Diaries of a Palestinian in New York

By Daoud Kuttab

The Air France Flight I was riding in from Paris to New York was full. As soon as the passenger assigned to me sat down it was clear he was Arab. No sooner that he sat down than he starting nervously fumbling with his Moroccan passport as he tried to fill out the landing papers for New York. Like him I was a bit worried about this trip, my first to New York since the terrible attack against the twin towers. Pleased that he was Arab, I flashed a novel in Arabic I was reading hoping this will encourage him. This didn't help as he spent the next seven hours completely speechless, most probably worried to reveal to other passengers his nationality.

Upon arriving at New York, Kennedy Airport I was surprised to see US security personnel checking out passengers soon after they disembarked. Having been singled out so many times every time I had come to Israeli airports, I wasn't too surprised when the Americans pulled me out of the line. But unlike the Israelis this act lasted only a few seconds and I was allowed to proceed.

Initially I didn't feel that New York was different than the city I knew. The airport lobby was full of people from all tongues and nationalities. But as soon as we got on the highway did I quickly noticed a phenomena that I would see repeatedly throughout my stay. American flags were hoisted on car's radio antennas, on back windows of cars and vans and on porches of homes and office buildings.

When I got into my hotel I noticed that the American flags were not restricted to cars and buildings but also were all over the television landscape. The tiny logos of most television stations were redesigned to reflect the stars and stripes. This was not restricted to stations like MTV but major networks like ABC and NBC had also changed their colors to include the red white and blue of the US flag.

The changes in US television stations were not a cosmetic one. The content of the station's programming was clearly focused on the external war against Afghanistan and the internal war imposed on Americans from the Anthrax threat. Even television advertisements, which are one of the things I enjoy to observe whenever I visit the US, were focused on this new patriotic attitude. Statements like United We Stand or words of encouragement and support for New York's firefighters were completely new in this television slot, which had previously been dominated by beer and car advertisements.

A short trip to the local post office also reflected the changes in America. Postal workers were all wearing light blue gloves and an FBI wanted sign for a Libyan fugitive were among the first things that I noticed when I visited one of Manhattan's post offices.

Arab Americans were no different than other Americans in their display of the national colors. Many told me that they outdid other Americans as a knee jerk reaction to remove any suspicion that they harbor any support for the perpetuators of the terrorists acts against America. Not only were flags raised but also statements of indignation and condemnation of the terrorist's acts were published in the media. A candle light vigil that began with one thousand Arab Americans in Brooklyn turned into a strong statement of support with five thousand participating in this public event.

More than a month after this black Tuesday few people were able to remove the memories and while Arab and non Arab Americans I met often tried to change the subject and talk about the baseball team the Yankees or any other issue, the conversation was quickly sucked back to that dreadful day. Even late night talk hosts have tried to make fun of the current situation as a means of allowing Americans to return to their normal life styles.

My visit to New York has revealed a change in America. The introvert America I knew before September 11 has received a major shake up with interest in foreign policy and other external issues clearly on the rise.

The passing of time has allowed people to take a much wider view of the events. Interest in the Middle East and Far East has grown tremendously. I was interviewed on an hour-long program about the Middle East on America's leading radio station NPR. And in two major talks I gave in New York, the halls were full of people keenly interested in knowing about the Palestinian issue and other related Arab and Islamic issues.

This new interest is not necessarily in the favor of Arabs. A new battle is clearly being waged for the hearts and minds of Americans. While a number of leading American Jewish personalities have publicly expressed support for President Bush and his policies, a different attitude is being reflected by pro-Israel lobbyists and public relations people who are working overtime trying to link Palestinians to Ben Laden with the hopes that the Bush administration will not change its traditional pro Israel slant.

What is not known is how much the events of September 11 will indeed alter US foreign policy and the Bush Administration's long term thinking of the rest of the world. Throughout my stay in New York, I was unable to assess how deep this change is. Whether for example President Bush's public support for a Palestinian state is deep and unwavering or whether it was expedient in order to hold on a shaky alliance with the Arab and Moslem world. What I was able to assess was that the American public would certainly not stand in the way of this president if he indeed wanted to push ahead with such a policy.

Daoud Kuttab is a Palestinian journalist and the director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University in Jerusalem.