An American in Palestine

On MSNBC on May 17, 2021, I heard Rashida Tlaib, the sole US Congressperson of Palestinian descent, comment about the distorted view that Americans have of Palestinians. She lamented that Americans don’t hear the personal stories of common Palestinian people. Speaking to Joy Reid, Tlaib spoke,“I wish that people would listen to the Palestinian voices on the ground, talk to the mothers who try to put their children next to them, because, if they die, they want to die together… These are the kinds of stories that need to be told behind the bombing…” (On May 17, 2021, Israel was relentlessly bombing homes and public buildings in Gaza, Palestine.)Sitting in my rocking chair in Ewa Beach, Hawai‘i, working on my Hawaiian quilt as I listened to Congresswoman Tlaib, I realized, “Hey! I can tell those kinds of stories.”In 2013 and 2014, I had a rare and clandestine opportunity to visit the West Bank Palestine. During my extended three-month stay in Beit Laim (Bethlehem,) I spent time and enjoyed the company of two Palestinian families. Renting a small apartment on the ground floor of the home of a four-generation Christian family, I observed daily family life up close. Through my sponsor, Farouk Al Jaabari, I joined his Muslim family each week on Holy Day (Friday) for an extended-family gathering of a shared meal and social time.My visits profoundly impacted my worldview. When I returned to Hawai‘i in late 2014, I was simmering with thoughts and emotions that I wished to share. These people and their plight needed advocates. Living under abhorrent conditions, Palestinians were being subjected to social and cultural genocide. But how could I share my stories?On that day of May 17, 2021, I had opened a new Facebook page to promote my new venture as an author of literary non-fiction. Weeks away from publishing my first book, Hawai‘i Calling, I realized that I now have a platform to tell my stories of an American, who visited Palestine and underwent a transformed world view. I don’t have stories of assassination and murder. I don’t have documented evidence of Israel’s continued illegal annexation of Palestinian homelands. I do have personal and intimate stories of Palestinian people. I do have touching stories of encounters with people whose lives are so human and poignant.When we experience these kinds of stories, things change. (Oh, that such a simple statement was really true and valid!) Change the world? Probably not. But share my stories? That, I can do. //An American in Palestine might easily be two books. I have divided it into two sections. Part One details my three-week faith pilgrimage to the West Bank and Jerusalem in October 2013. Part Two tells the intimate stories of two Palestinian families who won my heart during my three-month stay in Palestine in spring 2014. The two sections of this book differ considerably in their tone and subject. Yet, the shared personal encounters of 2014 grew out of the more solitary personal experiences of 2013. Together, they tell Ric’s story of an American who lived a transformative life adventure in the land of Palestine. Read more