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Prejudice rages
throughout the world against Muslims especially in the nation of
Israel’s
biggest ally, the U.S.A. Even with the atrocities of mass killings,
destruction of property
and the violations and denials of basic human rights by the Israeli
Occupation Authority,
continued targeting of Muslims occur daily.
The Omar Mosque in Nablus was purposely and willfully destroyed even
as it was also
being used as a makeshift hospital for the many wounded during the
siege of Nablus.
Jenin, as it has been leveled to the ground by Israeli Occupation
tanks, has of course
lost all of its holy places, mosques and churches alike.
Bethlehem is under siege with the main concentration on the Church
of the Nativity under
fire but also tens of other churches and several mosques under fire
of tanks, rifles, and
bombing.
Fear from the despair and rage suffered by the Arab world, Muslims
and Christians alike,
is promoting extreme levels of prejudice amongst the U.S.
population. Arab Americans
and more obviously Muslim Americans are being racially profiled and
unjustly accused of
assumed guilt, before any action has taken place. The raids upon
Islamic institutions and
charity organizations in the U.S., the racial profiling at airports
and refusal to let Muslims
travel, and the accusations thrown at Muslim ladies wearing the
headscarf, ‘hijab’, have
got to be controlled. Just last week, May Department Stores settled
by monetary
compensation and an apology to 2 Muslim women that they had accused
of shoplifting and
hiding stolen goods under their hijabs. This settlement comes 7
months after the incident
occurred, too little, too late.
There are 7 million Muslims residing in the U.S., the policy of
prejudice had better to be
altered as discrimination is unconstitutional and a violation of
one’s human rights. What
more can the vile Israeli prejudice against the Palestinian people
teach us?
* Saira W. Soufan is a Pakistani-American studied in Biology and
free lance social worker. Married and living
in Amman-Jordan. Currently working as an assistant editor with the
Jerusalem Forum.
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