Dearborn Muslims Call Upon Businesses to Shut Down in Protest of Israeli Strikes

July 17, 2006

Source: Detroit Free Press

[freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060717/NEWS06/607170401]

On July 17, 2006 the Detroit Free Press reported, "Muslims attending a memorial service at a Dearborn mosque Sunday evening called upon businesses along Warren Avenue in Dearborn to shut down at 5 p.m. Tuesday to protest Israeli action in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. About 1,500 people attended the service at the Islamic Center of America in memory of 12 family members of a Dearborn family who died after a building in Lebanon was struck last week by an Israeli warplane. Speakers at the service criticized Israel and asked the U.S. government to help U.S. citizens trapped in Lebanon. With picture slides behind him showing the attacks in Lebanon, Ned Fawaz, chairman of the board of the Islamic Center, urged the crowd to 'call Washington, call all your senators ... send e-mails' voicing opposition to Israel's actions. Mohammad Bazzi of Dearborn Heights said that business owners are planning to shut down at the start of a march scheduled for Tuesday along Warren Avenue -- the main commercial strip in east Dearborn."