i'm anti-terrorist, not anti-arab.otice the disingenuousness there how he tried to take my position on the middle east, tried to extract that and apply it to the arab american community here which is total nonsense and it requires me to question what his real motives are here. >> when you try to face nolan finley with the facts, that he is a racest individual that hates palestinians and arabs, he says, no, i have a friend in the arab community. >> nolan's a friend. i like him, i hate his editorials. >> the editorial staff tends to be very far away from the people that they're talking about, you know. you get -- especially in the conservative papers. you get a really negative cast. >> people today tend not to want to see the other person's opinion in the paper, and we make a very concerted effort to make sure folks see a broad range of viewpoints. >> i responded to nolan finley with a small paragraph. it was not even published in the paper. >> and i don't recall his response, whether reran it or not. i know we've ran a

the arabs don't possible has bringing you the best of the arab film to the bay area.his year's festival is no exception. consider the most important arab film festival outside of the arab world, the festival offers a rare window to the arab world and its diverse community. featuring 24 films from over 18 countries, it is also one of the only four runs that showcases new works by established and emerging arab filmmakers. the possible films in four cities. in addition, the festival organizers a film series for high-school students free of charge. this year's lineup offers something for everyone, including shorts, documentary's, comedies, and dramas. >> [speaking arabic] the mission of the arab film festival, since it its inception in 1996, and it came about -- members of our community realized there was stereotyping of arabs in the media, and they wanted to change that proactively. they wanted to use the power of film to bring in the stories, to bring in authentic images and narratives of the arab world, here to american audiences, in order to fight the negative stereot

this is committed in the arab peace initiative and signed on by all t arab countries of the arab league. but also the countries of the organization of islamic cooperation. more than 56 countrs. >>harlie: that includeshe syrian as well. >> everybody. syrians, iraqis, libyans, etcetera. all of the countries. there is a net gain forrists real. and the only one hat hasn't accepted it is israel. >> charlie: obviously you can now understand that the israelis have some reason to worry about their security interest. you know what gaza, what resulted in gaza. how does that arab world and the rest of the world guarantee in some way or allay their security concerns. >> that's the reason people are seeking peace. the peace initiative is a means of waging peace rather than waging war. the arab war has crossed the rubicon until the peace initiative there was that contention and in some cases that the arabs did not accept israel as a neighbor and would like to see the people of israel ejected. >> charlie: and those whether it's the gaza strip or ighboring countries are not a place or do not do everyth

country in the arab world. status that was constantly diminished and downplayed and compromised by the former president hosni mubarak. turkey has cannily understood this kind of regional change and is keen to jump aboard and i also think it's an extraordinary miscalculation to keep saying that the israeli card is irrelevant clearly the palestinian cause is deeply significant across the middle east and until that becomes a focus for israel as well i think israel is running into very dangerous ground john what do you think about i mean the relevance here because you know let's be fair here ok i mean this is an important issue among arabs and muslims all around the world i think we all agree with that but barely gann which be proud to call can be used as a domestic political card at home for elections for popularity. make sure you be employment or high prices or you know you can say we can pull up the palestinian card i mean there is an element of that as well was unfair. but there certainly is and it has played t

arabs students. he didn't even mix with the non kuwaiti arabs. after a semester transfers to n.c. jesse jackson's alma mater. here he studied engineering but again his social network is very limited. 15 or 20 people. all of whom are muslim and all our kuwaiti air. some transferred with him from john. he emerges from someone known on campus as a mullah. he is technically not but what they mean is he as an enforcer. he makes sure that the other students in his group do not violate these very small, very obscure tenets of islam:00 or what they believe to be islamic law. for example, the cuff of your pants can never cover your ankle. is forbidden ever to wear shorts because they exposed the knee and so on. even when they would go to the gym and work out, they would be fully covered. and forcing all these differences kept them apart from the american college campus. i met a number of people who went to college with ksm who remember him. they mostly remember him fondly. he was a comedian. he was a member o

it comes at a time when the arab world announced it is changing. they have been negotiating for 20 years with no results, the past few years, we have been building institutions. in return, they see it as one step forward in the absence of other alternatives. interestingly enough, the left it open to negotiations. >> tell us what happens next, tell us about israel's line. >> they want the palestinians to go back to negotiate. they have threatened with sanctions. they will move to isolate israel further. israel will look very carefully at who will support this move. there is a lot of diplomatic talks going on behind closed doors, the u.s. is divided over the issue. it might go to the general assembly. even then, seeing this process getting started and seeing where it is heading. >> tanya, thank you very much. the un general assembly gave the seat to libya's national transitional council. they are the legitimate representative of the libyan people. the assembly voted 114-17 in favor of the motion. representatives of the council can take lydia's seat i

arab muslim community. they've also been to joplin layout a lot of the challenges. so i'm going to do is briefly talked just a little bit about the work that we do in my department, why it exists, some of the challenges we face. and maybe also talked a little bit about the good things have happened after 9/11. i'll give you an example. i like some of the people sahar was briefly mentioning and many of us and our families, i came here about 21 years ago during the first gulf war as a refugee. and my family was a victim of discrimination. and i muslim. and back then there was no word from the soviet. there was no american public didn't have the concept of this issue, what is islamophobia. my name wasn't always ehsan zaffar. it was ehsan hussein. and when i came here, because we were the victims of intimidation of threats and violence, my father decided change my last name. and now we have a president whose middle name is hussein. right? so yes 9/11 happen. yes, there was a lot of tragic events that happen. th

we had abo 700,000 arab refugees leaving in 1948 and about 800,000 jews expelled from arab lands. in tiny israel one tenth of one percent of the arab countries without the oil wealth cornucopia, we absorbed these 800,000 jewish refugees that were indistinguishable from anyone else. there are no refugees in israel, they're israelis b. the vast arab world keeps this thing alive, these refugees alive and in four years later the arabs come and say, hey, solve our problem, our side of the refugee equation that we created. it's not enough that you absorbed the jewish refugees, now absorb the great grandchildren of these arab refugees. that's wrong. it's morally wrong. >> rose: so you'reaying your soluon... you're saying all palestinians go to this new plainian state. >> sure. >> rose: and all israelis come... >> jew cans come. what's wrong with that? >> rose: what do you think they'll say? >> i think they should say yes if they want to really accept the jewish state. that's theode word of the jewish state. ifhey say we won't accept the jewish state, it's not because non-jews don't right

and arab-american leadership to refine and redefine what it is to be arab-american from the legal, political and ethnic perspective and finally, i want to address some of our natural allies in promoting the arab-american platform if you will but second, how to broaden the base of allies. so first, diversity, i think if all of us can just look at this wall over here and look at these wonderful portraits that the abc has showcased, these portraits really illustrate the diversity and the kind of cultural and ethnic and religious mosaic that is the arab world, and i think one benefit and one natural resource that the arab world has is the deep and rich diversity. we have individuals who typically look black and individuals look caucasian and individuals who just manifest a series of different ethnic appearances. we have religious diversity which is unparalleled. and the diversity lends itself really well to building and house avenues towards coalition building with organizations that represent the various a ray of constituents. arab-americans from the continent of africa, sudanese americans for

arab students. didn't even mix with the non-kuwaiti arabs. after a semester, he transfers to north carolina a. and t. jesse jackson's alma mater. here he is debtors -- all of whom more kuwaiti immigrant but some of them transferred within. but he emerges, he is an enforcer. he make sure that the other students in this group do not violate these very small, very obscure tenets of islamic law. what they believe to be islamic law. for example, the cusp of the pans can never cover your ankle. it is forbidden ever to wear shorts because they expose the knee, and so on. so even when they would go to the gym and work out they would be fully covered. enforcing all of these differences kept them apart from the american college campus. i met a number of people, almost a dozen, who went to college with jsf and who remember him. the most remember him as father. he was a comedian. he was very successful and very, very humorously imitate various arab leaders. but his audience was the other 20 kuwaiti arab student

and written by arabs.s a brutally frank document that was a sensation. it was downloaded off the internet 1 million times. the report documented the stunning decay of the arab world. if you want to explore the conditions that produced al qaeda, read this report. take a look at some of the most dam s statistics a broad range of political and civil rights arab countries came last. look at the economy, the report highlighted the entire arab league put together, 22 countries including saudi arabia and egypt had a smaller gdp than spain. 15% of arabs were unemployed compared to 6% at the time. then there's education, in 200,6 65 million arabs were it literal. for the few arab readers the entire region was translating 330 books a year. one fifth the amount greece translates every year. they showed how the arab world was worse other than everywhere except subsahara and africa. much in the report is unchanged or barely changed. the raw number of arabs who can't read or write has increased. other indicators have wo

iran is not an arab country the arab spring. and i think in many ways it's a matter of time before that kind of change. and revolution occurred and under the umbrella of the arab revolutions washington is also beating the drums of regime change in syria iran's closest ally in the region violence within the country has been widely condemned countries like russia and china call for both sides in syria to talk in the blood shed while america is blaming our side alone i think assad stays just like a dog for your number and let's hope the pressure assad is next and they were overthrown khadafi they're going to have a proxy or client government in tripoli the next step is syria they want to overthrow syria next to take advantage of any movement that exists in syria to overthrow the assad government now they have a more democratic government a more humane government but a government that is allied with the united states and after syria the next target will be iran itself watching regimes go down one by one american politicians are fill

now all of this is going on on the backdrop of the arab spring which has changed the dynamic of the arab world of the globe really and it's also changed the dynamics between arab media and the u.s. at least when it comes to al-jazeera it wasn't all that long ago that washington was criticizing al jazeera for things such as running osama bin ladin videos but the white house has certainly changed its tune now the white house praising the network after their coverage of the arab spring and after allegations of a cozy relationship we've even seen a surprise resignation from al-jazeera chief our chief correspondent and he said now we've looked into why. right now al jazeera english is seen through million american cable households al-jazeera or the island is not in isolation anymore the channels in your face coverage of the violent turmoil of the middle east and libya's emerging civil war has grounded cousy prime time slot with the u.s. and recent week uniques claim how dizzy or is now resigned director general had ties to the cia but the detail is. the u.s. government has been monitoring. th

israel's biggest supporter the united nations but it's backing for the arab spring threatens to leave its main the middle east ally in total isolation america got behind the muslim movements for democracy but the new regime in egypt has left israel picking up the pieces of broken relations. explains. democracy has a price people of egypt have spoken. their voices have been heard and egypt will never be the same and the new egypt embraced as a positive example of change in the arab world by the west is not the only one paying what. the. you know. doing good your times there was a bit of security but now there's this security on the streets israel has also been left hanging a slow road to stability in neighboring egypt mixed with the massively unpopular israeli foreign policy makes a dangerous cocktail. the pace for change towards those us beautician was very slow so you had a lot of frustration on one side and then you had a lot of anger that. exacerbated after the killing of the five rejections soldiers on egyptian territory by israeli gunfire. shaking up the situation even further th

can he tell the house what role is envisioned for the arab league and other arab nations in the post conflict reconstruction of libya in months ahead? >> i am grateful for what my honorable friend says. i think there will be a big role for the arab league because one of the things i think where we can try and learn the lessons of the past is that i don't think libya will want to see, as i said in my statement, huge numbers of people driving around in 4 x 4s telling them what to do. i think arab assistance can play a huge role in helping them to get back on their feet. but they seem very keen to do a lot of this on their own. >> hugh bailey? >> you are absolutely right to stress that the political future of libya needs to be determined by the libyan people and not by outsiders. can it cast any light on the statements coming at the moment from the african union that they have concerns that the transitional arrangements are not fully inclusive and what discussions is he as foreign secretary having with key african leaders to ensure that only future u.n. resolution gets african buy in? i

the worst in general in the arab world in the arab street because this is very important the the the psychic of the arab street as far as i understood from from what you wrote and people like you say experts wrote after the after the worst supported the anti kadafi. movement in libya the reputation of the west has risen to a well to record high on the arab streets may change today or tomorrow in case the west will not support palestinian bid big oil down to one it can go down because the sentence in there it's easily changed. and they're very emotional. we are talking about the motions not rational then it means that any unfavorable move on the part of the west can bring. image of the west the arab street you. said about about his his pre-election interest will certainly the votes of the the israeli community was left are very important for the president's maybe they are even more important than the future of the middle east what do you have a chance that the first couple of years of the second term is office in office these will be the years when a barrier may fulfill his his promis

come to cairo to explore that history and find out if that ideology still has appeal, even after the arab spring. >> woodruff: plus, jeffrey brown talks to caryle murphy of globalpost about saudi arabia ten years after the attacks. >> lehrer: and we close with a look at a new way to see our reporting online, and a preview of our 9/11 special coming sunday evening. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> well, the best companies are driven by new ideas. >> our future depends on new ideas. we spend billions on advanced technologies. >> it's all about investing in the future. >> we can find new energy-- more cleaner, safer and smarter. >> collaborating with the best in the field. >> chevron works with the smartest people at leading universities and tech companies. >> and yet, it's really basic. >> it's paying off everyday. >> and by bnsf railway. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundati

spring the arab uprisings in egypt donis and around the arab world com or to this protest these projects it is real and if so doesn't this speak toward a greater middle east. society getting rid of all these divisions have been plaguing that region for decades the first reaction in israeli society that the arab spring was was panic actually because the idea that arab countries could be democratic and people can set their own destiny was something that that. intimidated a lot of israelis were counting on us to support in crushing it is it the arab peoples and making sure that they operate within the framework of u.s. interests which also works very well for the israeli and middle east refugees and. but i think with the global excitement about the arab spring especially the revolution in egypt a lot of israelis said well we also wanted to get someone that international excitement we also wanted people in the world to be excited about what we're doing and i think one of the reasons for this is that there is now an international boycott campaign against israel against the apartheid that isra

them arrogant and the arabs consider them not real muslims and the arabs probably most famous for americans are the arabs who came in was so solid in law exactly and. the u.s. did the u.s. helped establish the taliban. indirectly absolutely during the eighty's we were the cia provided most of that support through the pakistani i.s.i. the military intelligence organization which was ludicrous because i had its own agenda the american agenda was really to give the soviets their own good was not really there for the afghans we talked a lot about freedom fighters supporting them about the whole charlie wilson's war exactly exactly which also by the way the film misrepresented the situation we support of this rather nasty individual called goban hekmatyar who is an extremist hated americans killed a lot of moderate afghans and is now one of the leading insurgent politicians against the u.s. and nato in afghanistan so we created that we listen to we can order a lot of the really good matters inside afghanistan many who are moderate such as most sued or another want to push tune and during the one

and seaview were stabbed in the back he has created a sense of lebanon among the palestinians the arabs even there was people of good conscience who expected obama to live up to his promises to his values and principles rather than to another sense and purpose obama's explanation one year ago. i stood at this podium and i called for an independent palestine but what i also said is that a genuine peace can only be realized between the israelis and the palestinians themselves. house makes the story but the one america loses political points its diplomacy public helier and its ability to control diminished i know that many are frustrated by the lack of progress i assure you. one of the routes for obama's motorcade always remain open with so many other players affected by the traffic created there will always be the one that gets away. and the future of our team we'll. talk about this earlier i spoke with political scientist and author norman norman finkelstein in new york and also the president of the christians israel public action campaign richard hellman who was here and d c as negotiat

declared its independence which the arabs didn't want and so he famously said well i have no arab constituents but i have a lot of people who are for a zionist i'm i'm paraphrasing there but and i think obama is in the same. boat he's a democratic president and now i think both parties the fundamentalist christians are also big proponents of israel on the republican side so i think it's even more locked up than it was in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight when harry truman had to do that for it to get reelected or did it in part to get reelected i think obama really is his back is to the wall the economy's down and he needs every vote he can get it doesn't look good for him to get reelected right now so i think you'll see him tilt toward israel heavily here in this the rest of this year and next year before the election despite its stance towards the u.n. bid the u.n. the u.s. is giving money to both israel and to the palestinians do you think there is a way for washington to keep this balancing act between the two sides after a possible vote. well it's not really a balanced policy that gi

by casting a veto risks losing support in credibility among the arab world because remember president obama supported the tunisians the egyptians the libyans during the arab spring he has spoken out in support of those that are are demonstrating against the leaders of syria and he also mentioned last year that he supports an independent and sovereign calls now to turn around and do something different and not stand by his words he's out actually facing quite a conundrum so use their way to both sides and get out of the situation without using these. well that is the discussions that are taking place on the sidelines of the general assembly the u.s. president did meet privately with the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and you believe the meeting with the palestinian president president mahmoud abbas and from what we are being told there are plans in place to prevent any kind of diplomatic train wreck and that plan would be for the palestinian president to officially submit a letter to the security council asking for u.n. membership but the security council wouldn't vote on it