U.S. CITY GRAPPLES WITH ANTI-ARABIC MOOD

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Registered: 06-01-2003
U.S. CITY GRAPPLES WITH ANTI-ARABIC MOOD
Wed, 08-18-2004 - 8:21am
U.S. CITY GRAPPLES WITH ANTI-ARABIC MOOD

UPI, 7/23/04

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040722-014826-8551r.htm

Dearborn Heights, MI, Jul. 22 (UPI) -- The suburban Detroit city of

Dearborn Heights is struggling to suppress anti-Arabic sentiment in a

community split geographically.


The city's dividing line is an east-west route called Ford Road,

south of which a steadily growing number of Arabic families live, the

Detroit News said Thursday.

In the suburb, the Arabic population has increased 400 percent since

1990, sparking some social discord.

Controversies in a local school district over a Muslim holiday and

the serving of halal, or Islamic-blessed food, to students helped

drive a huge voter turnout for the school board race in June.

Students of Arab descent make up 35 percent to 40 percent of the

3,300-student district and many stay home to observe the Eid al-Fitr

holiday, marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Nearby Dearborn has closed schools on Eid al-Fitr for several years,

but some parents and officials in Dearborn Heights openly vow their

city would not become "like Dearborn."

"Over there, north of Ford Road -- where there's just a few (Arab

Americans) -- they all look at us like we're strange people coming

in, trying to take over," one Arabic resident told the newspaper.

====================

POLL SHOWS GROWING ARAB RANCOR AT U.S.

Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, 7/23/04

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7080-2004Jul22.html

Arab views of the United States, shaped largely by the Iraq war and a

post-Sept. 11 climate of fear, have worsened in the past two years to

such an extent that in Egypt -- an important ally in the region --

nearly 100 percent of the population now holds an unfavorable opinion

of the country, according to two polls due out today.

Both surveys were conducted in June by Zogby International and polled

Arab men and women in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco

and the United Arab Emirates.

The findings reflect the concerns raised in the Sept. 11 commission

report released yesterday, which emphasized a losing battle for

public opinion. "Support for the United States has plummeted," the

commissioners wrote.

"What we're seeing now is a disturbing sympathy with al Qaeda coupled

with resentment toward the United States, and we ought to be

extremely troubled by that," said Shibley Telhami, a University of

Maryland professor who commissioned one of the surveys.

The other survey, titled "Impressions of America," charts a dramatic

overall decline in positive views by comparing current attitudes with

those sampled in April 2002.

"In 2002, the single policy issue that drove opinion was the

Palestinians; now it's Iraq and America's treatment, here and abroad,

of Arabs and Muslims," said James Zogby, who commissioned the report

with the Arab American Institute.

In Zogby's 2002 survey, 76 percent of Egyptians had a negative

attitude toward the United States, compared with 98 percent this

year. In Morocco, 61 percent viewed the country unfavorably in 2002,

but in two years, that number has jumped to 88 percent. In Saudi

Arabia, such responses rose from 87 percent in 2002 to 94 percent in

June. Attitudes were virtually unchanged in Lebanon but improved

slightly in the UAE, from 87 percent who said in 2002 that they

disliked the United States to 73 percent this year.

Those polled said their opinions were shaped by U.S. policies, rather

than by values or culture. When asked: "What is the first thought

when you hear 'America'?" respondents overwhelmingly said: "Unfair

foreign policy."

And when asked what the United States could do to improve its image

in the Arab world, the most frequently provided answers were "Stop

supporting Israel" and "Change your Middle East policy."…