Adalah, Al-Haq, and the Civic Coalition for Defending the Palestinians’ Rights in Jerusalem press conference Thursday June 17, 2010

16 June 2010

Dear Sir/Madam:

Adalah, Al-Haq, and the Civic Coalition for Defending the Palestinians’ Rights in Jerusalem would like to invite you to a Press Conference on Thursday 17 June 2010 at 2:00 pm in Watan Studios. 

The Press Conference will address urgent developments which are not only violating Palestinian human rights but severely threatening our ability to continue to campaign to end such violations. 

Of immediate concern is the situation whereby following their release from Israeli prisons, the ID cards of four Jerusalemite PLC members, Mohammed Imran Totah, Ahmad Mohammad Attoun, Khaled Abu Araffah, & Mohammed Abu Teir, were revoked. Having denied these Parliamentarians their residency rights in Jerusalem, Israel has ordered their forced transfer from Jerusalem no later than early July 2010.

This action takes place in the context of the entry into force in the West Bank of Military Orders 1649 & 1650 which effectively legislates for the forcible transfer, deportation, and imprisonment of any Palestinian from the West Bank, a legislative act that consolidates Israel’s annexationist policy of cutting Jerusalem off from the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory.

Of further concern is the targeting of Palestinian citizens of Israel. Palestinian political and social activists that are citizens of Israel are increasingly being subjected to far-reaching violations of their basic human rights by means of detention, censorship, denial of fair trial rights, travel bans, as well as criminal prosecutions for treason and related crimes aimed at revoking their citizenship.

Sincerely,

Adalah, Al-Haq, Civic Coalition for Defending the Palestinians’ Rights in Jerusalem  

Hanania wins two journalism awards for stories and columns on alleged anti-Arab discrimination case

Columnist and radio host Ray Hanania was honored last month with two major journalism awards, both dealing with the allegations of discrimination in Oak Lawn against a store owner there, Naim Massad.

Last August 2009, Massad alleged that he was being harassed by the village for nearly two years. That month, village officials had closed his store pending code violation reviews when police and inspectors were called by a neighbor who said that Massad placed a sign in Arabic that told his customers to go to the back of the store to purchase food while the store was closed. Massad was arrested when police claim that they saw Massad had stored some canned foods in a vacant store next to his own, food that had just been delivered but could not be placed in his own store because of the village inspectors order to keep his store closed.

Inspectors who arrived immediately ordered police to handcuff the store owner. When his wife Susan and son Abed protested, they were handcuffed and arrested and all were taken to jail where they spent the night pending the posting of bond.

As it turns out, the sign did not read what inspectors and police, who could not read Arabic said. The sign merely said that the store was temporarily closed but would soon be opened. Police had confiscated the sign from the door as evidence, but it mysteriously disappeared from the police evidence room.

Hanania, writing for the Southwest News-Herald Newspapers, obtained a copy of the police 911 emergency calls made just before they arrived at Massad’s store to see or confirm the evidence and a police officer was quoted as telling a dispatcher who asked him to respond to another emergency, that he would respond to the emergency but only after going to Massad’s store. In the 911 call, the officer told dispatch that he was on his way to “close an Arab store”.

Hanania wrote several news reports and columns on the incident, and was continually harassed by readers who attacked him because of his Arab heritage. Hanania is Palestinian and Christian from Jerusalem. Several of the owners of nearby stores refused to speak with him about the Massad case and there seemed to be great animosity with Massad.

In reviewing police records, Hanania also discovered that Massad’s store, located in the center of Oak Lawn, was also one of two Arab owned grocery stores attacked in the weeks before the incident with windows broken by large rocks. The other store was located on Oak Lawn’s eastern border.

Hanania received the Society of Professional Journalists’ Lisagor Award for In-Depth Reporting” from the Chicago Headline Club, the nation’s largest SPJ Chapter. He also receive the Sigma Delta Chi National Award for column writing from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Hanania has been a journalist and columnist since 1975. Today he also writes for PalestineNote.com and also for the Jerusalem Post.

He hosts the only American Arab weekday morning radio show “Radio Chicagoland” on WJJG 1530 AM Radio Monday through Thursday from 8 to 9:30 am and Friday from 7 until 9 am. On Fridays, Hanania co-hosts Radio Baladi which is simulcast in Chicago and Detroit from 7 until 8 am. His web site is www.RadioChicagoland.com.

# # #

EEOC sues Washington DC restaurant for harassment of two Arab Workers

US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Charlotte District Office
129 West Trade Street, Suite 400
Charlotte, NC 28202
From: OCLA, 202-663-4912

CONTACT Lynette A Barnes, Regional Attorney
PHONE (704) 954-6462

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 12, 2010

MONOCLE RESTAURANT SUED BY EEOC FOR NATIONAL ORIGIN AND RELIGION HARASSMENT

Moroccan/Palestinian Muslims Subjected to Offensive Comments, Federal Agency Charged

WASHINGTON, D.C. A Washington, DC-based steak and seafood restaurant violated federal law by subjecting two employees to a hostile work environment based on their religion and national origin, the U. S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today. According to the EEOC's complaint, Faissal Chtaiti, who is Moroccan and Hilal Suboh, who is Palestinian, were subjected to harassment based on their religion and national origin by Deauville, Inc. doing business as Monocle Restaurant. Both men are Muslim.

Chtaiti and Suboh were both employed as waiters at the Monocle Restaurant located at 107 D Street, NE, Washington, DC. The EEOC charged that fi'om around December 2004 through at least December 2007, Chtaiti and Suboh were harassed by the restaurant's general manager. According to the EEOC, the harassment included derogatory comments such as refelTing to the men as "Arab dog," "stupid Muslim" and "crazy Muslim." The general manager also made comments like "go back to the Sahara because it's better for you Arabs with the camels," and "Palestinians should learn how to handle the [expletive 1 Jews," according to the EEOC's complaint.

National origin and religion harassment violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The EEOC med suit (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Deauville, Inc. d/b/a Monocle Restaurant, Civ. No. 1:10-cv-00586, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia), after first attempting to reach a voluntary settlement.

The EEOC seeks monetary damages for both Chtaiti and Suboh. The suit also seeks an injunction to prevent Monocle Restaurant from engaging further in any employment practice that discriminates on the basis of national origin or religion.

"Employers must remember that harassment based on national origin and religion, like race harassment, is against the law," said Lynette A Barnes, regional attorney for the EEOC's Charlotte District Office which oversees litigation filed by the agency in Washington, D.C. "Companies should have in place a policy that prohibits national origin and religion harassment, as well as a procedure for victims and witnesses to repOit it and for the employer to promptly respond to and rectify it."

The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on the agency's web site at www.eeoc.gov.

# # #

Truth comes out in Census lies: Doesn't matter if you write in ARAB -- you WON'T be counted as Arab

Census to Count Arabs as White, Despite Write-In Campaign

New America Media , News Report, Suzanne Manneh, Posted: Mar 25, 2010

The Census Bureau says it doesn’t matter if Arab Americans write their race in on their Census questionnaire. 

Even if they check the “other” box and write in “Arab,” as many community groups advocate, the Census will still count them as racially white.

“Anyone from Europe, North Africa or the Middle East [will be classified] as white,” said Roberto Ramirez, chief of the ethnicity and ancestry branch at the Census Bureau.

Ramirez said that will be the case no matter how many people write in “Arab,” because the Census Bureau is required by law to use racial categories determined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and those categories do not include Arab.

Advocates for including Arab as a race say they will press on with their write-in campaign however. Census regulations provide that any organization can pay for its own special tabulation providing a formal count of write-ins.

“As with any write-in option, it is not comprehensive enough to be published as a ‘count,’ but it will provide us with important trends and estimates of the proportion of people of Arab ancestry who do not identify with the white race classification,” said Helen Samhan, the executive director of the Arab American Institute, which plans to order a special count.

“That is a start for working with the Census Bureau to research necessary changes in the way race and ethnicity are measured,” she added.

A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget told New America Media that current racial standards for the census will be reevaluated after the 2010 census, in time for the next one in 2020.

Click here to read the full report

-- Ray Hanania

www.RadioChicagoland.com

The babies at the Census and Detroit ...

The Census is a job creation program. Not jobs for you but jobs for itself. They have received $1 billion and plan to spend it to convince people to fill out the Census forms which discriminate against many ethnic and racial groups.

The alleged purpose of the census is to help distribute the $435 billion in federal funds -- but the truth is the government doesn't use the census to fairly distribute the funds. Instead, they pick and chose based on political favorites. Many ethnic and religious groups are denied federal funding -- and also the trickle down funds from states and municipalities because of who they are. American Arabs, for example, do not share equally or fairly in the national funding at all. The Census falsely claims that is because American Arabs do not fully participate. In fact, American Arabs do fully participate in the census and have been since 1980 -- I worked with the census as an unpaid volunteer in 1980 and in 1990 and supported the effort in 2000 with my media and newspapers.

What I discovered is the lying bastards at the US Census are cowards, too. They know American Arabs are shortchanged. The STATISTICS PROVE IT. In fact, after 30 years of supporting the Census, the DATA SHOWS AMERICAN ARABS ARE DENIED FUNDING at a far greater pace than ANY OTHER ethnic group.

That has to do with the anti-Arab hatred in America, that started long before Sept. 11, 2001 became the convenient excuse.

All you have to do is look at Chicago, for example, where federal and local funding is disbursed not to American Arabs who make up 8 percent of the city's population (250,000 out of 3 million according to Mayor Sleepy, Richard M. Daley), but to other ethnic and racial groups.

In fact, the flaw of the census is obvious. The Census forms ONLY identify 29 FAVORED ethnic groups that are "PC". They get not only the spotlight but all the funding. And their needs are artificially reinforced.

African Americans are listed three times on the form. Hispanics 5 times and Asians a dozen.

And when American Arabs ask to be included, they are pilloried not only by the Census maniacs but by the hacks and shills in the American Arab community who are hired and paid by the Census to mislead their own people. Quislings is the proper word in this case, I believe.

Recently, I traveled to Michigan to give a comedy presentation. At the dinner, the Census was a "sponsor." They begged the host to ask me not to skewer the Census in my show as I do often. As a courtesy to the Census and a gesture of compromise, I dropped the Census segment in which I shish-kabob the Census lies.

They invited me out to lunch and we have stuffed grapeleaves and they said they wanted to continue the dialogue. Of course, weeks went by and I heard nothing. But maybe because they insisted on paying for my $6 plate of stuffed grapeleaves they felt that was enough money to buy off American Arabs like me who question their motives and their lies.

So when I continued my campaign to educate American Arabs about the lying Census lies, they acted by apparently punishing the sponsor.

That shows you the true colors of the Census and some of the American Arabs working for the Census in Dearborn and Detroit.

Their goal isn't to protect the American Arab community. Their goal is to make money. The jobs they create are jobs for themselves and their family members and their friends. That's why they need you to support the Census so they get their paychecks.

Without the money, none of them would be advocating for the Census.

I'm not paid and my voice rings truth.

The Census is skewered and unfair. It highlights 29 ethnic and racial groups, three in particular, unfairly. And, the US Census refuses to include the word "ARAB" among the 29 special ethnic and racial groups. Because the word "ARAB" is not listed, many American Arabs believe they are being discriminated against and do not fill out the Census forms. Even those who have know that simply writing in the word "Arab" on the line called "Other" at the bottom of the form is worthless and does nothing.

If the US Government and the US Census doesn't believe it is important to put the word "ARAB" on the Census form in a decade when American Arabs and the Middle East have dominated the news headlines, why would you then think they would care enough to make sure American Arabs get their fair share of the jobs, contracts and funds that government gives to communities? They are not doing it now and they won't do it even if they have counted and identified every single American Arab in the country.

American Arabs are cheated and denied government grants and awards -- these are monies that don't come from the government but come from taxpayers and American Arabs are taxpayers and pay their taxes like everyone else.

Fairness is not going to happen until the US Census and the US Government finally recognize that American Arabs have rights, too. Until then, going along with the plan only reinforces the bigotry and discrimination. Speaking out, as I and others are doing, is the only way to change things.

-- Ray Hanania

www.RadioChicagoland.com 

Fight will continue to defend rights of New York teacher ousted for political reasons

FIGHT TO PROTECT RIGHTS OF ARAB-MUSLIM SCHOOL PRINCIPAL WILL CONTINUE

Alan Levine, one of Ms. Almontaser’s lawyers, gave this statement in response to yesterday’s decision against the founding principal of an Arabic-language school for explaining the nonviolent origins of the word intifada:

“A federal district court in New York dismissed the lawsuit filed by Debbie Almontaser against the Mayor and the Department of Education. The decision is the latest chapter of a controversy that began with the selection of Ms. Almontaser to head the newly-created Khalil Gibran International Academy, an Arab dual-language school. Almost from the day she was appointed, Ms. Almontaser, an observant Muslim, was subjected to a virulent anti-Arab and anti-Muslim smear campaign. When she was interviewed by the New York Post in August 2007 and was asked about the Arabic meaning of the word “intifada,” which had appeared on t-shirts that were sold at an Arab Heritage festival, her response provoked a firestorm of controversy, even though the definition she gave, “shaking off,” was accurate. Her response also noted that the word had become associated with violence in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Nevertheless, City and school officials demanded her resignation. She subsequently filed a federal lawsuit charging that her First Amendment rights had been violated.

Given the skepticism that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals expressed about the DOE’s actions when it asked ‘whether a public employee, who is required by her employer to speak to the press as a condition of her employment, may be sanctioned for speaking accurately when her statement is, as her employer knows, inaccurately reported and then misconstrued by the press,’ we had hoped that Judge Stein would reconsider his earlier decision. However, we will appeal again to the Second Circuit. In addition, we will continue to pursue her claim before the EEOC, and eventually in federal court, that the DOE, in capitulating to the storm of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice that was directed at Ms. Almontaser in the media, discriminated against her on the basis of religion and ethnicity.

Nothing in yesterday’s decision questions the underlying facts concerning the DOE’s actions: Ms. Almontaser was the target of hate-filled attacks because she was an Arab and a Muslim and because she said something that public officials disagreed with. Our Constitution and statutes are designed to insure that prejudice and controversial speech do not cost people their jobs. We are confident that the courts will ultimately vindicate those basic human rights.”

Those pimping for the U.S. Census should be honest, its about their money not our community empowerment

The U.S. Government has done a great job hiring Arabs in our community to shill for their cause, to continue to oppress our community. The focus on the effort is the U.S. Census.

I want you to notice something. Everyone one pimping and pushing for the American Arab community to "participate" in the U.S. Census are all PAID by the U.S. Government to tell us to fill out the census form.

They lie that filling out the census form and "writing in our race" Arab in the little line at the bottom of the form is a way for us to be empowered. And when someone questions their lies, they slam and slander Arabs who argue that we have been misled by lazy, do-nothing Arab activists who have taken the short and easy route to money instead of fighting the long term challenge.

What is the long term challenge? Arabs should be listed officially on the census.

Here is who are now listed on the U.S. Census:

The census form asks for your Race, listing Hispanic, Latino or Spanish Origin. And they ask if you are Mexican, Mexican American (I didn’t know there were two categories of Mexicans), or Chicano? What kind of race is “Chicano?” What country do “Chicanos” come from? “Chicano-stan?”

They ask the same question again on the long form: Are you White? Black, African American or Negro? Are you American Indian or Alaskan Native and they even give you a place to write in your tribe name.

That’s not all. The form asks are you Asian Indian? Japanese, Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Korean, Guamanian or Chamorro, Filipino, Vietnamese, Samoan or Other Asian where they give you a space so you can print your “race” like Laotian, Thai, Pakistani, Cambodian “and so on.”

Oh, they don’t stop there. They ask are you “Pacific Islander” and ask you to print your race like Fijian, Tongan “and so on.”

Way at the bottom, in case they missed someone, someone not so important, they have the throw away line, to check here if you are “Some Other Race – Print Race.”

That is where I have to hand-write that I am “Arab.” And proud of it too, by the way.

Read the full original column that has Rashad al-Dabbagh, who works for the census, and some members of the Arab American Institute targeting me because I don't agree with their laid-back lack of activism against this problem. Click here to read the column?

The fact is that while these activists are cashing their checks and telling American Arabs, "Don't worry. You don't have to be listed on the census form, you can write it in so the AAI can complete their list," government agencies across America are discriminating against American Arabs specifically and directly because the U.S. Census DOES NOT list Arabs as "Arab" on the Census form.

The federal government requires police officers who pull people over for traffic stops to list the race of the person being stopped. But, they are required only to list those races AND ethnicities listed on the U.S. Census form.

Why is that important? If the race is listed on statistics, communities can easily see if they are being targeted for discrimination by police officers and then use that as "EMPOWERMENT" to demand that the police department hire American Arabs.

But American Arabs are NOT listed and police are not required to list us at all.

In every instance of EMPOWERMENT, not being listed on the U.S. Census means we are denied the ability to confront and stop discrimination, discrimination that is holding our community back.

And all that the activists who are PAID by the U.S. Census can do is attack me ands my argument and tell us little American Arab Sheep to "write your race on the form."

Well, writing your name on the form does not stop the discrimination and it DOES NOT force government agencies from the top of the Federal Government to the bottom of the local suburban government to recognize the rights of Americans Arabs.

When we ask school districts how many Arabs have they hired, the answer is "We are not required to list employees based on the race 'Arabs' and we only list race and ethnicity based on those identified in the U.S. Census."

I know what the problem is. It's easier for some in our community to take the handout from the government and keep the American Arabs in a stupor than to find the courage to stand up and change a system that needs to be change.

Arabs should and MUST be listed on the U.S. Census form and until we are, we will continue to be discriminated against, denied government grants, denied government jobs and marginalized in our society.

-- Ray Hanania

www.RadioChicagoland.com

Take your 2010 U.S. Census form and shove it!

Take your US Census form and shove-it!

By Ray Hanania

The first question I always get from “Americans” is, “Why do you keep calling yourself ‘Arab-American?’ You are American!”

It represents the rock and the hard place where American Arabs have been pushed by the lack of education among most Americans.

It’s aggravated by what I also call the U.S. Government’s split personality when it comes to Americans Arabs. On one hand, they want to know us. On the other, they don’t. Here’s what I mean.

The only time the United States Government wants to know about Americans Arabs is when they are “profiling” us at airport and border security to “protect” the country from “the terrorist threat.”

But when it comes to counting people in the U.S. Census (so they can participate and share in government programs like grant funding awards, defining the borders of election districts like for congress, state legislatures or municipal councils) the U.S. Government pretends American Arabs don’t exist.

That is exactly what’s happening now in the massive 2010 U.S. Census drive.

The Government isn’t completely stupid, nor are they naïve. They are dishing out just enough money to American Arab organizations and PR agencies to do the outreach to the American Arab community.

The Government could do it but they don’t have a positive file on who we are. The Government only has “the negative file,” the one were American Arabs have been historically followed, investigated and probed by FBI agents repeatedly over the past 75 years.

The FBI investigated me over a two year period beginning in August 1975, right after I completed my active duty military service for this country during the Vietnam War. They said I must be a terrorist, because I was Arab; but they concluded the 45 page report by saying in small type, I’m just an American who is concerned about advancing his ethnic community.

During the two years, they talked to banks, employers, neighbors friends and anyone who had anything to do with me. It was all in the report, most of it blacked out with marker. When I finally received a copy in 1979, it pretty much explained the dismissal from jobs, why some neighbors and some friends had stopped talking with me or associating with me, and why several prospective employers had refused to hire me.

Hey, when the U.S. Government puts its attention on American Arabs, it’s usually not for a good reason.

That’s why I am upset -- no angry -- that the Government is pretending that they care for us American Arabs by reaching out and asking us to complete our Federal Census form for 2010.

There are these benefits that we will get from participating. Yea? Like what? What benefits do we as American Arabs actually get from supporting anything this government does?

For example, when I go through an airport, I am immediately identified as an “Arab.” I’m pulled aside and my bags and possessions are thoroughly searched. The friends I am with who are not Arab are made to feel like they are traveling with Osama Bin Laden. And strangers who pass through normal levels of security look at me like I’m going to cut their throats or blow myself up when I get on the plane.

It’s humiliating. But no one really cares. Better to be safe than sorry. If we have to make Arabs go through embarrassing and humiliating procedures that single them out solely because of their “look” or their “profile,” so be it.

Meanwhile, Caucasian murderers and killers walk through security thankful that the government is doing at least part of their job to remove the Arab scourge. More than 95 percent of serial killers are Caucasian. Some of the biggest terrorists in the United States historically have been White supremicists and members of hillbilly militias and Neo-Nazi organizations based in the so-called “American Heartland.”

But if you have Olive skin and look Middle Eastern – a profile that fits more than 200 nationalities and ethnicities mainly from Middle East and Asian countries -- you are the person they have to stop.

This is the “Negative Attention” we get from our government.

Then, this same government that spends a fortune screwing us as American Arabs, spends a fortune trying to convince us that if we participate in the 2010 Census this year, we’re going to benefit?

I ask again, what benefit? There is no benefit. And there is no benefit for a reason. Arabs are NOT included on the Census forms anyway.

The census form asks for your Race, listing Hispanic, Latino or Spanish Origin. And they ask if you are Mexican, Mexican American (I didn’t know there were two categories of Mexicans), or Chicano? What kind of race is “Chicano?” What country do “Chicanos” come from? “Chicano-stan?”

They ask the same question again on the long form: Are you White? Black, African American or Negro? Are you American Indian or Alaskan Native and they even give you a place to write in your tribe name.

That’s not all. The form asks are you Asian Indian? Japanese, Native Hawaiian, Chinese, Korean, Guamanian or Chamorro, Filipino, Vietnamese, Samoan or Other Asian where they give you a space so you can print your “race” like Laotian, Thai, Pakistani, Cambodian “and so on.”

Oh, they don’t stop there. They ask are you “Pacific Islander” and ask you to print your race like Fijian, Tongan “and so on.”

Way at the bottom, in case they missed someone, someone not so important, they have the throw away line, to check here if you are “Some Other Race – Print Race.”

That is where I have to hand-write that I am “Arab.” And proud of it too, by the way.

Now, the U.S. Government argues “Arabs” are not a race. So they can’t be counted. They consider us “Caucasian,” although the last time I looked it was the Caucasian hate groups in this country like the former Bush Administration that singled out Arabs for special mistreatment, harassment and discrimination.

Arabs are “not” a race, but we are a “people” that must be profiled at airports, security centers, thrown out of buildings in New York City, expelled from seats on Airplanes, and denied jobs and government grants and rejected by voters on election day.

“Not” a race, the Government insists? Really? Wow. Is that why they have taken the other “races” and broken them down into so many miscellaneous categories? It is not enough to know that someone is Asian. They want to know what kind of Asian? What kind of Native American? What kind of Mexican. Is “Chicano” a race? Are “Latino” or “Hispanic” races?

But not “Arabs.”

We’re not a race.

We’re just a bunch of people that ignorant Americans can step all over and use us as punching bags when the times get rough or some nut job we’ve never heard of before decides to declare himself the spokesman for all Arabs and Muslims.

So here’s the bottom line, U.S. Government. You don’t put “Arab” on the form, I don’t fill it out.

Either add the category “Arab” to the form or throw out all of the categories and stop lying to us American Arabs about how much you care.

(Ray Hanania is a Palestinian American Arab columnist, author and Chicago Radio Talk Show host. He can be reached at www.RadioChicagoland.com.)

ADALAH to file challenge to Israeli Apartheid policies favoring settlers

April 2009

Dear Colleagues,

Greetings to you from Adalah. Below please find a press release concerning a hearing tomorrow, Monday 27 April 2009 at 9 am before a Jerusalem planning committee on an objection filed by Adalah against the Eastern Ring Road. A short briefing paper on the objection is attached for your information.

ADALAH PRESS RELEASE
26 April 2009

Tomorrow, Monday 27 April 2009 at 9 a.m at Shlomzion Hamalka Street 1, Jerusalem:

Jerusalem Planning Committee to Hear Objection Filed by Adalah to the Eastern Ring Road

(Haifa, Israel) Tomorrow, Monday 27 April 2009 at 9 a.m., an investigator nominated by the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee, which is part of the Israeli Interior Ministry, will hear objections submitted by Adalah as well as other groups against the plan for The Eastern Ring Road ? Central Section. Following these arguments, a member of the Jerusalem Municipality will then respond to the objections. Adalah Attorney Suhad Bishara will represent the objectors before the investigator and set forth the main arguments against the plan.

The objection submitted by Adalah on 2 March 2008 demanded the cancellation of the plan, which is essentially intended to create an apartheid road that, if implemented, would confiscate vast amounts of Palestinian private property, isolate Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem from one other, and sever East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.

Adalah filed the objection on behalf of Palestinian human rights and community organizations which are members of the Civic Coalition for Defending the Palestinians' Rights in Jerusalem (CCDPRJ); the mayors of Abu Dis, Izzariya, Suahara; and a group of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. The objection was filed by Adalah Attorneys Fatmeh El-?Ajou and Suhad Bishara and Adalah?s Urban and Regional Planner, Hana Hamdan.

The plan is part of a broad project that encompasses East and West Jerusalem and contains two main sections, an Eastern and Western ring road. The ring road is planned on vast stretches of land (amounting to approximately 1,200 dunams), most of which would be expropriated from its private Palestinian owners. The planned route runs alongside the following Palestinian neighborhoods, to the west of the route: Sala, Jabis, Bashir, Sakriyat, Al-Qunbar, Hai al-Madaris, Umm Lison and Zur Bahar; and to the east the following Palestinian towns and neighborhoods: Abu Dis, Surhai, Sawahri Sharqiya and Sheikh Sa?ad. The Eastern Ring Road is the only remaining part of the project yet to be completed.
Adalah expects that the sub-committee for objections, which is comprised of representatives from the Ministries of Transportation and Justice, planners, and the head of the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, will decide in the coming months on whether to accept or deny the objections or to make changes to the plan.

For more information including a short briefing paper on the objection, see: http://www.adalah.org/eng/pressreleases/pr.php?file=08_03_17.

Phone contact: Salah Mohsen, Adalah Media Coordinator, Mobile: 052-595-0922
Adalah ? The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel is an independent human rights organization. It works to promote and defend the rights of Palestinians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Visit our website at http://www.adalah.org/eng/index.php

Video in defense of Baha'i minority rights

Safeguard The Innocent: Video in Defense of the Baha'i Minority

"I will not stand by while my neighbors are denied basic human rights just because they are Baha'is"

MideastYouth.com's Censeo Productions and BahaiRights.org announce the release of their new video defending the rights of the Baha'i minority.

How many times have you heard people ask, where are the Muslim voices against discrimination and oppression? Here is your chance to write about a group of Middle Eastern youth who have come together in defense of minorities within their communities and to practice dialogue with one another. Their most recent effort is the creation of a video to bring attention to the rights of the Baha'is: a religious minority that has often found itself persecuted in predominantly Muslim countries.

Nowhere is the persecution worse than in Iran and Egypt where they have been denied basic rights and seen their sacred places destroyed and vandalized. In Iran, where the Baha'i Faith first emerged, Baha'i schools are shut down, leaders of the faith are arrested, executed, or harassed, and Baha'is are denied the right to higher education. In Egypt, Baha'is are not given identity papers, thus preventing them from attaining the basic rights of citizenship.

A group of predominantly Muslim youth have banded together to speak out against the discrimination. They formed a website, BahaiRights.org, which catalogues abuses against Baha'is and have now released a video which uses images from the film Persepolis to make a powerful statement against the persecution of the Baha'is. Their first video, called "Egyptian Tourism Ad," which edited a popular TV advertisement into an awareness campaign for the condition of Baha'is in Egypt, has been written about in a prominent Egyptian paper, Al Masry Al Yowm.

"When minorities are not given their rights, how can we ever expect to exercise our own?" says Kawthar Muhaib, a member of the Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights.

Watch the video here:English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEI8RxFL7ZsFarsi: http://tinyurl.com/63kpzeFor more information contact:

Esra'a Al Shafei, Director, MideastYouth.com, director@mideastyouth.comKawthar Muhaib, Project Coordinator, MideastYouth.com, kaw@mideastyouth.com

More about our efforts to defend the rights of the Baha'i minority:

BBC Persian:http://tinyurl.com/6q4f3xMuslim Arab Youth Defend Baha'i
Rights:http://tinyurl.com/6odhqwMideastYouth.com in the

Press:http://www.mideastyouth.com/press-room/

EEOC settles lawsuit on behalf of 7 Middle Eastern victims of discrimination by Hawaiian cruise line

EEOC SETTLES CASE INVOLVING DISCHARGE OF SEVEN MIDDLE EASTERN CREW MEMBERS FROM THE CRUISE SHIP PRIDE OF ALOHA

HONOLULU – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the settlement of a federal lawsuit against NCL America, Inc. for $485,000 to seven former employees and remedial relief.

In its lawsuit, filed in 2006 under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the EEOC alleged that NCL America discharged seven Middle Eastern crew members from various positions on the cruise ship “Pride of Aloha.” NCL America denied that it had acted improperly against these crew members in agreeing to resolve the lawsuit.

“We are very pleased with this outcome, and NCL America should be applauded for its commitment to prevent discrimination by agreeing to the comprehensive injunctive relief in this case,” said Anna Y. Park, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Los Angeles District Office, which includes Hawaii.

Los Angeles District Director Olophius Perry added, “We encourage all employers to utilize EEOC’s resources to ensure proper EEO training and compliance.”

As part of the two year consent decree resolving the case, NCL America agrees to pay the crew members $485,000. With respect to the injunctive relief, NCL America further agrees, among other things, to revise its policies to ensure a workplace that promotes equal employment opportunity, to hire an EEO consultant, and to provide training to its managers and employees on the company’s equal employment policy and complaint procedure.

The litigation and consent decree were filed by the EEOC in the U.S. Court for the District of Hawaii (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Almraisi, et. al., v. NCL America Inc., et. al., cv 06-00451 SOM BMK, cv 07-00372 SOM BMK).

The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about the EEOC is available on the agency’s web site at www.eeoc.gov.

ADC Announces National Civil and Human Rights Center in Michigan

ADC Announces First National Civil and Human Rights Center in Michigan


Officials, Community Members and Supporters Gather for Unveiling of ADC’s Future Landmark Civil Rights Center

Approximately 150 guests, including local, national and international officials, gathered on the ADC-owned property on Chase Road in Dearborn on September 12, 2007, to witness the unveiling of what will be the location of the first-ever American-Arab Center for Civil and Human Rights (ACCHR) in the United States- an ADC project.

The press conference, included remarks from ADC Michigan’s special guest Mr. Fahad Mohamad Kafoud, Deputy Chief of Mission of the State of Qatar, along with Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly, Arab American News Publisher Osama Siblani, ADC National President and Former Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar and ADC Senior National Advisor and Regional Director Imad Hamad. Speakers praised ADC Michigan for it’s commitment to enhancing the lives of Arabs in the United States and across the world and commended them on this initiative that will forever change the political landscape of America.

Additional officials included Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garret, Dearborn Police Chief Michael Celeski, Director of the Governor’s Office Kimberly Trent, Dearborn Heights Councilman Tom Berry, City of Dearborn Councilman George Derani, representatives from the congressional offices of John Conyers, John Dingell and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, and representatives from the offices of US Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, along with numerous congressional liaisons and community leaders. In addition, a number of media outlets were also present to document this momentous occasion.

Mr. Kafoud was presented with a special acknowledgement from Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly and Congressman John Dingell, for Qatar’s efforts to enhance the lives and protect the civil liberties of Arab Americans in Michigan. ADC is expecting to break ground on the Center in the next couple months. For more information on this event and the ACCHR, please read the Detroit Free Press feature at: www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article.

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Israel denies Christian Arab clergy entrance to West Bank

Israel Denies Re-entry Visas to Holy Land Arab Christian Clergy

23-Sep-07
The Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF)
Toll free at +1-866-871-HCEF (4233)

The Israeli Government has rescinded its policy of granting re-entry visas to Arab Christian ministers, priests, nuns and other religious workers who wish to travel in and out of the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, according to information provided to the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF) by Christian clergy in Jerusalem.

Until now, re-entry visas were normally granted in Israel by the Israeli Government to Arab Christian religious workers in the Holy Land, and clergy traveled relatively freely to and from points overseas, including the United States.

However, HCEF has been informed that Arab Christian church workers will henceforth have to apply for re-entry visas at Israeli consulates abroad each time they travel outside the areas of Israeli control.

Since visa applications submitted to Israeli missions abroad are normally not acted upon for months after they are filed, his new Israeli policy means that religious personnel will no longer be able to move freely between their parishes in the occupied territories and any points out side of those areas.

Christian church workers normally travel frequently between their parishes and their churches’ offices in Jerusalem. Some also must travel often to countries outside the region, including the United States.

Many of the clergy and other church workers in the occupied Palestinian territories are from nearby Jordan; the new Israeli policy will prevent them from visiting their families there.

Indeed, that has already happened. Rev. Fares Khleifat, a pastor and the only Greek Melkite priest in Ramallah, traveled to Jordan for several days in mid-September; when he tried to return to his parish on September 14, he was stopped at the Israeli border, and his valid, multiple-entry visa was canceled.

Forced to remain in Jordan, he has been effectively deported from the Holy Land by the Israeli government, and his parish now has no priest.

The new Israeli policy makes it unlikely that any Arab Christian priests, ministers or other religious workers from the Holy Land will be able to attend HCEF’s Ninth International Conference, scheduled for October 26-27 in Washington.

Christian personnel based in the Holy Land have participated in all eight previous conferences of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation.

http://www.hcef.org/index.cfm/mod/news/ID/16/SubMod/NewsView/NewsID/1849.cfm

CAIR Commentary: Smearing U.S. Muslim Groups is 'Un-American'

ISLAM-OPED is a national syndication service of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) designed to offer an American Muslim perspective on current political, social and religious issues.

ISLAM-OPED commentaries are offered free-of-charge to one media outlet in each market area.

Permission for publication will be granted on a first-come-first-served basis.

CONTACT: ihooper@cair.com
TEL: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726 (c)

Please consider the following commentary for publication. ---

Smearing U.S. Muslim Groups is 'Un-American'

By Parvez Ahmed
WORD COUNT: 765
[Parvez Ahmed is board chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group. He is also an associate professor at the University of North Florida. His e-mail address is pahmed@cair.com.]

In December 2001, the Department of the Treasury named the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation (HLF), at that time the nation's largest Muslim charity, as a terrorist organization. The government seized HLF's assets and shut down the organization, thus freezing millions of dollars in religiously-obligated donations offered by American Muslims and others to feed and clothe orphans and the needy.

After three years of investigation, the government "revised" its allegations against HLF and a federal grand jury issued a 42-count indictment against seven individuals associated with the charity. The indictment alleged that those individuals were part of a "conspiracy" to provide material support to organizations linked to Hamas, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department.

Almost six years later, the HLF officials are finally getting their day in court, as a trial is underway in Dallas. The government's trial brief argues that HLF gave donations to 12 Israeli-licensed Palestinian charities that were allegedly "associated" with Hamas.

This argument is made despite the fact that the U.S. government has not identified the Palestinian charities as supporting terrorism or banned them from receiving American donations. In fact, one of the charities has received aid from the U.S. government.

In an unusual, and some would say un-American, move prosecutors publicly named 306 individuals and organizations as "unindicted co-conspirators" (UCC) relating to the HLF case.

Among those listed are three major American Muslim organizations - the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the North American Islamic Trust and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Collectively, these groups represent the interests and viewpoints of the mainstream American Muslim community.

Listing a person or group as a UCC is not a legal designation of wrongdoing on the part of those named. The UCC designation merely allows for an exception to the hearsay rule, making "co-conspirator" statements admissible during trial.

A recent article in Newsweek stated: "According to one senior law-enforcement official. . .the listing of ISNA, CAIR and other groups as 'unindicted co-conspirators' was largely a tactical move by the government. By listing the groups, the official said, it makes it easier for prosecutors to introduce documents, tapes and other evidence mentioning them. . ."

This dubious practice, which offers the named parties no legal recourse, is quite controversial.

Professor Ira P. Robbins of American University recently wrote in the Federal Courts Law Review: "[The] practice of naming individuals as unindicted co-conspirators. . .appears to be an anomaly in United States law, in that it violates the Fifth Amendment guarantee that no person shall. . .be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

Three federal prosecutors asked by the Los Angeles Times about the practice of publicly naming unindicted co-conspirators called it "improper" and "unfair." This McCarthyite political move violates the Justice Department's own guidelines, which indicate that such lists are to remain sealed to prevent the unfair and un-American labeling of those who are not facing any criminal charges.

The Justice Department's manual for prosecutors says, "In all public filings and proceedings, federal prosecutors should remain sensitive to the privacy and reputation interests of uncharged third-parties."

The guidelines further state that when co-conspirator lists have to be filed in court, prosecutors should seek to file them under seal. In a recent Washington Post article, Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski opined that the "war on terror" has caused America more harm than anything that the terrorists ever imagined. It has created a culture of fear in the U.S.

"The atmosphere generated by the 'war on terror' has encouraged legal and political harassment of Arab Americans (generally loyal Americans) for conduct that has not been unique to them."

Given the growing fear of Islam and Muslims among the American public (one-in-four admit to being prejudiced against Muslims), it has become easy to smear Islamic organizations. Without legal recourse to challenge such smears, the constitutional rights of American Muslims suffer through guilt by association and guilt by mere accusation. This chills the First Amendment rights of American Muslims.

It is our duty as Americans to demand that the due process rights of all citizens be preserved and protected. At a time when most experts are recommending the strengthening of American Muslim institutions to serve as bridges of understanding between America and the Muslim world, smearing these same institutions undermines the very cause that ought to unite us as Americans. Liberty and justice for all cannot be a mere slogan. I

n order to reclaim our global leadership, America needs to work with its Muslim citizens to prevent the downward spiral of misunderstanding and hostility that threatens to engulf our world.
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CAIR Council on American-Islamic Relations 453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. Washington, D.C. 20003 Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726 Fax: 202-488-0833 E-mail: info@cair.com URL: http://www.cair.com/
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