Rallying for a Homeland Lost

Amid a throng of 150 Americans, Angela and Sami Odeh marched Friday in Santa Ana to protest the creation of the state of Israel on their homeland 50 years ago.

Less than a hundred yards from a statue dedicated to their slain brother, Palestinian activist Alex Odeh, his sister and brother talked about how they wanted to remind the United States that their people have been displaced for five decades.

“When Alex was killed, it did not discourage our work to see his dream [of a Palestinian state] come true,” Angela Odeh said. “His blood gives us courage to go on.”

Odeh was killed 13 years ago by a bomb rigged to his office door at the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee in Santa Ana.

On Friday, marchers gathered shortly before noon in front of the federal building in Santa Ana to tell their story of al nakba, the Arabic term for disaster or dispossession in referring to Israeli statehood.

The protesters held up signs that read, “End the 50-Year Dispossession of Palestine” and “Israel: 50 Years on Stolen Land.”

More than 50 Santa Ana police officers assured an orderly protest. The only tense moments came from passing motorists blaring their horns and from a verbal assault by Howard Garber, a representative of Americans for a Safe Israel.

Standing on the periphery, Garber said he was angry with the “propaganda and lies” being spread by Palestinian supporters. He held a megaphone but hardly used it, arguing instead with various marchers about the events long ago that led to the Israeli nation.

“There already is a Palestinian state--Jordan,” Garber said.

The march was about more than the political lines drawn on a map; it was about the names and faces of people who were displaced around the globe, said Michel Shehadeh, the western regional director of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee.

“Israel celebrated with disregard for the Palestinian side of events. We are here to bring attention to the Palestinian story,” said Shehadeh, who noted that more than 700,000 Palestinians have been driven from their homes since 1947.

Samia Hishmeh, one of 35,000 Palestinian Americans in Orange County, said that her parents have never been able to take her back to their country for a visit.

“My parents cannot go back home because there is no such thing as home,” Hishmeh said. “My parents have ‘Palestine’ on their birth certificates. How can the country not exist?”

About 90 minutes into the protest, Hishmeh joined the procession of people who were singing “Mawtna,” or “My Land,” as they walked around the block to a courtyard behind the federal building.

There, Shehadeh exhorted them to keep pressing for a Palestinian state. They applauded when he said that First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton supported a Palestinian homeland.

Though he didn’t attend the protest, Rabbi Shelton Donnell of Temple Beth Sholom Synagogue in Santa Ana said he was concerned about the prospects of promoting unity.

“There will never be peace until people recognize the past and build for the future,” Donnell said. “All sides need to take responsibility to find a resolution.”

Friday’s march was the first of three Palestinian American events organized to recognize the 50-year struggle over land. A rally is planned at St. Nicholas Church in Los Angeles at 5 p.m. today, and a Sunday afternoon picnic will take place in Anaheim.

Those who wish to attend the events should call (714) 636-1232.