What are we to take away from the disappearance of Sami Al-Arian? I mean his disappearance— by deportation— from the struggle for civil rights in the USA. For more than 15 years, Al-Arian has been a symbol of resistance to intimidation from the daunting and deadly alliance of Israel and the US government to deny Palestinian aspirations, to quell support for Palestinian rights, to smother Arab American and Muslim American leadership, to strengthen anti-terror legislation and to erode the civil rights of all Americans.
Few men and women from our community have been able to sustain the kind of resistance the Al-Arians have waged for justice. Sami Al-Arian confronted a succession of obstacles that would have broken most of us. First was his support for Mazen Al-Najjar (Al-Arian’s brother-in-law) related to their Florida-based think tank, WISE (World and Islamic Studies Enterprise) when Al-Najjar was targeted by well-known pro-Israeli agents. (We’re return to Al-Najjar’s persecution later).
After charges against Al-Najjar were dropped, although continued harassment eventually ended in his deportation, the anti-Palestinian campaign turned to Al-Arian. First it targeted Al-Arian’s professorship with the University of South Florida. (He was dismissed in October 2001 but put up a vigorous fight and in the process drew wide attention to his unjust treatment.) Al-Arian pressed ahead with challenges to human rights abuses, especially government use of secret evidence, co-founding the National Association to Protect Political Freedom (NAPPF) and a Tampa Bay civil rights group. NAPPF’s main goal was to call the government’s use of secret evidence following the passage of the Antiterrorism Act of 1996.