Palestinian-American Defies Israeli Order to Leave

Mubarak Awad, a Palestinian-American political activist who urges nonviolent resistance to Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, defied a government order to leave the country Friday and sought a symbolic refuge in the Old City’s Al Aksa Mosque.

Israeli officials, meanwhile, suggested that it may be two weeks or longer before they act to deport Awad forcibly, allowing more time for discussion of his future between the U.S. and Israeli governments.

“I think they’re going to stall at this point, at least, until (Foreign Minister Shimon) Peres and (Prime Minister Yitzhak) Shamir get back, and then see how hard the Americans are going to push the case,” said one Western diplomatic source. Peres is in Western Europe and Shamir in the United States until next week.

The United States has already protested the expulsion order, calling Awad “a moderating influence in a potentially volatile area.”

U.S. Opposes Expulsion

Israeli officials confirmed Friday that U.S. Charge d’Affaires Arthur Hughes pressed the American case in meetings Thursday with Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Ministry director general, Yossi Beilin.

On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said in Washington that it would be “regrettable if the Israeli government does in fact expel (Awad). We believe that the principles of peaceful change and nonviolence in the occupied territories deserve strong support and encouragement.”

Awad was born and raised in Arab East Jerusalem but lived for 15 years in the United States and became a U.S. citizen. Earlier this week, he received written notice from Israel’s Interior Ministry that he must leave the country no later than Friday.

He was stripped last spring of the Jerusalem residence permit he had held since 1967, when Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the Six-Day War. He is appealing that action in the Israeli courts and remained in the country on a tourist visa, which expired Friday.

Compared With Gandhi

The 44-year-old psychologist has been called the “Palestinian Gandhi” because of his support for nonviolent civil disobedience as an alternative to terrorism in resisting Israeli occupation. He founded the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence in early 1985, and has lived here with his American wife since that time.

No official reason has been given for the government’s refusal to allow Awad to remain here, although privately, government sources have complained about his political activity. Several have responded to inquiries about the case by asking rhetorically what Washington would do if someone in the U.S. on a tourist visa called for civil disobedience by American blacks--an argument that implies no special consideration for Awad as a native Palestinian.

Scores of Israeli supporters have pledged to handcuff themselves to Awad to prevent police from arresting and deporting him.

“I bought handcuffs, so after midnight I will have them with me,” Awad said in an interview Friday. “Whoever is around at the time anyone comes for me will be unlucky,” he added with a laugh.

Offer of Sanctuary

Awad, who is Christian, said that Muslim officials offered him sanctuary during his visit to the ancient mosque Friday morning. He has scheduled similar, symbolic visits today at a Reform Synagogue in Jerusalem and on Sunday at the Old City’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

A group of new Jewish immigrants demonstrated in support of Awad outside the Interior Ministry on Friday morning. They called for “an immediate reversal” of the decision to deport him.

“We did not come here to displace those who were born here,” the immigrant group said in a statement to the ministry and the press. “We did not leave our families for a country that bars entry to others seeking to rejoin theirs.”