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Siblani's latest crusade is
against the Hyatt hotel
chain. "Israel confiscated
land in Arab (east) Jerusalem
and they gave it to Hyatt to
build on it," he says. "We're
putting out the story so next
time people will not have
their convention at the
Hyatt."
Hyatt officials say that the
land on which their
Jerusalem hotel was build
was not previously
Arab-owned.
Not all the Arab communi-
ty has heeded Siblani's call to
boycott. A convention of the
American-Arab Anti-
Discrimination Committee
was held recently at the Dear-
born Hyatt. According to
Siblani, ADC President Ab-
deen Jabara evaded a Sada
Alwatan reporter's question
about why the organzation
had not followed the boycott.
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iblani is confident that
the influence of both his
newspaper and his com-
munity are in the ascendent.
Print and television jour-
nalists call on the 32-year-old
publisher to take the pulse of
the Arab-American
community.
That community includes
Arabs of Lebanese, Iraqi,
Palestinian and Yemeni des-
cent. They are Christians as
well as Sunni and Shi'ite
Moslems. Siblani says that
his newspaper's focus on
Israel is not designed to pro-
vide a common denominator
of interest for the disparate
local community or to steer
attention away from divisions
in the Arab world.
"I don't believe there is ten-
sion in the Arab world or in
the Arab community here,"
he says. "We have differences
of opinion. If you call that
dissension or fighting among
Arabs, then we should say the
Jews are fighting against
each other. In the Israeli
cabinet, we see that Shamir
and [Foreign Minister
Shimon] Peres do not get
along!'
The political squabbles bet-
ween Shamir and Peres pale
in comparison with the recent
fighting in Lebanon between
rival Shi'ite forces, in which
hundreds died. How did Sada
Alwatan cover that story?
"We have touched on it,"
Siblani answers. "We have
criticized it, but probably not
as much in English as we
should have!'
Much of the work of Arab
advocacy organizations —
Sada Alwatan included — is
to loosen the bonds between
America and Israel. Why
doesn't the newspaper argue
for more aid for the Palesti-
nians instead of less military
and economic aid to Israel?
"My concern as an Arab
American is what my govern-
ment — the U.S. government
— is doing," Siblani says.
"Israel occupies Palestinian
land and the U.S. supports
Israel in its occupation!'
He contrasts the fighting
between Arabs and Israelis in
the Middle East with rela-
tions between Arab
Americans and American
Jews. "At least here we can
communicate without having
sandbags."
By working together, Arab
and Jewish Americans could
bring Arabs and Israelis
closer to peace, Siblani says.
"We send billions of dollars to
Israel from American Jewish
lobbyists. You cannot
underestimate the American
Jewish influence on Israel.
"At the same time the Arab
American influence is not as
One cartoon
depicted Uncle
Sam, tied to the
ground like
Gulliver by
Lilliputian-sized
Israelis.
powerful. But they represent
some kind of mainstream
politics overseas.
"You could really have an
international peace con-
ference here in Detroit. Now
whether [those in the Middle
East] will abide by our
message is not our problem.
We don't want to kill each
other over there. We say,
`These are our views. If you
don't listen to us, then we
aren't going to support you! "
He says the constructive
local dialogue he envisions
hasn't yet happened, despite
the existence of Arab-Jewish
discussion groups.
Siblani dismisses as smoke
screens Israeli peace pro-
posals from Camp David to
the Jordanian option. "It's
like treating cancer with
Tylenol. The only solution is
to give the Palestinians their
homeland, to give them their
kind of integrity and
passport.
"We don't have any pro-
blems with the Jews," he con-
tinues. "Judaism is a religion
that we recognize and respect.
Judaism and Zionism are not
the same thing."
Although he argues for
Palestinian self-
determination, Siblani says
Jews are members of a
religion, not a nation. He im-
plies that Jews have no right,
and no interest in self-
determination in Israel.