Source: Canton Repository
Wire Service: AP
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=330241&Category=13&subCategoryID=&surveyDone=yes
PARMA The former imam of Ohio’s largest mosque became a man without a country.
Fawaz Damra, now jailed by Israeli authorities, for months sought a nation to accept him following his 2004 conviction for concealing ties to terrorist groups. But 72 rejected him, leaving him with no choice but deportation to his native West Bank, which led to his arrest Jan. 4.
His ties to militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks on Israelis, made it impossible for Damra to find a new start.
Damra, 46, a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Nablus, was the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, raising three American-born daughters with his wife in suburban Strongsville, when terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.