Date:

May 22, 2019

Today on Arab Voices, we will air different segments than what we aired last week of both "Al-Nakba" documentary and "The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in The United States" documentary.
  
Because KPFT is currently in Spring Fund Drive, Arab Voices will be offering "Al-Nakba" DVD documentary as a "Thank-You Gift" to those who pledge $150. We are also offering another DVD documentary titled "The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in The United States" for $100, and both documentaries are available for $200.
 
Please consider a contribution to keep Arab Voices on KPFT. You can call during the show on Wednesday between 6 and 7 pm central time and pledge your support (713-526-5738), or send e-mail to ArabVoices@hotmail.com with your name and the amount you want to pledge.
    
Thank you.
               

Spring Fund Drive

Date:

May 15, 2019

71st Anniversary of Al-Nakba (The Catastrophe)
Today, May 15, 2019, marks the 71st anniversary of Al-Nakba (Arabic word for The Catastrophe), that's when Israel declared its independence on 78% of historic Palestine after wiping out more than 530 Palestinian villages and towns, killing thousands of Palestinians and forcing more than 850,000 Palestinians out of their homes. The Palestinians started referring to that as Al-Nakba, which actually started before 1948 and it continues to this day!
   
Today on Arab Voices, we will be talking about Al-Nakba, and also air portions of a special award-winning documentary, entitled "Al-Nakba".
  
And because KPFT is currently in Spring Fund Drive, Arab Voices will be offering "Al-Nakba" DVD documentary as a "Thank-You Gift" to those who pledge $150. We are also offering another DVD documentary titled "The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in The United States" for $100, and both documentaries are available for $200.
  
Please consider a contribution to keep Arab Voices on KPFT. You can call during the show on Wednesday between 6 and 7 pm central time and pledge your support (713-526-5738), or send e-mail to ArabVoices@hotmail.com with your name and the amount you want to pledge.
  
BTW, a few years ago, Pacifica Radio Network, produced a special documentary about Al-Nakba, to which I contributed, and it was aired on all Pacifica radio stations and their affiliates across the U.S. It was a collaboration between Arab Voices and several radio stations. This special documentary featured know experts, Palestinian politicians, elder survivors of the Nakba and their children and grand children, former detainees, reporters, and activists.
    
Thank you.
          

Spring Fund Drive

Date:

May 8, 2019

Date:

May 1, 2019

Bahia Amawi
Palestinian-American speech pathologist who has worked with the Pflugerville Independent School District (PFISD) in Austin, Texas for nine years. She has a master’s degree in speech pathology, and has specialized in evaluations for young children with language difficulties. Bahia is a U.S. citizen, who was born in Austria and has lived in the U.S. for the last 30 years, and has four U.S.-born American children.
    
In December 2018, Bahia Amawi filed a federal lawsuit against Pflugerville Independent School District and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for violating her First Amendment right of free speech and challenging Texas Anti-BDS Act, H.B. 89., after she lost her job because she refused to sign a “No Boycott of Israel” clause. Bahia won her case on April 25, 2019 when a federal judge ruled that Texas law banning state contractors from boycotting Israel violates the First Amendment.
        
John T. Floyd
Criminal Defense Lawyer based in Houston, Texas, and a volunteer Civil Rights Lawyer for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR Houston). He is also a Board Member with CAIR Houston. John T. Floyd is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and has been providing defense services to clients in federal and state courts for over twenty years.
  
John T. Floyd is the attorney representing Bahia Amawi, along with CAIR Legal Defense Fund, who filed the lawsuit against Pflugerville Independent School District and Ken Paxton.
   

We will speak live with both Bahia Amawi and John T. Flyed about last week's landmark court victory in Texas by the Council on American-Islamic Relations Legal Defense Fund in the First Amendment lawsuit filed on behalf of Bahia Amawi who lost her job because she refused to sign a “No Boycott of Israel” clause. We will talk about what happens next, and the plans to challenge 26 other states that have already passed unconstitutional anti-BDS laws.
 

Date:

April 24, 2019

Date:

April 17, 2019

1^st Segment:  Khalil AbuSharekh
We will speak with Houston Palestine Film Festival's board member, Khalil AbuSharekh, about the 13^th annual Houston Palestine Film Festival (HPFF). The festival will showcase a number of award-winning and internationally acclaimed feature films, documentaries and shorts that address a variety of themes and narratives in Palestinian society, including Alexandra Dol’s documentary “Beyond the Frontlines: Tales of Resistance and Resilience from Palestine,” which won the Sunbird Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2017 Palestine Cinema Days Festival. Beyond the Frontlines features Palestinian psychiatrist Dr. Samah Jabr who thoughtfully explores the psychological wounds of war and occupation borne by a resilient people intent on resisting. Alexandra Dols and Dr. Samah Jabr will both be present post-screening on the opening night of April 26 to engage the audience in a Q&A session.
 
The Houston Palestine Film Festival will be held April 26 through May 4 at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and Rice University Media Center. Click here for more details and Program Lineup.
      

2^nd Segment: Dr. Kamel Mohanna
Founder of Amel Association International (مؤسسة عامل الدولية), an independent nonprofit, non-confessional Lebanese organization dedicated to saving lives and generating a democratic and prosperous Lebanon, and a nominee for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, who dedicated his life to help the displaced, the sick and the abandoned. Dr. Kamel Mohanna was born in Khiyam village (South Lebanon) and spent his early life there. Marked by an arduous childhood facing poverty and inequality, he became a man with the courage to choose the right but challenging options instead of the easiest ones. Originally pediatrician, Dr. Kamel Mohanna strengthen his humanitarian commitment after the second Israeli invasion of South Lebanon (1978) when he founded the NGO Amel Association in collaboration with a group of doctors, teachers, journalists and intellectuals. During the war, Amel Association played a significant role providing relief and emergency response. Since then, the NGO has established a considerable network of dispensaries, clinics, medical centers, and a dedicated team of more than 800 volunteers and aid workers. Dr. Kamel Mohanna was honored with several titles recognizing his courage and humanitarian action in favor of the most vulnerable during the war. Among a long series of titles, he received the Order of Honor on behalf of President Jacques Chirac in 1998 for his long commitment to caring for the injured abroad and the Civil Peace and Human Rights Prize (Joseph and Laure Moghaizel Foundation) in collaboration with the UNDP Programme in 2006. During his career, Dr. Kamel Mohanna continued to practice pediatrics while teaching as a Professor at the University. As the General Coordinator of the Lebanese NGOs Network he gave rise to a nation-wide campaign entitled “Khallas”, a civil society initiative urging politicians to end the current deadlock in Lebanon.
 
We will speak live with Dr. Kamel Mohanna about his work and Amel Association International, that is providing many services to Lebanese, as well as Syrian and Palestinian refugees.

Date:

April 10, 2019

"The Early History of the Arab-American Community" by Professor Akram Khater
The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and The Arab-American Education Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History at the University of Houston held the Nijad and Zeina Fares Arab-American Educational Foundation Annual Distinguished Lecture in Modern Arab Studies on February 19, 2019, at the University of Houston. The lecture was titled "The Early History of the Arab-American Community", and the speaker was Professor Akram Khater.
       
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Professor Khater's lecture on "The Early History of the Arab-American Community".
 
Akram Khater Ph.D. (UC Berkeley) is University Faculty Scholar, Professor of History, Khayrallah Chair in Diaspora Studies, and Director of the Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies at North Carolina State University. His books include Inventing Home: Emigration, Gender and the Making of a Lebanese Middle Class, 1861-1921; A History of the Middle East: A Sourcebook for the History of the Middle East and North Africa; and Embracing the Divine: Passion and Politics in the Christian Middle East. He is the editor of the International Journal of Middle East Studies, has completed a 2012 PBS documentary on the history of the Lebanese community in North Carolina, was the senior curator for a museum exhibit on the same topic that opened on February 21, 2014, and was also the curator of the traveling exhibit, The Lebanese in America, which has toured six US cities, and will continue to tour through 2019.

Date:

April 3, 2019

1^st Segment: Houston Palestinian Festival
A live conversation with Dr. Waleed Faris, President of the Palestinian American Cultural Center, organizer of the 9th Annual Houston Palestinian Festival, and Alma AlQuqa, senior festival committee member.
 
We will speak with them about the 9th Annual Houston Palestinian Festival that will be held Saturday-Sunday, April 6-7, 2019 at The Water Works at Buffalo Bayou Park, 105 Sabine Street, in Houston. This year, the festival will showcase the Palestinian cities lost in 1948, and it will include:
  
- A new and much larger downtown venue: Water Works at Buffalo Bayou
- An exciting cultural collaboration with Cafe Mawal
- Various Palestinian cuisine from local food vendors
- Cultural music and dance performances from all around Palestine
- Palestinian Pagentry where you watch and learn about Palestinian thobes
- Showcase of a traditional Palestinian wedding
- A larger kids entertainment section with extended hours
- A larger shopping Bazar to give you the ultimate shopping experience with a variety of vendors, such as Henna tattoos, embroidery, arts, clothing, home decor and much more
- And much more live entertainment
     

2^nd Segment: National Arab American Heritage Month
A live conversation with  Sarah Kassis Izzat, a volunteer serving on the board of a special project with Arab America that was formed 3 years ago in order to unify efforts to achieve official recognition and awareness of Arab American heritage and culture throughout the country, and Ahmad Alaswad, Arab-American Cultural & Community Center Board Member, and Chief of Staff at the Office of Fort Bend County Commissioner Ken DeMerchant (the first Arab Chief of Staff in the greater Houston area).
    
We will speak with them about the National Arab American Heritage Month, that aims to educate and enlighten the public about Arab contributions to American culture and to combat the negative media portrayal of Arabs in the U.S. We will talk about the proclamations issued nationwide by several states and various government officials and school boards, including locally the City of Houston (issued by Mayor Sylvester Turner), Houston Independent School District, Fort Bend Independent School District, Fort Bend County Commissioner, and Fort Bend County Judge, proclaiming the month of April as National Arab American Heritage Month. We will also talk about the events planned during the month of April by the Arab American Cultural & Community Center, and share some ideas and recommendations for others.

Date:

March 27, 2019

1^st Segment: John Quigley
Professor emeritus of international law at Ohio State University, who is active in international human rights work. His numerous publications include books and articles on human rights, the United Nations, war and peace, east European law, African law, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. He authored several books including The Statehood of Palestine: International Law in the Middle East Conflict (2010), The Six-Day War and Israeli Self-Defense: Questioning the Legal Basis for Preventive War (2013), and The International Diplomacy of Israel’s Founders: Deception at the United Nations in the Quest for Palestine (2016). Professor Quigley participated in the fourth session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine - New York Session in 2012. In 1995 he was recipient of The Ohio State University Distinguished Scholar Award. He formerly held the title of President’s Club Professor of Law.
   
We will speak live with professor Quigley about about President Trump's recognition of "Israel’s sovereignty" over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, and how that violates International Law. The Golan Heights is a Syrian land that has been occupied by Israel since 1967. In 1981, Israel annexed the Syrian Golan Heights, despite numerous United Nations resolutions calling on Israel to withdraw its occupation from the Syrian Golan Heights, and the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
       

2^nd Segment: "U.S. Foreign Aid and the Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program"
We will air today the remarks of Grant F. Smith, director of the Washington, DC-based Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) on the topic "U.S. Foreign Aid and the Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program". Smith is the author of the 2016 book Big Israel: How Israel’s Lobby Moves America and Divert! Numec, Zalman Shapiro and the Diversion of U.S. Weapons-Grade Uranium Into the Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program (2012). He has also written two histories of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). America’s Defense Line: The Justice Department's Battle to Register the Israel Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Government and Foreign Agents: AIPAC from the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal. Smith’s reports about the Israel lobby and Freedom of Information Act lawsuits to reveal official U.S. policy on Israel’s nuclear program appear frequently in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Antiwar.com news website.
    
"U.S. Foreign Aid and the Israeli Nuclear Weapons Program" by Grant F. Smith
In 1969, the Department of Defense, intelligence community and Department of State recommended President Richard Nixon uphold the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and pressure the Israelis to stop their nuclear weapons program by withholding U.S. arms. U.S. deliberations considered Israel’s illegal diversion of U.S. weapons grade uranium. However, the Nixon administration adopted Israel’s policy of “ambiguity” toward Israel’s nukes. Why did this happen? How has “ambiguity” been maintained for a half century? What law governs U.S. foreign aid to non-NPT signatory nuclear countries, and how is this law continually subverted? How has the pattern of action leading to “ambiguity” been repeated in other key U.S. policy areas of interest to Israel and its lobby?
  
Smith delivered those remarks at The Israel Lobby and American Policy Conference held on March 22, 2019 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.      

Date:

March 20, 2019

1^st Segment: 5^th Annual Lebanese Festival
A live conversation with Hiba Elroz, media chair for the Lebanese Festival and board member with the American Lebanese Cultural Center about the 5th Annual Lebanese Festival that will be held Saturday and Sunday, March 23-24 at Constellation Field, in Sugar Land, Texas, organized by the American Lebanese Cultural Center in Houston.
 
There will be delicious food, nonstop dancing, and activities for the whole family which include a NEW bazaar this year named "Made in Lebanon" that will bring a range of authentic Lebanese products and brands to you! ALCC will also sponsor a Walk for Hope during the festival weekend and contribute a portion of festival entrance proceeds to benefit the Children's Cancer Center of Lebanon, an affiliated hospital of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
            

2^nd Segment: New Zealand Terrorist Attack
We will talk about the terrorist attack that killed 50 Muslims and injured 50 others at two mosques in New Zealand on March 15, 2019. We will listen to the reaction and remarks of Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand Prime Minister, and Waleed Aly, an Australian Muslim, writer, academic, lawyer, media presenter and musician, co-host of Network Ten's news and current affairs television program "The Project", who lives in New Zealand. We will also listen to the remarks of Nihad Awad, National Executive Director and co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest non-profit Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, and the remarks of Sylvester Turner, Mayor of the City of Houston.
      

3^rd Segment: AAEF Center for Arab Studies at University of Houston
The Arab-American Educational Foundation (AAEF) in Houston signed an agreement with the University of Houston, a Tier One Research Institution, on March 7, 2019, to launch a center for Arab studies at UH with a million dollar endowment. It was another historic milestone reached by the AAEF Board of Directors, led by Dr. Aziz Shaibani, AAEF President. The AAEF announced right after the agreement was signed (which stipulated that the million dollar be paid over three years), that it actually raised the money and was ready to transfer it to the university the following week.
 
In 2011, the AAEF initiated an endowment campaign and successfully raised one million dollar to establish a Chair of Modern Arab History at the University of Houston, a position held by Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti since 2015. In 1995, the AAEF raised another one million dollar to establishment a Chair in Arab Studies at Rice University, a position held by Dr. Ussama Makdisi since 1997. The next phase would be for the AAEF to raise a million dollar to have its name given to the center.
     
Today on the show, we will listen to some of the remarks shared by some of the attendees at the celebration launch event held on March 7, 2019 at Mr. Nijad and Mrs. Zeina Fares' house where the agreement was signed. We will listen to the remarks of Mr. Nijad Fares, Dr. Renu Khator, Chancellor of the University of Houston System and President of the University of Houston, Mr. Farouk Shami, who donated half a million dollars for the new center, and Dr. Aziz Shaibani, President of the Arab-American Educational Foundation.
       

4^th Segment: Dr. Nadia Abuelezam
Creator, Producer, and Host of Palestinians Podcast. She is Palestinian-American, and is a public health researcher and professor interested in domestic and international health disparities. She is an accomplished teacher and storyteller with a passion for the craft of storytelling and narrative. She values storytelling and its impact in building community and creating unity within the Palestinian diaspora. Dr. Abuelezam has performed stories on stages across the United States.
 
We will speak with Dr. Abuelezam about the Palestinians Podcast, and her upcoming visit to Houston to conduct the Palestinian Narrative Training Program to be held at the University of Houston on March 30-31, 2019.

Date:

March 13, 2019

1^st Segment: Alex McDonald
Founder of Texas Coalition for Human Rights. He is an Internet marketer and business consultant based in Houston, Texas. Alex just returned last week from a 10-day visit to Iran as part of a 28 person peace delegation organized by Code Pink, a women-led peace and human rights organization. In 2018, Alex was part of the ground crew for the 2018 Freedom Flotilla for the Norwegian fishing boat Al Awda (The Return) in La Rochelle, France and was a crew member for one week in Northern France onboard the Mairead. In 2017, Alex McDonald visited occupied Palestine and Israel with an interfaith peace group, and has been very concerned about the active role the U.S. has in oppressing the Palestinian people and supporting the violation of human rights.
  
We will speak with Alex about his visit to Iran and what he witnessed there, the impact of the U.S. sanctions on the Iranian people, the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear agreement (JCPOA), and his talk with the Iranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, and others.
           

2^nd Segment: Abed A. Ayoub
National Legal & Policy Director of the American-Arab Anti- Discrimination Committee (ADC), the largest Arab American civil rights organization in the U.S. Through his position, Ayoub works to address issues impacting Arabs and Muslims in the United States, including discrimination, hate crimes, and profiling. Ayoub also works to enhance the community’s economic empowerment and access to education. Ayoub also represents the Arab and Muslim community on Capitol Hill, working regularly with members of Congress. He regularly appears as a community voice/contributor on national and international news outlets. Ayoub is a native of Dearborn, Michigan, which is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans. Before joining ADC, Ayoub was in private practice in Michigan, specializing in immigration and criminal law. Outside of ADC, he works with a number of organizations on interfaith projects and has participated in numerous diversity training programs throughout the country.
  
We will speak with Abed Ayoub about the recent/historic resolution voted on condemning Anti-Muslim bigotry, the attacks against speaking truth regarding the Israel Lobby influence on politicians, accusations of anti-semitism against congresswoman Ilhan Omar, media attacks on Arabs, Tucker Carlson’s attack on Iraqi and Arab culture, and more.

Date:

March 6, 2019

1^st Segment: Dr. Nabeel Shalan
Palestinian American medical doctor, and organizer/promoter of a tour for the "Fozi Mozi & Tutti" Palestinian group in four U.S. cities during the month of April, including Houston.
 
We will speak with Dr. Shalan about the tour that is offering Arab children living in the U.S. the unique opportunity to be part of a children's show in their mother tongue, which will help connect them with their roots and heritage.
 
"Fozi Mozi & Tutti" group is coming from Palestine, and has performed live shows in different countries including Palestine, other Arab countries, and Europe. It is a performance group oriented toward children all over the world. Their programs on YouTube have been dubbed in multiple languages. "Fozi Mozi & Tutti" play the role of two mischievous children, who along with their smart little sister Mandalina, learn as they navigate through daily life. Their fun-filled programs and live shows include plenty of songs and sketches that combine educational value with entertainment.
 
The Houston performance (presented in Arabic) will be held on April 4, 2019 at 7 p.m. at the Cullen Theater at the Wortham Center.
         

2^nd Segment: Dr. Hatem Bazian
Teaching Professor in the Departments of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and he is also Provost, Co-Founder and Professor at Zaytuna College, the 1st Accredited Muslim Liberal Arts College in the United States. Dr. Bazian is an adviser to the Religion, Politics, and Globalization Center at UC Berkeley. In 2009, he founded the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project at UC Berkeley, Editor-in-Chief of the Islamophobia Studies Journal and Founder and Director of the International Islamophobia Studies Consortium. Dr. Bazian is on the board of several organizations, including the Islamic Scholarship Fund, Muslim Legal Fund of America and Muslim Americans for Palestine, for which he is also the founding president. Dr. Bazian publishes articles and papers frequently, and he is author of several books, including "Annotations on Race, Colonialism, Islamophobia, Islam and Palestine", and "Palestine: ...it is something colonial".
  
We will speak with Dr. Bazian about the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine, the newly released report by the U.N. on Israeli crimes and the efforts to silence critics, the mounting criticism and accusations of anti-semitism against congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and more.
 
Dr. Hatem Bazian was profiled last week in a newly published New Yorker piece “How a Private Israeli Intelligence Firm Spied on Pro-Palestinian Activists in the U.S.”

Date:

February 27, 2019

Date:

February 20, 2019

Re-Airing Portions of Previous Interviews with Melvin Goodman
Melvin Goodman is Director of the National Security Project at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC, and a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. He was an analyst at the CIA for 24 years; a former analyst at the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research; and author of several books on international security, including "National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism" and "Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA". His latest book is "Whistleblower at the CIA". Goodman helped draft the report that described Israel’s attack against Egypt on the morning of June 5, 1967.Last year, he published the piece The Six Day War and Israeli Lies: What I Saw at the CIA. Goodman has written numerous articles and op-eds over the years, appeared on various media outlets, and has lectured all over the country. He is also the national security columnist for counterpunch.org.
         

Winter Fund Drive

Date:

February 13, 2019

1^st Segment: Taher Herzallah
Associate Director of Outreach & Community Organizing for American Muslims for Palestine. He is one of the 'Irvine 11,' a group of students who were arrested and prosecuted for expressing their constitutionally protected rights of free speech and political dissent when they walked out of a speech given by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at UC Irvine in 2010. Mr. Herzallah was also one of six people arrested for protesting the appointment of David Friedman as US ambassador to Israel at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing in February 2017. He has had articles published in various media outlets including the Orange County Register and Al Jazeera English. He has been featured on several media and radio interviews throughout the US and internationally. Taher Herzallah studied Political Science and International Affairs at UC Riverside.
  
We will speak live with Taher Herzallah about American Muslims for Palestine organization, and the work it does, including the upcoming Palestine Advocacy Day & Training scheduled to be held April 5-8, 2019, in Washington, D.C. We will also talk about the attempts to suppress free speech on college campuses, and the recent attacks against Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.
     

2^nd Segment: Hanan Awad
Palestinian American living in Edmond, Oklahoma, USA. Hanan is an established street photographer. She held multiple photo galleries in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and the United States. She received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University, NJ in Middle Eastern Studies, Film-making certificate from New York Film Academy and her Masters in double major focusing on Latin America and the Middle East at the University of Central Oklahoma. Her many visits to Palestine got her interested in the forced displacement of the Jahalin Bedouins, a concept that now stands as the main emphasis of her research.
 
We will speak live with Hanan Awad about the Palestinian Bedouins in occupied Palestine and what she witnessed when she visited several of their villages. We will talk about the ongoing Israeli ethnic cleansing, destruction and displacement of the Bedouin villages in Palestine including Khan Al-Ahmar, Israel’s “Judaisation” plan, and laws it passes against the Palestinian Bedouins, Israel's colonial demographic policies, and more.

Date:

February 6, 2019

CAIR-Houston's Annual Banquet: "Faith Led, Justice Driven"
The Council on American-Islamic Relations Texas (Houston Chapter) held its 17th Annual Banquet on December 9, 2018, in Houston under the theme "Faith Led, Justice Driven". Several local community members, faith leaders, and elected officials attended the event that featured an awards ceremony recognizing several individuals. It was a celebration and review of CAIR-Houston's achievements and it also highlighted how to work together to protect civil rights and share a positive message about Islam and Muslims.
    
There were several remarks delivered at the event, and today we will listen to some of them, including those of Mohammed Nasrullah, CAIR-Houston President and Board Chairman; Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee; and Linda Sarsour, award-winning racial and civil rights activist, community organizer, and former Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York and co-founder of the first Muslim online organizing platform, MPOWER Change.

Date:

January 30, 2019

Date:

January 23, 2019

1^st Segment: “Houstonians Views on Muslim Americans” by Robert L. McKenzie
Robert L. McKenzie is a Senior fellow at New America and director of its Muslim Diaspora Initiative. He is a domestic and foreign policy analyst and scholar of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with fifteen years of applied research and work experience for the U.S. government, private sector, and academia. An anthropologist by training, McKenzie is an expert in displaced persons, refugee resettlement and integration, and Arab and Muslim communities in the United States and Europe. McKenzie is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and he has been a lecturer at Wayne State University (Detroit), a researcher at the American University in Cairo, and a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford. In his latest book project McKenzie explores humanitarian assistance and policy solutions to protracted refugee situations in the Middle East.
 
We will speak live with Dr. McKenzie about the newly released results of a recent study entitled, “Houstonians Views on Muslim Americans”, co-sponsored by Wasat Institute and New America. This local study, as part of a larger national study, breaks down the “whys” at the heart of misunderstandings about Muslims in America. We will talk with Dr. McKenzie about the key findings from this study.
           

2^nd Segment: "Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice"
Making Contact, an award-winning weekly magazine/documentary-style public affairs program heard on 140 radio stations in the USA, Canada, South Africa and Ireland, produced a new edition titled “Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice”. In this edition, Making Contact speaks with author Paul Kivel about his book, Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice. This book offers a framework for understanding institutional racism. It provides practical suggestions, tools, examples, and advice on how white people can intervene in interpersonal and organizational situations to work as allies for racial justice. Completely revised and updated, this expanded third edition directly engages the reader through questions, exercises, and suggestions for action, and takes a detailed look at current issues such as affirmative action, immigration, and health care. It also includes a wealth of information about specific cultural groups such as Muslims, people with mixed-heritage, Native Americans, Jews, recent immigrants, Asian Americans, and Latinos.
 
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to “Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice” edition by Making Contact.
 
Paul Kivel is an award-winning author and an accomplished trainer and speaker. He has been a social justice activist, a nationally and internationally recognized anti-racism educator, and an innovative leader in violence prevention for over forty years.

Date:

January 16, 2019

Law and Revolution in the Arab Spring
The Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History at the University of Houston and The Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Arab Studies at Rice University, held an event at the University of Houston on November 13, 2018 that featured Dr. Nimer Sultany, Senior Lecturer in Public Law at SOAS, University of London, and winner of the 2018 International Society of Public Law Book Prize and the 2018 Society of Legal Scholars' Peter Birks Prize for Outstanding Legal Scholarship. Dr. Sultany talked about his recent book Law and Revolution: Legitimacy and Constitutionalism After the Arab Spring. This award winning book offers a critical re-examination of political, legal, and constitutional theory in light of the Arab Spring.
 
Dr. Sultany was introduced by Dr. Ussama Makdisi, Professor of History and the first holder of the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies at Rice University, and his talk was followed by commentary from Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti, Associate Professor and Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History at the University of Houston.
  
Today on Arab Voices, we will air the remarks delivered at that event.

Date:

January 9, 2019

The Realities of Jerusalem Today
 
Today on Arab Voices we will air the remarks delivered at "The Realities of Jerusalem Today" panel held on October 11, 2018, at the Houston Jerusalem Conference entitled "JERUSALEM: WHAT MAKES FOR PEACE?", organized by Bright Stars of Bethlehem. There were three speakers at that panel:
 
Osama Qawasmeh
Member of the Palestinian National Council
 
Tarek Abuata
Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America. He previously worked as the coordinator of the Christian Peacemaker Team in Hebron
 
Majed Bamya
Political Coordinator and Legal Adviser for the Permanent Observer Mission of the State of Palestine to the United Nations in New York, and Head of the International law and Treaties Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Date:

January 2, 2019

1^st Segment: Daniel McAdams (re-airing last week's HD2 channel interview on the FM radio)
   
Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. He served as the foreign affairs, civil liberties, and defense policy advisor to U.S. Congressman Ron Paul, MD (R-Texas) from 2001 until Dr. Paul’s retirement at the end of 2012. From 1993-1999 he worked as a journalist based in Budapest, Hungary, and traveled through the former communist bloc as a human rights monitor and election observer.
  
We will speak live with Daniel about Syria, Israel's missile attack on Syria on Christmas day, President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, will the U.S. actually get out of Syria, what does that mean to Syria and the region, and more.
   

2^nd Segment: Dr. Shireen Al-Adeimi (re-airing June 2018 interview)
   
A Harvard University graduate who will soon begin a position as an assistant professor of education at Michigan State University. Having lived through two civil wars in her country of birth, Yemen, she has played an active role in raising awareness about the U.S.-supported, Saudi-led war on Yemen since 2015. Through her work, she aims to encourage political action among fellow Americans to bring about an end to the U.S. intervention in Yemen.
  
We will speak live with Dr. Al-Adeimi about the catastrophic and dire situation in Yemen as a result of the U.S.-supported Saudi-led war on Yemen, the refugee crisis this war has created (today, June 20 is World Refugee Day), and the recent deadly attack on Yemen’s port city of Al-Hudaydah.

Date:

December 26, 2018   KPFT HD2 Channel

1^st Segment: Hagai El-Ad's UN Security Council Remarks
Hagai El-Ad is an Israeli human rights activist and the Executive Director of the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. He is the former Executive Director of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and is also a blogger at The Huffington Post. On October 18, 2018, Hagai addressed the United Nations Security Council at its quarterly session scheduled in accordance with Resolution 2334, in which he talked about the Israeli occupation’s crimes and violations against the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the humanitarian crisis there. During his remarks, he called on the international community to take action against Israeli apartheid. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his party publicly lashed out against Hagai El-Ad over his UN remarks.
    
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Hagai El-Ad's UN Security Council Remarks.
      

2^nd Segment: Daniel McAdams
Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. He served as the foreign affairs, civil liberties, and defense policy advisor to U.S. Congressman Ron Paul, MD (R-Texas) from 2001 until Dr. Paul’s retirement at the end of 2012. From 1993-1999 he worked as a journalist based in Budapest, Hungary, and traveled through the former communist bloc as a human rights monitor and election observer.
  
We will speak live with Daniel about Syria, Israel's missile attack on Syria on Christmas day, President Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, will the U.S. actually get out of Syria, what does that mean to Syria and the region, and more.

Date:

December 19, 2018

Bahia Amawi
Palestinian-American speech pathologist who has worked with the Pflugerville Independent School District (PFISD) in Austin, Texas for nine years. She has a master’s degree in speech pathology, and has specialized in evaluations for young children with language difficulties. Bahia is a U.S. citizen, who was born in Austria and has lived in the U.S. for the last 30 years, and has four U.S.-born American children.
    
On Monday, December 17, 2018, Bahia Amawi filed a federal lawsuit against Pflugerville Independent School District and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton alleging a violation of her First Amendment right of free speech, after she lost her job because she refused to sign a pledge (Texas Government Code 2270.001 - enacted in May 2017) that she “does not currently boycott Israel,” and “will not boycott Israel during the term of the contract,” and that she shall refrain from any action “that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or limit commercial relations with Israel, or with a person or entity doing business in Israeli or in an Israel-controlled territory.”
        
John T. Floyd
Criminal Defense Lawyer based in Houston, Texas, and a volunteer Civil Rights Lawyer for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston). He is also a Board Member with CAIR-Houston. John T. Floyd is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and has been providing defense services to clients in federal and state courts for over twenty years.
  
John T. Floyd is the attorney representing Bahia Amawi, along with CAIR Legal Defense Fund, who filed the lawsuit against Pflugerville Independent School District and Ken Paxton.
   

We will speak live with both Bahia Amawi and John T. Floyd about Bahia's case, Texas Government Code 2270.001 that prohibits Texas state agencies from contracting with companies that boycott Israel and how that violates the First Amendment rights. We will also talk about the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (SR. 70) that was re-introduced by Senator Ben Cardin to the 2019 annual omnibus legislation, that can be voted on any day, which aims at criminalizing boycotts of Israel.
 
Note: The ACLU of Texas also filed a separate lawsuit on December 18, 2018, challenging Texas Anti-Boycott Law on behalf of four people: John Pluecker, a freelance writer who lost two service contracts from the University of Houston; George Hale, a reporter for KETR who was forced to sign the certification against his conscience in order to keep his job; Obinna Dennar, a Ph.D. candidate at Rice University, who was forced to forfeit payment for judging at a debate tournament; and Zachary Abdelhadi, a student at Texas State University, who has had to forego opportunities to judge high school debate tournaments.

Date:

December 12, 2018

National Arab American Medical Association (NAAMA) Ben Qurrah Award Gala
The Houston Chapter of the National Arab American Medical Association (NAAMA), held its 11^th biennial Ben Qurra Award Gala on October 20, 2018, in Houston, Texas. The biennial Ben Qurra Award Gala celebrates the achievements of prominent scientists of Arab origin who have made major contributions to science, medicine and health care and honors those who have made remarkable contributions in the field of medicine and who have succeeded in the worldwide advancement of science. This year's honorees were Dr. Fadlo Khuri, President of the American University of Beirut and Professor of the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Emory University School of Medicine, and Dr. William Zoghbi, Chair of the Department of Cardiology at Houston Methodist Hospital and the Elkins Family Distinguished Chair in Cardiac Health at Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center.
     
Today on Arab Voices, we will air the remarks delivered at the 11^th biennial Ben Qurra Award Gala including the remarks of Dr. Zaina Al-Mohtaseb, NAAMA Houston Chapter President, and Dr. Rouba Ali-Fehmi, NAAMA National President. We will also listen to the remarks of the honorees, Dr. Fadlo Khuri (introduced by Dr. Raymond Sawaya) and Dr. William Zoghbi (introduced by Dr. Alan Lumsden).

Date:

December 5, 2018

1^st Segment: Marc Lamont Hill's UN Remarks
Marc Lamont Hill is an American academic, author, activist, and television personality. He is a Professor of Media Studies and Urban Education at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the host of the syndicated television show Our World with Black Enterprise and hosts the online Internet-based HuffPost Live. He is also a BET News correspondent, and a former political commentator for CNN and Fox News.
   
Professor Hill was fired from his position as a commentator for CNN last week, one day after he called for equal rights for all in historic Palestine in a speech he delivered on November 28, 2018 at a special meeting of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Furthermore, there is currently an escalating campaign calling on Temple University to fire Professor Marc Lamont Hill from his position at the university.
    
During the 1st segment of the show today, we will air Dr. Marc Lamont Hill's entire remarks delivered at the United Nations.
   

2^nd Segment: Dima Khalidi
Founder and Director of Palestine Legal and Cooperating Counsel with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). Her work includes providing legal advice to activists, engaging in advocacy to protect their rights to speak out for Palestinian rights, and educating activists and the public about the repression of Palestine advocates. Dima worked with CCR as a cooperating attorney on the Mamilla Cemetery Campaign, drafting a Petition to United Nations officials to act against the desecration of an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. She also worked on numerous cases that sought to hold Israeli officials and corporations accountable for Israeli violations of international law, including Belhas v. Ya’alon, Matar et al. v. Dichter and Corrie v. Caterpillar, as well as on CCR’s Guantanamo Bay docket. Prior to studying law, Dima worked at Birzeit University, heading a research project on the role of informal justice mechanisms in the Palestinian legal system. She has advocated on Palestinian rights issues in various media forums.
 
We will speak live with Dima Khalidi about Dr. Marc Lamont Hill's remarks at the UN, CNN's decision to fire Hill and the escalating campaign calling on Temple University to fire professor Hill after his UN remarks, the false accusations against professor Hill, and the legality of firing him from CNN and possibly Temple University and how that would violate the first amendment. We will also speak with Dima Khalidi about the Israel Anti-Boycott Act that might be snuck into a must-pass, year-end appropriations bill in the U.S. Senate, and Kenneth Marcus, Trump’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education proposal to redefine anti-Semitism to include speech that criticizes Israel!

Date:

November 28, 2018

ACC's Annual Unity & Friendship Gala
The Arab American Cultural and Community Center (ACC) in Houston held its Annual Unity and Friendship Gala on October 13, 2018, and it highlighted the Culture and People of Palestine. The Gala Chairs were Mrs. Abla Amin and Dr. Rania Elkhatib. The Mistress of Ceremonies was international comedian, Mona Aburmishan.
       
The ACC honorees were Dr. Osama and Dr. Lilian Gaber (2018 ACC Outstanding Community Service Award for Nora's Home), Dr. Ussama Makdisi (2018 ACC Lifetime Achievement Award), and Baker Hughes-Middle East Network Group (2018 ACC Outstanding Corporate Social Responsibility Award).
   
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to some of the remarks delivered at the Gala, including the remarks of Dr. Faiza Zalila, ACC President, Dr. Abed Takriti, introducing and highlighting the people and culture of Palestine, Dr. Rezik Saqer, Palestinian American Cultural Center past president, Dr. Ussama Makdisi (introduced by Dr. Abed Takriti), Dr. Osama and Dr. Lilian Gaber (introduced by Dr. Waleed Gaber), and Derek Mathieson with Baker Hughes (introduced by Dr. Faiza Zalila).  

Date:

November 21, 2018

1^st Segment: Lauren Booth (in London)
British journalist and broadcaster who has presented series for amongst others: BBC Radio London, British Muslim TV, Press TV and the Islam Channel. She publishes articles across a wide platform and continues to tour internationally as a public speaker. Her talks focus on human rights, Islamophobia in the media, Palestinian justice and her own conversion to Islam. Booth is author of the newly released book "Finding Peace in the Holy Land: A British Muslim Memoir". Lauren Booth is the sister-in-law of the former British prime minister Tony Blair.
 
We will speak with Lauren Booth (in London) about her newly released book "Finding Peace in the Holy Land: A British Muslim Memoir", her conversion to Islam, Islamophobia, her experience in Palestine, and more.
     

2^nd Segment: Alex McDonald
Founder of Texas Coalition for Human Rights that was formed in September 2018 to counter the new proposed changes by Texas State Board of Education to Texas school curriculum. Alex is an Internet marketer and business consultant in Houston, Texas. He visited occupied Palestine and Israel in May 2017 with an interfaith peace group. As an American, he is very concerned about the active role his country has in oppressing the Palestinian people and supporting the violation of human rights. In June 2018 he was part of the ground crew for the 2018 Freedom Flotilla for the Norwegian fishing boat Al Awda (The Return) in La Rochelle, France and was a crew member for one week in Northern France onboard the Mairead.
  
We will speak with Alex about the proposed changes to Texas school curriculum by the Texas State Board of Education, in which there were sections that asked students to "explain how Arab rejection of the State of Israel has led to ongoing conflict.” It also focused exclusively on Islamic terrorism without mentioning other religious terrorism or state terrorism. We will talk about the efforts initiated by the coalition he founded, Texas Coalition for Human Rights, including over 100 public comments, several written statements and oral testimonies (we will air some of them today) at the Texas State Board of Education hearing held on November 13, 2018 that actually caused the board to change the original proposed changes, especially on Palestine and Israel.

Date:

November 14, 2018

Date:

November 7, 2018

1^st Segment: Laila Mokhiber
Director of Communications at UNRWA USA, a nonprofit agency that supports the work of the UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East). Prior to joining UNRWA USA, Laila worked at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). Both positions illustrate Laila’s passions: humanitarian concern for the people of Palestine and the fight for social justice.
 
We will speak live with Laila about the UNRWA, the impact of the recent funding cut by the US administration to UNRWA, the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in Gaza and Gaza's mental health crisis, UNRWA USA and the work it does, and the upcoming Houston Gaza 5K + Dabke Party, scheduled for November 17, 2018.
  

2^nd Segment: Kathy Kelly
Co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, a campaign to end U.S. military and economic warfare. She is founder of Voices in the Wilderness, and previously served as coordinator of Iraq Peace Team. Kathy had visited Iraq many times, as well as Afghanistan and the occupied Palestinian territories (in one of her trips, she was shot at by Israeli snipers). In 2011, Kelly was a passenger on the “Audacity to Hope” as part of the US Boat to Gaza project. She also attempted to reach Gaza by flying from Athens to Tel Aviv, as part of the Welcome to Palestine effort, but the Israeli government deported her back to Greece. Kathy Kelly, along with other Voices activists formed 70 delegations that openly defied economic sanctions by bringing medicines to children and families in Iraq. She and her companions lived in Baghdad throughout the 2003 “Shock and Awe” bombing. Kelly has also joined with activists in various regions of the country to protest U.S. drone warfare by holding demonstrations outside of U.S. military bases. In 1988, she was sentenced to one year in federal prison for planting corn on nuclear missile silo sites, and spent three months in prison, in 2004, for crossing the line at Fort Benning’s military training school. Kelly is also author of the book "Other Lands Have Dreams: from Baghdad to Pekin Prison (2005)", and has been repeatedly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
 
We will speak live with Kathy Kelly about the war on Yemen. Kathy is currently in New York, along with others, holding protests across from the U.N, "calling for an end to U.S. support for and participation in the Saudi-led coalition's war against Yemen and calling on all of the warring parties to stop the war and help address the dire near-famine conditions sparked by continued attacks." Kathy Kelly has regularly written about the consequences of the U.S.-supported war in Yemen. See her recent piece "U.S. Is Complicit in Child Slaughter in Yemen."

Date:

October 31, 2018

Rabbi Arik Ascherman
Founder and director of the Israeli human rights organization “Torat Tzedek-Torah of Justice”. Previously, he led and served as president and senior rabbi of “Rabbis For Human Rights” organization for 21 years. In 2015, Rabbi Ascherman was attacked by a knife-wielding Israeli settler in the West Bank while trying to stop a group of Israeli settlers from setting fire to Palestinian olive trees. Rabbi Ascherman has been recognized for his human rights work and has been featured in several documentary films, including the 2010 “Israel vs Israel.”
  
Rabbi Arik Ascherman will be in Houston speaking about his work to prevent the destruction of Negev Bedouin villages and the villages of Khan Al-Ahmar and Susya in the West Bank. He will also reflect more broadly on the structure of power in Israel and whether Israel can still be called a democracy. This event will be held on Sunday, November 4, 2018 at 12 noon at the Fireside Room, First Unitarian-Universalist Church, 5200 Fannin St., Houston 77004.
   

Fall Fund Drive

Date:

October 24, 2018

Rami Khouri
Senior public policy fellow and journalism professor at American University of Beirut, non-resident senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, internationally syndicated political columnist, and book author. He often comments on Mideast issues in the international media, and lectures frequently at conferences and universities throughout the world.
  
We will speak live with Rami Khouri about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi journalist and author, and a Washington Post Global Opinions contributing columnist, who was murdered inside the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018, and why this murder received huge attention and media coverage in the U.S. and around the globe while the killings of so many in Yemen, Syria, Palestine, and other places is getting almost no mention! We will also talk about the impact of this murder and  its aftermath on the region and globally, the U.S.-Turkey-Saudi relations, and more.
                  

Fall Fund Drive

Date:

October 17, 2018

Affirmation for an Inclusive Jerusalem at the "Jerusalem: What makes for Peace?" Houston Conference!
 
On October 11, 2018, key faith leaders from across the U.S. gathered at the "Jerusalem: What makes for Peace?" conference held in Houston, Texas, USA, to advance the vision of an inclusive, diverse, and equitable Jerusalem. The U.S. Christian Leadership Summit issued a statement by the four sponsoring organizations of The Jerusalem Conference: Bright Stars of Bethlehem, National Council of Churches, Churches for Middle East Peace, and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference.
 
Today on Arab Voices, we will air some of the conference remarks by the Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, President of Bright Stars of Bethlehem, as well as the final statement issued at the conference.
              

Fall Fund Drive

Date:

October 10, 2018

Arab American Poetry & Nonfiction Readings by Hayan Charara, Fady Joudah, and Hosam Abul Ela
 
The Arab Am erican Cultural & Community Center (ACC) held several events in Houston in April 2018 during the Fifth Annual Arab Heritage Month. One of those events was the Arab American Poetry & Non-fiction Readings and Conversation.
 
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Distinguished Arab American writers Dr. Hayan Charara and Dr. Fady Joudah who read excerpts from a selection of their works at the ACC's American Poetry & Non-fiction Readings event, followed by a conversation with Dr. Hosam Abul Ela, Associate Professor at the University of Houston English department.

Date:

October 3, 2018

Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb
President of Bright Stars of Bethlehem and founding President of Dar al-Kalima University of Arts and Culture in Bethlehem. Former Senior Pastor of Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem and the most widely published Palestinian theologian to date, Dr. Raheb is the author of 17 books most recently including, The Cross in Contexts: Suffering and Redemption in Palestine, and Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes. A civic leader and social entrepreneur, Dr. Raheb has founded numerous organizations and serves on many regional and international boards. A sought-after speaker, Dr. Raheb has been widely featured on international media outlets including CBS, CNN, ABC, BBC, PBS, The Economist, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Newsweek, and 60 minutes. Dr. Raheb holds a Doctorate in Theology from Philipps University of Marburg, Germany.
  

We will speak live with Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb about Palestinian Christians, the ongoing Israeli occupation and ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the effect of the Israeli occupation on access to religious sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, the importance of Jerusalem and Bethlehem to Christians and other faiths, the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, the relations with other Christians outside Palestine and other faith communities, the role of the churches in the U.S., Europe and other countries, steps to bring a lasting peace and an end to the Israeli occupation, and much more!
 
We will also talk about the upcoming "Jerusalem: What Makes for Peace?" Conference that will be held in Houston on October 11, 2018, followed by the "Room for Hope Palestinian Festival". Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb will be in Houston participating in both the conference and festival.

Date:

September 26, 2018

Date:

September 19, 2018

Diana Buttu (in Palestine)
Analyst, former legal advisor to Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), who also served as legal advisor to the PLO in its negotiations with Israel, and a policy advisor to Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. Diana Buttu is a lawyer specializing in negotiations, international law, and international human rights law, based in Ramallah, Palestine.

We will speak with Diana (in Palestine) about the failed Oslo Accord that was signed 25 years ago this month between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, why it failed, the ongoing Israeli colonization of Palestine, the U.S. stance towards Palestine and its recent funding cuts to UNRWA, the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian hospitals in occupied East Jerusalem and other programs, the closure of the PLO office in Washington, and the move of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. We will also talk about what options Palestinians should pursue, and more.

Date:

September 12, 2018

1^st Segment: "Is the U.S. Ramping up its Military Presence in Syria and Preparing to Attack Iran for Israel?" by Col. Lawrence Wilkerson
We will air today the remarks of Col. Lawrence Wilkerson on the topic "Is the U.S. Ramping up its Military Presence in Syria and Preparing to Attack Iran for Israel?".
  
He delivered those remarks at The Israel Lobby and American Policy Conference held on March 2, 2018 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
   

2^nd Segment: Alison Weir
Founder and Executive Director of If Americans Knew and President of the Council for the National Interest. She is the author of "Against Our Better Judgment: The hidden history of how the U.S. was used to create Israel". Her essays and articles have appeared in a number of books, magazines, and newspapers. Weir speaks widely throughout the country. Since early 2001 she has given hundreds of presentations, including two briefings on Capitol Hill, speeches at the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, the National Press Club, and at various universities. She has spoken at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, numerous Rotary Clubs, churches, libraries, and other community venues. In addition, she has been invited to give papers at international conferences, including lectures at the Asia Media Summit in Kuala Lumpur for three straight years. A top level British attendee termed her speech "the most brilliant of the entire conference." In 2004, Weir was inducted into honorary membership of Phi Alpha Literary Society. The award cited her as a: "Courageous journalist-lecturer on behalf of human rights. The first woman to receive an honorary membership in Phi Alpha history."
  
We will speak live with Alison about 2 bills being voted on today in Congress: (1) The largest aid package in U.S. history ($38 billion) to Israel, and (2) A bill for a special envoy who will monitor criticism of Israel worldwide!

Date:

September 5, 2018

1^st Segment: "Jerusalem: What Makes For Peace?" Conference
We will speak live with both Rev. Stephen Quill and Rev. Dr. Duane Larson (both have visited Palestine) about the upcoming Historic Conference on Jerusalem that will be held at the University of Houston on October 11, 2018 titled "Jerusalem: What Makes For Peace?", and the Palestinian Festival that will follow the conference and will be held at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Houston.
  

The Rev. Stephen Quill
Pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America since 1972 and has served in the Greater Houston area since 1979. He previously served Hope Lutheran Church as the Associate Pastor, and then accepted a call to Peace Lutheran Church in Cedar Park, Texas, where he helped the new congregation grow into a strong parish. In 1979, he was called to a 4 year old congregation – New Hope Lutheran Church in Missouri City, Texas, and has served that congregation as it lead pastor for 27 years. In 2008, he began a non-profit ministry called TRUTH (Travels Revealing: Understanding, Trust, Hope). He also serves on several boards and committees in the Greater Houston area. Rev. Quill has led four trips to Palestine over the last 12 years. He is the Texas representatives for Bright Stars of Bethlehem that is sponsoring the Jerusalem Conference.
   

The Rev. Dr. Duane Larson
Senior Pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Houston, and teaches as an adjunct member of the Comparative Cultural Studies Department of the University of Houston. He previously served as President and Professor of Systematic Theology of Wartburg Theological Seminary, and was Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. Has published 4 books and dozens of articles; much activity with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), especially on ecumenical and inter-religious matters. The Rev. Dr. Larson has visited Palestine and is the Houston voice for promoting the upcoming conference on Jerusalem in Houston.
    

2^nd Segment: Kristin Foss (in Palestine)
Norwegian Peace Activist and volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who was shot twice in one week last month (in her abdomen on August 19 and in her ankle on August 24) by the Israeli occupation soldiers in the Palestinian village of Kafr Qaddum in the West Bank near the city of Nablus.

We will speak with Kristin about her experience in occupied Palestine and being shot twice by the Israeli occupation soldiers in one week, and the work she does in Palestine.

Date:

August 29, 2018

"1918: The End of the Great War in the Middle East and the Genesis of a Century of Conflict" by Professor Eugene Rogan
The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and The Arab-American Education Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History at the University of Houston held the Nijad and Zeina Fares Arab-American Educational Foundation Annual Distinguished Lecture in Modern Arab Studies on February 1, 2018, at the University of Houston. The lecture was titled "1918: The End of the Great War in the Middle East and the Genesis of a Century of Conflict", and the speaker was Professor Eugene Rogan.
       
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Professor Rogan's lecture on "1918: The End of the Great War in the Middle East and the Genesis of a Century of Conflict".
 
Eugene Rogan (PhD, Harvard University) is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History and Director of the Middle East Centre at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. In 2017, he was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy, the highest academic honor in the United Kingdom. His books include Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire, for which he received the Albert Hourani Book Award of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the Fuad Köprülü Prize of the Turkish Studies Association; The Arabs: A History, which was a bestselling work translated in ten languages and was named as one of the best books of 2009 by The Economist, The Financial Times, and The Atlantic Monthly. Most recently, Professor Rogan has published The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East which was selected as an Economist book of the year for 2015 and a Telegraph best book of the year for 2015.

Date:

August 22, 2018

Arab Voices Interview with Uri Avnery
A couple of days ago, on Monday, August 20, 2018, Uri Avnery passed away in Tel Aviv at the age of 94. Uri Avnery was an Israeli peace activist, journalist, writer, author, former member of the Israeli Knesset, founding member of Gush Shalom (the Israeli peace bloc), and founding member of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.
 
Arab Voices had interviewed Uri Avnery a few times over the years, and today we will air one of the interviews we conducted with him during one of Israel’s wars on Gaza
   

U.S. Military Actions in Syria
Last year on August 8, 2017, a coalition of six organizations (Veterans For Peace, The Nation magazine, RootsAction.org, Watchdog.net, World Beyond War, Daily Kos) held a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and called on the U.S. to remove all military aircrafts from the Syrian airspace. The speakers argued that the U.S. military role in Syria is illegal and immoral and addressed concerns that “global policing” and intervention in Syria is an unwinnable military strategy. The speakers included:
   
John Kiriakou, CIA Whistleblower
Matthew Hoh, Former State Department official
Christie Edwards, Chair of the ASIL Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict and an advisor to the Center for Civilians in Conflict on international humanitarian, human rights, and gender issues
David Swanson, Author and Director of World Beyond War
Norman Solomon, Co-Founder and Coordinator for RootsAction.org
   
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to portions of the news conference and some of the questions and answers that followed.

Date:

August 15, 2018

1st Segment: "Challenging the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act"
We will air today the remarks of Dr. Barry Trachtenberg, the Michael R. and Deborah K. Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History and an associate professor of history at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, on the topic  "Challenging the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act".
  
He delivered those remarks at The Israel Lobby and American Policy Conference held on March 2, 2018 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
            

2nd Segment: "The Arrival: Trump’s Travel and Refugee Ban"
Making Contact, an award-winning weekly magazine/documentary-style public affairs program heard on 140 radio stations in the USA, Canada, South Africa and Ireland, produced a new segment titled “The Arrival: Trump’s Travel and Refugee Ban”: After the US Supreme Court's ruling on Trump’s travel ban, we’ll discuss how the new order impacts people from affected, Muslim-majority countries. We also talk about what's different about the new ban and how to fight it. We begin with the story of a woman who was in flight to the US when President Trump signed his first travel ban.
   
Featuring:
• Nisrin Abdelrahman, Stanford PhD Student in Anthropology
• Zahar Billo, Civil Rights Attorney and Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
      
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to “The Arrival: Trump’s Travel and Refugee Ban” segment.

Date:

August 8, 2018

Joe Meadors
Survivor of the deliberate 1967 deadly Israeli attack on the USS Liberty, and kidnapped last week by Israel from the 2018 Gaza Freedom Flotilla!
  
Joe Meadors was a U.S. Navy Signalman on the USS Liberty, a signal intelligence platform ship, in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea when it was brutally attacked on June 8, 1967 by Israel, despite the fact that Israel knew it was a United Stated communications ship! The attack by the Israeli fighter jets and torpedo boats killed 34 U.S. servicemen and injured 174 others. Joe Meadors survived that deliberate and deadly attack.
 
In 2018, Joe Meadors was the U.S. delegate on the 2018 Gaza Freedom Flotilla and was on board Al-Awda ship carrying urgently needed medical supplies to Gaza (one of four 2018 freedom flotilla ships) that sailed to break the illegal Israeli siege and military blockade on Gaza, when Israel intercepted the ship in international waters on July 29, 2018 about 40 miles off the coast of Gaza, beat the captain and threatened to kill him, repeatedly tasered several crew members and delegates and severely injuring some! A medical doctor, Dr. Swee Ang, who was also on board Al-Awda ship was attacked on the head and body and ended up with two broken ribs! Israel then hijacked Al-Awda boat and kidnapped everyone on board including Joe Meadors. Israel illegally detained and jailed Joe Meadors for several days before deporting him to the United States. He arrived back to the U.S. last week, on August 1, 2018. Few days later, on August 3, 2018, Israel also attacked another Freedom Flotilla boat, Freedom, in international waters, hijacked it and kidnapped everyone on board!
  
Today on Arab Voices, we will speak live with Joe Meadors about his eyewitness accounts and experiences with Freedom Flotilla and the USS Liberty.

Date:

August 1, 2018

1^st Segment: Ahed & Nariman Tamimi Remarks
Ahed Tamimi, the 17-year old Palestinian teenager who was taken from her house in Nabi Saleh village in the occupied West Bank in Palestine by the Israeli occupation soldiers in December 2017, was released from Israeli occupation jail along with her mother, Nariman Tamimi after spending 8 months inside the jail.
 
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to portions of what Ahed and Nariman Tamimi said at a press conference held after they were released from the Israeli occupation jail.
      

2^nd Segment: Col. Ann Wright with Feedom Flotilla
Al Awda (The Return) boat (part of Freedom Flotilla) that tried to break illegal Israeli blockade and siege on the Gaza Strip to deliver much needed medical supplies, was intercepted while in international waters by the Israeli occupation forces who also attacked some of the participants, and was then hijacked and prevented from reaching Gaza! Many of the 22 participants that were on-board Al Awda boat are still being held unlawfully in Israeli occupation jails. Al Awda boat is being followed by the Swedish-flagged yacht Freedom, which is also carrying medical supplies along with people from a number of nations.
 
Today on Arab Voices, we will speak live with Col. Ann Wright (currently in Houston) about Freedom Flotilla. Ann was with the Gaza Flotilla in Sicily in Europe, and just came back to the U.S. She is with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which has organized a number of boats to get relief to Palestinians in the Israeli-controlled Gaza Strip. Wright is a retired U.S. Army Reserve Colonel, a 29-year veteran of the U.S. Army and Army Reserves, and one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in protest of the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Date:

July 25, 2018

Live from on-board Freedom Flotilla (in international waters)
Today, we will speak live via satellite-phone with Zohar Chamberlain Regev and Charlie Andreasson, two participants on-board Freedom Flotilla which is now sailing international waters on its way to challenge and break the illegal and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza. Three boats are sailing with boxes of medical supplies: Al Awda (The Return), a large converted fishing vessel; Freedom to Gaza, a large sailing vessel; and Falestine, a smaller sailing vessel. The flotilla, which has been organized by the international Freedom Flotilla Coalition under the slogan "Just Future For Palestine (JFP) campaign", includes nearly 40 activists on board.
              

Summer Fund Drive

Date:

July 18, 2018

Live from Freedom Flotilla (in Sicily)
We continue our weekly live update from Freedom Flotilla (in Europe, sailing to Gaza soon) and talk about the "Just Future For Palestine (JFP) Flotilla campaign". The Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns participating in the JFP Flotilla include: Ship to Gaza-Norway, Canadian Boat to Gaza, Freedom Flotilla-Italy, Palestine Solidarity Alliance-South Africa, Rumbo a Gaza-Spain, Ship to Gaza Sweden, International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza, US Boat to Gaza, Kia Ora Gaza – New Zealand/Aotearoa, MyCARE Malaysia, IHH Turkey, National Collective for Palestine and Platform of NGOs for Palestine in France, and Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia. Freedom Flotilla is currently visiting several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
 
Today, we will speak live with David Heap with Freedom Flotilla, currently in Palermo, Sicily.
             

Summer Fund Drive

Date:

July 11, 2018

Live from Freedom Flotilla (in Naples)
We continue our weekly live update from Freedom Flotilla, currently in Europe, and talk about the "Just Future For Palestine (JFP) Flotilla campaign". The Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns participating in the JFP Flotilla include: Ship to Gaza-Norway, Canadian Boat to Gaza, Freedom Flotilla-Italy, Palestine Solidarity Alliance-South Africa, Rumbo a Gaza-Spain, Ship to Gaza Sweden, International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza, US Boat to Gaza, Kia Ora Gaza – New Zealand/Aotearoa, MyCARE Malaysia, IHH Turkey, National Collective for Palestine and Platform of NGOs for Palestine in France, and Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia. Freedom Flotilla is currently visiting several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
 
Today, we will speak live with Divina Levrini and Dr. Kristian Svenberg, on board Freedom Flotilla, currently in Naples, Italy.
            

Summer Fund Drive

Date:

July 4, 2018

1^st Segment: Live from Freedom Flotilla (in Italy)
We continue our weekly live update from Freedom Flotilla, currently in Europe, and talk about the "Just Future For Palestine (JFP) Flotilla campaign". The Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns participating in the JFP Flotilla include: Ship to Gaza-Norway, Canadian Boat to Gaza, Freedom Flotilla-Italy, Palestine Solidarity Alliance-South Africa, Rumbo a Gaza-Spain, Ship to Gaza Sweden, International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza, US Boat to Gaza, Kia Ora Gaza – New Zealand/Aotearoa, MyCARE Malaysia, IHH Turkey, National Collective for Palestine and Platform of NGOs for Palestine in France, and Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia. Freedom Flotilla is currently visiting several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
 
Today, we will speak live with Karen Devito and John Turnbull, on board Freedom Flotilla, currently in the port of Cagliari, the capital city of the Italian island of Sardinia.
           

2^nd Segment: Alex McDonald
An Internet marketer and business consultant from Houston, Texas. He visited the occupied West Bank and Israel in May 2017 with an interfaith peace group. As a Quaker, the testimonies of Peace, Integrity and Equality have drawn him even more into the Palestinian issue and the need to open up discussions on the topic in our communities. As an American, he is very concerned about the active role his country has in oppressing the Palestinian people and supporting the violation of human rights. In June 2018 he was part of the ground crew for the 2018 Freedom Flotilla for the Norwegian fishing boat Al Awda (The Return) in La Rochelle, France and was a crew member for one week in Northern France onboard the Mairead.
 
We will speak live with Alex, who just returned to Houston from Europe, about his experience over the past month with Freedom Flotilla, and also his experience in Occupied Palestine. You can read Alex McDonald's recent Op-Ed "Police in Paris Prevent Two Gaza-Bound Boats from Stopping -- Challenges of Support for 2018 Boats to Gaza" here.
     

3^rd Segment: Arsalan Safiullah
Staff Attorney at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Texas Houston). He earned his undergraduate degree from McGill University in Montreal and holds a Master of Biotechnology (M.Biot.) and a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from Texas A&M University. In his current position, Arsalan focuses on employment discrimination, civil liberties issues, hate crimes, and know your rights community education.
 
We will speak live with Arsalan about last week's U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold President Trump's Arab and Muslim Ban.

Date:

June 27, 2018

Date:

June 20, 2018

1^st Segment: Live from Freedom Flotilla (in Portugal)
We continue our weekly live updates from Freedom Flotilla, currently in Europe, and talk about the "Just Future For Palestine (JFP) Flotilla campaign". The Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns participating in the JFP Flotilla include: Ship to Gaza-Norway, Canadian Boat to Gaza, Freedom Flotilla-Italy, Palestine Solidarity Alliance-South Africa, Rumbo a Gaza-Spain, Ship to Gaza Sweden, International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza, US Boat to Gaza, Kia Ora Gaza – New Zealand/Aotearoa, MyCARE Malaysia, IHH Turkey, National Collective for Palestine and Platform of NGOs for Palestine in France, and Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia. Freedom Flotilla is currently visiting several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
 
Today, we will speak live with Awni Farhat and Youssef Sammour, two Palestinians on board Freedom Flotilla, currently in the port of Lisbon, Portugal.
        

2^nd Segment: Dr. Shireen Al-Adeimi
A Harvard University graduate who will soon begin a position as an assistant professor of education at Michigan State University. Having lived through two civil wars in her country of birth, Yemen, she has played an active role in raising awareness about the U.S.-supported, Saudi-led war on Yemen since 2015. Through her work, she aims to encourage political action among fellow Americans to bring about an end to the U.S. intervention in Yemen.
 
We will speak live with Dr. Al-Adeimi about the catastrophic and dire situation in Yemen as a result of the U.S.-supported Saudi-led war on Yemen, the refugee crisis this war has created (today, June 20 is World Refugee Day), and the recent deadly attack on Yemen’s port city of Al-Hudaydah.

Date:

June 13, 2018

1^st Segment: Live from Freedom Flotilla (in France)
We will continue our weekly live updates from Freedom Flotilla, currently in Europe, and talk about the "Just Future For Palestine (JFP) Flotilla campaign". We will speak with David Heap and Alex McDonald (both in France) about the Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns participating in the JFP Flotilla, which inlcude: Ship to Gaza-Norway, Canadian Boat to Gaza, Freedom Flotilla-Italy, Palestine Solidarity Alliance-South Africa, Rumbo a Gaza-Spain, Ship to Gaza Sweden, International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza, US Boat to Gaza, Kia Ora Gaza – New Zealand/Aotearoa, MyCARE Malaysia, IHH Turkey, National Collective for Palestine and Platform of NGOs for Palestine in France, and Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia. Freedom Flotilla is currently visiting several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
   

2^nd Segment: International Day of Al-Quds
We will listen to a few of the remarks that were delivered at the International Day of Al-Quds rally that was held in front of the Consulate General of Israel in Houston on June 8, 2018. There were many remarks delivered during the rally, and we will air today the remarks of Muslim Scholar Syed Farhat Abbas with the Islamic Education Center in Houston, Dr. Qamber Jafri, and Izzah Ali.
   

3^rd Segment: Dalia Al-Najjar (in Turkey)
We will speak with Dalia Al-Najjar, the cousin of Razan Al-Najjar, the 21-year-old Palestinian medic who was shot and killed in Gaza by the Israeli occupation forces on June 1, 2018 while trying to treat injured Palestinians who were shot by the Israeli occupation forces as they continued their Great March of Return protests in Gaza that started on March 30, 2018 (since that date, Israel shot and killed more than 130 Palestinians, including children, women, journalists and medical personnel, and nearly 15,000 were wounded). We will speak with Dalia Al-Najjar about her cousin Razan Al-Najjar, and the dire situation in Gaza.

Date:

June 6, 2018

1^st Segment: Live from Freedom Flotilla (United Kingdom)
We will speak live with the captain of "Freedom", Jens Marklund from Sweden who is currently in the U.K. We will get an update on the latest with Freedom Flotilla, currently visiting several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza, and talk about the "Just Future For Palestine (JFP) Flotilla campaign". The Freedom Flotilla Coalition campaigns participating in the JFP Flotilla include: Ship to Gaza-Norway, Canadian Boat to Gaza, Freedom Flotilla-Italy, Palestine Solidarity Alliance-South Africa, Rumbo a Gaza-Spain, Ship to Gaza Sweden, International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza, US Boat to Gaza, Kia Ora Gaza – New Zealand/Aotearoa, MyCARE Malaysia, IHH Turkey, National Collective for Palestine and Platform of NGOs for Palestine in France, and Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia.
    

2^nd Segment: Dr. Ramzy Baroud
US-Arab journalist, media consultant, an author, internationally-syndicated columnist, Editor of Palestine Chronicle, former Managing Editor of London-based Middle East Eye, former Editor-in-Chief of The Brunei Times, former Deputy Managing Editor of Al Jazeera online. He taught mass communication at Australia’s Curtin University of Technology, Malaysia Campus. Baroud also served as head of Aljazeera.net English’s Research and Studies department. He is the author of four books and a contributor to many others; his latest volume is The Last Earth, a Palestinian Story (Pluto Press, London, 2018). His books are translated to several languages including French, Turkish, Arabic, Korean, among others. Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter (2015) and is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara.
 
We will speak live with Dr. Baroud about the ongoing crisis in occupied Palestine, the murder of Razan Al-Najjar, a 21-year-old Palestinian medic who was shot and killed in Gaza by the Israeli occupation forces on June 1, 2018 while trying to treat and evacuate injured Palestinians who were also shot by the Israeli occupation forces as they continued their Great March of Return protests in Gaza that started on March 30, 2018. Since that date, Israel shot and killed more than 130 Palestinians, including children, women, journalists and medical personnel, and injured more than 13,000! Earlier today, June 6, 2018, Israeli occupation forces shot and killed 21-year-old Izz Tamimi in the occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh.

Date:

May 30, 2018

1^st Segment: Live from Freedom Flotilla (in Amsterdam)
We will speak live with Robert Naiman (in France), Policy Director at Just Foreign Policy. He wrote the Syria chapter in The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire. He is president of the board of Truthout. Naiman has worked as a policy analyst and researcher at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. He has masters degrees in economics and mathematics from the University of Illinois and has studied and worked in the Middle East.
 
We will speak with Robert who just arrived in Amsterdam on board the  Freedom Flotilla ship Al Awda (The Return), together with Ship to Gaza Sweden vessels Hurriya (Freedom), Falestine (Palestine) and Mairead (named for Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire who previously sailed against the blockade) that are visiting several European ports on their way to challenge the illegal and cruel blockade and siege on Gaza.
                 

2^nd Segment: Rahul Saksena
Staff attorney with Palestine Legal. His work focuses on legislative issues, advocacy for activists whose rights are under attack, public education, and building Palestine Legal’s network of legal and other advocates. Prior to joining Palestine Legal, Rahul was the Legislative Director for a member of the New York City Council, and also served as Legislative Counsel for the New York Civil Liberties Union. Rahul holds a JD from the Washington College of Law at American University, and BA’s in Political Science and History from the University of Michigan. He is based in Palestine Legal's New York and Chicago offices and is admitted to the New York State bar.
  
We will speak with Rahul about his first-hand eyewitness account of what he saw and experienced during his visit to occupied Palestine earlier this month along with several human rights defenders, lawyers and social justice advocates from various movements known as the Justice Delegation. Before boarding his flight back to the U.S., Israel confiscated his journal where he kept notes from his trip. We will also speak with Rahul about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, why 25 states in the U.S. already enacted anti-BDS laws and 12 more are pending and/or have introduced legislation (in some states, activists successfully defeated anti-BDS legislation), and the reintroduction of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act (ASAA) last week in the U.S. Congress (a federal bill aimed at censoring Palestine advocacy on college campuses in violation of the first amendment), what you can do to stop ASAA bill from passing, and why protecting the civil and constitutional rights of people in the U.S. who speak out for Palestinian freedom is very important.

Date:

May 23, 2018

1^st Segment: Nikki Haley's Speech Disruption at UH; Reactions to Gaza's Massacre & 70 Years of Nakba
Coverage of the disruption of Nikki Haley's (U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.) speech at the University of Houston on May 22, 2018 by students in protest for her stand towards the massacre in Gaza (several groups at UH had called on the university to cancel Haley's talk who said at the UN Security Council last week "no country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has" despite Israel's killing of more than 112 Palestinians and injuring more than 13,000 in 2 months!!!). We will also listen to some of the remarks as well as a poem by Tala and spoken words by Dana delivered at the rally that was held in Houston on May 15, 2018 to protest Israel's massacre in Gaza and commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.
                

2^nd Segment: Josh Ruebner
Policy Director of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights. He is a former Analyst in Middle East Affairs at Congressional Research Service, a federal government agency providing Members of Congress with policy analysis. He holds a graduate degree in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. Ruebner’s analysis and commentary on U.S. policy toward the Middle East appear frequently in media such as NBC, ABC Nightline, C-SPAN, Al Jazeera, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Detroit Free Press, Huffington Post, Middle East Report, and more. He is the author of "Shattered Hopes: Obama’s Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace".
    
We will speak live with Josh about the ongoing Palestinian Nakba, the ongoing Israeli massacre in Gaza, the PLO’s referral to the ICC Chief Prosecutor on Israeli crimes, President’s Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and more.

Date:

May 16, 2018

Date:

May 9, 2018

1^st Segment: Hiba Elroz
We will speak live with Hiba Elroz, media chair with the Lebanese Festival Committee, about the 4th Annual Houston Lebanese Festival that will be held Saturday through Sunday, May 12-13 at Constellation Field, in Sugar Land, Texas, organized and hosted by the American Lebanese Cultural Center (ALCC) in Houston. 
  
The festival will be an amazing cultural experience with new activities, new designs, and new ways for everyone to have a wonderful time! You will enjoy the ultimate cultural immersion and travel to the country of Lebanon. There will be entertainment, food, different activities, great festivities, enjoyable atmosphere for both adults and children, door prizes, music, folkloric dances, performances, and much more.
             

2^nd Segment: Gareth Porter
Independent investigative journalist, historian, and policy analyst specializing in U.S. national security policy. He has written several books about the potential for peaceful conflict resolution in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, including Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare. Porter has reported extensively on Middle East conflicts including Syria. Porter's analysis and reporting have appeared in academic journals, news publications, and periodicals for four decades, and in 2012 he was the winner of the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. He recently wrote the piece "The Latest Act in Israel’s Iran Nuclear Disinformation Campaign" and just signed the statement "Trump Urged Not to Pull Out of Iran Nuclear Deal" which states: "The evidence presented by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on April 30 alleging a covert Iranian nuclear weapons program shows blatant signs of fabrication.
  
We will speak live with Gareth about President Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran Nuclear Deal.

Date:

May 2, 2018

1^st Segment: Khalil AbuSharekh
We will speak live with Houston Palestine Film Festival's President, Khalil AbuSharekh, about the 12th annual Houston Palestine Film Festival (HPFF). This year, HPFF will showcase a number of award-winning and internationally acclaimed feature films, documentaries and shorts that address a variety of themes and narratives in Palestinian society. The festival will be held May 5 through May 13 at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and Rice University Media Center. Click here for more details and Program Lineup.
           

2^nd Segment: Col. Ann Wright
Retired U.S. Army Colonel and U.S. State Department official/diplomat, a long-time activist, and an outspoken critic of the Iraq war. She was one of three State Department officials who resigned in 2003 in protest over the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Col. Wright won the State Department Award for Heroism for her assistance in helping thousands of refugees escape the civil war in Sierra Leone. A deeply committed peace and justice activist, Ann has traveled to Gaza seven times, helped organize the Gaza Freedom March in 2009, was a passenger on the Challenge 1 in the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, was an organizer for the 2011 U.S. Boat to Gaza, was a boat leader on the 2015 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, and was an organizer and boat leader for the 2016 Women’s Boat to Gaza carrying Humanitarian aid and construction materials to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Ann was on-board the Zaytouna-Oliva boat, that was hijacked in international waters by the Israeli military on October 5, 2016 a few miles of the coast of Gaza, and all 13 women on board, including Ann Wright, were kidnapped by force by the Israeli military and taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod. In addition, Ann was an organizer for Gaza’s Ark.
 
We will speak live with Col. Wright about the dire situation in Gaza as a result of the Israeli ongoing blockade and strangulation, the Great March of Return, the efforts to challenge Israel’s occupation and blockade, and the plans for the 75-day voyage of 4 boats beginning May 15 in Scandinavia and end in Gaza at the end of July. As a part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla coalition, the U.S. campaign joins other national campaigns in Australia, Canada, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and Turkey to purchase boat(s) to sail to break the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza in the summer of 2018.
  
** NOTE: Col. Ann Wright will be in Houston on Thursday, May 3, 2018 to speak more on Gaza's increasingly deteriorating conditions and hear how a broad coalition of activists, academics, veterans, and Palestine solidarity organizers plan to break the siege in this summer's upcoming Gaza Freedom Flotilla and to draw attention to the inhumane conditions Israeli Occupation and blockades imposes on Palestinians. Click here for more details.

Date:

April 25, 2018

Date:

April 18, 2018

1st Segment: Noor Harazeen (in Gaza)
Palestinian journalist, freelance film producer, and TV correspondent for TeleSUR and CGTN, based in Gaza city, occupied Palestine. Will speak with Noor about the horrific situation in the Gaza Strip, the killing of 33 Palestinians (including children and a journalist) and injury of 4,279 (including 642 children, 243 women, 66 journalists and 44 medical personnel) by the Israeli occupation forces since March 30, 2018. We will talk about the Great March of Return, the effect of the Israeli blockade on the children of Gaza, targeting of journalists and the Israeli killing of Yasser Mortaja, 30 years old Palestinian journalist who was a colleague and a close friend of Noor Harazeen. 
  
While covering the 2014 Israeli war on Gaza, Noor Harazeen was almost killed when Israel fired a missile at the clearly marked TV vehicle she was riding in. Moments after she got out of the TV vehicle, it was targeted by Israel, and her driver was killed.
          

2nd Segment: Reese Erlich
A Freelance journalist who began reporting from Syria in 2002, and has covered the Middle East for over 30 years. He writes the syndicated column "Foreign Correspondent", and has authored several books including "Inside Syria: The Backstory of Their Civil War and What the World Can Expect", and the best-selling book "Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn’t Tell You". Erlich has produced several major radio documentaries and has won numerous journalism awards.
 
We will speak with Reese about the crisis in Syria and the recent bombing of Syria by the United States, Britain, and France on April 13, 2018. Reese says "The official version of the U.S. missile attack on Syria is already unraveling. The supposed chemical weapons factory bombed by the U.S. didn't leak chemicals. There have been no independent confirmations that the bombed sites had any connection to chemical weapons." Robert Fisk, award-winning journalist with the British Independent, just reported from Douma, Syria that a doctor he interviewed there told him people died from a lack of oxygen in underground tunnels, not chemical weapons.

Date:

April 11, 2018

1st Segment: Mustafaa Carroll
We will speak with Mustafaa Carroll, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston) about the stabbing and apparent bias-motivated attempted murder of a Muslim woman in Houston last week, April 5, 2018, and the rise of hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S.
    
The 31-year-old victim, who is white and wears an Islamic head scarf (hijab), says she was driving home early Thursday morning from her job as a nurse when her vehicle was almost sideswiped by a red SUV. When the victim pulled over and got out of her vehicle to check for damage and to collect herself following that near accident, the attacker made a U-turn and pulled up behind the victim’s vehicle. He then allegedly got out of his SUV and began shouting obscenities and racial and religious slurs such as, “Oh my God, it’s a raghead,” “It’s an f**king raghead,” “sand n**ger” and “desert monkey”. The victim tried to get back in her vehicle, but the passenger side door was locked. At that point the attacker began waving a knife in the victim’s face and then hit her on her shoulder and arms.
     
CAIR-Houston is offering $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the attacker.
      

2nd Segment: Rami Almeghari (in Gaza)
We will speak with Rami Almeghari, independent journalist and commentator in Gaza, occupied Palestine, about the dire situation in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli siege and strangulation of nearly two million Palestinians (health situation, economy, unemployment, poverty, lack of building materials, borders, etc.), and The Great March of Return where tens of thousands of Palestinians began on March 30, 2018 a major peaceful protest against the ongoing Israeli atrocities and strangulation of Gaza and calling for their right of return, only to be faced with a massacre by the Israeli occupation forces. Since March 30, 2018, at least 30 Palestinian civilians (including children and a journalist) were shot and killed and more than 3,000 were wounded! A new video that went viral on social media, shows Israeli soldiers cheering after shooting unarmed Palestinian youth in Gaza.

Date:

April 4, 2018

1st Segment: Dr. Riyad Mansour's Remarks at the UN
Ambassador and Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations, and the non-resident Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. He joined the Permanent Observer Mission of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to the UN, New York, in 1983 as Deputy Permanent Observer, and has since represented Palestine in several committees and bodies of the UN. Dr. Mansour has published several studies and articles about the Palestinian community in the US, lectured in several American universities, and has participated in numerous international conferences, symposia, seminars and panel debates as a representative of Palestine. He is also a member of senior officials committees of the State of Palestine and the PLO.
 
We will listen today to Ambassador Mansour's remarks delivered at the United Nations Security Council on March 30, 2018 in response to Israel's massacre in Gaza where 17 Palestinian civilians were shot and killed and more than 1400 others were wounded by the Israeli occupation forces!
  

2nd Segment: Poems from Rafeef Ziadah & Remi Kanazi
The month of April is National Poetry Month, and today on the show we will listen to a few poems on Gaza and Palestine by Rafeef Ziadah, Palestinian spoken word artist and human rights activist based in London, UK. Her performance of poems like ‘We Teach Life, Sir’ and ‘Shades of Anger’ went viral within days of its release. Her live readings offer a moving blend of poetry and music. Since releasing her first album, Rafeef has headlined prestigious performance venues across several countries with powerful readings on war, exile, gender and racism. We will also listen to poems from Remi Kanazi, a poet, writer, and organizer based in New York City, and author of the collection of poetry Before the Next Bomb Drops: Rising Up from Brooklyn to Palestine. He is also the author of Poetic Injustice: Writings on Resistance and Palestine and the editor of Poets For Palestine.
    

3rd Segment: "I Have a Dream" by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today, April 4, 2018, marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the greatest civil rights leaders, ever!
 
In Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we will air today on Arab Voices his most famous and historic speech “I have a Dream” calling for racial equality. He delivered that speech on August 28, 1963 during the historic march on Washington, where hundreds of thousands of people marched for civil and economic rights. It was one of the largest demonstrations for human rights in United States' history.

Date:

March 28, 2018

"Digital Humanities of the Underground: The Palestinian Revolution Website" by Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti
The Department of History and the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Arab Studies at Rice University hosted Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti on October 17, 2017, where he presented his "Digital Humanities of the Underground: The Palestinian Revolution Website" project. Abdel Razzaq Takriti is Associate Professor and Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History at the University of Houston. He is the author of the award-winning book Monsoon Revolution: Republicans, Sultans, and Empires in Oman, 1965-1976 (Oxford University Press, 2013) and co-author and co-curator of The Palestinian Revolution website learnpalestine.politics.ox.ac.uk (2017).
 
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Dr. Abdel Razzaq Takriti's presentation on the "Digital Humanities of the Underground: The Palestinian Revolution Website".

Date:

March 21, 2018

8th Annual Houston Palestinian Festival
Live conversation with Houda Jarrah, board member with the Palestinian American Cultural Center (PACC-Houston) and volunteer on the festival committee team, and Mona Fareed, board member with the Palestinian American Cultural Center and chair of the festival committee team about the 8th Annual Houston Palestinian Festival scheduled to be held March 24-25 at Jones Plaza in Downtown Houston.
   
This year's festival is being held under the theme "We Are Jerusalem, We Are Palestine". It will include folkloric and contemporary music and dance, Palestinians culture and cuisine, traditional fashion show and wedding, grand bazaar, and kids fun zone. The festival will include two nights of performances by international singer Maher Al-Attili and Wessam Aljundi (Abu Batata), as well as Salem Omran, Aladeen Alhayek, DJ Ashraf, and Houston's favorite - Jabour!
 

Spring Fund Drive

Date:

March 14, 2018

Melvin Goodman
Director of the National Security Project at the Center for International Policy in Washington, DC, and a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. He was an analyst at the CIA for 24 years; a former analyst at the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research; and author of several books on international security, including "National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism" and "Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA". His latest book is "Whistleblower at the CIA". Goodman helped draft the report that described Israel’s attack against Egypt on the morning of June 5, 1967.Last year, he published the piece The Six Day War and Israeli Lies: What I Saw at the CIA. Goodman has written numerous articles and op-eds over the years, appeared on various media outlets, and has lectured all over the country. He is also the national security columnist for counterpunch.org.
 
Note that we are offering two of Melvin's books during the show today (see below). 
    
We will speak live with Melvin about Trump's firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and the nomination of CIA Director Mike Pompeo (known for his opposition to the Iran deal and his bias against Islam with Islamophobic views and association with an anti-Muslim hate group) to replace Tillerson, and Gina Haspel, CIA Deputy Director (known for her leading role in torture of detainees) as a replacement for Pompeo.
        

KPFT continues its Spring Fund Drive, and Arab Voices Needs Your Support to raise $1,500. We are offering the following "Thank-You" Gifts during this drive:

• "National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism" book by Melvin Goodman ($100)
   

• "Whistleblower at the CIA: An Insider’s Account of the Politics of Intelligence" book by Melvin Goodman ($100)
   

• Both Books by Melvin Goodman ($150)
   

• "Ralph Nader: Empowering People in the Trump Era" DVD $100
   

• "All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone" DVD $100
   

• "The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in The United States" DVD $120

Please call 713-526-5738 between 6 pm and 7 pm central time on Wednesday and support your commercial-free community radio station. You can also send email to info@ArabVoices.net with your name and the amount you'd like to pledge. Thank you.
 

Spring Fund Drive

Date:

March 7, 2018

KPFT continues its Spring Fund Drive, and Arab Voices Needs Your Support to raise $1,500. We are offering the following "Thank-You" Gifts during this drive:

• "Ralph Nader: Empowering People in the Trump Era" DVD $100
   

• "All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone" DVD $100
   

• "The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in The United States" DVD $120

Please call 713-526-5738 between 6 pm and 7 pm central time on Wednesday and support your commercial-free community radio station. You can also send email to info@ArabVoices.net with your name and the amount you'd like to pledge. Thank you.
 

Spring Fund Drive

Date:

February 28, 2018

1st Segment: Khanh Pham, JD
Staff Attorney with Boat People SOS-Houston (BPSOS), a non-profit social and legal services provider whose purpose is to empower, organize, and equip immigrant communities in their pursuit of liberty and dignity. It provides education, information, and direct assistance to immigrant and refugee families on potential health and legal issues prevalent in the immigrant communities.
  
We will speak with attorney Pham about the various services provided by Boat People SOS-Houston (BPSOS) to the communities, including the Arab American community, where they have staff on board, Rhoda Jazairy, that can speak and translate to Arabic-speaking members of the community.
       

2nd Segment: ACC's Annual Gala (Part 2 of 2)
We will continue to air the remaining remarks delivered at the Arab American Cultural and Community Center's (ACC) Annual Unity and Friendship Gala held on December 8, 2017, where they highlighted the Culture and People of Syria. We will listen today to the keynote address delivered by Fares Ksebati, Co-Founder and CEO of MySwimPro and the son of Syrian immigrants, and also listen to the remarks of the Gala Honorees Said Fattouh, recipient of the 2017 ACC Outstanding Arab Media Award, and Amer Al-Nahhas, who received (on behalf of the Syrian American Club) the 2017 ACC Outstanding Refugees Service Award, as well as the announcement about the ACC Young Writers Award Contest winners.
   
Last week (archived online at www.ArabVoices.net), we aired the remarks of Mrs. Hadia Mawlawi, Gala Co-Chair, Dr. Faiza Zalila, ACC President, and Dr. Aziz Shaibani, recipient of the 2017 ACC Outstanding Community Service Award.

Date:

February 21, 2018

ACC's Annual Unity & Friendship Gala (Part 1 of 2)
The Arab American Cultural and Community Center (ACC) in Houston held its Annual Unity and Friendship Gala on December 8, 2017, under the theme "Elevating Humanity", and it highlighted the Culture and People of Syria. The Gala Chairs were Mrs. Hadia Mawlawi and Mrs. Mariam Haddad. The Mistress of Ceremonies was Gina Gaston, reporter and co-anchor at KTRK-TV ABC13 News in Houston.
    
The ACC honorees were Dr. Aziz Shaibani (2017 ACC Outstanding Community Service Award), Mr. Said Fattouh (2017 ACC Outstanding Arab Media Award), and The Syrian American Club (2017 ACC Outstanding Refugees Service Award).
      
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to some of the remarks made at the Gala, including the remarks of Mrs. Hadia Mawlawi, Gala Co-Chair, Dr. Faiza Zalila, ACC President, and Dr. Aziz Shaibani, recipient of the 2017 ACC Outstanding Community Service Award (introduced by Dr. Ussama Makdissi and Dr. Michael Newmark).
   
Next week, we will air the keynote address by Fares Ksebati, and the remarks of Said Fattouh and Amer Al-Nahhas, as well as the ACC Young Writers Award Contest winners.

Date:

February 14, 2018

1st Segment: Maha Freij
Deputy Executive Director & Chief Financial Officer at ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services), and a leading visionary in the Arab American community with regard to philanthropy and building strong institutions to strengthen the voice of the community in American civil society. Under her leadership, the Center for Arab American Philanthropy (CAAP), a national institution of ACCESS, has established itself as the only national Arab American community foundation in the U.S., connecting philanthropists across the country and helping them to make a greater impact. Maha is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including the American Task Force for Palestine’s 2011 Distinguished Service in Philanthropy Award; the Arab American Association of New York’s 2010 Community Service Award; the Arab American Heritage Council’s 2010 Community Leader of the Year Award; Alternatives for Girls’ 2005 Role Model Award; Crain's Detroit Business, Best Managed Non-Profit Organization, 2000; and New Detroit, Inc.’s 1996 Richard Fisher Fiscal Integrity Award.
 
We will speak with Maha about ACCESS, CAAP, and the upcoming Threads of Giving Gala that will be held in Houston on March 16, 2018, honoring businessman and innovator Farouk Shami with the first ever Outstanding Arab American Philanthropist Award, recognizing his charitable efforts both at home and internationally.
           

2nd Segment: Shireen Al-Adeimi
A doctoral candidate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she has been conducting research on improving students’ writing outcomes through whole-class, dialogic discussion. Shireen was born and raised in Yemen, and has been working on bringing attention to the crisis there. She recently published an article titled "Only Americans Can Stop America’s War on Yemen," which states: "Yemen continues to suffer in silence as the world turns away from its ongoing misery."
  
We will speak with Shireen about the crisis in Yemen, the dire situation there as a result of the Saudi-led war on Yemen that devastated the country, the U.S. involvement, and what it takes to stop the war.

Date:

February 7, 2018

1st Segment: Mustafa Tameez
Founder and Managing Director of Outreach Strategists, a bipartisan public affairs firm. His firm serves clients and projects ranging in size and scope from small local interests to national governments. He is working in conjunction with the Alliance for Compassion and Tolerance to spread awareness about the ACT: NOW! Hotline to the community. Mustafa Tameez’s long career in communications and public affairs has focused on helping clients overcome challenges at home and abroad.
 
We will speak with Mustafa Tameez about the newly established ACT: NOW! Hotline (832-680-0108), a service of the Alliance for Compassion & Tolerance in partnership with Crisis Intervention. It provides emotional support, crisis intervention, suicide prevention services, and is sensitive to any cultural issues of importance. We will talk about cultural stigmas against mental illness/loneliness/depression, issues facing young adults from our community today, signs parents should look for, the kinds of actions parents/community leaders should take, and the kinds of actions young people should take.
        

2nd Segment: George Joseph
Criminal justice, immigration, and national security reporter. His work has appeared in many outlets including Foreign Policy, The Intercept, The Guardian, NPR, The Atlantic, The Nation, ProPublica, The Verge, Slate, and CityLab. His area of focus is on surveillance, law enforcement, the use of “big data” in criminal justice systems, and how data is interpreted by law enforcement. George has just published an EXCLUSIVE report at Foreign Policy after he obtained a newly leaked internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) draft report calling for "long-term" and continuous monitoring of "at-risk" immigrants, focused exclusively on young, Sunni Muslim men.
 
We will speak with George about the newly leaked internal DHS report he obtained, and his exclusive report on it, titled "Draft DHS Report Called for Long-Term Surveillance of Sunni Muslim Immigrants".

Date:

January 31, 2018

Ariel Gold
National co-director of CODEPINK, who also manages the organization’s campaigns for Palestinian rights. She is a Jewish-American activist who visited occupied Palestine several times and stayed for months in Palestinian homes to experience first-hand what life is like under military occupation. Her last visit was a few months ago where she met Ahed Tamimi and her family in Nabi Saleh. During her last visit to occupied Palestine, she was attacked by an Israeli colonizer. Ariel’s colleagues and co-founders of CODEPINK, Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, were detained on Saturday, January 27, 2018 in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron along with Palestinian human rights defender Issa Amro and CODEPINK activist Tighe Barry. Benjamin, Evans and Barry traveled to the West Bank to join with Palestinian activists in their struggle to end Israel’s systems of apartheid and occupation. They entered the country despite the recent announcement by the Israeli government "Israel's BDS Black List" that the leaders of CODEPINK, along with 19 other organizations worldwide, are banned from entry into Israel because of their campaigns for Palestinian freedom and equality. Ariel has also organized several US speaking tours for Palestinian activists, Iyad Burnat, Bassem Tamimi, and Issa Amro.
    

We will speak live with Ariel about her experience in occupied Palestine and what she is hearing from CODEPINK's activists currently there, the efforts and actions underway nationally and internationally to free Ahed Tamimi and all Palestinian political prisoners, especially today, January 31, 2018, on Ahed's 17^th birthday, Jerusalem, and more.

Date:

January 24, 2018

“Sectarianism and Anti-sectarianism in the Modern Arab World” by Dr. Aziz Al-Azmeh
The Arab-American Educational Foundation Chairs at both Rice University and the University of Houston hosted and co-organized the "Arab Traditions of Anti-Sectarianism Conference", held December 1-2, 2017 at Rice University and the University of Houston.
   
The keynote address at the conference was delivered on December 1, 2017, at Rice University on the topic "Sectarianism and Anti-sectarianism in the Modern Arab World" by Dr. Aziz Al-Azmeh, University Professor in the Department of History and Director of the Center for Religious Studies at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.
      
Today, on Arab Voices, we will listen to Dr. Al-Azmeh's keynote address on “Sectarianism and Anti-sectarianism in the Modern Arab World”.

Date:

January 17, 2018

1^st Segment: Sana Shahid
Houston activist, and one of the organizing leaders and Outreach Specialist for the 2018 Houston Women's March (last year, nearly 22,000 attended the women's march in Houston). She is also the Communications and Outreach Coordinator for the Southwest Chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby.
    
We will speak with Sana about the upcoming 2018 Houston Women's March, scheduled for Saturday, January 20, 2018.
      

2^nd Segment: "Living Our Faith: Defending Freedom"
The Council on American-Islamic Relations Texas (Houston Chapter) held its Annual Banquet on November 12, 2017, in Houston under the theme "Living Our Faith: Defending Freedom". Several local community members, faith leaders, and elected officials attended the event that featured an awards ceremony recognizing several individuals. It was a celebration of CAIR-Houston's achievements and it also highlighted how to work together to protect civil rights and share a positive message about Islam and Muslims.
   
There were several remarks at the event, and today we will listen to some of them, including those of Dr. Tarek Hussein, CAIR Houston President; Mike Floyd, elected member of the Pearland ISD Board of Trustees, one of the youngest elected officials in the United States, and recipient of the 2017 CAIR-Houston Political Activism Award; and Mustafaa Carroll, Executive Director of CAIR-Houston, and recipient of the 2017 CAIR National Leadership Award.

Date:

January 10, 2018

1^st Segment: Bassem Tamimi (Ahed's Father, in Nabi Saleh, occupied Palestine)
A long-time Palestinian activist and head of the Popular Committee in Nabi Saleh. He is the father of Ahed Tamimi, the 16-year-old Palestinian girl who was taken from her house three weeks ago in the middle of the night by the Israeli occupation army and has been placed in Israeli occupation jail since then. Bassem's wife, Nariman, has also been arrested and placed in jail. Bassem Tamimi was arrested himself at least a dozen times by the Israeli occupation forces and spent several years in Israeli jails. Amnesty International designated him "a prisoner of conscience", and the European Union described him as a "human rights defender".
    
I had met Bassem Tamimi in person in 2015, and today he will join us via phone from Nabi Saleh, occupied Palestine to talk about the village of Nabi Saleh and the struggle of its residents and the Tamimi family against the Israeli occupation, the jailing of Bassem's daughter, Ahed and his wife, Nariman, and more.
       

2^nd Segment: Mohammed Nabulsi
Palestinian-American attorney and community organizer. He is currently the Project Development Coordinator for the Palestinian Youth Movement. He also serves on the Steering Committee of the National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) organization, one of 20 organizations placed on a "BDS Blacklist" published by Israel on January 7, 2018, barring its members from entering Israel because of their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Mohammed Nabulsi was one of the main organizers of the recent NSJP conference held in Houston and has since been attacked by Zionist hate groups for his role in organizing the conference.

We will speak with Mohammed about SJP, the Israeli occupation and its decision to blacklist 20 organizations, including NSJP. We will also talk about the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and more.

Date:

January 3, 2018

"Black November: The Role of Partition in Palestine's History and Destiny" by Ilan Pappé
Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Houston co-hosted with the Palestinian American Cultural Center Professor Ilan Pappé on November 30, 2017, who presented on the centennial of the Balfour Declaration. The title of his lecture was "Black November: The Role of Partition in Palestine's History and Destiny."
    
Today, on Arab Voices, we will listen to Professor Ilan Pappé's lecture.
   
Professor Pappé is the author of several books, most notably "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" and most recently "The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of the Occupied Territories." Presently he is the Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter. Professor Pappé obtained his BA degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1979 and the D. Phil from the University of Oxford in 1984. He founded and directed the Academic Institute for Peace in Givat Haviva, Israel between 1992 to 2000 and was the Chair of the Emil Tuma Institute for Palestine Studies in Haifa between 2000 and 2006. Professor Pappé was a senior lecturer in the department of Middle Eastern History and the Department of Political Science at Haifa University between 1984 and 2006. He was appointed as chair of the Department of History at Cornwall Campus, 2007-2009 and became a fellow of the IAIS in 2010. His research focuses on the modern Middle East and in particular the history of Israel and Palestine. He has also written on multiculturalism, Critical Discourse Analysis and on Power and Knowledge in general.

Date:

December 27, 2017

"Jerusalem: Communities Leading Change" by Fayrouz Sharqawi
The Palestine Center in Washington, D.C. held an event titled "Jerusalem: Communities Leading Change" on November 7, 2017. The guest speaker was Fayrouz Sharqawi, Advocacy Director at Grassroots Jerusalem. In her talk, Fayrouz explains the specific and unique political reality that Palestinians face in the city of Jerusalem. She discusses the recent movement for Al Aqsa and the necessity of organizations like Grassroots Jerusalem to build a cohesive political platform through which Jerusalemites can voice their demands and bring attention to the indigenous and independent Palestinian economy outside of the international aid and NGO system.
  
Today, on Arab Voices, we will listen to that talk and some of the questions and answers that followed.
 
Fayrouz Sharqawi is the Advocacy Director at Grassroots Jerusalem and has a broad and experienced understanding of development and resistance under occupation. Ms. Sharqawi’s tours of the city focus not only on the political reality, but also on the potential that lies in the Palestinian economy in Jerusalem, demonstrating the unity of communities across divides, and attempting to cultivate direct support and solidarity to Palestinian initiatives in Jerusalem.

Date:

December 20, 2017

1st Segment: Issa Amro (in Hebron, occupied Palestine)
Palestinian activist and human rights defender based in Hebron, occupied Palestine. He is the coordinator and co-founder of the grassroots group Youth Against Settlements. Issa won the 2009 One World Media award for coordinating the B’Tselem camera distribution project, and in 2010, he was declared "human rights defender of the year in Palestine" by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In 2013, the United Nations Human Rights Council expressed concern for his well-being and safety due to numerous accounts of harassment from Israeli soldiers and settlers and a series of arbitrary arrests. He has spoken at the UN Human Rights Council regular session at three different occasions. Issa was arrested numerous times by the Israeli occupation army, and was indicted by the Israeli military court with 18 charges against him. In May 2017, Bernie Sanders along with 3 U.S. Senators and 32 Congressmen wrote to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to urge Israeli authorities to reconsider the charges against him. In late September, 2017, after being released on bail from Israeli occupation jail, Issa Amro met Bernie Sanders and members of Congress in Washington DC.
  
We will speak with Issa Amro (in Hebron) about the situation in occupied Palestine, the recent kidnapping and jailing of Ahed Tamimi, 16-year-old Palestinian girl along with her mother and other relatives, President Trump's decision on Jerusalem, and much more.
      

2nd Segment: Tarek Abuata
Palestinian Christian born and raised in Bethlehem, occupied Palestine (the birth place of Jesus Christ). He is the Executive Director of FOSNA, Friends of Sabeel North America, a nonprofit Christian ecumenical organization seeking justice and peace in the Holy Land through nonviolent advocacy and education. Tarek was Executive Director at Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace, and has also served as Executive Director at Love Thy Neighbor. In addition, he worked with Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT); United Palestine Appeal; Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation; and the Negotiations Support Unit of the Palestinian Authority. Tarek holds a JD from the University of Texas Law School and is licensed to practice law in Texas and DC.
    
We will speak with Tarek about Christians in Palestine and their suffering under the Israeli occupation, the situation there especially as we get closer to Christmas, President Trump's decision on Jerusalem and Christian reaction to it, and much more.

Date:

December 13, 2017

1st Segment: Remarks from Houston's Emergency Rally: Jerusalem is the Capital of Palestine
Hundreds of people participated in the "Emergency Rally: Jerusalem is the Capital of Palestine" rally that was held in Houston on Saturday, December 9, 2017. It was a protest against President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and his plan to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The rally was organized by several organizations including Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Houston. Participants marched from the corner of Post Oak and Westheimer to the Water Wall in the Galleria area, and held a candlelight vigil.
 
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to some of the remarks delivered at the rally by individuals and representatives from various organizations.
   

2nd Segment: Zaha Hassan
Middle East Fellow at New America, A human rights lawyer and former coordinator and senior legal advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team during Palestine’s bid for UN membership (2010-2012). She is a member of Al Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, and is a contributor to the Hill and Ha’aretz. Her political commentary and analysis has been published by the New York Times, CNN, Salon, the Oregonian, the Detroit News, and other outlets. She is the former cohost of the Portland, Ore.-based radio show, One Land Many Voices, on KBOO 90.7 FM.
 
We will speak live with Zaha about President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. We will talk about the occupation of Jerusalem and the situation there.

Date:

December 6, 2017

1st Segment: Walid Khalidi's Keynote Address on Jerusalem at the United Nations
World-renowned Palestinian historian and Scholar (born in Jerusalem); General Secretary and co-founder of the Institute for Palestine Studies; and author of numerous books and articles.
 
We will listen to professor Khalidi's keynote address on Jerusalem delivered at the UN Headquarters. He gave a historic overview of the history of Jerusalem (including Islam's relationship to its Judaic and Christian antecedents) saying that there had been no conflicts between Islam and Judaism over the city until the advent of Zionism. He also talked about the 1947 UN resolution, and the transformation of the city since its conquest in 1967. Khalidi ends his talk by outlining what he sees as the "pillars" of an honorable and peaceful solution for Jerusalem.

2nd Segment: Ali Abunimah
Co-founder and Executive Director of the award-winning and widely acclaimed publication The Electronic Intifada. Abunimah is a media commentator, an expert on Palestine and the Palestinian-Israeli problem, and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine, and One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse.
 
We will speak live with Ali about President Trump's plan to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and the impact of such a move.

Date:

November 29, 2017

1st Segment: Abdel Razzaq Takriti on “Arab Traditions of Anti-Sectarianism" Conference

We will speak with Abdel Razzaq Takriti, Associate Professor & Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History at the University of Houston about the upcoming “Arab Traditions of Anti-Sectarianism" conference that will take place Friday and Saturday, December 1st and 2nd at Rice University and the University of Houston.
  

2nd Segment: "Viewing Israel-Palestine Through the Lens of Settler-Colonialism" by Ilan Pappé
   
We will air today a speech titled "Viewing Israel-Palestine Through the Lens of Settler-Colonialism" by Ilan Pappé, Professor of History and Director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter in the UK, and author of several books. In that speech, delivered at the Israel Lobby And American Policy Conference held earlier this year in Washington, D.C., Pappé discusses the value of viewing Israel-Palestine through the lens of settler-colonialism, how Zionist myths have been shaped and/or perpetuated by the Israel lobby, and what framework is necessary to overcome these myths and ensure that efforts to resolve the "conflict" are grounded in reality.
 
NOTE: Ilan Pappé will be in Houston speaking at the University of Houston on Thursday, November 30, 2017 on the topic "Black November: The Role of Partition in Palestine's History and Destiny", organized by Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Houston and sponsored by the Palestinian American Cultural Center. See Community Calendar for more details.

Date:

November 22, 2017

Rami Khouri
An internationally syndicated political columnist, book author and professor of journalism. He was the first director, and is now a senior public policy fellow, at the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. He also serves as a non-resident senior fellow at Harvard University Kennedy School Middle East Initiative. He is editor at large, and former executive editor, of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper, and was awarded the Pax Christi International Peace Prize for 2006. He teaches or lectures annually at the American University of Beirut and Northeastern University. He has been a fellow and visiting scholar at Harvard, Mount Holyoke, Princeton, Syracuse, The Fletcher School at Tufts, Northeastern, Denver, Oklahoma and Stanford universities, and is a member of the Brookings Institution Task Force on US Relations with the Islamic World. He is a Fellow of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs (Arab East Jerusalem). He also serves on the Joint Advisory Board of the Northwestern University Journalism School in Doha, Qatar, Georgetown University’s Center for Regional and International Studies in Doha, Qatar, and recently completed a four-year term on the International Advisory Council of the International Committee of the Red Cross. He was editor-in-chief of the Jordan Times for seven years and for 18 years was general manager of Al Kutba, Publishers, in Amman, Jordan, where he also served as a consultant to the Jordanian tourism ministry on biblical archaeological sites. He has hosted programs on archaeology, history and current public affairs on Jordan Television and Radio Jordan, and often comments on Mideast issues in the international media. He has a BA and MSc degrees respectively in political science and mass communications from Syracuse University, NY, USA.
  

We will speak live with Rami about the recent internal domestic changes and crackdown in Saudi Arabia (are we witnessing real changes and an end to corruption, or is it about power grab and scare tactics); the surprise resignation announcement of Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri while in Saudi Arabia (on hold after his return to Lebanon); the boycott and blockade on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and others; the catastrophic situation in Yemen as a result of the Saudi-led war on the country; the latest on Syria and what is next; and more.

Date:

November 15, 2017

Date:

November 8, 2017

Date:

November 1, 2017

Alison Weir
Founder and Executive Director of If Americans Knew and President of the Council for the National Interest. She is the author of "Against Our Better Judgment: The hidden history of how the U.S. was used to create Israel". Her essays and articles have appeared in a number of books, magazines, and newspapers; among them The New Intifada, Censored 2005, The Encyclopedia on Israel-Palestine, The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, San Francisco Bay View newspaper, CounterPunch, and The Link. Weir speaks widely throughout the country. Since early 2001 she has given hundreds of presentations, including two briefings on Capitol Hill, speeches at the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine, the National Press Club, and at universities such as Harvard Law School, Columbia, Stanford, UC Berkeley, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Vassar, and the Naval Postgraduate Institute. She has spoken at the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, numerous Rotary Clubs, churches, libraries, and other community venues. In addition, she has been invited to give papers at international conferences, including lectures at the Asia Media Summit in Kuala Lumpur for three straight years. A top level British attendee termed her speech "the most brilliant of the entire conference." In 2004, Weir was inducted into honorary membership of Phi Alpha Literary Society. The award cited her as a: "Courageous journalist-lecturer on behalf of human rights. The first woman to receive an honorary membership in Phi Alpha history."
 

Thursday, November 2, 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a pledge by Britain's foreign secretary at that time, Arthur Balfour, addressed to Lionel Walter Rothschild, a Zionist leader in the British Jewish community, to establish "a national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. Today on Arab Voices, we will speak live with Alison Weir about the Balfour Declaration, how did it come about, who wrote it and why, who was behind it, how it got implemented, the connections to the U.S. and World War I, its impact on the Palestinians over the past 100 years, and more!

Date:

October 25, 2017

Dima Khalidi
Founder and Director of Palestine Legal and Cooperating Counsel with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). Her work includes providing legal advice to activists, engaging in advocacy to protect their rights to speak out for Palestinian rights, and educating activists and the public about the repression of Palestine advocates. Dima worked with CCR as a cooperating attorney on the Mamilla Cemetery Campaign, drafting a Petition to United Nations officials to act against the desecration of an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. She also worked on numerous cases that sought to hold Israeli officials and corporations accountable for Israeli violations of international law, including Belhas v. Ya’alon, Matar et al. v. Dichter and Corrie v. Caterpillar, as well as on CCR’s Guantanamo Bay docket. Prior to studying law, Dima worked at Birzeit University, heading a research project on the role of informal justice mechanisms in the Palestinian legal system. She has advocated on Palestinian rights issues in media forums such as the New York Times, the Jewish Press, The Hill, Huffington Post Live, The Real News Network, Al Jazeera English, Mondoweiss, Huffington Post, Law and Disorder Radio, and Radio Tahrir. She is fluent in Arabic and French. Dima is based in Palestine Legal’s Chicago office, and is admitted to practice law in Illinois.
 

We will speak live with Dima about the anti-BDS laws that have already passed in 22 states in the U.S. including Texas (HB 89), aimed at punishing or suppressing boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaigns for Palestinian freedom. We will talk about the City of Dickinson (south of Houston, Texas) that is requiring applicants for hurricane Harvey rebuilding funds (donated by individuals, not State money) to verify in writing that they will not take part in a boycott of Israel. We will also talk about the federal lawsuit filed by the ACLU on October 11, 2017 challenging a Kansas law on behalf of a high school teacher who is being required by the state to certify that she won’t boycott Israel if she wants to take part in a teacher training program. We will also speak about the constitutionality of these laws and the first amendment, the efforts to counter these anti-BDS laws in the U.S., and what you can do about them.
    
 

Fall Fund Drive

Date:

October 18, 2017

KPFT continues its Fall Fund Drive, and Arab Voices Needs Your Support to raise $2,700. We are offering several "Thank-You" Gifts during this drive including the 3 documentaries/recordings listed below:

• "Ralph Nader: EMPOWERING PEOPLE IN THE TRUMP ERA" DVD

• "All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone" DVD

• "The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in The United States" DVD

Please call 713-526-5738 between 6 pm and 7 pm central time on Wednesday and support your commercial-free community radio station. You can also send email to info@ArabVoices.net with your name and the amount you'd like to pledge. Thank you.
 

Fall Fund Drive

Date:

October 11, 2017

"Ralph Nader: EMPOWERING PEOPLE IN THE TRUMP ERA" - DVD available for $100 contribution
DVD of two talks by Ralph Nader: 1) on the topic of 'Empowering People in Trump Era' based on his latest book 'Breaking Through Power,' given on February 22, 2017 at the University of Laverne (approx. 83 minutes long); 2) 'Ralph Nader In Conversation,' a Scripps Presents event in Claremont on February 21, 2017 (approx. 68 minutes long). The total time is 2:30 hours. Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to portions of Nader's talk from the DVD.
 

"All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone" - DVD available for $100 contribution
'All Governments Lie: Truth, Deception, and the Spirit of I.F. Stone' looks at how independent journalists like Amy Goodman, Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, Matt Taibbi and others are changing the face of journalism, providing investigative, adversarial alternatives to mainstream, corporate news outlets. The cameras follow as they expose government and corporate deception. Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to portions from that documentary/DVD.
 

"The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in The United States" - DVD available for $120 contribution
Israel's ongoing military occupation of Palestinian territory and its repeated invasions of the Gaza strip have triggered a fierce backlash against Israeli policies virtually everywhere in the world — except the United States. "The Occupation of the American Mind" takes an eye-opening look at this critical exception, zeroing in on pro-Israel public relations efforts within the U.S. Narrated by Roger Waters and featuring leading observers of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the film explores how the Israeli government, the U.S. government, and the pro-Israel lobby have joined forces, often with very different motives, to shape American media coverage of the conflict in Israel's favor. The Occupation of the American Mind provides a sweeping analysis of Israel's decades-long battle for the hearts, minds, and tax dollars of the American people — a battle that has only intensified over the past few years in the face of widening international condemnation of Israel's increasingly right-wing policies. Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to an interview we conducted with Professor Sut Jhally, executive producer of the film and also listen to portions of this film documentary/DVD.

Date:

October 4, 2017

1st Segment: The Arrival: Trump’s Travel and Refugee Ban
Making Contact, an award-winning weekly magazine/documentary-style public affairs program heard on 140 radio stations in the USA, Canada, South Africa and Ireland, produced a new segment titled “The Arrival: Trump’s Travel and Refugee Ban”.
 
Leading up to the US Supreme Court hearing on Trump’s travel ban, we’ll hear about the order’s impact on people from affected, Muslim-majority countries, and how advocacy groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations are responding. On this edition of Making Contact we begin with the story of a woman who was in flight to the US when President Trump signed his first travel ban. Special thanks to the Stanford Storytelling Project and State of the Human podcast managing producer, Jake Warga.
 
Featuring:
• Nisrin Abdelrahman, Stanford PhD Student in Anthropology
• Zahar Billo, Civil Rights Attorney and Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
    
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to “The Arrival: Trump’s Travel and Refugee Ban” segment.
  

2nd Segment: Dr. Ahmad Tibi's Remarks at the ADC Convention
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), a civil rights organization committed to defending the rights of people of Arab descent and promoting their rich cultural heritage in the USA, held its 37th National Convention on September 22-24, 2017 in Washington, D.C. There were many dynamic and engaging sessions, including a Community Empowerment Luncheon with Arab-American Congressional Candidates, discussions on Charlottesville and the Reemergence of White Supremacy, Criminalization of Race, and the Arab and Muslim Ban. There was a session exploring One State or Two State Solution – What’s Best for the Palestinians featuring experts on the subject, and there were several keynote addresses covering different topics including Civil Rights. ADC also honored several individuals who have committed themselves to the advancement of social justice. There was also a special memorial honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Jack Shaheen.
 
At the September 24, 2017 Palestine Luncheon and Awards Ceremony, the keynote speaker was Dr. Ahmad Tibi, Deputy Speaker of the Israeli Knesset. Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to most of Dr. Tibi's remarks at the ADC Convention.

Date:

September 27, 2017

"The Invention of Sectarianism in the Modern Middle East" by Ussama Makdisi, Ph.D.
The Center for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy held an event titled “The Invention of Sectarianism in the Modern Middle East” on September 20, 2017. The speaker was Ussama Makdisi, Professor of History and the first holder of the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies at Rice University. Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to that lecture.
   
Professor Makdisi is the author of Faith Misplaced: the Broken Promise of U.S.-Arab Relations, 1820-2001. His previous books include Artillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle East, which was the winner of the 2008 Albert Hourani Book Award from the Middle East Studies Association, the 2009 John Hope Franklin Prize of the American Studies Association, and a co-winner of the 2009 British-Kuwait Friendship Society Book Prize given by the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Makdisi is also the author of The Culture of Sectarianism: Community, History, and Violence in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Lebanon and co-editor of Memory and Violence in the Middle East and North Africa. He has published widely on Ottoman and Arab history as well as on U.S.-Arab relations and U.S. missionary work in the Middle East. Among his major articles are “Anti-Americanism in the Arab World: An Interpretation of Brief History” which appeared in the Journal of American History and “Ottoman Orientalism” and “Reclaiming the Land of the Bible: Missionaries, Secularism, and Evangelical Modernity” both of which appeared in the American Historical Review. Professor Makdisi has also published in the International Journal of Middle East Studies, Comparative Studies in Society and History, and in the Middle East Report. Professor Makdisi is now working on a manuscript on the origins of sectarianism in the modern Middle East to be published by the University of California Press. In 2012-2013, Makdisi was an invited Resident Fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin). In April 2009, the Carnegie Corporation named Makdisi a 2009 Carnegie Scholar as part of its effort to promote original scholarship regarding Muslim societies and communities, both in the United States and abroad.

Date:

September 20, 2017

Massacres and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State in Myanmar
Today’s show is about the grave humanitarian crisis, violence and ethnic cleansing we are witnessing in the Rakhine State in Myanmar, where brutal killings, shelling, destruction of villages and rape is underway of the Muslim Rohingya minority. Nearly half a million Muslim Rohingya were forced to flee across the border to Bangladesh.
 
We will listen today to statements on that topic from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the country of Bangladesh where nearly half a million Muslim Rohingya are now refugees, and the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues
 
We will also listen to several Houstonians who participated in a Silent Protest held in Houston on September 17, 2017 including a Rohingya student living in Houston, and statements from several local organizations including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston).

Date:

September 13, 2017

1st Segment: Dr. Aziz Shaibani
President of the Arab American Educational Foundation, and past president of the National Arab American Medical Association and the Arab American Cultural and Community Center in Houston. He is a member of the “Art of the Islamic Worlds" committee at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and also serves on the advisory board of the Arab American National Museum and is a board member at the Rothko Chapel. Dr. Shaibani is the director of the Nerve and Muscle Center of Texas, a clinical professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and an adjunct professor of neurology at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, American Neurological Association, American College of Physicians, and American Association of Neuromuscular & Electrodiagnostic Medicine. He is also president-elect of the Texas Neurological Society. In 2014, he authored the award-winning book “A Video Atlas of Neuromuscular Disorders”. Dr. Shaibani is a regular speaker at local, national and international neurology meetings.
 
We will speak with Dr. Shaibani about the short and long term health impact of Hurricane Harvey; the impact it has made on the health care system in Houston; measures people can take to minimize delayed health effects, and more.
   

2nd Segment: Dr. Emran El-Badawi
Program director and associate professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Houston. He has published in English as well as Arabic and has contributed to Forbes, The Christian Science Monitor and made dozens of national as well as international media appearances, including for The New York Times, Al-Jazeera and the European ARTE network. Dr. El-Badawi has advised law firms, government, and cultural organizations about matters related to Arabs, Islam and the Middle East. Dr. El-Badawi has received numerous awards for his work and research including honorable acclaim by the British-Kuwait Friendship Society Book Prize for his book on The Qur'an and the Aramaic Gospel Traditions. Furthermore, his professional management and scholarly projects have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for several organizations. He can be found on Twitter @EmranE.
 
We will speak with Dr. El-Badawi about Houston's diversity, the size of Hurricane Harvey's tragedy and the lesson of how a strong community empowers a city during large tragedies. Dr. El-Badawi will also share stories of Houston Arab-American citizens and businesses saving lives and helping rebuild Houston, and talk about the near future, new initiatives and how you can help.

Date:

September 6, 2017

1st Segment: Dr. Faiza Zalila
We will speak with Dr. Faiza Zalila, President of the Arab American Cultural & Community Center (ACC) in Houston about the Arab American community in Houston and ACC efforts to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey, and the drive the ACC launched to collect much needed items to distribute in collaboration with other organizations to victims of Hurricane Harvey.
 

2nd Segment: MJ Khan
We will speak with Mr. MJ Khan, President of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH) and former Houston City Council member, about the Muslim American community in Houston and ISGH efforts in the greater Houston area to assist the victims of Hurricane Harvey, and the relief efforts, and opening of mosques as shelters to those in need.
 

3rd Segment: Wafa Abdin
We will speak with Wafa Abdin, Vice President for Immigration and Refugee Services at Catholic Charities, where she oversees the Cabrini Center for Immigrant Legal Assistance, the largest non-profit provider of immigration legal services for low-income and indigent non-citizens and Refugee Resettlement Program. We will speak with her about President Trump's termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program; the impact of the termination on the nearly 800,000 young immigrants, or “Dreamers,” who came to the USA as children and know the United States as their only home; and what needs to happen next.

Date:

August 30, 2017

Date:

August 23, 2017

David Vine
Associate Professor of Anthropology at the American University in Washington, DC. He is the author of Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World. David is also the author of Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, Mother Jones, Boston Globe, Huffington Post, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, among others. David is also co-author of The Counter-Counterinsurgency Manual or, Notes on Demilitarizing American Society, with the Network for Concerned Anthropologists. David is a contributor to TomDispatch.com and Foreign Policy in Focus.
  

We will speak live with David about his books, U.S. foreign and military policy, U.S. military bases around the world including the Middle East, U.S. involvements with wars in the Middle East, and more.

Date:

August 16, 2017

“Conservation and Sustainability in the Holy Land” by Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh
On June 26, 2017, Palestinian Scientist and Professor, Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, spoke at the Houston Museum of Natural Science on the topic “Conservation and Sustainability in the Holy Land”. Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to his remarks.
  
After graduating from the University of Jordan, Qumsiyeh received his master's degree in evolutionary biology from the University of Connecticut and his Ph.D. in zoology/genetics from Texas Tech University. He completed a clinical cytogenetics fellowship at the University of Tennessee and clinical molecular genetics fellowship at Duke University. Following a prestigious career in cytogenetics in the US, Qumsiyeh returned to Palestine where he has been on the faculty at Bethlehem University and Birzeit University. In 2014, he founded the Palestine Museum of Natural History and Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University. He continues at PMNH as its director.

Date:

August 9, 2017

No U.S. War Planes Over Syria
On Tuesday, August 8, 2017, a coalition of six organizations (Veterans For Peace, The Nation magazine, RootsAction.org, Watchdog.net, World Beyond War, Daily Kos) held a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., calling on the U.S. to remove all military aircrafts from the Syrian airspace. The speakers argued that the U.S. military role in Syria is illegal and immoral and addressed concerns that “global policing” and intervention in Syria is an unwinnable military strategy. The speakers included:
  
John Kiriakou, CIA Whistleblower (he will be speaking in Houston on August 12)
Matthew Hoh, Former State Department official
Christie Edwards, Chair of the ASIL Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict and an advisor to the Center for Civilians in Conflict on international humanitarian, human rights, and gender issues
David Swanson, Author and Director of World Beyond War
Norman Solomon, Co-Founder and Coordinator for RootsAction.org
  
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to the news conference and some of the questions and answers that followed.

Date:

August 2, 2017

Will Picard
Founder and Executive Director of The Yemen Peace Project (YPP). He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in Modern Middle East Studies and Southwest Asian Conflict Studies. His senior thesis explored the importance of the Sa‘dah wars in the context of modern Yemeni history. He first visited Yemen in 1999, and has studied Yemeni history and contemporary affairs ever since. Will directs the YPP’s day-to-day operations, manages the organization’s website and Twitter account, writes for the Blog, and hosts the Mafraj Radio podcast.
 

We will speak live with Will Picard about Yemen, the dire situation there and the effects of the current Saudi-led war on Yemen that devastated the country, and the prospects for resolutions and peace in Yemen. We will also talk about the new report "America’s Role in Yemen 2017 and Beyond" produced by YPP about the United States’ involvement in Yemen.
 
According to the United Nations, Yemen is now the largest global humanitarian crisis where 20 million Yemenis, or 70 per cent of the population, require humanitarian assistance, making it the world's largest food security crisis. In addition, the world’s worst cholera outbreak is currently unfolding in Yemen with nearly 400,000 cholera cases have been recorded in recent months.

Date:

July 26, 2017

Maria LaHood's remarks on "Anti-BDS Legislation and the First Amendment"
Deputy Legal Director at the Center for Constitutional Rights, with expertise in constitutional rights and international human rights. She works to defend the constitutional rights of Palestinian human rights advocates in the United States. She works closely with Palestine Legal to support students and others whose speech is being suppressed for their Palestine advocacy around the country. She also works on the Right to Heal initiative with Iraqi civil society and Iraq Veterans seeking accountability for the lasting health effects of the Iraq war.
 
We will listen to Maria's speech on “Anti-BDS Legislation and the First Amendment: Recent Legislation that Threatens First Amendment Rights of Palestinian Solidary Activists and the Legal Challenges Thereto”. Her talk was delivered at the "Israel Lobby and American Policy" conference held on March 24th, 2017 at the National Press Club, organized by the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
  

Said Arikat
Journalist, author, and political analyst. He is the Washington, DC Bureau Chief for the daily Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds (based in occupied Jerusalem), for which he is a writer, columnist, and analyst. He is an adjunct professor at the American University in Washington, DC where he teaches a course on "The Role of the Media in the Arab World". He also served as spokesman and director of public information for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq from 2005 to 2010.
 
We will speak live with Said Arikat about the situation in occupied Jerusalem where Israel shot and killed several Palestinians and injured more than 1000 over the past few days, and has been attacking and preventing Muslim worshippers from reaching and praying at Al-Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem.

Date:

July 19, 2017

Dr. Missid Ghanem & Mays Kseibi
Dr. Missid Ghanem is a Psychologist, president of the World Wide Mental Health organization (WWHM) and Director of the new Summer of Hope (SoH) program in Houston.
 
Mays Kseibi is an educational management leader and a multicultural educator with an extensive background knowledge in international student services and academic advising. Mays has a masters in educational management development and currently serves as the Core Curriculum Director of the Summer of Hope (SoH) program in Houston.
 
We will speak with both Dr. Ghanem and Mrs. Kseibi about the new Summer of Hope (SoH) program that provides free English language and life skills training to the Syrian refugee children living in Houston.
   

Wajahat Ali remarks on "Israel Lobby Ties to Islamophobia"
Pro-Israel Organizations, Donors and Islamophobia: Findings from Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America
 
We will listen to the full speech given by Wajahat Ali, journalist, writer, lawyer, an award-winning playwright, and lead author/researcher of “Fear Inc., Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America”, discussing the making of Fear Inc. and the Lobby’s role in contributing to Islamophobia at the "Israel Lobby and American Policy" conference held on March 24, 2017 at the National Press Club. The conference was sponsored by the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep).

Date:

July 12, 2017

In Memoriam: Dr. Jack Shaheen
On Sunday, July 9, 2017, Dr. Jack Shaheen, a pioneering Arab-American scholar in the area of media representations of Arabs, an internationally acclaimed scholar, and author, passed away in South Carolina at the age of 81. Dr. Shaheen was a writer and lecturer specializing in addressing racial and ethnic stereotypes. His books include "A is for Arab: Archiving Stereotypes in U.S. Popular Culture", "Guilty: Hollywood’s Verdict on Arabs After 9/11", and "Reel Bad Arabs", which was later made into a film documentary "How Hollywood Vilifies Arabs!" by Media Education Foundation. His work focused on racism and orientalism, particularly in popular culture such as Hollywood films. He has given over 1,000 lectures on the issue across the United States and on three continents. Dr. Shaheen was also a former CBS News consultant on Middle East affairs, and professor emeritus of Mass Communications at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. He received two Fulbright teaching awards, and was also the Distinguished Visiting Scholar at New York University’s Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies.
 
We will listen today to portions of Dr. Shaheen’s talk in the film documentary "How Hollywood Vilifies Arabs!" by Media Education Foundation, and also listen to his talk at the "Israel Lobby and American Policy" conference on March 24, 2017 at the National Press Club, organized by the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. He spoke on the topic “Strategies to Successfully Push Back Against Harmful Hollywood Stereotypes About Arabs and Muslims, and the Work New Generations Must Take On”.
   

International Day of Quds
We will also listen to portions of the remarks that were delivered at the International Day of Quds rally that was held in Houston outside the Galleria on June 23, 2017. There were many remarks delivered during the rally, and we will air today portions of the remarks of the Reverend Ronnie Lister, Patrick Higgins, Rabbi Joseph Kohn with Neturei Karta, and Abbas Hamideh, co-founder of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition.   

Date:

July 5, 2017

Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh - "A Christian Palestinian Scientist from Bethlehem Talks About Conflict Resolution"
Last week, on June 27, 2017, Palestinian Scientist and Professor, Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, spoke at the Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church in Houston on the topic: "A Christian Palestinian Scientist from Bethlehem Talks About Conflict Resolution". Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to his remarks at the church.
 
After graduating from the University of Jordan, Qumsiyeh received his master's degree in evolutionary biology from the University of Connecticut and his Ph.D. in zoology/genetics from Texas Tech University. He completed a clinical cytogenetics fellowship at the University of Tennessee and clinical molecular genetics fellowship at Duke University. Following a prestigious career in cytogenetics in the US, Qumsiyeh returned to Palestine where he has been on the faculty at Bethlehem University and Birzeit University. In 2014, he founded the Palestine Museum of Natural History and Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University. He continues at PMNH as its director.

Date:

June 28, 2017

                

Summer Fund Drive