Other Voices
Other Voices
By redefining UNRWA, Washington destroys the foundation for a just peace in Palestine
May 7th, 20220 Palestinians are justifiably worried that the mandate granted to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, might be coming to an end. UNRWA’s mission, which has been in effect since 1949, has done more than provide urgent aid and support to millions of refugees. It was also a political platform that protected and...
Bennett must tread carefully: The “Sword of Jerusalem” could be unleashed again
May 1st, 20220 Starting on April 15, the Israeli occupation army and police raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied East Jerusalem on a daily basis. Under the pretense of providing protection to provocative “visits” by thousands of illegal Israeli Jewish settlers and right-wing fanatics, the Israeli army has wounded hundreds of Palestinians,...
International medical graduates ease the U.S. doctor shortage
April 28th, 20220 By Dr. G Richard Olds Thousands of young doctors recently learned where they'll be spending the next few years of their lives in residency. A significant number of them will be U.S. citizens who completed medical school abroad. This corps of internationally educated doctors has become increasingly important to the U.S. healthcare...
Palestine’s widening geography of resistance: Why Israel cannot defeat the Palestinians
April 17th, 20221 There is a reason why Israel is insistent on linking the series of attacks carried out by Palestinians recently to a specific location, namely the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank. By doing so, the embattled Naftali Bennett’s government can simply order another deadly military operation in Jenin to reassure its citizens...
Uprising for Black Lives drove cancellation of joint U.S.-Israeli police trainings
April 1st, 20220 By Khury Petersen-Smith A recently leaked memo from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reveals that the organization has paused its controversial law enforcement trainings of U.S. police with Israeli military and police forces in response to the movement for Black lives. It shows the power of the movement — which resonates years...
The billion dollar deal that made Google and Amazon partners in the Israeli occupation of Palestine
March 26th, 20220 “We are anonymous because we fear retaliation.” This sentence was part of a letter signed by 500 Google employees last October, in which they decried their company’s direct support for the Israeli government and military. In their letter, the signatories protested a $1.2 billion contract between Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS)...
Three common mistakes when sending money and how to avoid them during Ramadan
March 22nd, 20220 By Corey Myckan The holy month of Ramadan is around the corner. Soon family and friends will gather each night for Iftar, and before you know it, Eid al-Fitr celebrations will be in full force. For those living overseas from family and friends, sending an Eidi is a simple way to stay connected during the holiday. Luckily sending...
Weathering the global storm: Why neutrality is not an option for Palestinians
March 21st, 20220 By Ramzy Baroud A new global geopolitical game is in formation and the Middle East, as is often the case, will be directly impacted by it in terms of possible new alliances and resulting power paradigms. While it is too early to fully appreciate the impact of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war on the region, it is obvious that some...
Famine in Yemen could increase fivefold without immediate action, U.N. warns
March 18th, 20220 By Andrea Germanos Multiple United Nations agencies on Monday sounded heightened alarm over the food crisis in Yemen, warning of a projected fivefold increase in famine conditions. Warnings from the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF came in response to the just-released Integrated Phase...
What are the sanctions on Russia trying to achieve?
March 16th, 20220 By Peter Beinart I’ve been thinking about the similarities between this moment and the moment after 9/11. In both cases, foreign attacks provoked fierce American outrage. After 9/11, that righteous indignation constricted public debate. I’m not even talking about the debate over invading Iraq. Think back to the debate over...
Biden administration misses big chance to reduce prescription drug costs
March 12th, 20220 By Carl Schmid President Biden has repeatedly promised to make health care more affordable. And his administration has taken some important steps. But sadly, officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services just passed up an opportunity to save patients millions at the pharmacy. In December, the CMS released a draft of...
U.S. accused of hypocrisy for supporting sanctions against Russia, but not Israel
March 11th, 20220 By Chris McGreal The U.S. and some of its European allies are facing accusations of double standards for supporting sanctions and international war crimes investigations against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine while blocking them over Israeli military actions in the occupied Palestinian territories. But pro-Israel groups in the...
We can do more to fight poverty
March 2nd, 20220 American policymakers have a very full plate. They’ve got to grapple with health care, education, the environment, economic growth and more. The list goes on and on. Along with these priorities, I have argued for some time that the policy community needs to do more to address poverty. How much time and resources should we devote to...
Africa must not abandon Palestine by granting Israel observer status
February 20th, 20220 The current split in the African Union (AU) over Israel’s Observer membership status is emblematic of a larger conflict that could potentially split the African continent’s largest political institutions. Africa is currently facing one of its most crucial decisions regarding Palestine and Israel. The repercussions of this decision...
What Turkey’s rapprochement to Israel means for the Palestinian State
February 14th, 20220 By Mina Mohammadi This March, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan plans to meet with Israeli President Issac Herzog in Ankara for the first time in 13 years. While the meetings are set to discuss strategic gas imports to Israel, they also sit upon long standing moral tensions of Turkey’s support for the Palestinian......
Our immigrant nation is a big tent for everyone
February 9th, 20220 By Joseph Richard Preville On August 4, 1963, The New York Times Magazine published President Kennedy’s majestic essay, “A Nation of Immigrants.” Rejecting geographically narrow and restrictive immigration quotas based on national origin for the U.S., Kennedy urged reform and the adoption of a new immigration policy that would...
The Russians are coming: Are Beijing and Moscow at the cusp of a formal alliance?
February 6th, 20220 By Ramzy Baroud and Romana Rubeo It should matter little to the Chinese that American diplomats and a handful of their Western allies will not be attending the Beijing Winter Olympics in February. What truly matters is that the Russians are coming. The above is not an arbitrary statement. It is supported with facts. According to a...
Tips to prevent frozen pipes
February 4th, 20220 By Rabih Hamawi The pervasive deep freeze that has blanketed more than half of the U.S. is causing a lot of problems for property owners. As the water in pipes freezes, as much as 2,000 pounds of pressure is produced, seriously testing the tensile strength of water lines. With a burst pipe’s ability to release hundreds of gallons...
Preparing students for a career in tech
February 1st, 20220 By Michael Mitchell Software has become an essential part of our everyday lives. From smartphones to washing machines, computer applications are here to stay and we must prepare the next generation to be adept in tech. With the tech business booming, many students are looking to get a head start on their careers in the field.......
Addressing the stigma surrounding mental health and illness in the Arab community
January 30th, 20221 — Sara Nasser is a licensed clinical/community mental health counselor and art therapist. It appears the only time we ever really hear about mental health issues in our community is when something unfortunate has happened. So, naturally, the subject becomes a topic of fear to some. Oftentimes, mental illness is hard to recognize or...
U.S. doesn’t care for China’s Muslims: Boycotting the Olympics is about global competition
January 28th, 20220 The diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games may go down in history as the official start of the cold war between the U.S., a handful of its allies and China. The American strategy, however, of using boycotts to pressure Beijing in the name of “human rights”, may prove costly in the future. On December......
MLK Day and the legacy of spying on activists
January 17th, 20220 MLK Day, since being signed into law as a national holiday by President Reagan, has come to symbolize a moment of national reflection on the state of race relations in America. Although Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the end of his life was a staunch champion against militarism and economic exploitation, seminal moments such as his...
No Visa waiver for Israel until Arab American rights are protected
January 12th, 20220 Last week the Jerusalem Post ran a story under the headline “Palestinian Americans to be allowed to land at Ben Gurion Airport.” Israeli officials are now saying that instead of only permitting Palestinian Americans to cross over the Allenby Bridge from Jordan, they will allow them to fly into Israel’s airport and proceed from......
