Politics

President Barack Obama is celebrating his own birthday by leading the White House press corps in singing Happy Birthday to veteran reporter Helen Thomas. Thomas and Obama share a birthday on Tuesday, with the president turning 48 and the reporter turning 89. Obama carried cupcakes into the room where reporters were gathered to quiz his … Continued

Arab foreign ministers vowed on Wednesday to support US President Barack Obama’s Middle East peace efforts but said that normalisation with Israel depends on a halt to its settlement activity. Arab countries “are prepared to deal positively with the proposals of President Obama to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict,” they said in a statement after a … Continued

An U.S. State Department official said President Barack Obama is preparing to appoint a new ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic after a four-year hiatus, according to Reuters. The new ambassadorship is part of Obama’s drive to improve relations between the United States and the Islamic and Arab world. The official said the Syrian Ambassador … Continued

Arabs – governments and people – are reacting to Iran’s post-election turbulence with mixed feelings, impressed by a display of regime-shaking people power, alert to the perception of western double standards or meddling, but above all pondering the repercussions of the crackdown in Tehran. Mutual Persian-Arab animosity dates back centuries but the legacy of the … Continued

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee concluded its annual National Convention, the premiere policy event on issues of concern to the Arab-American community, this weekend. With over 2,000 participants, this year’s Convention was a stunning success. The Convention was headlined by former President, and Keynote Speaker, Bill Clinton. The President, who addresses a capacity crowd of over … Continued

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) reiterates its call upon the Obama Administration to pressure Israel to comply with International Law and previously made commitments in light of the recent policy address given by the Israeli Prime Minister. In his address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the Palestinians should govern themselves but insisted on … Continued

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed a Palestinian nation beside Israel for the first time Sunday, reversing himself in the face of U.S. pressure but attaching conditions such as demilitarization that Palestinians swiftly rejected. A week after President Barack Obama’s address to the Muslim world, Netanyahu said the Palestinian nation would have to be unarmed … Continued

The president of the nation’s largest Arab American advocacy group called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s endorsement on Sunday of an independent Palestinian a “positive first step.” The news broke of Netanyahu’s first-ever call for a limited, demilitarized independent Palestinian state at the conclusion of the annual conference of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “If (Netanyahu) … Continued

Former President Bill Clinton told a gathering of Arab Americans on Saturday night that the increasingly interdependent world must learn to embrace diversity or risk perishing. Alternating between humor and heavy philosophizing, Clinton pointed to scientific breakthroughs, spiritual texts, the recent economic meltdown and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to deliver a near 40-minute-long message that the … Continued

ormer President Bill Clinton told a gathering of Arab Americans on Saturday night that the increasingly interdependent world must learn to embrace diversity or risk perishing. Alternating between humor and heavy philosophizing, Clinton pointed to scientific breakthroughs, spiritual texts, the recent economic meltdown and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to deliver a near 40-minute-long message that the … Continued