Pyramid Chicken. Photo: Blanche Shaheen By: Blanche Shaheen/Arab America Contributing Writer Introduction: If there is one protein Middle Eastern restaurants know how to prepare is chicken, and there are several techniques you can incorporate to get the same tender and juicy results. From using an easy makeshift spit roaster, to adding the right marinade, the cooking tips below will help you create flavorful and tender chicken at home, whether using chicken breast or chicken thighs.  One cut of meat many find challenging to work with is the chicken breast. While chicken breast is filling ..read more

By: Menal Elmaliki / Arab America Contributing Writer Yemeni Dancers doing a traditional dance at the Met Museum. Photo Source: Menal Elmaliki On Sunday April 21st, the MET museum event “A Celebration of the Arts and Culture of Yemen” featured traditional Yemeni dance, music, Yemeni coffee, as well as hands on activities that celebrated Yemen’s cultural heritage from way of dress to their architectural uniqueness. New Yorkers got an inside look on the rich and vibrant culture of this country while also meeting members of the Yemeni diaspora. The event not only celebrated Yemen’s cultural herit ..read more

Capernaum Trailer By: María Teresa Fidalgo-Azize| Arab America Contributing Writer  Sara Aridi: Some critics may see the film as “poverty porn”  Nadine Labaki: All I can tell them is: “Get real. Get out of your cage where you’re writing your critique and go out into the world and see what’s happening around you.” What you see in the film is nothing compared to reality. We should wake up to how many children are suffering in the world. It’s unbearable suffering; I didn’t put rape scenes in the film, I didn’t put real abuse in the film—because I couldn’t.  Capernaum’ Is Not Just ..read more

Student Encampment for Palestine at Columbia University. Photo: Wikimedia Commons By: Ghassan Rubeiz / Arab America Contributing Writer Editors Note: After the writing of the article below, last night, police clad in riot gear commenced the arrest of numerous pro-Palestinian demonstrators at Columbia University. The escalation occurred as protesters occupied a campus building, intensifying the ongoing crisis at the school and sparking student activism across numerous campuses nationwide. As the student protests against Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza spread from campus to campus, our nat ..read more

By: Malak Hassouna / Arab America Contributing Writer  On Saturday, April 27, 2024, we welcomed over 300 people to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library to celebrate National Arab American Heritage Month with a vibrant afternoon of cultural exploration! The event included a fashion show that showcased the beauty and diversity of Arab American style. Energetic music and dance performances featuring the DMV’s premier all-female dabke ensemble, “Malikat Al Dabke.” Their dynamic routines blend traditional and modern styles, celebrating Arab heritage within an American context. Engaging ..read more

Photo Al-Jazeera By: John Mason / Arab America Contributing Writer Here, we diverge from our regular pathbreaker series. That is because we honor Shereen Abu Akleh as an Arab American pathbreaker for a second time. Shereen was originally our twentieth pathbreaker. Now we reprieve the earlier article, adding to it because this coming May 11 is the second anniversary of Shereen’s murder. Abu-Akleh, a Palestinian American, was born in East Jerusalem on the occupied West Bank on April 3, 1971. She was an outstanding journalist, reporting from around the Arab World but focused on Palestine for Al-J ..read more

By: Claire Boyle / Arab America Contributing Writer In 2017, the Arab America Foundation created the grassroots initiative to commemorate the month of April as National Arab American Heritage Month, abbreviated as NAAHM, with only a few states recognizing the initiative with proclamations. Seven years later, full of dedicated activism with a network of over 250 volunteers, NAAHM has grown into a national movement where companies, nonprofits, individuals, the U.S. federal, state, and local governments, school districts, libraries, universities and colleges, and so many more institutions are no ..read more

By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab America Contributing Writer The first time that I tasted musakhkhan, the epitome of Palestinian cuisine, was in the early 1960s in the Palestinian town of Qalquila. We had travelled there to visit the Shanti family whose son Ahmad was a family friend in Canada. That evening, as we sat around a low table, intoxicated by the aroma flowing from a large platter, we anxiously awaited our meal. “This is musakhkhan, our most famous dish.  I am sure you will enjoy it”, Ahmad beamed as he filled our plates.  His were not idle words.  This chicken-sumac dish ..read more

By: Ghassan Rubeiz / Arab America Contributing Writer The world expresses a sigh of relief that Iran and Israel did not go all the way to start a regional war. Iranian American analyst, Trita Parsi, has captured the scene: Israel and Iran have been embroiled in a shadow war for more than a decade, but they had never been this close to an all-out war. Recent developments between Iran and Israel diverted world attention from Gaza. In a matter of days, Iran’s rocket barrage, and drone and missile attacks transformed Israel from an isolated and demoralized state into a most favored country i ..read more

Four Daughters’ Trailer By: María Teresa Fidalgo-Azize| Arab America Contributing Writer  Olfa: It’s a tragedy. I hate girls. I didn’t want to have daughters.  Hend Sabry: What I understand, is that for you, their bodies are dangerous.  Olfa: There’s no doubt about it. The body, it’s really where the line is drawn. It is the   private property of one single person.  Hend Sabry: The husband.  Olfa: Yes.  Four Daughters, Kaouther Ben Hania Subjected to an ideology where women’s autonomy is viewed as threatening, thus requiring to be controlled, it c ..read more