Bethlehem has always loomed large in our imagination.

In 1971, I was working at a Boy's Club in the Germantown section of Philadelphia running an after-school program. One day, the Police Athletic League representative dropped off a pile of coloring books for the younger kids

There is widespread upset in capitals across the Arab World at having been sidelined by the Obama Administration in the on-going P5+1 negotiations with Iran.

Over the many years I have been involved working within the Arab American community, I have had to contend with a range of myths and misunderstandings about both the nature and composition of the community as well as their attitudes toward major issues of concern facing the United States. 

Next week, Arab American leaders and activists from a dozen key electoral states will convene in Washington to map out a political strategy for 2016.

In October, 1994, I was in the lounge at Kennedy Airport in New York City waiting to board an Egypt Air flight to Cairo. My fellow passengers, mostly Egyptians, were seated near a television watching a rather engaging program

In case you haven't noticed, the Obama Administration is in the midst of an on-going and very public spat with the Netanyahu government in Israel.

With mid-term elections only weeks away, I am once again being asked by Arab friends to explain my support for the Democratic Party.

With the US currently engaged in an air-war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria and with voices now calling for deeper engagement in both conflict zones, the American public is being bombarded with commentary and analysis about ISIS, Syria and Iraq, and Muslims

On Monday, the British House of Commons will vote on a resolution recognizing the "State of Palestine". Passage of the motion will not create a state nor will it end the Israeli occupation. A "Yes" vote is, nevertheless, important for several reasons.

It appears that we may be going to war against the Islamic State (IS). I use the word "appears" advisedly, because appearances may be deceiving.

My mother was fond of saying "if you want someone to hear you, you must first listen to them"—know them, understand the questions they are asking, and be sensitive to their concerns. If you do this, she would say, "you will be able to speak with people and not at them". 

We have every reason to be concerned with the fate of the Christian communities of the Arab World. From Egypt to Iraq, these ancient churches have not only survived through centuries of hardship, foreign invasions, and domestic repression, they have also played an important role contributing to Arab culture and Islamic civilization. 

Almost daily, we are faced by difficult choices we are challenged to confront over a range of foreign and domestic policy concerns.

This is the year in which we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Bill. Instead of being able to reflect on the distance we have traveled since 1964, the horrific events unfolding in Ferguson, Missouri only served to remind us of how far we still have to go.