Palm Sunday last week marked the start of the religious holiday during which Christians contemplate the promise of hope and redemption offered by the death and resurrection of Jesus, concepts central to their faith.

The driving force behind nearly every major conflict in the Arab and Muslim worlds, from Syria to Iraq and Afghanistan to Sudan, has been or is US foreign policy, in conjunction with individual American allies.

Arab Americans have been lobbying for years to be treated the same as other minority and racial groups when it comes to receiving benefits both nationally and at state level.