Arab-Americans Fear Misplaced Anger, Worry About Relatives

Nadia Bettindorf was pushing a shopping cart through a La Mirada grocery store Thursday when she noticed a man tailing two women speaking Arabic.

“He had a woman with him and he said to her, ‘I would like to kick their ass,’ ” Bettindorf recalled angrily. “He was going on and on and being very abusive, walking around them in circles.”

Bettindorf, herself a Palestinian-American, kept silent, not wanting to make the situation worse. When the Arab-speaking women appeared not to notice the taunts, the man and his companion went on their way.

The incident reflects what some people in the Arab-American community believe is mounting anti-Arab sentiment across Orange County and the nation as the Persian Gulf crisis escalates hour by hour.

Thrust into the spotlight because of their ethnicity, Arab-Americans are fearful that they are becoming targets of misdirected aggression from their fellow Americans. And for many, such personal fears have recently been eclipsed by more pressing concerns for relatives in the Middle East, innocent victims trapped between warring armies.

It is a painful paradox for Iraqi-Americans, who can only look on helplessly as their native land is destroyed by their adopted country. Some, such as an Anaheim doctor originally from Baghdad who asked not to be identified, have nephews who are among the U.S. armed forces currently deployed in Saudi Arabia.

“It’s terrible,” the doctor said, his voice breaking. “I close my eyes because I have so many friends and relatives there and lots of memories. And I am angry because what kind of man would allow his nation to be bombarded by all the superpowers of the world?”

All across the county, many Arab-Americans took the day off from work, going into virtual hibernation.

“A lot of people are glued to the television and they are very afraid,” a Libyan shopkeeper said. “They are nervous because they think people might hurt them because they are Arabs. Even though there are 21 or so different Arab countries, to many people here, we all still look alike.”

At Orange Crescent School in Garden Grove, imam Hafiz Ismail’s call to midday prayer echoed off the stucco walls of the institution’s mosque. Although these bows to Mecca occurred half a world away from war, Thursday’s 1 p.m. prayer was framed in an atmosphere of fear, of sadness, that distance could not diminish.

“The mood is depressed,” said Sami Khan, Orange Crescent’s administrator. “These children are crying that there is a war. The teachers are in tears. They are depressed, and they are praying to God there should be no more war. No more bloodshed.”

Inside, about 200 people--young children, teachers, middle-aged men taking their lunch break from work--all knelt in prayer.

“Allah o akbar, “ imam Ismail chanted, Arabic for “God is great.”

Khan, the school administrator, said he ordered security to be increased as of Tuesday, when the U.N. deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait was just hours away.

Although no threats had been received at the school, classes were canceled today “due to events in the Middle East,” Khan said. The closure will affect 310 students and 25 teachers, according to Khan.

“Don’t get into something and then come to us with a ‘holy war,’ ” said one worshiper, who did not want to be identified. “. . . This is not a holy war. . . . We just come here to practice Islam, and to teach our kids Islam. We are here to . . . teach our values, and to share values with the American culture.”

“All of us at the Islamic Society of Orange County are saddened at the outbreak of hostilities in the Persian Gulf,” said Nazeer Ahmed, president of the Islamic Society of Orange County. “Our prayers go out to all the young men, women and children in the area and to children all over the world. We earnestly hope and pray for a speedy end to this conflict followed by a resolution of all outstanding disputes through peaceful negotiation.”

Elsewhere in Orange County, the mood was equally grim among Arab-Americans.

“You don’t know what is going to happen. There are fanatics on both sides,” said a Lebanese businessman, who also refused to be identified.

At UC Irvine, where more than 75 stone-faced students huddled around the student center television, those of Arab descent expressed horror that Hussein had apparently launched several missiles into Israel.

“What Saddam Hussein did disgusts me,” said Khaldoun Baghdadi, 17, of Mission Viejo, who left the Middle East with his Palestinian family during the war between Israel and Egypt in 1973. “But what George Bush is doing also disgusts me.”

Times staff writers Kristina Lindgren and Lynn Smith also contributed to this report.