I FOCUS

THE

Staff Wri t'

he media have become the
villains in the Arab-
Israeli conflict. Many
American Jews look at
the coverage of the
8-month-old Palestinian uprising and
cry foul.
So some might be surprised to
learn that Arab Americans have the
same complaint.
"The media have been badgering
us with a lot of stereotypes and misin-
formation. The information we and
the American public were getting was
one-sided," according to Osama
Siblani, a Lebanese-born engineer by
training. In 1984, Siblani resolved to
address the misinformation he saw.
The result was Sada Alwatan (Arabic
for "The Nation's Echo"), a weekly bil-
ingual Arab-American newspaper.
From his Dearborn office, Siblani
attempts to unite Michigan's sizeable
Arab-American population —
estimated to be anywhere from 80,000
to 250,000 — with their counterparts
on the east and west coasts. Sada
Alwatan has a circulation of 13,000,
Siblani says.
Much of Sada Alwatan's coverage
focuses on Israel and the Palestinians.
"The Middle East is probably the hot-
test item on the agenda of the press
in this country:' Siblani says. "The
Arab-American population must be
informed of what's going on. At the
same time, we must inform others of
the Arab viewpoint."
Siblani attempts to answer what
he considers the one-sided reporting
of the general press, not by presenting
the total picture, but by showing the
other side of the story.
Sada Alwatan's editorials and car-
toons routinely disparage Israel's ties
with the United States, depicting the
Jewish state as having an almost
demonic grip on America. " . . . The
Jewish Defense League terrorizes the
nation and AIPAC (the pro-Israel lob-
by) terrorizes Congress . . . " one
editorial declares.
One recent editorial cartoon
depicted Uncle Sam, tied to the

pr

Osama Siblani publishes the other
voice in the Arab-Israeli chorus

Bob McKeown

DAVID HOLZEL

EQ-10

Osama Siblani reviews a copy of Sada Alwatan: "At least here we can communicate
without having sandbags."

ground like Gulliver by Lilliputian- ple All the Time," was a news story's
headline.
sized Israelis.
This is not to say that Siblani ig-
In Sada Alwatan, parallels are
regularly drawn between Israel's nores Israeli points of view in his
treatment of the Palestinians and the pages. These are generally provided
Holocaust. "Nazi Practices in by Israelis like attorneys Felicia
Palestine," was the title of one guest Langer and Lea Tsemel, who have
editorial. "You Can't Kill All the Peo- made careers of defending Palesti-

nians in the Israeli legal system, and
who are regarded in Israel as far to
the left of the mainstream.
Siblani argues that Langer and
Tsemel represent a large Israeli con-
stituency. "We believe that Israelis
like these could probably reach the
Arabs. Not everybody in Israel wants
to kill the Arabs. Not everybody in
Israel thinks like [Prime Minister
Yitzhak] Shamir."
While Sada Alwatan also covers
local news and reports of doings in the
Arab world, Siblani defends his em-
phasis on Israel and the Palestinians.
"Five pages a week devoted to this
conflict is not enough, believe me. We
concentrate on this issue because it is
very important to us."
He says he is limited by the small
size of the newspaper — about 10
pages — and the nature of the Arab-
American community which
necessitates publishing in both
Arabic and English. "We are a new
community;' he says, explaining that
many Arabs have arrived in the
United States just in the last 10 years.
Each section of the paper caters to
a slightly different readership.
Newcomers are more interested in
news from their birthplaces than in
local affairs. The American-born
Arab, whose first language is English,
has other concerns, Siblani says.
"What [the Rev. Jesse] Jackson said
and what [Michael] Dukakis said and
what [George] Bush said about mov-
ing the [U.S.] embassy to Jerusalem
— that would be his concern."
Siblani sees his newspaper evolv-
ing as the community evolves. "As we
go on assimilating, we will have more
problems, so we will address those
problems. We have addressed the pro-
blem of the gas stations when the
[Arab-American] gasoline dealers
were trying to cheat the public. We
editorialized against it."
The aim of Sada Alwatan, Siblani
explains, is not only to inform but to
provide a platform for advancing cer-
tain causes. The newspaper backed a
boycott of Haagen-Dazs ice cream
because, Siblani charges, the com-
pany's owners supported the Jewish
Defense League.

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