Chicago,October,27,2004


I'm Ashamed.

By Hatem Abunimeh

If George Bush wins next Tuesday's presidential election,Arab & Muslim Americans will be doomed for good.First of all they waited forever to endorse a candidate hoping that Mr.Bush or Mr.Kerry will reach out to them,and when no one reached out to them they decided to haphazardly cast a protest vote against Mr.Bush.

Secondly,Arabs & Muslims don't have any love lost for Mr.Kerry,they already labeled him as a Jew lover and a war monger since he stated that he had no intention of pulling the troops out of Iraq,and he supports the continuation of the separation wall/fence between the Israelis & the Palestinians.So even in the unlikely scenario that Mr.Kerry wins,he too will give the Arabs & Muslims the good old cold shoulder.

Finally,for Arabs & Muslims,it is a lose/lose situation for them no matter what part of the political isle they stand near,the loss is theirs;as for several years now they have been arduously complaining about Mr.Bush's patriot act that was originally created to protect the country from further terrorists attacks but the Arabs and Muslims kept on dancing and parsing the act to death trying to poke holes in it in every which way they can to no avail,and their attempts not only failed to produce any results,it enhanced the flurry of activities around the advent of patriot act II.

Then they accused Mr.Bush of being a puppet for Mr.Sharon,and that the original annual state of the union text is actually written in Hebrew first and then translated into English.Moreover,the two chambers of congress were referred to as Israeli occupied territories.In addition,the Iraqi peoples liberation was labeled as 21st century neo-imperialist usurpation of the Mideastern resources.

In the likelihood that Mr.Bush gets re-elected How on earth is he supposed to react to these follies?He already on a number of occasions stated that the war on terror has nothing to do with Islam or Muslim,he already stated that the Palestinians should have their own state living side by side with Israel,the only problem is that there is no one to negotiate with since Arafat is still the man with the final say so and he proved his impotence when it comes to making leadership decisions.He already stated that the wall or fence is snaking into the west bank territories,he already brought Sharon,AbuMazen,and King Abdullah together in a summit in Aqaba last year.

On the domestic level he came up with faith based initiative program which benefits people of all faiths including Muslims,he appointed Arab-American Spencer Abraham to a cabinet position,he appeared on two Arab televisions denouncing the Abughrib prison abuses scandal as being un-American,he invited moderate Arab leaders to join him during the G8 summit to discuss the greater middle east initiative.

If all of these actions on the part of the sitting president don't merit a simple endorsement by Arab & Muslim Americans for re-election I don't know what is,the president has bent backwards to treat the Arabs and Muslims in the fairest possible way,and to come in the last minute and pull a quick putsch against him in hope that it will tip the balance is an ungracious act of pitiful ness.

I would like to see the faces of the Arab and Muslim leaders next Wednesday morning and look at their reaction when Mr.Bush wins the reelection.

Right now I'm angry and I'll stay that way until election day,I feel that my people let me down,and frankly I'm really ashamed of their political ignorance.You reap what you sow,come November 2nd,Arabs and Muslims will reap the biggest disappointment of their life

http://www.michigandaily.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/10/22/4178e1db4effa?in_archive=1

By Hatem Abunimeh

Arabs, Muslims endorse Kerry
Posted 10/23/2004
I feel that it was pitiful for the Arab American & Muslim organizations to endorse Senator Kerry for the office of the President of the United States of America.Mr.Kerry's endorsement sends the wrong message to the parched Arab & Muslim American constituents who were eagerly looking forward to their leaders to provide them with a sound endorsement decision.Mr.Kerry has never bothered reaching out to the Arab and Muslim voters,his flip flop position was most evident on the apartheid separation wall,first he stated that the wall was an obstacle to peace & then few months later he stated that the wall was necessary for the security of Israel.By comparison,President Bush has never wavered from his firm stand on the two state solution,one Palestinian and one Israeli living side by side with one another.I recall that Mr.Bush got the road map going for a while during the short reign of Palestinian prime minister Abu Mazen,but when Abu Mazin resigned under intense pressure,the dialogue went into an impasse and still as such until our present day.Mr.Bush if he gets reelected he will be under no pressure to run for a third term,his vision of cementing democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan will be his primary goal,in addition to completing the rest of the political as well as the economic reform processes that had already started in most countries of the Middle East .Mr.Bush is committed to bringing the Palestinian and Israelis negotiators back on the table not to prolong the discussions but rather build on and finalize some of the existing accords like the road map,and the Geneva plan,and the Clinton plan.Mr.Bush will definitely be a much better choice for the Arabs and Muslims,Arab and Muslim voters ought to ignore the endorsement and vote their conscience.Freedom of choice is a right and not a privilege.No one should be a partisan hack.Hatem AbunimehChicago,IL.abunimeh@uic.edu

Nothing for Arafat Hatem Abunimeh - Chicago, Ill.
During the second presidential debate in St. Louis, Mr. Bush said that he decided not to deal with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat because he felt that Arafat had let the former president [Bill Clinton] down, and that Mr. Bush thought that Arafat is not the kind of leader who can lead toward a Palestinian state. The president added that the Palestinians need leadership that is committed to democracy and freedom, many young moderate Palestinians feel that their leadership has failed and they are working very diligently at molding new leaders that are chosen by them and not brought from the outside like Arafat ,and his compromised by terror Palestinian authority. At present, there is no credible Palestinian leadership that is capable of representing all of the Palestinian people and their aspiration for statehood. In recent weeks, Palestinians have been trying to register voters in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Israeli government should facilitate the efforts of these volunteers so they can establish a constituency core base for future elections. The U.S. should also do all it can during the next administration to support the Palestinians so they can have an opportunity to choose genuine representatives for the day when negotiations resume to bring about peace. The world is changing, Palestinians and Israelis understand that change is inevitable, the current status quo isn't likely to continue indefinitely. Ramallah's shopping mall and Jerusalem's restaurant are the two prototypes that need to be expanded upon throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The old revolutionary mentality is extinct, it needs to be replaced by new progressive and comprehensive economic realities on the ground.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/responses.html?article_id=110005768