This article is to present the Palestinian point of view mainly for reference purposes. Americans deserve to know all perspectives on the Israeli-Palestinian matter.

For Israel supporters, May 14th is a day to celebrate because on that day in 1948, the state of Israel was established. However, for the many millions of Palestinians and Arabs worldwide, the feeling is far from celebratory. In Arabic speaking countries, it’s called the day of Nakbah, which means calamity, tragedy, or travesty.

Imagine how you’d feel if one day someone forcefully removed you from your house and farm and turned you and your family into penniless refugees because that person’s ancestors, 3000 years ago, used to live on your land. To Palestinians, that’s the whole crux of the matter: An entire population was removed from their home country and their homes and farms were simply confiscated. To them, it is particularly outrageous that in the modern world one population can simply replace another. This is at the heart of several global issues including terrorism committed by Muslims.

And contrary to what many in the West believe, the root of the Palestinian struggle is not a religious one. Palestinians would be just as unhappy whether their occupiers were Russian Jews or Moroccan Muslims. The conflict, to Palestinians, is about land and justice first and foremost.

Some would feel comfortable believing that Palestinians were like bedouins or wandering tribes with no attachment to their land, but the truth is far from that. The land between the river Jordan and the Mediterranean sea was robust with cities, factories, and farm land owned and registered to Palestinian Arab owners. I know this first hand, because both of my parents’ families still hold on to their land ownership certificates. My father’s family grew crops in a village called Um Khalid, now part of the Israeli city of Natanya. My mother’s family grew fruit trees in the village of Salamah. Hundreds of oil presses, brick factories, soap factories, jewelry workshops, printing presses, flour mills, and fabric factories, to name a few, burgeoned in Palestine, mostly owned and operated by Palestinian Arabs.

If you talk to an elderly Palestinian in the refugee camps of Jordan or Lebanon, you’re sure to hear stories about where they grew up in Palestine, where they went to school, the cinema in the city, the farms and groves, and how it’s all gone now.

That land was beacon of knowledge. Palestinian refugees, well educated in Palestinian schools before exile, were instrumental in the building of young countries like Kuwait and Jordan after their independence. As far back as the tenth century, Palestine gave birth to many prominent Arab scholars, intellectuals, poets, and politicians.

You might say that Jews were there before anyone else, and so they deserve to reclaim their historical homeland. Palestinians, however, have a broader historical perspective. They know that even before prophet Abraham, Palestine was ruled at various times by the Babylonians, the Phoenicians, the Canaanites, the Philistines, the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans, all of whom left their cultural and genetic marks on Palestine. To Palestinians, Palestine never belonged to a single race, as Palestinians themselves are a genetic hodgepodge collectively called “Arabs” for simplicity and because they speak Arabic. The argument that Jews own Palestine because their ancestors ruled it for a period of time is like saying that England belongs only to the Viking.

Unfortunately, like many political issues in the US, the Palestinian problem was incorporated into the liberal/conservative chasm – historical facts have become irrelevant. Liberals view the issue as an oppressed people living under racial and religious discrimination, while conservatives go as far as dismissing the existence of Palestinians altogether, an argument not even worth considering. To Palestinians, however, the issue is much simpler: a grave, brazen injustice that is yet to be corrected.

As the opening note says, this article is not meant to influence your political views as it is meant to provide you with the Palestinian point of view, in order for you to be able to see where Palestinians come from in their actions and words. The American people are deeply invested in the Israeli Palestinian conflict with tax money and diplomatic/military power. Therefore they deserve to be fully informed of all perspectives on the matter in order to formulate a complete understanding.

The Facing Race Ambassador Award is an annual award made by the Saint Paul Foundation to celebrate and honor the leadership of individuals working toward racial equity. The Facing Race anti-racism initiative seeks to create a racially equitable community in which everyone feels safe, valued and respected. Highlighting the valuable work of award recipients and honorees inspires discussion, dialogue and action around critical issues of race and racism.

This year’s Ambassador Awards celebration was held at the Crowne Plaza Riverfront Hotel in downtown St. Paul on April 23, 2012.

This year, the St. Paul Foundation recognized Taneeza Islam, Esq, former Civil Rights Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Minnesota (CAIR-MN) with an honorable mention.

Taneeza worked full-time at the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights, but also dedicated her spare time to volunteer for CAIR-MN. Since March 2008 to December 2011, Taneeza accrued over 3,000 hours of service to this community through CAIR-MN.  For Taneeza, it is not just about working with the Muslim community to know their rights but about building bridges with members of the great Minnesota community, who are directly interacting with Muslim populations in Minnesota: employers, care givers, educational institutions, and the media—a “two way street.”

“Stereotypes and misinformation are the foundations of inequity in all arenas. Those who believe in misinformation as fact usually do not take the extra steps to figure out if what they are learning is accurate. Therefore, it becomes an individual’s burden – or motivation – to break through that misinformation.”- Taneeza Islam

This is the third time CAIR-MN has been recognized by the St. Paul Foundation Facing Race Awards for efforts in combating racism, encouraging dialogue and striving for racial equity.

CAIR-MN is the state’s only Muslim civil rights advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

Since its founding in 2007, CAIR-MN has become a force in protecting civil rights and empowering Minnesota Muslims through free legal assistance, advocacy and education. In the last year alone, CAIR-MN assisted over 400 crime victims and facilitated the resolution of 121 cases of religious discrimination. CAIR-MN’s work is striving to end racism and creating a racially equitable society. Get involved today! To learn more about CAIR-MN, visit www.cairmn.com

By Naaima Khan, Engage Minnesota

Since the introduction of the budget bill in Congress with multiple funding changes, activists have responded fiercely to what has been labeled “The War on Women.”   The budget bill, among a variety of measures that affect women’s health, includes a cease on funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest reproductive health care provider.  Other controversial measures that the bill proposes include elimination of support for Title X, the federal family planning program for low-income women, as well as measures to stop funding agencies associated with providing abortions.

In the response to the War on Women, a lot of the rhetoric has been focused on women’s right broadly.  However, it’s important to note that, for activists, the focus of the War on Women is specifically in response to limiting the health care choices of women, namely those of getting an abortion and using contraception.   As we all know, abortion has been a raging debate in the United States that has ebbed and flowed, but always remained in the shadows of the nation’s conscience especially since the passage of Roe v. Wade.  This media battle is perhaps the latest resurfacing of this issue in the public domain.

As a Muslim woman, I too value the question of rights that the debate focuses on.  In Islam, most contemporary jurists who study Islamic law (scholars) agree that contraception is a permissible method for women to plan or delay pregnancy.  The question of abortion is not as clear cut.  All schools of Muslim scholars agree that for a woman to perform abortion past 120 days after conception is prohibited because that is when, according to Islam’s teachings, Allah breathes the spirit into a fetus.  The tough question is grappling with the other widely accepted opinion that an abortion is prohibited 42 days past conception. 

Given the teachings of my religion in regards to abortion, it’s too oversimplified to say that I can take a stand for or against agencies that assist women in getting an abortion.  Ultimately, I believe that no one can force women to make a right decision; everyone must be responsible for their own actions.  Yet, on the other hand, I understand that getting an abortion past the first four months of pregnancy contradicts my religious views on what is permissible.  But does government have the place to regulate women’s health choices?

In liberal media, the response to this question is a resounding no.  But I would like to offer that this question should open up a discussion on what role the government can play in regulating the harm that can result from getting abortions at later stages.  We should also consider that if we are arguing that we want absolutely no government intervention in terms of women’s health choices, what place does government have in regulating other affairs, such as carbon emissions and other moral questions within society?

While I agree with people who are challenging the regulation of women’s reproductive choices on a broad level, I can’t say that I blindly agree that government has no part to play.  The answer, I believe, is more complicated than that.  One thing that I absolutely agree with is that funding for cancer screenings, breast exams, and other important health services for low-income women should be maintained.  Regardless of their stances, women should be empowered to grapple with these issues, form an informed opinion, and contribute to the larger discussion.  They should not feel like they must take a polarized stance on issues because there is a “war” against them.

The First Amendment guarantees that the American judicial system cannot punish you for saying something, no matter how objectionable what you say may be. But if making a single, fleeting statement causes you to lose your job, your family’s security, your reputation and your future career prospects, what is the point of having a First Amendment in the first place?

Read the rest of Hani’s article here.

Critical conversations on Islamophobia will take place at University of Calfornia, Berkeley. Join the conference online Friday and Saturday, April 20-21, 2012,  through a live webcast included on the Center for Race and Gender, Zaytuna College and CAIR’s home pages. Forward to all your lists and be part of the conversation.

This conference is live streamed here. 

Download document with full presenter bioa here.

Contribute to the growth of our communities, by promoting the conversations through your Twitter and Facebook profiles.

I believe beauty is that which communicates the familiar and the unfamiliar together in a uniquely inspiring form. The unfamiliar may be attractive, but for it to sustain its attraction it has to speak to us with terms that we can easily relate to.

This blog is part of conversation with Shaykh Qays from Qibla Online Academy for the Islamic Sciences. The conversation will unfold in a series of blogs aiming toward a better understanding of Islam and Muslims. In the last blog, the conversation explored the meaning of faith. I want to continue the conversation and this time focus on the importance of the meditative activity of zikr (remembrance of God) and the purification of the heart in perceiving and receiving faith.

Read the rest of Fedwa’s blog here.