Arab Americans and Other Ethnic American Communities and the U.S. Middle East Policy - Middle East Journalists

May 16-29, 2004, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Detroit
Washington Foreign Press Center Program Officer: Algis Silas
Telephone: 202-504-6317, Email:silasa@state.gov

Eleven NEA journalists from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Iraq, Israel, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia and the West Bank participated in this 14-day tour.

In Washington, the group met with ethnic American interest groups to discuss their roles in civic and political empowerment within their communities in the U.S.  The journalists’ schedule included meetings with Managing Director Jean AbiNader and Dr. James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute; Executive Director Frank Calzon of the Center for a Free Cuba; Executive Director Ross Vartian of the Armenian Assembly of America; and Deputy Director for Foreign Policy Issues Dr. Keith Weissman of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.  The journalists also visited and met with Public Affairs Deputy Director Mike Corton of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to receive an overview briefing about the FBI.  Finally, the group met with the U.S. Department of State’s Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, of the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, to discuss the U.S. Middle East policy.

In Orlando some of the visits included meeting with the Orlando / Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau for an overview of the business and economic aspects of the Orlando metropolitan area; meeting with the Orlando Sentinel newspaper editors; meeting with Mr. Taleb Salhab, President of the Orlando Arab American Community Center to discuss the evolution of the Orlando Arab American Community Center and an overview of the Orlando Arab American community’s civic and political activities; meeting with the Florida Orange County Chairmen of the Republican and Democrat parties to discuss issues of concern relating to the 2004 elections on the national, state and local level and how the issues relate to the local Arab American community; meeting with Coptic Christian Arab American community; visiting Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom and Epcot; meeting with American Muslim Alliance board members to receive an overview of the American Muslim Alliance and to discuss issues of concern to the Orlando American Muslim community; meeting with professors at the University of Central Florida to discuss the Middle East Studies program at UCF;  and attended an Orlando Sentinel Community Forum with the Orlando Arab and Muslim American community to observe the Arab / Muslim American community in action.

The journalists concluded their working reporting tour by visiting Detroit and Dearborn, Michigan.  The program schedule included meetings with the Executive Director of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce, Nasser Beydoun to discuss the Chamber’s role in civic, business and political empowerment with the Detroit metropolitan area and the state of Michigan; meeting with Imam Sayed Qazwini of the Islamic Center of America; a meeting with Dr. Ronald Stockton of the Center for Arab American Studies at the University of Michigan at Dearborn; meeting with the Chaldean American Chamber of Commerce and community leaders, visiting the Detroit Free Press to meet with editors to discuss how the Free Press covers the Detroit /Dearborn Arab American community; and meeting with Dearborn Mayor Michael Guido and the Mayor’s Citizen Liaison Youssef Beydoun to receive an overview of the Dearborn Mayor’s office and its relationship with the Arab American community of Dearborn, Michigan.