Islamic Leaders in Detroit Call for Immediate Ceasefire in Middle East

July 19, 2006

Source: WXYZ News

http://www.detnow.com/wxyz/nw_local_news/article/0,2132,WXYZ_15924_4855079,00.html

On July 19, 2006 WXYZ News reported, "According to estimates from the local Muslim community and from the offices of Senator Debbie Stabenow and Congressman John Dingell, there are still 7,000 Lebanese-Americans from the Detroit area who remain in the Middle East. Leaders from the Detroit area Muslim community held a press conference in Dearborn Wednesday. They want President George Bush to call for an immediate ceasefire in the region. 'This aggression at this time – whether we like it or we don’t – it has to be stopped.' said Imam Mohamad Mardini from the American Muslim Center. Minister Dawud Walid, Executive Director of the Center on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, said some in the community have drawn parallels between the plight of evacuees from Lebanon and the situation faced by African-Americans in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. 'Many Muslims and Christians in the Arab-American community have the exact same sentiment that African-Americans had last year when they feel as if they are being treated as second-class citizens,' Walid said Wednesday morning."