SAN FRANCISCO--On a chilly rainy night in the San Francisco Bay Area, a cavernous conference center has been transformed into a desert oasis, complete with sword swallowers, belly dancers and Desert Passion cocktails. Fewer than three out of 10 Americans might support the President on Iraq, racial stereotyping of Arabs and Muslim Americans might be on the rise, but Arabian Night theme parties are just rocking the Casbah.

"After 9/11 the popularity of Egyptian and Moroccan themes did decline," says party organizer Renda Dabit who also does Bollywood and Las Vegas themes among others. "But the last two years have seen a strong increase."

Dabit's company Hennagarden first organized an Arabian theme party for a socialite in Napa in 1998-99, with henna artists, a few camels and some tents. At the latest corporate bash a dancer in a shiny gold sheath shimmied with an albino boa constrictor amidst mounds of iced Gulf prawns while Dabit ran around trying to set up the hookah lounge and the henna artists. She worried about all the details that can easily turn an Arabian Night into a party planner's nightmare -- "a snake getting loose, a contortionist not holding her pose, a bra strap coming undone."

There is no doubt that Americans are more aware of the Middle East and Islam than ever before. War can demonize people, designate them as the "other" but also conversely create a fascination with the culture. Demand is high: Dabit had to pull one of her snake dancers out of semi-retirement; in New York, gay Habibi parties promise you will "find your Arabian prince." DJ Aykut from Istanbul puts on Middle Eastern-themed parties once a month in San Francisco, which, he says, are becoming more and more popular.

But Abiya Ahmed, media relations coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) wonders if the recent spurt in Arabian night theme parties "is more about Aladdin than the War in Iraq." Sunaina Maira, professor of Asian-American Studies at UC Davis agrees. She has studied the American fascination with belly-dancing, which flourished in the 1960s in San Francisco clubs on Broadway in North Beach with names like Baghdad and Casbah. "While the dancers might be pretty liberal they are more into Mother Goddess ideas than learning Arabic," says Maira. "No one is doing a benefit to protest the war in Iraq."

In fact, says Maira, the popularity of Arabian nights could be "letting American culture off the hook. It could make people feel we are not racist. After all we are listening to Arab music," she says.

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