Though of Lebanese descent, Abourezk was born in Wood, South Dakota and lived in South Dakota most of his life. Between 1948 and 1952, he served in the United States Navy during the Korean War. Back in the U.S., he received a degree in civil engineering from South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City, South Dakota in 1961, and then earned an advanced degree from South Dakota Law School in Vermillion in 1966. He passed the bar, and began a legal practice in Rapid City.
In 1980, Abourezk founded the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee, a grassrootscivil rights organization committed empowering Arab-Americans and encouraging a balanced U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Abourezk now works as a lawyer and writer in Rapid City. In 1989, he wrote Advise and Dissent: Memoirs of South Dakota and the U.S. Senate (ISBN 1556520662).
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JamesAbourezk was the first Arab-American to serve in the U.S. Senate.
James George Abourezk (born February 24, 1931) was a Democratic United States Representative and United States Senator, and was the first Arab-American to serve in the United States Senate.
Born to Christian Lebanese parents, Abourezk was born in Wood, South Dakota and lived in South Dakota most of his life.
ABOUREZK: I think it's solvable, and I think what it really is now is that Israel is the obstacle to a peace agreement between the Arab states, between the PLO and Israel.
ABOUREZK: The Israelis have undertaken a number of terrorist activities and I'd say the ratio of Lebanese and Palestinians and others that they've killed -- that the Israelis have killed --as opposed to how many the Palestinians have killed -- is a ratio of 50:1.
ABOUREZK: I'm not sure what it is. In any event, I heard him a year or so ago announcing on the radio that he thought the PLO offices ought to be closed in this country, closed down.
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