Civil Rights Group Says Anti-Arab Sentiment Is Increasing : Race relations: It claims gulf crisis has spurred bigotry in the U.S. It seeks to improve attitude toward those of Middle Eastern descent.

An Arab-American civil rights group contends that violence and subtler acts of bigotry have intensified during the Persian Gulf crisis against people who appear to have Arab ancestry.

To combat the problem, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee says it is seeking law enforcement help and stepping up efforts to give the public a better view of people with Arab roots.

Although the group has logged several dozen incidents of assaults and slurs since Iraq’s Aug. 2 invasion of Kuwait, other Arab-American officials question the extent of the problem. Also, key federal agencies say they see little evidence of a serious or growing threat.

Nevertheless, the Anti-Discrimination Committee, which is headed by former Sen. James G. Abourezk (D-S.D.), maintains that its concern is well-grounded in recent incidents such as these:

--In Houston, a couple was beaten at a shopping mall. Although they protested that they were Saudis, an attacker said: “We don’t care. You’re Arab.”

--In Charlestown, Mass., an Arab-American was told by neighbors that he would die if he did not move out, and his landlord received a warning to “kick that Arab out.”

--In an Indiana congressional race, a man dressed as a sheik in a TV commercial sarcastically lauded Rep. Philip R. Sharp (D-Ind.) for being the Arab oil producers’ “best friend.” An Indiana newspaper denounced the Republican ad for “insulting an entire ethnic group.”

--And at the China Lake Naval Weapons Center in California, workers wore T-shirts that portrayed U.S. warplanes attacking an Arab riding a camel. “I’d fly 7,000 miles to smoke a camel,” the caption read. “Smoke” is military jargon for destroy.

Abourezk said in an interview that “racism against Arabs has been endemic ever since the Crusades. But it was stimulated (in the United States) by the 1973 oil embargo.

“Any time there’s a lot of violence or huckletybuck in the Middle East,” he added, “you find rising animosity toward Arab-Americans here.”

In a recent fund-raising letter for the group, Abourezk said that “despite Arab-American opposition to the invasion (of Kuwait), our community has been the target of an alarming wave of hate crimes.” He mentioned “hundreds of assaults, threats and attacks by vandals” and hinted of the possible “involvement of terrorist groups”--a veiled reference to the militant Jewish Defense League, sources said.

The Anti-Discrimination Committee has compiled a list of incidents reported to its headquarters here: 29 in August, 20 in September, 16 in October and 4 in November.

During the period, the group obtained statements condemning such activity from President Bush and various groups, including the National Council of Churches, the Jewish Peace Fellowship and the American Civil Liberties Union.

At the same time, leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Committee, which has branches in Southern California and throughout the country, met with top FBI officials to voice concern.

Amid these outcries, however, officials of another Arab-American group expressed private doubts about a major backlash against Arabs. They suggested that the threat was being hyped by the Abourezk-led committee to raise money.

“This alarmist talk can be harmful by driving a lot of people into the closet,” said one official, who requested anonymity.

An FBI spokesman said “we’re not aware of any increase” in violence or threats against Arab-Americans.

“No pattern has emerged of federal civil rights violations” since the Gulf crisis began, and there have been no terrorist incidents, the spokesman said.

Similarly, the Justice Department’s civil rights division said it has experienced “no substantial increase” in allegations of violence or intimidation against Arab-Americans.

Also, the department’s Community Relations Service said it has received only a handful of calls involving Arab-Americans on the toll-free Hate Hotline that it set up last April to take complaints about hate activity.

A spokesman for the agency found four such calls among the 2,200 total. One caller from the Chicago area referred to Arab-Americans as “camel jockeys,” and said they should be thrown out of the country. Another caller from Los Angeles complained of harassment of Arab-Americans, the spokesman said.

Albert Mokhiber, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, insisted that the problem was not being exaggerated.

“We are not trying to produce paranoia or hysteria,” he said. “Compared to the one or two incidents we normally log every month, this is a huge increase. And we undoubtedly hear about only a small minority of actual cases.”

Colleen O’Connor, the ACLU’s public education director, agreed that “hate crimes against Arab-Americans are on the rise.

“It’s my sense,” she said, “that we’re entering a phase like the 1978 Iranian hostage situation, when students from Iran and Arab countries were beaten up.” It stems, she added, from “the frustration of a great power being humbled by another country.”

Jack G. Shaheen, who has written books denouncing negative Arab stereotyping in TV and movies, finds deplorable irony in current anti-Arab activity.

“Although more than 100,000 troops from nine Arab countries are deployed with American forces, some perceive all Arabs as Saddam Hussein types,” said Shaheen, a mass communications professor at Southern Illinois University whose grandparents were Lebanese immigrants.

“A major reason,” he continued, “is that Americans of Arab origin historically have not had a presence in our popular culture. They are not part of any integrated TV police force, they are not part of soap operas, nor do we see them in medical or lawyer shows. We get, instead, the Jamie Farr guy (Cpl. Clinger) with a dress on in “MASH.”

“This bigotry,” he said, “needs to be addressed by bringing Arab-Americans into the mainstream of our society.”

Abourezk, who went into law practice after leaving the Senate in 1979, theorizes that anti-Arab feeling has the same racial and economic roots as discrimination against blacks.

“People are looking for an external scapegoat of some sort, and they can point to somebody with a darker skin and say they’re at fault,” said Abourezk, who is of Lebanese descent.

Many are making efforts to counter the discrimination.

The Los Angeles chapter of the Anti-Discrimination Committee has embarked on a “meet-an-Arab” program that offers speakers to public schools, colleges, civic associations and other groups, said Don Bustany, president of the chapter.

“We’re also trying to get the image of Arabs in entertainment changed,” he said.

Spearheading that mission is Casey Kasem, host of two nationally syndicated radio music programs. He has given speeches to Hollywood writers, directors and producers groups. And he said he is not above taking a stand.

Recently, he was informed by his agent that ABC-TV’s “MacGyver” wanted him in the role of an Arab for one episode.

“Is it a good or a bad Arab?” Kasem asked, and then turned down what he called the usual offer to play a heavy.

“I just refuse to do anything that’s going to denigrate any ethnic group,” he said.

Ayoub Palhami, who has been a leader of two Arab-American groups in Chicago, said “we are doing what we should have done many, many years ago” to fight bigotry.

“For instance, if there is an incident with a kid in school, the parents or neighborhood organizations get together and immediately take action. We get it resolved long before it becomes widespread,” said Palhami, a Palestinian immigrant and a top official of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District.

Above all, he said, many Arab-Americans “have learned how to swim in the mainstream. We have acquired a lot of mainstream characteristics and, therefore, become a bit more assertive.”

Staff writer Ronald J. Ostrow contributed to this story.