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LOCAL ARAB-AMERICAN GROUP CONCERNED ABOUT GROWING MIDEAST TENSIONS

 

By Olga Bonfiglio
Special to the Gazette

It's not an easy time to be an Arab-American. So Friday's banquet for the Kalamazoo chapter of the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee was both a celebration of recent
achievements and a reminder that community and national tensions continue in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

"We are as American as apple pie," said Fouad Zeaiter, chairman of the banquet, who is Lebanese by birth.  But watching television news "scares us," he said, referring to "this
sad time, this difficult time."

He noted that a recent poll indicated that 46 percent of Americans associate Middle Easterners with terrorism. Meanwhile, Arabs are viewing Americans as an occupying force rather than a liberating power in Iraq.

The banquet, held at Kalamazoo's Radisson Plaza Hotel and attended by more than 200 people, was intended to be the first of an annual event for the two-year-old group. The event honored several community residents for their promotion of religious and ethnic tolerance.

 

One of two keynote speakers was Mary Rose Oakar, president of the national ADC National and a former congresswoman from Ohio, who talked about discrimination and harassment against Arab-Americans or those who look Arab.

"Timothy McVeigh committed the second worst terrorist attack on the United States and no one called him a terrorist," said Oakar. "We don't stand for violence," said Oakar.  "We don't condone suicide bombers."   

Banquet participants agreed that  issues that led to creation of the group in  2001 haven't gone away. 

 

Many area Muslims expressed their concerns over the escalating violence in Iraq and President Bush's negotiations last week with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon regarding settlements in the West Bank and a homeland for Palestinians. 

Ali Labib, president of the Kalamazoo ADC, said the problems in the Middle East are complicated.  "You can't talk about one issue and not the other," he said referring to the U.S. war with Iraq and the situation between Israel and Palestine.

The Kalamazoo ADC opposed the war with Iraq and now opposes the occupation, saying it is bringing devastation and instability to the region, said Labib, a native of Libya and a Muslim, has been an American
citizen for 25 years.

The situation has become even more complicated with Bush's statement last week that Palestinians don't have a right of return taken over by the Israelis.

"It won't help the peace process," said Labib of last week's
development, " and it will lead to more violence and instability."
Shadia Kanaan, an American for the past 33 years and a native
Palestinian, noted that Bush is changing long-standing U.S. policy on Israel and Palestine.'

"It is like adding gasoline on an existing fire.  It's a very dangerous situation," she said.  "It also puts road blocks on the road map for peace." 

"Israel and Palestine IS the major issue in the Middle East," she said. "This is basic knowledge - and its solution will be key to peace in the region."

In receiving the Humanitarian Award on behalf of the Women in Black, a non-violent group that stands on major city street corners silently mourning all victims of war and violence, Kanaan applauded similar efforts as a move toward peace.

"The Women in Black solidify the idea that peace is the only solution," said Kanaan.  "It negates war and violence and confirms that a military solution complicates problems."

Also speaking at Friday's banquet was Michigan Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly, who spoke about civil rights.

"It is necessary that we treat everyone fairly," said Kelly in an
interview prior to the event.  "It's not only the right thing to do, it
is vital to the health of our democracy."