Bombing Puts Palestinian Student’s View of U.S. to Test

He had come into the office just last week, a 26-year-old Palestinian who wanted to talk to me for a Rancho Santiago College paper he had to write. His name was Ra’id Faraj, but before interviewing me for the class assignment, he was genuinely curious about the American media and its portrayal of the Mideast situation. How did we make our judgments, he wanted to know. How do Americans feel about the Arab world and, particularly, Palestinians?

He worried that Americans stereotype Palestinians. He feared that we don’t understand the Israeli-Palestinian issue from both sides, that we don’t know that many Palestinians and Israelis work together every day and, most important, that we don’t realize most Palestinians condemn the violence that has marked their struggle with Israel.

Then Faraj shifted gears. He began talking about how his life had blossomed since coming to America three months ago. He literally grew wide-eyed as he talked about this country and its intoxicating freedom, a freedom he never felt growing up on the West Bank under Israeli occupation.

He spoke with such passion about his alternating anguish and exhilaration that I suggested he write about it. Earlier this week, I received his fax. Here’s part of it:

“Before I came here, the only real freedom I had was the freedom of thought, as long as it did not leave my mind, even though my thoughts were in keeping with my basic human rights. Now, for the first time, I can walk in the street without the fear of getting stopped, searched or arrested. For the first time in my life, I can go out anywhere, any time, without permission and without having to carry special permits or go through checkpoints. For the first time in my life, I’m treated like a human being regardless of my color, language or religion. For the first time in my life, I can express my opinion freely, without fear. For the first time in my life, I can choose the subject I want to study, without restrictions or denial. For the first time, I can write freely concerning my feelings and ideas.

“I am so grateful to be in the United States. . . . My experience here has been so positive. Everywhere I go I meet people who are open and good, regardless of race or culture. . . . Members of the community have shown a genuine interest in my welfare and success. For all of this, I am so very happy and thankful, but I am also sad. I am sad because I have brothers and sisters, parents, relatives and friends who are deprived of these experiences and opportunities. I am impressed by the fact that in this country, people from all over the world, of different races, faiths and cultures, can be together in one place and build such a free nation. . . . Why should I have to come here, thousands of miles from my family and friends, in order to have this freedom, rather than being able to have it at home? I pray one day that justice, freedom and peace will prevail.”

I called Faraj on Thursday, the day after the Oklahoma City bombing. We couldn’t escape the irony of our conversation and his essay occurring almost simultaneously with the bombing.

“I just said to myself, ‘Here we go again. How will the people in the United States, how is the media going to treat it, and will they be able to differentiate between the good guys and the bad people?’ ” Faraj said.

“Let’s say whoever did it is from the Middle East. How is that going to be delivered through the media? Will they say this is the Mideast, this is the Muslims, this is the Palestinians? Or will they say this is an individual act and, therefore, we’ve got to respond to it as an individual act?”

I asked whether he feels threatened, literally overnight, regarding the freedom he wrote about in his essay.

“Of course,” he said. “I too believe in not hiding from where you’re from or what you stand for. If it comes to the point where I have to not tell people about who I am in order to get by, that stands against my whole beliefs. . . . “

As we talked Thursday, I didn’t hear any of the buoyancy in Faraj’s voice that was there just last week.

He knows that things may change for him as this story unfolds. It shouldn’t, but we all know that the American ideal that Faraj spoke of last week may be sorely tested as the investigation proceeds.

But here’s the bright side: If America is as big-hearted and as smart and as fair as Faraj thinks, the country will pass the test. Or, as he put it in his essay: “I had to come here to really understand what I didn’t have in my own land.”

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.