Minyeh, 24, was shot and killed on Sunday.

Palestinian Rights Group Victim Of Cyber-Terrorism
Unknown opponents to the Students Allied for Freedom and Equality unlawfully hijacked their email account to send an email to the entire faculty of the University of Michigan. The email contained racist remarks in order to tarnish SAFE's image.

Blair: Israel, Iraq must both obey UN
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday that Israel and Iraq must both obey UN Security Council resolutions, and called for final status negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians to begin before the end of the year.

Ariel Sharon's Secret Plan to Remove Palestinians from Israel
Israel’s hard-line prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has ordered his defence forces to prepare to drive “hundreds of thousands” of Palestinians on the West Bank over the border into Jordan. Intelligence chiefs say the operation will commence on the day the forthcoming United States conflict starts against Iraq.

Rights groups count the wrongs
The Israeli forces have mainly used United States-made Apache helicopters in their assassination operations. They also used laser-guided missiles to assassinate Palestinian activists while driving in their cars, and have fired missiles directly towards civilians, as was the case with Ali Ajouri from the Askar refugee camp in Nablus on 5 August. Two Israeli helicopters fired missiles towards Ajouri, claiming he planned a suicide bombing operation in Israel. His house was demolished and his brother, Kefah, and sister, Entessar, were deported to Gaza after being tortured to confess the foreknowledge of their brother's intentions.

Goliath won’t live in peace with David
There are not two equal sides battling it out in Palestine. Israel is one of the most heavily militarised states on earth. It is backed and armed by the US. It has received over $92 billion of US “aid” over the last three decades. Then there are the Palestinians, driven from their own lands, existing in exile, denied justice. Palestinian oppression and the conflict in the Middle East cannot be ended by telling them to exist in impoverished rump areas, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Sharon's real purpose is to create foreigners
Palestinian suicide bombings that target Israeli civilians are a moral obscenity. But the sensibility of those in Israel who seek to exploit this Palestinian obscenity to extend and deepen Israel's hold on the territories, a situation that in the end can only lead to the expulsion of most Palestinians and the permanent subjugation of those who remain, is also obscene.

11,000 Palestinians between Israel's apartheid wall and Green Line According to official Israeli maps obtained by LAW on Monday September 23, 11,000 Palestinians will reside between the Green Line, Israel's de-facto border, and Israel's apartheid wall in a closed military zone

Israeli Soldier Killed Boy in Cold Blood, Say British Volunteers
A 13-year-old Palestinian boy was deliberately shot dead by an Israeli soldier without any provocation, say two British human rights volunteers who witnessed the incident. "This is the worst thing I've seen in my time here. Actually, it's the worst thing I've seen in my life. There was no way Baha could have been a threat to a soldier 120 yards away with a flak jacket and a helmet and sitting in an APC. He had nothing in his hands and even if he'd had a stone he could not have thrown it effectively from that distance. I went back today and measured the distance exactly. The shot was not a ricochet. As far as I'm concerned, these people are child-killers, whether or not they were aiming at the boy. There was no reason to shoot."

White House Press Briefing with Ari Fleischer
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the massacre at Sabra and Shatilla where 1,700 Palestinians were killed. Ariel Sharon was found by an Israeli Commission of Inquiry to be personally responsible for that event.

Dear Mr. President:
As we watched your speech to the United Nations General Assembly on September 12, 2002, we were struck by the ironic proximity of the Israeli and Iraqi delegations. Ironic, because many of the accusations you leveled against Iraq could, with ample justification, be directed toward Israel. UN Resolutions

The Murder of Arafat
While I am writing this, Yasser Arafat is still alive. But his life is hanging on a thread. Now Sharon believes that he can achieve his aim. He needs only Bush’s approval. Not necessarily a formal confirmation. A subtle hint will suffice. Half a word. A wink.

Thousands Protest Israeli Assault
In the battered compound, Israeli threatened several times over loudspeakers to blow up the building where Arafat is holed up - the only one left standing - unless wanted men inside surrendered, witnesses said.

Israeli Flag In Arafat's Compound
Israel planted its flag in Yasser Arafat's compound Saturday, and shell bursts shook his offices, chipping away at the building in an ever-tightening siege designed to make the Palestinian leader surrender militants or leave into exile.

Glossary of Occupation
Language is a powerful yet deceptive thing. It can be used to convey someone's plight and it can also be used to hide unpalatable sordid deeds. Nowhere are words adulterated more for political ends than in Israel and Palestine today.

Israel's Routine Terrorism
The couple were stopped at the Israeli military roadblock just outside their village. The soldiers turned them back, even though Fatima was now haemorrhaging. They got a taxi, hoping that would be allowed through. Again, they were turned back. No explanation was given; one soldier mimicked Fatima's moans.

Criticize Israel? What's in it for me?
In today's world there are a handful of sensitive topics such as abortion, gay rights and the death penalty that are guaranteed to bring out the strongest advocates, pro and con, to the front lines, guns a blazing. But criticism of Israel, which is at the top of the sensitivity list, sends publishers and pundits alike into overdrive in favor of the latest AIPAC position. The pro positions way outnumber the cons because con is seldom permitted.

Grabbing Rachel's Tomb
The security cabinet's decision to add the Rachel's Tomb compound to the Jerusalem "security envelope" cannot be described as anything other than full annexation of the compound.

Behind the Bushes
Weekly update covering the Bush Administration, Congress, campaigns, and political developments.

''It's the settlements, stupid!''
Were you shown a map of Palestine with the settlements? All those map-meisters, with their maps of Afghanistan and Iraq, and never once a picture of the settlements? If they had shown you the maps of the settlements, you would have understood why the Palestinians rejected Camp David. VIEW MAPS

New INS Rules
In reaction to the September 11th, 2001 attacks, the INS imposed new regulations on immigrants. Due to the confusion caused by a multiplicity of new rules, the INS has released an explanation of new special registration procedures to help smooth the transition for immigrants from the old system to the new.

Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People
Responding to a profound need to alleviate poverty and chronic unemployment in the Palestinian Territories, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Development Programme/Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP) have launched a $15 million employment generation program called “TASHGHIL”, the Arabic word for “creating job opportunities.”

PA blasts Israel over sacred site
The Palestinian Authority has condemned a decision by Israel to retain military control of Rachel's Tomb, a holy site near Bethlehem.

Palestinian cabinet resigns
The Palestinian cabinet has resigned en masse rather than face defeat in a vote of no confidence in parliament.

The world according to Sharon
In an interview with the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv on 6 September, Sharon declared that "Oslo doesn't exist, Camp David doesn't exist, Taba doesn't exist; we are not going back to those places." Sharon's unilateral annulment of the Oslo agreement drew virtually no objections from the sponsors of the peace process, including the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, accentuating what some observers described as the international community's duplicity in dealing with Israel and the Arabs.

Liberating America From Israel
Once beloved worldwide, the U.S. government finds itself reviled in most countries because it provides unconditional support of Israeli violations of the United Nations Charter, international law, and the precepts of all major religious faiths.

Israeli Weapons of Mass Destruction: a Threat to Peace
With between 200 and 500 thermonuclear weapons and a sophisticated delivery system, Israel has quietly supplanted Britain as the World's 5th Largest nuclear power, and may currently rival France and China in the size and sophistication of its nuclear arsenal.

Occupation: The Father of All Terror
No one could testify more to the atrocious terror of occupation more than the people of the Palestinian West Bank city of Nablus. In the last 5 months, they have been under curfew for no less than 112 days. In fact, in the last 81 days, curfew has been lifted for a total of ONLY 50 hours, and until the end of this week, the number of those hours will not increase, as the continuous stretch of 11 days under strict curfew is set to continue to reach unprecedented heights of disregard of human rights and dignity.

Inheriting a history of hatred
Most Muslims have an intense historical awareness and see current events in a much deeper and broader perspective than Americans normally do. And what they see is, for them, profoundly tragic.

An Open Letter to the Immigrant Rights Movement
In the post 911 U.S.A., we face the biggest threat to immigrant rights of our lifetime. Let us be blunt. If the people are not able to mobilize and stop the repression against Muslim, Arab, and South Asian immigrants and prevent the government from laying the foundation for horrendous repression against all immigrants and the rest of us, there will be no immigrant rights movement.

“This, American.”
In June my wife, Sharon, a pediatric nurse, was working in an emergency room in Beirut’s Akka hospital. Among the first victims of Israel’s invasion that month were 35 children on a school bus. One young boy asked my wife where she came from. When she replied, "America,” the boy lifted up his pajama top, pointed to his shrapnel wounds, and said: “This, American.”

Israeli/Zionist Computer Hackers Foiled, Exposed
Israeli cyber warfare professionals targeted human rights and anti-war activists across the USA in late July and August temporarily disrupting communications, harassing hundreds of computer users, and annoying thousands more. The Israeli hackers targeted Stephen "Sami" Mashney, an Anaheim, California, attorney active in the effort to raise awareness of the plight of Palestinians.

Israelis and U.S. Zionists Escalate Cyber Warfare
Computer hackers based in Israel in conjunction with Zionists and certain Jews in the United States have just launched a new "cyber war" offensive against human rights and anti-war activists and organizations in the U.S. that are in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle and oppose the Zionist occupation of Palestine. There are now thousands of organizations and individuals on the World Wide Web that have been targeted and whose communications disrupted by a variety of sinister "cyber war techniques."

White House Calls Israeli Attack Heavy-Handed
In an unusually blunt criticism of Israel, the United States on Tuesday denounced as "heavy-handed" an Israeli missile attack that killed more than a dozen Palestinian civilians along with a leader of the militant group Hamas.

Israel stays defiant in face of West's outrage
ISRAEL’S missile attack on a densely populated area of Gaza City provoked worldwide condemnation yesterday, but the Israeli Government defended its action robustly.

Israel Will Start Pullout in Gaza and Bethlehem
Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed late today that Israeli troops would start a trial withdrawal from reoccupied territory in the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem, in the West Bank, on the condition that the Palestinians take responsibility for reducing tensions in those places.

Suicide bombers give an edge to Palestinians
In the last year, the suicide bomber has become the most potent military weapon in the Palestinian uprising against Israel, creating a new battlefield that has left one of the world's best trained and equipped armies struggling to defend its people adequately.

Camps for Citizens: Ashcroft's Hellish Vision
Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's announced desire for camps for U.S. citizens he deems to be "enemy combatants" has moved him from merely being a political embarrassment to being a constitutional menace.

Gaza Victims Lived in Flats, Not in Shacks July 30, 2002
Yesterday afternoon, Rami Matar, who lost his baby daughter, Dina, was released from hospital still unaware his child had been killed. His brother, Ra'ad, wandered wounded through the rubble. He lost his wife, Iman, and three children, Dalia, 5, Muhammed, 3, and Iman, 1.

Israel Put 'On Notice' By US Over Gaza Attack
US displeasure over Israel’s use of a American-built F-16 fighter last week has been muted, but not silent. The attack in which an Israeli fighter jet dropped a one-ton bomb on a crowded Gaza City apartment block killing a leader of the Palestinian group Hamas, 14 civilians and wounding over 150 people, has angered US officials.

Commission Of Inquiry To Investigate U.S.-Backed Israeli War Crimes In Palestine
Few people in the U.S. realize that the U.S.-backed Israeli occupation breaks dozens of international laws and human rights conventions. Even fewer know of the dispossession of the Palestinian people to make way for the state of Israel, or of the long history of Palestinian resistance.

Bill Banning Arab Citizens from Buying Israeli Land Assailed
Israeli human rights groups are denouncing a bill backed by the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that, if passed, would bar Israeli Arabs from buying homes in Jewish communities built on state land as a violation of Israel's constitutional guarantees against discrimination on the basis of race or religion.

Israel Refuses Entry to 18 Americans
Israel barred 18 Americans from entering the country and put them on a flight back to the United States on Tuesday as part of a policy of refusing entry to foreigners who want to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

Moderate Muslims Under Siege
Moderate Muslim intellectuals living in the West have been fighting a thankless battle, often in the shadows, for the very soul of their religion.

What drives ordinary people to kill civilians - and themselves?
In the annals of the Palestinian uprising, it is all but forgotten that Nabil Arir was the first. On the morning of October 26 2000, the attendant at a school for disabled children, described by his friends as a gentle, deeply religious young man,rode his cycle up to an Israeli army post in the centre of the Gaza Strip, and blew himself up.

IPDP in Route to Palestine
A Delegation of North American activists, poets, writers, artists and students are joining the delegation of INTERNATIONAL POPULAR DEFENDERS FOR PALESTINE (IPDP), in active solidarity with the Palestinian people, to witness, monitor, document, publicize human rights abuses and war crimes committed by the Israeli Army, settlers and government, and to intervene in an attempt to stop human rights abuses whenever possible. The Canadian and American Delegation is sponsored by the Palestine Solidarity Group-North America and Popular Defense for Palestine-NY. The delegation left New York on June 19 and arrived on June 21st. They plan to stay one month. They will be sending periodic reports.

Watch What You Say
Nobody so distorts, denigrates and defames Islam as radical Muslims themselves, particularly the mullahs who try to have people executed for saying "peace be with you."

Arafat pleads for the bombings to stop
The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, made an impassioned plea to his people yesterday to end all attacks on Israeli civilians, as the Israeli army swept once more into West Bank cities in reprisal for two suicide bombings in Jerusalem that left 26 Israelis dead and more than 100 wounded.

America Keeps Doing Israel's Bidding
Arabs are dismayed by the fact that American positions concerning the Middle East have in effect been subordinated to Israel's will. The injunction comes from Ariel Sharon, prime minister of Israel, and the accommodation from the American president, George W. Bush.

Culture of charity
Giving to charity is an integral part of the Islamic faith. The third obligatory pillar of Islam is Zakat, where a person must give away a percentage of their income to help others. It comprises 2.5% of surplus earnings at the end of the year. Muslims are also encouraged to make irregular payments - Sadaqah - to the needy.

ACTION: Stop The Illegal Detention And Brutalization Of Palestinian Activist Jaoudat Abouazza!
On Sunday June 16, two members of the Jaoudat Abouazza Defense Committee were able to visit Abouazza in INS custody in the Bristol County Correctional Facility in North Dartmouth, Mass. They learned that at 10:00 AM that morning, prison guards forcibly took Abouazza from his cell and restrained him in a chair while a man with a surgical mask on forced open his mouth and pulled 4 teeth. A broken piece of a tooth was left in his mouth, leaving Abouazza in much physical pain, swollen, bleeding and unable to eat.

Ted Turner Accuses Israel of Terror
"The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists?

Israeli Shell Hits Arafat's Bedroom
Yasser Arafat's master bedroom took a direct hit during Israel's assault on his sprawling headquarters Thursday. A coat of dust covered the Palestinian leader's bed, the nightstand mirror was smashed and knee-high rubble littered the floor of the adjacent bathroom.

Israel's Forces Storm Into Nablus, Imposing Curfew
Israeli tanks and troops stormed into Nablus and its neighboring Balata refugee camp before dawn today, rounding up about a hundred Palestinians, in the largest of the daily raids since its virtual occupation of most West Bank cities in April.

Our Crazy Foreign Policy
United States foreign policy is currently as wrong-headed and imperialistic as at any time in memory.

Tanks, troops storm Bethlehem again
Helmeted and weighed down by their bullet-proof armor, Israeli soldiers backed by dozens of tanks reoccupied Bethlehem yesterday and declared the West Bank town a "closed military zone"

U.S. Backers of Palestinian Cause Protest Their Treatment by Israel
Kristen Schurr had just come home with an Israeli deportation notice freshly stamped in her U.S. passport, an unexpected souvenir of a trip that landed her in an Israeli prison after 10 days inside the besieged Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

US backs Palestinian state
US Secretary of State Colin Powell has reiterated America's support for the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.

"Security for Israel, Palestine, & U.S.A. Means End the Occupation."
On May 2, 2002 both the US Senate and Congress passed a resolution expressing solidarity with Israel. Senators Levin and Stabenow and Rep. Stupak all voted in favor of the resolution indicating continued strong support for Israel. Anytime you in town and can picket Senators Levin, Stabenow and Rep. Stupak's offices for half an hour or more, let Tom know at 946-3693 or shea@traverse.com

Enron, Sharon, Bush — Good for Laughs?
Sharon is demanding that Yasser Arafat Do Something about the terrorists. This adds an even more surreal element of black comedy to the tragedy. Assuming Arafat is not himself the head terrorist, as Sharon claims, with what, exactly, is he supposed to do about anything? Sharon has been destroying Arafat's Palestinian Authority piece by piece for months now and has just finished an attack that demolished the last elements. Even assuming he had the will, Arafat has no way.

Israelis Rally for Pullout From West Bank, Gaza
Tens of thousands of Israelis rallied on Saturday night to call for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories in what organizers said was the biggest peace Police estimated the crowd at about 50,000. Peace Now put the figure at above 100,000, calling it the biggest peace rally demonstration for 20 years.

Likud Central Committee rejects Palestinian state
At a raucous meeting in Tel Aviv, Sharon and Netanyahu went head-to-head over whether the party should vote on the resolution calling for the complete rejection of a Palestinian state. Sharon desperately tried to prevent the vote, arguing that it would precipitate international pressure on Israel and tie his hands diplomatically.

God’s Dream
The governments marketing this war on terror would like us to believe that it is particularly pure and just. Of course this type of sales pitch has been tried a couple of times before, and the world is still waiting for a pure and just war. What Gandhi said is more credible: “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.” Alas, in the ‘Year of the Monkey’, the words of George W. Bush receive far more notice than those of Mohandas K. Gandhi, or of Albert Einstein, who wrote: “Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved through understanding."

Bush Approach on Mideast Conflict "Out of Step" with U.S. Public
The United States public is not nearly as supportive of the Israeli government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as recent actions by Congress and the Bush administration suggest. Despite almost unanimous votes last week by both houses of Congress expressing strong support for Israel's recent military actions in the West Bank, the poll found very little public backing for those operations.

UPDATE May 8th: Legal Agreement Rescinded
The 5 American internationals who have been on hunger strike struck a deal with the Ministry of Interior regarding their ultimate fate. They agreed to leave voluntarily providing that they received a letter confirming that they were not deported and that there were assurances regarding their ability to return, should they wish to do so.

There is a Solution to This Filthy War - Foreign Occupation
Ariel Sharon's "peace" plan presented to President Bush in Washington last night – get rid of Arafat, devise a more obedient Palestinian Authority and keep building settlements for Jews and Jews only on Palestinian land – is fantasy. That the Americans should smooth his way by claiming that Arafat's need to reform his authority is more important than a halt to settlement-building – the gormless contribution of Condoleezza Rice, the US National Security Adviser, to this sterile debate – shows just how out of touch the Bush administration is.

Leave Our Kids Alone
Some Palestinian groups have called for a ban on suicide bombings by teenagers. If Palestinian families are finally speaking out against manipulation of their youth by Palestinian officials, they could bring new hope to the region.

Israel Vows Harsh Response to Attack
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who received word of Tuesday's pool hall bombing during a White House meeting with President Bush, cut short his trip and promised swift retaliation. Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they widely expected the Gaza Strip to be targeted by Israel.

Arafat orders end to 'terrorist' attacks
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has ordered his security forces to prevent "all terrorist operations" against Israelis after a suicide bomber killed 15 people and himself in an attack near Tel Aviv.

U.N. Assembly chastises Israel 74-4
With 54 nations abstaining as a protest over what they called an imbalanced resolution, the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday condemned by 74-4 vote Israel's West Bank offensive.

The IDF Soldiers Who Moved into West Bank Cities Left Behind Destruction and Degradation
No one deluded himself that the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, which takes up five of the eight floors of a new building in the center of El Bireh, would be spared the fate of other Palestinian Authority offices in Ramallah and other cities - that is, the nearly total destruction of its contents and particularly its high-tech equipment.

UN Says Israel Caused $300-400 Million in Damage
A senior U.N. official on Monday estimated that Israel's military offensive in the West Bank caused between $300 million and $400 million damage to Palestinian property and reconstruction would take at least a year.

The settlements / A point for pressure on Sharon
If the United States and Saudi Arabia are serious about pressing Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon to stop the cycle of Palestinian-Israeli violence, a good starting point for the United States would be the volatile issue of Jewish settlements.

The Palestinians Must Seize Back Their Pride
Arafat's release is only one side of the coin. On every other front Sharon has has got his way. Blair, and President Bush, huffed and puffed about immediate Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territory. And what have they got? Israeli tanks rolling into Tulkarm yesterday, another assassination (or "targeted killing" as the Israelis term it) and dozens more arrests.

Talks aim to end Nativity standoff
On the eve of Orthodox Easter, serious high-level negotiations were under way, aimed at resolving the month-old standoff at one of Christianity's holiest shrines, Palestinian officials said.

Inside the Church of the Nativity
An American activist who snuck past Israeli troops to deliver food uses her cellphone to report that there's plenty of illness, very little food and absolutely no militants hiding inside.

Israel/Occupied Territories: Jenin War Crimes Investigation Needed
Evidence suggests that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) committed war crimes in the military operation in the Jenin refugee camp, Human Rights Watch charged in a report issued today after a week-long investigation.

Arafat Emerges Defiant From Israeli Siege 02.05.2002
A defiant Yasser Arafat emerged from his shattered headquarters Thursday for the first time since the end of a month-long Israeli siege, flashing a V-for-victory sign to cheering supporters.