As Election Day draws near, morality is at the top of mind for many young Arab and Muslim Philadelphians who are eligible to vote for the first time this election. Candidates’ proposed policies on Palestine and Israel — including their commitment to continued U.S. military aid to Israel in the midst of an ongoing genocide — are being used as a litmus test.

Over 30 demonstrators interrupted the Philadelphia School District’s monthly board meeting at district headquarters this past Thursday, October 24th, calling on the district to reinstate suspended Northeast High School teacher Keziah Ridgeway. Ridgeway, 39, teaches African American history and social and cultural anthropology at Northeast. A Black Muslim-American, Ridgeway has been a longtime advocate of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in school. 

“I believe that most of us in the [Palestinian] diaspora kept our heads down for a long time and tried to fly under the radar,” Hazou said when she sat down for an exclusive interview with Al-Bustan News.

Mohammed Aqlan is a big dreamer. The Yemeni-born owner of Malooga, a Yemeni restaurant in Philadelphia’s Old City, is quick to admit this if you ask him about the genesis of Malooga.

With back-to-school season in full swing in the U.S., many Palestinian liberation activists are using this time to raise awareness of the ongoing ‘scholasticide’ in Gaza.

Al-Bustan News reports on Philadelphia’s La Farrah Boutique, a dress shop in Philadelphia's Winchester Park neighborhood, which sells traditional Palestinian dresses decorated with embroidery, or tatreez....