Fire Destroys Arab-American’s Store : Sherman Oaks: Police are investigating the burning of a gourmet shop as a possible hate crime related to the Persian Gulf War.

Six months ago, Fouad Halaby proudly opened his second small business in the same Sherman Oaks mini-mall: a gourmet coffee shop, only a few paces from the family-style restaurant where he serves falafel, shish kebab and other Middle Eastern food.

But Wednesday morning, the Lebanese-American’s newest venture had been reduced to ashes by fire. On the sidewalk in front was scrawled, “Go Home,” followed by an obscenity and the word “Arabs.”

Police said they are investigating the fire at Worldwide Coffee & Nuts as a likely hate crime related to the Persian Gulf War. Halaby said the anti-Arab graffiti appeared a day before the blaze broke out.

Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells said Halaby’s shop, 4362 Woodman Avenue, suffered $85,000 damage in the blaze, which erupted shortly after 3 a.m. Investigators had not determined the cause of the fire, but had not ruled out arson, he said. There were no injuries.

Detective Mel Arnold, hate-crimes coordinator for the Los Angeles Police Department, noted that Halaby had received no threats before the war broke out last week.

“There has been an increase in hate crimes aimed toward both Arabs and Jews and we’re keeping a real close watch on it,” Arnold said. “We’re going to conduct our investigation as if it was related” to the war, he said, “unless we learn otherwise.”

Halaby, a naturalized U.S. citizen who lives in Sylmar, said his coffee shop carried a sign in English, Hebrew and Arabic, advertising itself to potential customers in the neighborhood, an ethnic palette of Jews, Arabs, Asians and others.

But he said he did not think the Arabic script had made him a possible firebombing target for a hothead angered at local Arabs because of the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

“We’ve been in business here for six years,” he said, referring to his nearby Carnival Restaurant, which also carries a sign in English and Arabic. “Why today? All our customers are very friendly. We are not strangers here.”

As far as some of Halaby’s customers and passersby were concerned, though, his ethnicity was the likely reason for the fire.

“These people are just victims because of what’s going on” in the war, said Ernie Camarena, a tile-setter who works in the neighborhood at a nearby construction site.

“I don’t think it’s this guy’s fault what’s happening,” said Bill Collins, a fellow tile-setter. “I think the person who did this is sick.”

Stone-faced and reluctant to talk about the incident, Halaby, 55, grimly picked his way through the water-saturated rubble of his little shop Wednesday morning.

Inside, bins once fragrant with coffee beans, chocolates and after-dinner mints held only scorched lumps. Outside, two ruined cafe chairs held up a yellow plastic tape marked, “Fire Line Do Not Cross.”

Halaby said he does not belong to any pro-Arab organizations or engage in political activities that might have made him a target.

“Nobody likes war, but the war situation--it’s not my concern, really. It’s not my business. I’m not a political man. I’m only minding my business,” he said.

“We have made our business from scratch. We work hard--17, 18 hours a day. All our customers are lovely. They like us, and we like them . . . I’m not a religious man, I like everybody. “

“I have no idea why this happened,” he said.