They also have ties to the Arab world. They are local Arab Americans and they met at the Saratoga Library the night of Dec. 16. About a dozen Arab Americans, and a few non-Arab spouses, gathered in the library's community room for a meeting sponsored by the Arab American Cultural Center of Silicon Valley.

Jamal Zeid of Saratoga is the president of the cultural center. Zeid decided to try hosting the center's once-a-month meeting at his hometown's newly built library. The group arrived at the library at 7 to eat snacks, drink coffee and socialize. They were a mostly middle-aged crowd--husbands and wives, Christians and Muslims, dressed in typical Western clothing. Two young women wore the traditional Muslim hijab.

Zeid has lived in Saratoga for 22 years. He left his home in Galilee in what is now Israel in 1948, the year of the Arab-Israeli War. He then lived in refugee camps in Lebanon before moving to Saudi Arabia, where he worked from 1950 to 1956. He came to the United States in 1957 to study electrical engineering, staying on in the U.S. and landing a job with Lockheed Martin.

Zeid estimates that 500 Arab Americans live in Saratoga and about 30,000 in the greater San Jose area. The Arab American Cultural Center of Silicon Valley, located in San Jose, provides Arabic classes, legal and medical advice, and social events. The center also produces a television program that airs every Thursday at 8:30 p.m. on San Jose's community access channel 15.

The Arabic music playing in the library community room was turned off and the lights dimmed as the group settled in to watch a recorded television program produced by the cultural center. The program was an interview with Stan George, a third-generation Arab American Christian from Gilroy, who discussed his travels through the Middle East. He and his Minnesota-born wife had traveled to his grandfather's home in Lebanon and through several Middle Eastern countries. George explained that he had encountered bitter feelings throughout the region that residents attributed to Western imperialism and the formation of Israel.

A Willow Glen couple at the meeting, Loai and Mickie Najjar, then showed a slide show of their recent trip to the Middle East. The couple had attended the wedding of Loai Najiar's nephew in Amman, Jordan, and had also visited Israel, the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon. In one picture, Loai Naijar stood in front of his grandfather's home outside of Haifa, Israel, where a Russian-Jewish family now lives. The couple encountered no problems during their travels until they flew into the United Kingdom on July 7. They experienced delays when four suicide bombers struck London that morning killing 56 people and injuring 700.

Joe Louis (no relation to the boxer) from Los Gatos and his wife Najah were at the meeting. Louis is a Syrian Christian who came to the United States in the 1960s and studied civil engineering at San José State University. He said he worked for the public works department in Saratoga from 1968 to 1971 before working as an engineer for the town of Los Gatos. He is now president of the Louis Engineering Corporation. His four children are all graduates of Saratoga High School.

"We come from different countries, from different backgrounds and religions," Louis said. "Most of us came here for education. We adopted the lifestyle of the United States. We love the freedom, the people, the culture, and so we stayed. The thing about the United States is that there are no limits. The limits are the ones you put on yourself. That is very different from other parts of the world."

Louis said that as a group, the Arab American Cultural Center of Silicon Valley tries to stay away from politics. He said that since 9-11, he continues to speak his mind but other Arab Americans are more cautious and they worry about being misinterpreted. "I think there's a lot of fear," he said. "It's not like before. Nowadays, especially the newcomers, are afraid to speak their minds."

Louis said he hopes a new administration and a new Congress will come in and look at things differently. "I'm praying that things will change," he said.

Louis said the Arab American Cultural Center of Silicon Valley provides a valuable service by bringing the Arab American community together and by communicating with the larger community. "We need to get together and encourage our youth to get involved," he said.