Arab Americans

Abdeen Jabara

A New York attorney originally based in Detroit, Abdeen Jabara has been concerned throughout his career with issues of the civil rights of Arab Americans, the effects of the September 11th terrorist attack, nationally and globally, and the contentious relationship between Arab and Israeli organizations.

He was born to immigrant Lebanese parents in Mancelona, Michigan, and received his B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1962, and a law degree from Wayne State University Law School in1965.

He graduated from the Institute of World Affairs in Salisbury CT. and founded the Law Student’s Civil Rights Research Council at Wayne State. Jabara also served as a cooperating attorney with the Detroit Metropolitan Branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

During the mid-’70s, he was instrumental in exposing the Nixon Administration’s “Operation Boulder” surveillance program against Arabs and Arab Americans, which included deportations and harassment initiatives. As a result, he was the victim of a coordinated campaign of government surveillance. In 1985, he finally won a legal battle which forced the FBI to destroy the legal records it had maintained regarding his activities as protected by the first amendment.

Jabara was also involved in a number of high-profile cases, for example, the murder trial of Sirhan Sirhan and the extradition case of Ziad Abu Eain.

Jabara is a pioneer in Arab American activism, organizational involvement, participation in the Middle East delegation of the National Lawyers Guild, and other pertinent global and national events highlighting Arab issues.

He was formerly the national president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and president of the Association of Arab American University Graduates (AAUG).

Compiled by Arab America