Middle America Meets Middle East

By Dale Dermott

"Seeing the Light" is a new feature in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. Readers are invited to send in their own accounts of a personal experience or experiences that cut through the mythology and misinformation that underlies "conventional wisdom" about the Middle East for most Americans, and enabled the reader to suddenly see the Middle East, its people, its culture and its problems in a whole new light. You don't have to be an ambassador, congressman or famous author to participate. The nature of the revelation, not to whom it happened, is the story we are seeking.

I guess you could call me a stereotypical American guy: I am a WASP, born in Lamar, Missouri—the birthplace of Harry S. Truman—and I was raised on meat and potatoes, sports and Christianity. I am a baby boomer and a college graduate. So why do I have a fixation on the Middle East and why do I see things there so differently than my government and most Americans?

To me, growing up in Middle America, the Middle East meant the Holy Land—Israel—where Jesus lived and walked. I knew of two religions: Christianity and Judaism. People not belonging to either were heathens. I guess that was the essence of the Sunday School lessons I learned as a child.

In 1974, when I was 20 years old, a professor friend of mine—Dr. Robert Cooley—invited me to go to on a group study tour of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Israel. I liked the idea and miraculously came up with $1,300 for the six-week trip. I remember feeling some sort of an allegiance to Israel at the time, but I also liked King Hussein of Jordan, because he had an attractive, young American wife, and he was a ham radio operator, like me.

In the Damascus airport one night, I found myself very much drawn to the Syrian people I saw there. They were so joyous, beautiful, and loving. I did not know their language or anything about them, but I wished I could go home with them.

One other night during that trip, a Christian Arab from Haifa spoke to us at our East Jerusalem hotel. He told us how he lost everything when the Israelis kicked him out of his house in 1948. At that point, previous answers were no longer adequate. New images were raised in my mind. A Palestinian could be a Christian; there were people and families in the area before Israel came into existence; I had met a Palestinian who was not a terrorist. All this seems naive now, but it was disturbing new information for me then.

After returning to the United States, I did not meet any more Arabs for several years. I did meet a number of Israeli leaders when as a radio reporter I covered news conferences at local Jewish Community Centers. Like my fellow reporters, I grew weary of asking the succession of Israelis different questions, only to get the same, predictable answers.

My news career took me from Missouri to Oklahoma and eventually, in 1984, to Jacksonville, Florida. One of the first things I do upon moving to a new city is adopt a 'hole in the wall' breakfast restaurant, where dad, mom, and the whole family are all involved in the operation. Such a place in Jacksonville is the Brunch Break. On my second or third visit to the restaurant, owner/cook Karim Hassan came to my booth to greet me. He said he was from Ramallah, Palestine—the very town where my group had dug at an archaeological site in the summer of 1974!

Karim, his family, and the other Arabs I met through him in Jacksonville are the most loyal, giving, and compassionate people I have ever encountered. Recently, when Karim had a heart operation, 57 people were in the waiting room to greet him as he was wheeled out of surgery.

If there is any lesson to be learned from my gradual absorption of Middle East realities, it appears to be this: people make the difference in the way I view the region. I have read thousands of stories and seen hundreds of television reports from the Middle East. When it comes down to what I believe, however, I base my opinions on my face-to-face meetings with people who live or have lived there.

For this reason, I believe that Arab-Americans can make a difference. But they must take time and have patience with American friends, who are really attracted by Middle Eastern hospitality, generosity, and openness, but who know literally nothing about Arab history or culture, or current Palestinian and Lebanese problems.

I am speaking not just as an American who has "seen the light" but also as a member of the American media: Yes, there is some validity to the charge that U.S. media coverage of Jewish and Israeli affairs is excessive in proportion to their true importance in the world and in the United States, but it is because many Jews seek careers in the media and work hard at being good journalists. Conversely, I have met few Arabs who are journalists or who want to be journalists. While it's nice to have sons and daughters who are doctors or lawyers, why not encourage Arab-American children who want to be journalists? What better way to help Middle Americans like me to understand the real Middle East?

Dole Dermott is news director of WLCS/WRXJ, Jacksonville, Florida.