Date:

December 28, 2016

1st Segment: Dr. Riyad Mansour
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 speak live with Ambassador Mansour about the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 that was adopted last Friday, December 23, 2016 stating that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem have no legal validity, constitute flagrant violation of international law, and demands that Israel stop such activity and fulfill its obligation as an occupying power under the Fourth Geneva Convention. It was the first UNSC resolution to pass regarding Israel and Palestine in 36 years, and the first to address the issue of Israeli settlements with such specificity since Resolution 465 in 1980. We will also get his reaction to today's speech by Secretary of State John Kerry about Israel and Palestine.
  

2nd Segment: Paul Butler
Director of ANERA's (American Near East Refugee Aid) Palestine programs overseeing the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 2011. He is based in Jerusalem and supervises ANERA’s programs in health and education services, sustainable community development, water rehabilitation, agriculture, microfinance and emergency relief and medical aid. He is a veteran development professional with over two decades’ experience in the Middle East. He has directed programs in emergency relief, medical aid and economic development in some of the region’s most vulnerable places: Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt. A fluent Arabic speaker, Paul has first-hand experience in the difficult political and economic situations of the region. He travels to Gaza regularly and was instrumental in ANERA’s relief efforts after the most recent war.
 
We will speak live with Mr. Butler about his experience on the ground in Palestine, an update on the humanitarian conditions there and what is being done to address them, the priorities for humanitarian relief and development work over the next few years, how has Gaza reconstruction progressed since the last war, how do the residents of Gaza cope with poverty and the blockade, how can development work advance peace in the region, and more.

Date:

December 21, 2016

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 also 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.

Date:

December 14, 2016

Liz Jackson
Founding Staff Attorney for Palestine Legal and Cooperating Counsel with the Center for Constitutional Rights. Her work includes representing students, professors and activists on free speech and academic freedom issues, documenting the chilling effect of repression campaigns, and educating activists on their rights. She advised the successful divestment campaign at UC Berkeley, and helped students respond to Title VI complaints, which were dismissed, rejecting the theory that Palestine activism creates a hostile environment for Jewish students. She has defended the right to advocate for Palestine on campuses from New Mexico to Southern Florida, Boston, New Jersey, and California. She has organized for Palestinian human rights as a member of Students for Justice in Palestine, as a Jewish solidarity activist, and as a former Co-Chair of the National Lawyers Guild Free Palestine Subcommittee. Liz has advocated for First Amendment rights to speak about Palestine in the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe, the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Electronic Intifada podcast, the Real News Network, Al Jazeera, and more.

We will speak with Liz about the controversial and unconstitutional "Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2016" that passed the U.S. Senate earlier this month, but failed to pass the U.S. House of Representatives last week despite intense lobbying by Israel advocacy groups. Will this be the end of it, or will we see it again during the next session? We will also talk about the efforts by some lobbying groups to restrict speech on U.S. campuses that are critical of Israel; the attacks on advocacy for Palestinian Rights; the rights of students advocating for justice in Palestine on university campuses; and more.

Date:

December 7, 2016

“Semitism and the Palestinians" by Joseph Massad
The United States Senate silently passed a dangerous piece of legislation last week called “The Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2016”. It was introduced by senators Tim Scott (R-SC) and Bob Casey (D-PA). This new piece of legislation requires the Department of Education to apply the State Department's definition of anti-Semitism in evaluating complaints of discrimination on educational campuses across the United States. It threatens the First Amendment rights and academic freedoms of students and faculty across the country by equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.
 
Arab Voices will be discussing this in more details on the show with experts on the subject matter within weeks, but today, we will listen to a lecture held a few years ago at the James A. Baker III Institute at Rice University in Houston titled “Semitism and the Palestinians”, delivered by Dr. Joseph Massad, who is now Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University. He is a historian, political scientist, a leading scholar of Arab culture, and author of several books and articles. This lecture addresses questions such as: What is Semitism and what does it have to do with the Palestinians? What is the relationship that Palestinians have to the Semite? Does the history of Semitism have anything to do with Palestinians? If so, what is it?

Date:

November 30, 2016

Sam Kadi
Director/producer of the award winning American feature drama THE CITIZEN. THE CITIZEN received five awards on the festival circuit before being released theatrically worldwide in 2013. The film was named among the "Best 10 Films of 2013" by Examiner.com. Kadi has been recognized by the prestigious Cinema For Peace organization for raising awareness of human rights issues through motion pictures, and was asked to speak on the same subject before the International Criminal Court at The Hague, Netherlands in June 2012. In 2013, Kadi was presented with a Humanitarian Service Award by the Life for Relief and Development Organization. Kadi is a member of the Directors Guild of America, where he serves on the Directors Guild Asian American Committee.

We will speak with Sam Kadi about the ongoing catastrophe in Syria; the war that has devastated the country and left hundreds of thousands dead and millions refugees. We will talk about the horrific situation in Aleppo; and the path for peace. We will also talk about the new award-winning documentary film "Little Gandhi" that will be screened in Houston on December 1 and 2.

Date:

November 23, 2016

Dr. Emran El-Badawi
Program director and associate professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Houston. He founded the Arab Studies program at UH and has designed, implemented and assessed degree programs in the Humanities and Sciences. He has consulted for various industries, including government, law and oil & gas, and he is also active in program development and fundraising. Dr. El-Badawi is founding executive director and treasurer of the International Qur'anic Studies Association, which is the world's first learned society of its kind. He has published in English as well as Arabic and has made dozens of national and international media contributions or appearances including for The New York Times, Al-Jazeera, Forbes, Christian Science Monitor and Association Relative à la Télévision Européenne (ARTE). His current research projects include a book on 'Arab Liberalism' between secular nationalism and political Islam, as well as a project documenting the evolution of Eastern Church/Canon Law to Shariah Law. 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.

We will speak with Dr. El-Badawi about several issues including the U.S. election results, populism, immigration, globalization; Trump's impact on minority groups in the US; Muslims, Arabs, South Asians in America (contributions and challenges); Middle East policy, and more.

Date:

November 16, 2016

Khalil Jahshan
Executive Director of the Arab Center Washington DC, a non-partisan, non-profit think tank focusing on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, as well as furthering economic, political, and social understanding of the Arab World in the United States. He is a Palestinian-American activist and media commentator. He previously served as Executive Director at Pepperdine University, Executive Vice President of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and director of its government affairs affiliate (NAAA-ADC), Vice President of the American Committee on Jerusalem, President of the National Association of Arab Americans, National Director of the Association of Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG), Assistant Director of Palestine Research and Educational Center, and Lecturer in Arabic at the University of Chicago Extension and at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Mr. Jahshan has served on the boards of directors, and advisory boards of various Middle East-oriented groups, including ANERA, MIFTAH and Search for Common Ground.

We will speak with Mr. Jahshan about the U.S. elections, Trump’s victory and what we might expect in terms of foreign policy, the recent Arab Public Opinion Poll about the U.S. elections by the Arab Center Washington DC, and Trump’s rhetoric during the campaign about Muslims and other minority groups and its impact.
 
Since Trump's victory last week, we have seen a significant increase in violent hate rhetoric and crimes targeting Arab and Muslim American communities, and communities of color. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, more than 500 incidents of hateful harassment and intimidation have been reported in the U.S. following the election results (higher than the immediate post-9/11 backlash), and according to Campus Safety magazine, a series of racially-motivated incidents have been reported at schools at all levels across the U.S. following Trump’s victory. A new report released on  November 14, 2016 by the FBI reveals that law enforcement agencies across the country reported 257 anti-Muslim incidents in 2015, up 67 percent from the year before (many attribute that to the anti-Muslim rhetoric that came out of the presidential campaign).

Date:

November 9, 2016

1st Segment: Reactions to Trump's Election
We will listen to the reaction of several national U.S. Muslim and Arab organizations and interfaith organizations to the election of Donald Trump as the nation’s 45th president. The comments will include: Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), Muslim Alliance of North America, National Council of Churches USA, Islamic Circle of North America, American Muslims for Palestine, Muslim American Society, and others.
        
2nd Segment: Hani Al-Masri
Director General of Masarat, the Palestinian Center for Policy Research & Strategic Studies, and Policy Advisor at Al Shabaka Palestinian Policy Network. He founded and was director general of the Palestinian Media, Research and Studies Centre, Badael, between 2005 and 2011. He has published hundreds of articles, research and policy papers in Palestinian and Arab magazines and newspapers including Al-Ayyam and Al-Safir. He previously served as General Manager of the Printing & Publication Department at the Ministry of Information and as a member of the Committee on Government in the Commission of Dialogue held in Cairo in 2009. He is also a member of the board of trustees at the Yasser Arafat Foundation.
  
Please note that Dr. Hani Al-Masri will be speaking at the Arab American Cultural and Community Center in Houston on Sunday, November 13 at 5 p.m. Click here for more details.

Date:

November 2, 2016

Sheila Carapico
Editor of the newly released Arabia Incognita: Dispatches from Yemen and the Gulf, who is widely recognized as a leading expert on Yemen. She is the author of Civil Society in Yemen: The Political Economy of Activism in Modern Arabia and numerous other books, book chapters, and articles about Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula, and the region. Carapico acquired her reputation as a Yemen expert through her time as a Fulbright research scholar in the country and consultancy work she did there for bodies such as Human Rights Watch, the Royal Netherlands Embassy, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development. During 2010 and the crucial spring of 2011, she was Visiting Chairperson of the Department of Political Science at the American University in Cairo. She teaches Political Science and coordinates the International Studies program at the University of Richmond and is a long serving member of the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP) collective.

Date:

October 26, 2016

ACC's Annual Unity & Friendship Gala
The Arab American Cultural & Community Center (ACC) in Houston held its 23rd Annual Unity & Friendship Gala on October 1, 2016. This year's theme was "Raising Hope", and it highlighted the Culture and People of Tunisia. The Gala Chairs were Mrs. Shiraz Ghedira Goucha and Mrs. Aicha Limayem Lassoued. The Mistress of Ceremonies was Kaitlin McCulley, Reporter at KTRK ABC 13 News in Houston.
 
This year's ACC honorees were the Levant Foundation for outstanding community service, Dr. Mohamed Rabie for the ACC lifetime achievement award, and Minuteman Press Southwest for the ACC business community award.
  
Today on Arab Voices we will listen to most of the remarks made at the Gala, including the remarks of Dr. Kamal Khalil, ACC President, Sylvester Turner, Mayor of the City of Houston, and Ambassador Fayçal Gouia, Tunisia’s Ambassador to the United States.

Date:

October 19, 2016

Date:

October 12, 2016

Ann Wright
Former US State Department official/diplomat, retired US Army Colonel, and a long-time CODEPINK activist. She resigned from the US government in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq. Since her resignation, she has travelled to Gaza seven times, helped organize the 1,300 person Gaza Freedom March in 2009, was a passenger on the Challenge 1 in the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, was an organizer for the 2011 US Boat to Gaza and a boat leader on the 2015 Gaza Freedom Flotilla. She was also an organizer for Gaza’s Ark. Ann Wright was an organizer and the boat leader for the 2016 Women’s Boat to Gaza that began to sail on September 14, 2016 from Barcelona in an effort to break the Israeli naval blockade on Gaza. The boat, Zaytouna-Oliva, 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. On board with her were three parliamentarians from New Zealand, Sweden and Algerian, an Olympic athlete from South Africa, and Nobel Peace Laureate, Mairead Maguire, from Northern Ireland.

We will speak live with Ann Wright about her recent attempt to break the siege on Gaza, and her firsthand account of her kidnapping from international waters by the Israeli military.
   

Fall Fund Drive

Date:

October 5, 2016

     

Fall Fund Drive

Date:

September 28, 2016

Dr. Mohamed Rabie
Distinguished Professor of International Political Economy who taught at several Arab and American universities, including the University of Houston and Texas Southern University in Houston, Georgetown University, The Johns Hopkins University, and The American University in Washington. Dr. Rabie published 43 books in English and Arabic including The Politics of Foreign Aid; A Vision for the Transformation of the Middle East; The US-PLO Dialogue; Conflict Resolution and the Middle East Peace Process; and Global Economic and Cultural Transformation: The Making of History. He also drafted the original document that guided negotiations and coordinated secret contacts between the US and the PLO. Dr. Rabie received several awards and recognitions over the years including the prestigious 2015 State of Palestine Honorary Award for his contributions to the humanities and social sciences fields.

We will speak live with Dr. Rabie about various topics including the current situation in the Middle East and the wars that are destroying several Arab countries; the U.S. involvement and its foreign policy towards the Middle East; the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli problem; and the prospects for peaceful resolutions to what's happening in the Middle East.
 
Note: Dr. Mohamed Rabie is currently in Houston and on Saturday, October 1, 2016, he will be the recipient of the Arab-American Cultural & Community Center's Lifetime Achievement Award at the ACC's annual gala.

Date:

September 21, 2016

Edward Said - Palestine and the Universality of Human Rights
This week marks the 13th anniversary of Professor Edward Said's death, and on this occasion, we will air today on Arab Voices one of the last major speeches he delivered few months before he died. The talk was titled "Memory, Inequality, and Power: Palestine and the Universality of Human Rights". He delivered that speech at the University of California, Berkeley on February 19, 2003.
 
Professor Said is an internationally renowned writer, author, and scholar, whose writings about the Middle East and its relationship with the West have gone far to open new roads in academia and to influence public opinion. Dr. Edward Said was a giant figure in the Arab-American community, and for Arabs in the Middle East and across the world. During the course of his life, he articulated a vision of Palestine and the Arab world that not only recalled the significant contributions of the region’s people but also offered hope for the future. Edward W. Said was Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. He died on September 25, 2003, in New York.

Date:

September 14, 2016

1st Segment: Israel's Netanyahu redefines “ethnic cleansing”!!!
Comments and reactions to the latest remarks by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that those who want to create a Palestinian state are seeking “ethnic cleansing” of Jews from the occupied territories. We will also listen to the reaction of the US State Department, and a talk about ethnic cleansing by Israeli Historian Ilan Pappe.
    

2nd Segment: Gareth Porter on Syria
An American historian, investigative journalist, author 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.
 
We will speak live with Gareth about the latest ceasefire in Syria, and the probabilities of it succeeding.

Date:

September 7, 2016

US student politics “rapidly shifting” despite Israel lobby efforts
Podcast produced by The Electronic Intifada.
 
We will listen today to a Podcast by the Electronic Intifada titled “US student politics “rapidly shifting” despite Israel lobby efforts”. It features interviews with Omar Zahzah and Rahim Kurwa, both graduate students at UCLA and members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and Charlotte Kates of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoners Solidarity Network, who was denied entry to Palestine by Israel. Kates was travelling to accompany a delegation of European parliamentarians and lawyers in support of Bilal Kayed, who ended a 71-day hunger strike last month. Charlotte was interrogated about her activism with the BDS movement.

Date:

August 31, 2016

     

Back to School Mini-Drive

Date:

August 24, 2016

Ghada Alatrash
Syrian-Canadian writer, author, poet, and certified translator based in Calgary, Alberta, in Canada. She is chair of the Syrian Women's Club of Calgary. She holds a Masters of English from the University of Oklahoma, with an emphasis on post-colonial studies, and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Calgary's Werklund School of Education in Canada. Ghada taught English at Abu Dhabi Women's College, Arabic at the University of Oklahoma, and is a Columnist for Gulf News. In 2012, she released her first work of translation "So that the Poem Remains", a collection of poems by Lebanese poet Youssef Abdul Samad, translated from Arabic to English. She also held a number of poetry readings set to music by Western and Eastern composers. Ghada just published her first book "Stripped to the Bone: Portraits of Syrian Women", a collection of seven short stories about Syrian women in war-torn Syria and the West, and it explores issues of identity, love, strife and courage.
   
We will speak with Ghada about her stories and work, poetry, Syrian women, women's issues, and her new book "Stripped to the Bone: Portraits of Syrian Women".

Date:

August 17, 2016

Rania Khalek
An independent journalist reporting on the underclass and marginalized; Associate Editor at the Electronic Intifada; and Co-host of the weekly podcast Unauthorized Disclosure. She's written for Extra, The Nation, Al Jazeera America, the Electronic Intifada, Truthout, Salon, AlterNet, Citizen Radio and more.
 
We will speak with Rania about last week's murder of  Khalid Jabara, a 37-year-old Arab-American man, who was shot and killed in front of his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma by his neighbor, Vernon Majors, who terrorized the victim’s family for years, referring to them as “dirty Arabs” and "filthy Lebanese". Majors shot and killed Khalid Jabara while he was out on bond from a prior hate crime where he intentionally drove his car into Khalid Jabara’s mother, despite a prosecutor telling the court that Majors was “a substantial risk to the public.” According to the Jabara family, Khalid called the police 30 minutes before he was shot and killed to report that Majors had a gun and that he was scared for what might happen, but the police came and told him there was nothing to be done!
 
We will also talk about the execution-style killings on Saturday of New York imam (religious leader) and his associate, as hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims in the U.S. continue to rise in an atmosphere filled with hateful rhetoric in politics and the society at large, and a growing climate of fear among Arabs and Muslims in the U.S.

Date:

August 10, 2016

Syrian Tragedy: Causes, Consequences, and Options
A fascinating overview and analysis of the history of Syria, from post-WWII to the current quagmire of war, the rise of ISIS, and the battleground of the world’s powerful military countries.
 
Featured Speaker: Stephen Zunes
Professor of politics and international studies and program director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of San Francisco. He has published scores of articles in academic journals, anthologies, magazines, and newspaper op-ed pages on such topics as U.S. foreign policy, Middle Eastern politics, Latin American politics, African politics, human rights, arms control, social movements and nonviolent action.
  
This segment is a production of Global Voices for Justice, a non-profit media organization.

Date:

August 3, 2016

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Khizr Khan's DNC Remarks, and Electronic Intifada Podcast on DNC Delegates Support for Palestinian Rights
Over the past week, the remarks of Khizr Khan at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia made, and continues to make headlines throughout the world. Khizr Khan (Muslim American) is the father of deceased Army Captain Humayun Khan, a Muslim U.S. soldier who was killed while serving in Iraq. Khizr Khan addressed the anti-Muslim rhetoric coming out of Donald Trump.

Today, we will listen to those remarks of Khizr Khan, as well as the remarks of Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, a Muslim American, former professional basketball player and advocate for racial and religious tolerance who also spoke at the convention condemning Trump's anti-Muslim speech.

During the second half of the program, we will listen to a Podcast by the Electronic Intifada titled “DNC delegates support Palestinian rights, even if Democratic Party doesn’t”. It features interviews with Rania Khalek, journalist and associate editor at Electronic Intifada; Josh Ruebner, policy director of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation; and Jennifer Bing of the American Friends Service Committee.

Date:

July 27, 2016

KPFT Houston is currently in Summer Fund Drive, and Arab Voices needs your support to raise $800 during this drive. Arab Voices started in April 2002 (more than 14 years ago) with over 740 shows produced and hundreds of guests appearing on the show from around the globe covering a wide range of topics.
 
Please call during the show today, Wednesday between 7 and 8 pm central time and pledge your support (713-526-5738). Your donation qualifies as a charitable deduction on your federal income tax return because KPFT is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
 
Arab Voices will be offering several "Thank-You Gifts" during the drive, including:
 
• $120 "The Occupation of the American Mind" Film
Today, we will air portions of the interview conducted in May 2016 with the executive producer of the film, Professor Sut Jhally.
 
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.

• $150 "Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror: A Primer" book by Phyllis Bennis

• $300 "Palestine 4 Film Pack" - FOUR documentaries (on DVDs)
Four films on the Israel-Palestinian crisis and history, some of which are multi-part series: 1 - "Al Nakba" (award-winning four-part series); 2 - "The Price of Oslo"; 3 - "Peace, Propaganda and the Promised Land"; 4 - "Occupation 101"

• $150 "Al Nakba" (award-winning four-part series) DVDs

• $85 "The Battle for Justice in Palestine" book by Ali Abunimah

• $250 Edward Said Tribute 6 CD SET

• $180 “The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine” book by Miko Peled

• $200 "Brokers of Deceit: How the U.S. Has Undermined Peace in the Middle East" book by Rashid Khalidi

• $150 “National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism” book by Melvin Goodman

• $200 “Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education” book by Nurit Peled-Alhanan
  

Membership Drive

Date:

July 20, 2016

Date:

July 13, 2016

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. Over the years, Dima 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 wave of bills that have been introduced in state legislatures across the U.S. aimed at punishing or suppressing boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaigns for Palestinian freedom. We will also talk about last month's Executive Order signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York directing state agencies and authorities to divest public funds supporting BDS campaign against Israel.
  

Rabbi Brian Walt
Founding Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America, co-chair of the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) Rabbinical Council, and co-founder of Jewish Fast for Gaza.
   
We will speak live with Rabbi Walt about the ongoing incitement to racism and violence against Palestinians from senior Israeli religious, political, and military leaders. We will talk about the endorsement of rape by Israel's new Military Chief Rabbi, Eyal Karim, who was named to that post yesterday. Rabbi Karim stated on a site in the past that it is permitted for Jewish soldiers to rape non-Jewish women during times of war. Furthermore, and according to the English edition of Israel's Yedioth Arnot newspaper: "The rabbi gave a more shocking answer on the same site when asked if soldiers were permitted to rape women during war. Karim replied that, as part of maintaining fitness for the army and the soldiers' morale during fighting, it is permitted to 'breach' the walls of modesty and 'satisfy the evil inclination by lying with attractive Gentile women against their will, out of consideration for the difficulties faced by the soldiers and for overall success.'"

Date:

July 6, 2016

Hate Incidents & Attacks against Muslims on the Rise
Over the past ten days, hate incidents and attacks (including beatings and shootings) targeting Muslims and Islamic houses of worship have risen noticeably across the United States, as anti-Muslim sentiment continues to rise alongside the anti-Muslim political climate in the United Sates.
 
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to remarks delivered by several community leaders at a news conference held by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston) on July 4, 2016, urging additional security measures in light of the recent hate incidents. We will listen to the remarks of Mustafaa Carroll, Executive Director of CAIR-Houston; Dr. Shahid Hasnain, Representing the Greater Houston community doctors; Rev. Kimberly Orr, Associate Pastor for Windsor Village United Methodist Church; Deric Muhammad, Community Activist; David Atwood with Pax Christie; Dr. Yusuf Shere, President of CAIR-Texas; Arsalan Safiullah, Staff Attorney at CAIR-Houston; Shaykh Waleed Basyouni, Imam of Clear Lake Islamic Center; and a statement from the Greater Houston Coalition for Justice sent to the US Department of Justice.
 
We will also listen to the remarks made by Syeda Bokhari, the wife of Dr. Arslan Tajammul, who was shot outside a Houston mosque on Sunday, July 3, 2016.
        
Confronting Fear: Islamophobia and its Impact in the U.S.
A new report released on June 20, 2016, by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR National) and the Center for Race and Gender at UC Berkeley, reveals that 33 Islamophobic groups had access to at least $205 million in total revenue between 2008-2013 used mainly to make people afraid of Islam and Muslims. The report, titled “Confronting Fear,” also presents a four-point strategy designed to achieve a shared American understanding of Islam in which being Muslim carries a positive connotation, and in which Islam has an equal place among the many faiths that together constitute America’s pluralistic society. The report also documents the negative impact of Islamophobia in America, including the anti-Islam bills that became law in 10 states. At least two states, Florida and Tennessee, have passed laws revising the way they approve textbooks for classroom use as a direct result of anti-Islam campaigns.
 
We will also listen today to Corey Saylor, Director of the Department to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia at CAIR National, discussing this new report.

Date:

June 29, 2016

Melvin Goodman
Director of the National Security Project and senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, and an adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University. He was an analyst at the CIA for 24 years; and a former analyst at the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He is author of six books on US intelligence and international security, including "National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism" and "Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA". His forthcoming book is "Whistleblower at the CIA: An Insider’s Account of the Politics of Intelligence". His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Harper's, CounterPunch, and many others.
 

We will speak live with Mr. Goodman about the report released yesterday on the Benghazi attack in Libya that killed four Americans. He commented yesterday on that report by saying "This Benghazi report is of a continuing media circus that the Republicans have created. But we still have much to learn about the CIA's role in Benghazi; the interest of Ambassador Stevens in Benghazi; and the communications between the White House and the CIA in trying to explain the events of that terrible night." Mr. Goodman revealed before that the US consulate in Benghazi was a diplomatic cover for an intelligence operation.
  
We will also talk about American militarism around the world; US presidential candidates and their stance towards military spending and defense budget; US involvements in other countries; and more.

Date:

June 22, 2016

Notes From the Left Forum in NYC: Medea Benjamin and Amy Goodman
   
Rage, Rebellion, Organizing Our Power was the theme of the Left Forum in New York City held at John Jay College of Criminal Justice May 20-22, 2016.
 
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to two remarks delivered at the forum by Medea Benjamin and Amy Goodman. Notes from the Left Forum is a new series produced by our sister station WBAI Radio in NYC.
 
Medea Benjamin, award-winning Peace Activist and co-founder of Code Pink addressed the conference. Speaking to the change that's needed out of a war economy, Benjamin said "We will only give peace a chance when we challenge those in power and replace the war economy with a local peace economy."
 
Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now, on a 20th Anniversary tour of the award-winning program, addressed the Left Forum. She spoke out about Donald Trump, "the man who has ripped open the underbelly of hate" and the importance of independent media, a media that covers power not a media that covers for power. She says "The media can be the greatest force for peace on earth, instead all too often it's wielded as a weapon of war."

Date:

June 15, 2016

Local reaction to the Orlando massacre, and bigotry towards Islam and Muslims
 
There was outrage and denunciation to the recent massacre in Orlando, Florida from all over the world, including Houston, while some news media outlets, some politicians, a presidential candidate, and others ceased the opportunity to continue their attacks and hostilities towards Islam and Muslims. In Houston, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee along with Muslim, Christian, Hispanic and LGBTQ community leaders held a press conference on Sunday, June 12, 2016, to denounce the massacre. Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to some of those remarks from MJ Khan, President of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston; Deacon Sam Dunning, Director of the Office of Justice and Peace for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston; Mufti Mohammed Wasim Khan, Muslim Imam and Director and Dean of ISRA Foundation; and Mustafaa Carroll, Executive Director of the Houston Office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
 
In addition, we will listen to some of the remarks delivered at the Annual Houston Ramadan Iftar Dinner on June 12, 2016, by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee; Congressman Al Green; Harris County Judge Ed Emmett; and Mayor of the City of Houston Sylvester Turner. They also talked about Islam, Muslims, and the Orlando massacre.
 
We will also listen to the speech delivered at Muhammad Ali's funeral on June 10, 2016, by Michael Lerner, a Jewish Rabbi and Editor-in-Chief for Tikkkun Magazine.

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June 8, 2016

1st Segment: Remembering Hedy Epstein
On May 26, 2016, Holocaust Jewish survivor Hedy Epstein, passed away in St. Louis, Missouri, at the age of 91. Hedy was an internationally renowned, respected and admired advocate for human and civil rights. Throughout most of her life, she fought for justice and freedom for the oppressed. Following the 1982 massacre of Palestinians at Sabra and Shatila camps in Lebanon, Hedy began her courageous and visionary work for peace and justice. Much of her later activism centered on efforts to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Hedy traveled to the occupied West Bank several times, and attempted several times to go to Gaza with the Freedom Flotilla, the Audacity of Hope, and the Gaza Freedom March.
 
Hedy Epstein was a guest on Arab Voices twice over the years. First in April 2005, where she talked about her experience in occupied Palestine, and the second time was on December 23, 2009, where she talked about her participation in the Gaza Freedom March at the Egypt/Gaza border. Today, we will re-air her last interview on Arab Voices.
   
2nd Segment: "The Nakba, the Naksa, and the future of Palestine"
Making Contact, an award-winning, weekly magazine/documentary-style public affairs program that is heard on 140 radio stations in the USA, Canada, South Africa and Ireland, produced a new program titled “The Nakba, The Naksa, and the Future of Palestine”.
 
In 1948, Zionist militias expelled over 700,000 Palestinians from their villages and towns. The event, and the ongoing destruction and occupation of Palestine are referred to as the Nakba – the catastrophe. How did the events of 1948 shape Palestine and its diaspora? And generations later, how are Palestinians fighting to return home?
 
In this edition, Making Contact reflects on the Nakba, the Naksa, and the future of Palestine.
 
Featuring: Rami Almeghari, FSRN reporter; Ghazi Misleh, author of I Am from There and I Have Memories; Rabab Abdulhadi, Professor of Ethnic Studies and Senior Scholar of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative at San Francisco State University; Dina from Rammun; Mohannad from Ramle; Remi Kanazi, poet and author of Before the Next Bomb Drops

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June 1, 2016

In Memoriam: Arab Voices interview with Dr. Clovis Maksoud
Dr. Clovis Maksoud, former ambassador and permanent observer of the League of Arab States at the United Nations and its chief representative in the United States for more than 10 years, passed away in Washington, D.C. on May 15, 2016, at the age of 89. He was a lawyer, journalist, and diplomat, and served as the League of Arab States’ Ambassador to India and Southeast Asia from 1961 to 1966 as well as the League of Arab States’ special envoy to the United States in 1974. He was also a member of the United Nations Development Program Advisory Board on the Arab Human Development Reports. Maksoud founded and served as director of American University’s Center for the Global South. He has authored several books on the Middle East and developing countries, including The Meaning of Nonalignment, The Crisis of the Arab Left, Reflections on Afro-Asianism, The Arab Image, and his memoir "From the Corners of Memory: A Journey on the Train of Arab Nationalism".
 
Arab Voices interviewed Dr. Maksoud more than once, and in his memory, we will re-air the last interview conducted with him last year. In that interview, we talked about the Middle East and what's happening in several Arab countries including Yemen, Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Egypt. We also talked about ISIS; the Arab awakenings; and more.

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May 25, 2016

Sut Jhally
Professor of Communication at the University of Massachusetts, a leading scholar on advertising, public relations, and political propaganda. He is the author of several books including The Codes of Advertising; Enlightened Racism; and The Spectacle of Accumulation. Professor Jhally is the Founder and Executive Director of the Media Education Foundation (MEF), a documentary film company that looks at issues related to U.S. media and public attitudes.
 
He is the producer, director, or executive producer of dozens of MEF films, including Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land: U.S. Media & the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict; Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of American Empire; Reel Bad Arabs (featuring Jack Shaheen); Edward Said On Orientalism; Dreamworlds: Desire, Sex & Power in Music Video; and Advertising & the End of the World.
 
Professor Jhally is executive producer of the just-released film The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in The United States, featuring Roger Waters, Amira Hass, M.J. Rosenberg, Stephen M. Walt, Noam Chomsky, Rula Jebreal, Henry Siegman, Rashid Khalidi, Rami Khouri, Yousef Munayyer, Norman Finkelstein, Max Blumenthal, Phyllis Bennis, Norman Solomon, Mark Crispin Miller, Peter Hart, and Sut Jhally.

We will speak live with professor Jhally about his new film The Occupation of the American Mind: Israel's Public Relations War in The United States.
 
About the Film:
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.

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May 18, 2016

     

Membership Drive

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May 11, 2016

Houston Palestine Film Festival
We will speak live with Houston Palestine Film Festival's President Khalil AbuSharekh about the Houston Palestine Film Festival (HPFF). This year HPFF will be celebrating the tenth anniversary with its largest festival to date, showcasing 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 run for three consecutive weekends in May and will be the largest and most varied edition in the organization’s history in terms of the number of films screened and number of days running. This year’s highlights include two Oscar-nominated films, director visits and Q&A sessions, evening receptions and plenty of surprises for audience members.
  
Screenings during the first weekend, May 13-15, will be held at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. For the second and third weekends, May 19-22 and May 26-28, screenings will be held at the Rice University Media Center.
 
Click here for more details and Program Lineup.
    

Membership Drive

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May 4, 2016

"The Hundred Year War in Palestine" by Dr. Rashid Khalidi
This lecture titled "The Hundred Year War in Palestine" was given by Professor Rashid Khalidi at the Centre for Palestine Studies at SOAS University of London on March 11, 2016. Professor Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies and Chairman of the Department of History at Columbia University.
 
The Balfour Declaration of 1917 launched what amounts to a hundred years of war against the Palestinians. This war had a unique nature – it was formally sanctioned and authorized by the great powers of the day at different times during this century, and via different fora, such as the League of Nations and the United Nations, but it was mainly waged by other actors. A much distorted and maligned feature of this long war has been the Palestinians’ continuing resistance, against heavy odds, to what amounts to one of the last ongoing attempts at colonial subjugation in the modern world.
 
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Dr. Khalidi's lecture on "The Hundred Year War in Palestine".

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April 27, 2016

Andrew J. Bacevich
Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History at Boston University; a retired U.S. army colonel; and New York Times bestselling author. A graduate of the US Military Academy, he served for twenty-three years as a commissioned officer in the United States Army. He received his Ph.D. in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University. Before joining the faculty of Boston University, he taught at West Point and Johns Hopkins. Bacevich is the author of the just released book America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History (2016). His previous books include Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country (2013); Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War (2010); The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism (2008); The Long War: A New History of US National Security Policy since World War II (2007) (editor); The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War (2005); and American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U.S. Diplomacy (2002). His essays and reviews have appeared in a variety of scholarly and general interest publications including The Wilson Quarterly, The National Interest, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Nation, and The New Republic. His op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Boston Globe, and Los Angeles Times, among other newspapers. In 2004, Dr. Bacevich was a Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. He has also held fellowships at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
  

We will speak with professor Bacevich about his new book America’s War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History (2016); US wars in the middle East; US presidential candidates and their stance on wars, US foreign policy towards the Middle East; ISIS; the military-industrial complex; US-Israel relations; and more.

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April 20, 2016

"Rousseau and Palestine: The Radical Tradition of Popular Sovereignty" by Professor Karma Nabulsi
The Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History held a lecture on March 31, 2016, at the University of Houston titled "Rousseau and Palestine: The Radical Tradition of Popular Sovereignty". The speaker was Professor Karma Nabulsi of Oxford University.
 
Karma Nabulsi, D.Phil., is a distinguished Palestinian public intellectual, political theorist, historian, and former national representative. She is a senior faculty member and current director of undergraduate studies at the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University. She is the author of Traditions of War: Occupation, Resistance and the Law and Palestinians Register: Laying Foundations and Setting Directions. Professor Nabulsi has been a columnist for the Guardian and is a regular contributor to a variety of publications including the Independent, The New Statesman, and the London Review of Books. She is Chair of Trustees and co-founder (with Bella Freud) of the HOPING Foundation.
  
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Professor Nabulsi's lecture on "Rousseau and Palestine: The Radical Tradition of Popular Sovereignty".

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April 13, 2016

"America, Energy and War" by Toby C. Jones
The Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies at rice University held a lecture on March 29, 2016, titled "America, Energy and War". The speaker was Toby C. Jones, Associate Professor of History at Rutgers University.
 
"Over the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the United States waged what should reasonably be argued was a long war in the Middle East. At the heart of this history is a complex relationship between energy, American geopolitical anxiety, revolution, radicalism and shifting crises in an embattled region. While it is commonly posited that wars in the region can or should be understood as struggles for direct control over oil or that the militarization of the Middle East only reflects the pursuit of petrodollars, I encourage a new way of thinking. By examining the steady increase of violence in the Persian Gulf that began in the mid-1980s, my talk argues that that the distinction between energy and war were systematically erased, remade in a new material order of militarized-energy networks. The result has been a deeply entangled history of weapons, oil and war ever since."
 
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Professor Jones' lecture on "America, Energy and War".

Date:

April 6, 2016

The 2nd Annual Lebanese Festival
A live conversation with Mirna Makhoul, Fred Davis and Linda Bousaid, with the American Lebanese Cultural Center and members of the Lebanese Festival Committee, about the 2nd Annual Lebanese Festival that will be held on Saturday and Sunday, April 9-10 at Jones Plaza in Downtown Houston.
 
There will be delicious food, great festivities, enjoyable atmosphere for both adults and children, door prizes, music, folkloric dances, performances throughout the day, and much more.   

A Thousand and One Journeys: The Arab Americans
We will talk about the groundbreaking documentary film "A Thousand and One Journeys: The Arab Americans", which will be screened (free admission) at Rice University on Friday, April 8, sponsored by The Arab-American Educational Foundation. Following the screening, there will a question and answer session with the film Director.
 
This documentary provides viewers with a first-ever glimpse of the Arab Americans experience told through the eyes of famous and everyday people. Mapping the arc of American History, the film explores early and multiple waves of immigration along with the tremendous impact of 9/11 on the Arab American community and its challenges and dreams in light of the zeitgeist. A Thousand And One Journeys: The Arab Americans is the untold story of almost 200 years of the contributions of those who immigrated to the United States from the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf have made to the American fabric.

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March 30, 2016

Dr. As'ad AbuKhalil
Lebanese-American professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus. He is the creator of and maintains the Angry Arab News Service blog. He is author of several publications including Historical Dictionary of Lebanon; Bin Laden, Islam & America's New "War on Terrorism"; and The Battle For Saudi Arabia: Royalty, Fundamentalism, and Global Power.
  

We will speak live with professor AbuKhalil about the Middle East (wars in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya); the ongoing Israeli/Palestinian crisis; US stance/foreign policy towards the Middle East; and more.

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March 23, 2016

“What I would tell a visiting congressional delegation” by Gideon Levy
On March 18, 2016, a conference was held in Washington, DC called “Israel’s Influence: Good or Bad for America?”. It was co-sponsored by the American Educational Trust, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep). Fourteen well-known expert panelists and keynote speakers analyzed the enormous impact Israel’s influence has on Congress, establishment media, academia and other major institutions. They explored the costs and benefits in terms of foreign aid and covert intelligence, foreign policy, America’s regional and global standing, and unbiased news reporting. There were 4-panel discussions at the conference:
  
 - Israel's Influence on Congress and Government Agencies
 - Israel's Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy
 - Responding to Israel's Influence on Campus and in Court
 - Israel's Influence on Mainstream Media
   
Today, we will listen to one of the keynote speeches delivered at the conference by Gideon Levy “What I would tell a visiting congressional delegation” - What politicians, members of Congress and media elites visiting Israel should know about the situation on the ground—as opposed to what they are told on hundreds of junkets organized by AIPAC. What harm is the relationship doing to the U.S.? We will also listen to the question and answer sessions that followed his talk. Levy is a journalist with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, and former spokesman for former Israeli prime minister Shimon Perez.
   
For more information on this conference, visit www.israelsinfluence.org.

Date:

March 16, 2016

1st Segment: The 6th Annual Houston Palestinian Festival
A live conversation with Ruba Afifi, Festival Co-Chair and Board Member with the Palestinian American Cultural Center (PACC-Houston), and Mona Fareed, Festival Team Member, about the 6th Annual Houston Palestinian Festival that will be held on Saturday and Sunday, March 19-20 at Jones Plaza in Downtown Houston.
 
This year, Palestinian Singer Rola Azar (from Palestine) will be performing live at the Festival. In addition, there will be live performances by Jabour, Ayman Al-Khatib, DJ Ashraf, and more. 
   

2nd Segment: Bill Corcoran
A live conversation with Bill Corcoran, President and CEO of ANERA, American Near East Refugee Aid, about the Syrian and Palestinian refugee crisis, and ANERA's projects and efforts to assist the refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.
 
Mr. Corcoran will be in Houston on Tuesday, March 22, to give a presentation about the current and ongoing projects in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon (Benefit Dinner: Stories of Hope from Palestine & Lebanon). This event will be held at 7 p.m. at Fadi's Mediterranean Grill, 12360 Westheimer Rd. in Houston. He will also be participating at the Palestinian Festival on Saturday and Sunday, March 19-20.

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March 9, 2016

Ghada Talhami
Emeritus Professor in the Department of Politics at Lake Forest College in Illinois. She has published several books including "Historical Dictionary of Women in the Middle East and North Africa", "The Mobilization of Muslim Women in Egypt", and "Syria and the Palestinians". She has also published numerous articles including "Arab Women and the Attack of September 11", “Women, Education and Development in the Arab Gulf Countries”, and “Women and Philanthropy in Palestine and Egyptian Societies”. Professor Talhami previously served as Director of Arab Studies at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and Director of the Arab Information Center in Chicago (an office of the Arab League of States). She also served as President of the Association of Arab-American University Graduates, Editor of Arab Studies Quarterly, and Chair of Palestine Human Rights Campaign. She is also the recipient of several awards and honors over the years.
  

Tuesday, March 8th was the International Women’s Day, and today on Arab Voices we will speak with professor Talhami about women in the Middle East; their great contributions to societies; the important roles women play politically, economically, socially, and culturally; women's involvements in education; political activism; and their struggle and sacrifices for human rights, justice, and freedom. We will also talk about the west's view and stereotyping of Arab women; and more.

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March 2, 2016

Joe Lauria (live from Iraq)
Veteran foreign-affairs journalist, author and political commentator based at the United Nation since 1990. He has been an independent journalist covering international affairs and the Middle East for more than 20 years. A former Wall Street Journal United Nations correspondent, Joe has been an investigative reporter for The Sunday Times of London. He has also corresponded from the U.N. in New York for numerous newspapers, and his work has appeared in many publications. Mr. Lauria has taught journalism at two American universities and traveled widely throughout the Middle East and the world. He is the author, with former U.S. Senator and American presidential candidate Mike Gravel, of A Political Odyssey: The Rise of American Militarism and One Man's Fight to Stop It. Joe has appeared on BBC World, PBS News Hour, Al-Jazeera, CNN, and other TV and radio programs.
  

We will speak live with Joe (currently in Iraq) about the situation in Iraq and what he is witnessing there; and the wars in Syria and Yemen. Joe just published an article titled "Obama’s Most Momentous Decision," which states: "With the Russian-backed Syrian army encircling Aleppo, cutting off Turkish supplies to rebels and advancing on the Islamic State’s capital of Raqqa, a panicked Saudi Arabia and Turkey have set up a joint headquarters to direct an invasion of Syria that could lead to a vast escalation of the war. And there’s only one man who could stop them: President Barack Obama".

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February 24, 2016

Stephen Zunes (live from New Zealand)
Professor of politics and international studies and program director of Middle Eastern studies at the University of San Francisco. He has published scores of articles in academic journals, anthologies, magazines, and newspaper op-ed pages on such topics as U.S. foreign policy, Middle Eastern politics, Latin American politics, African politics, human rights, arms control, social movements and nonviolent action. He is the author of Tinderbox: U.S. Middle East Policy and the Roots of Terrorism; co-author of Western Sahara: War, Nationalism and Conflict Irresolution; and co-editor of Nonviolent Social Movements. Recognized as one of the country’s leading scholars of U.S. Middle East policy and of strategic nonviolent action, Professor Zunes serves as a senior policy analyst for Foreign Policy in Focus, an associate editor of Peace Review, a contributing editor of Tikkun, and the chair of the academic advisory committee for the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict. He has contributed to the Nation, Huffington Post, and Alternet. Professor Zunes has presented numerous lectures and conference papers in the United States and over a dozen foreign countries and has traveled frequently to the Middle East and other conflict regions, meeting with prominent government officials, scholars and dissidents.
  

We will speak live with professor Zunes about the rewriting of the history of the Iraq War, challenging recent inaccurate statements by Marco Rubio, Hillary Clinton, and other presidential candidates.

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February 17, 2016

The 2015 Edward Said Memorial Lecture with Dr. Cornel West
The Palestine Center in Washington, D.C. held its annual Edward Said Memorial Lecture on October 1, 2015. The speaker was Dr. Cornel West, Professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University.
    
In this lecture, Dr. West discusses the profound legacy of Edward Said in social and political thought. He explores Dr. Said’s role as an “engaged intellectual” whose voice provoked introspection, deep questioning, dialogue, and enduring change.
    
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to that lecture.

Date:

February 10, 2016

Winter Membership Drive
Arab Voices Needs YOUR Support!
     
Please call during the show on Wednesday between 7 and 8 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 (all gifts to KPFT are tax-deductible).
 
Click here for a list of the "Thank-You Gifts" offered.
    

Membership Drive

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February 3, 2016

Listen: Israeli army is “making our lives impossible,” says Hebron activist
A podcast produced by The Electronic Intifada.
 
Activists in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron have been staging an around-the-clock sit-in protest at an Israeli military checkpoint located at the entrance to Shuhada street in the Old City. The checkpoint leads to an area occupied by Israeli settlers. In this podcast, The Electronic Intifada speaks with Issa Amro, coordinator of Youth Against Settlements.
      

Membership Drive

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January 27, 2016

Dyala Husseini
Palestinian activist (born and currently lives in occupied Jerusalem) who is heavily involved in social work. She graduated with a general education degree from the American University in Beirut, Lebanon. She worked at the Jordan Pavilion during the New York World Fair in 1964-65, and worked as a guide at the United Nations in New York in 1965-67. She joined the Jordan Mission to the United Nations for a year. In 1967, she helped create the Social Society of Burj Al-LuqLuq NGO in the Old City of Jerusalem (it gives social and psychological support and services to the residents of the Old City).
 
We will speak live with Dyala about the ongoing Israeli atrocities in occupied Jerusalem; home demolitions; colony expansion; and the Israeli destruction of Mamilla Cemetery, the oldest Muslim burial ground in Jerusalem, displacing hundreds of Muslim graves dating as far back as the 7th century, in order for US-based Simon Wiesenthal Center to build a "Museum of Tolerance" on its ground!
      

Membership Drive

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January 20, 2016

Joshua Landis
Director of the Center for Middle East Studies and Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma’s College of International Studies. He writes “Syria Comment,” a daily newsletter on Syrian politics that attracts over 100,000 readers a month. Dr. Landis travels frequently to Washington DC to consult with government agencies and speak at think tanks. He has lived over 14 years in the Middle East (4 years in Syria, 8 years in Lebanon, and spent most summers in Damascus until the revolution began) and speaks Arabic and French fluently. He served as President of Syria Studies Association. He is a frequent analyst on various media outlets including Charlie Rose, PBS News Hour, Al-Jazeera, and many others. He is frequently published in many journals such as Foreign Policy and Middle East Policy. He has won the best teacher prize at his university; helped raised over one million dollars for a new chair in Iranian studies, and helped bring the government funded Arabic Flagship Program to OU. Three Fulbright grants, the SSRC and other awards have helped support his research. Dr. Landis teaches Political Islam, International Relations in the Middle East, Islam, The Modern Middle East, Culture and Society in the Middle East, and the US in the Middle East.

We will speak live with Joshua about the crisis in Syria; foreign interventions by various countries (Russia, Iran, US, Turkey, Arab States); the Syrian peace talks set for next week in Geneva; and the prospects of a real peace deal and/or path to end the crisis.

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January 13, 2016

Chris Hedges' Talk in Houston
The Houston Peace and Justice Center (HPJC) held its 2015 Peacemaker Awards Dinner on November 14, 2015. The National Peacemaker Award recipient was Chris Hedges, who was also the keynote speaker.
 
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Chris Hedge's talk at this event, and also listen to some of the questions and answers that followed his talk.
 
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who writes a weekly column for the online magazine Truthdig. He spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years. Hedges left the Times after being issued a formal reprimand for denouncing the Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq. In 2012, he sued President Barack Obama after the passing of the National Defense Authorization Act. Hedges authored numerous bestselling books, including Empire of Illusion; Death of the Liberal Class; War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning; Days of Revolt which he co-wrote with Joe Sacco; and his most recent book Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt. Hedges received many awards and recognitions over the years. He was part of the team of reporters at The New York Times that was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, and he also received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. Hedges is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City. He has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University and The University of Toronto. He currently teaches prisoners at a maximum-security prison in New Jersey. Hedges holds a B.A. in English literature from Colgate University and a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California. Hedges speaks Arabic, French and Spanish and studied classics, including ancient Greek and Latin, at Harvard.

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January 6, 2016

"Islam in Liberalism" by Joseph Massad
The Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Arab History at the University of Houston held an event on December 3, 2015 titled "Islam in Liberalism". The guest speaker was Joseph Massad, Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University. He is the author of Islam in Liberalism (Chicago, 2015); Desiring Arabs (Chicago, 2007), which was awarded the Lionel Trilling Book Award; The Persistence of the Palestinian Question: Essays on Zionism and the Palestinian Question (Routledge, 2006); and Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan (Columbia, 2001).
   
Today on Arab Voices, we will listen to Professor Massad's lecture on "Islam in Liberalism".