orocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Sudan, and Egypt and to the western Asian countries of Lebanon, occupied Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. These nations do differ somewhat in terms of their cultures and traditions, but the common ground is an "Arabic heritage" and the Arabic language. Not all Arab-Americans are Muslims, but they are part of the larger community that in some ways supports the Muslim community as standing at the center of this diverse grouping of peoples (El-Badry, 1994, 22-24).
Arab immigration to the United States started in the late nineteenth century, when the early arrivals were primarily Christians from Syria and Lebanon who established themselves as merchants. The government later curbed immigration between 1925 and 1948 during the period of the Great Depression and World war II. After that, Arab immigration increased once more with people from capitalist classes, landed gentry, and influential urban families fleeing from political turmoil in countries where the leadership had been overthrown. A number of postwar immigrants were from Palestine and were displaced when Israel was created in 1948. A number more were Egyptians who lost their land when the Nasser regime confiscated it. Syrians fled a country overthrown by revolutionaries, while Iraqi royalty escaped from republican regimes. Many of these immigrants had attended Western or westernized schools and so spoke fluent English. They identified themselves as members of a professional class. Immigration from the Middle East increased dramatically in the 1960s, and more than 75 percent of foreign-born Arab Americans in 1990 were found to have immigrated after 1964, compared with 52 percent for the total foreign-born U.S. population. The largest share, some 44 percent, came to the United States between 1975 and 1980, and one reason for this was the Immigration Act of 1965...