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American Morning
Palestinian-Americans and Israeli-Americans Share their Views of Bush Administration
Aired April 19, 2002 - 09:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Palestinian-Americans in Ramallah, Israeli-Americans in Jerusalem, do they stay in touch with family and friends back in the States? And how do they view the Bush administration's role in the Mideast situation?
CNN's Nic Robertson has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miguel (ph) spends a lot of time at his computer these days. Forbidden, like everyone else in Ramallah, by an Israeli curfew from leaving his house, he e-mails friends in the United States.
MIGUEL: They'd ask about is your house still OK? You know did they ruin our driveway? Did they go over our car, you know...
ROBERTSON: Unlike most here, however, he is American, proud of his baseball trophies, of his holiday photos taken in Chicago last year, his perspective different from Palestinians who have lived here all their lives.
MIGUEL: Nobody can get a full understanding by not being here because of course the media cannot show everything. The American channels, they do not show everything.
ROBERTSON: His two sisters are also American. His mother, Harla (ph), was born in the United States. The family came back eight years ago so the children could understand their heritage.
HARLA: Would they have felt a little bit differently toward the so-called enemy? Probably. Probably most definitely, because eight years ago when I came, I felt differently.
ROBERTSON: So differently, this American middleclass family now sees suicide bombers as a response similar to America's response to September the 11th.
HARLA: The only way that they can retaliate and to take their revenge or to defend themselves is through suicide bombings.
ROBERTSON: Now both Harla and her husband, Fiad (ph), say they feel let down by the government they still pay taxes to. FIAD: I'm not proud of the American administration at all, really,...
HARLA: Yes.
FIAD: ... because they are one-sided people. They're not...
ROBERTSON: One-sided, they claim, because Secretary of State Colin Powell visited the site of a suicide bombing in Jerusalem. He did not visit the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin where Palestinians claim the Israeli army killed hundreds of civilians, numbers that have not been verified.
HARLA: Six Israelis were very important for him to go visit them, but 600 Palestinians were disregarded as nothing. So there is a difference, and it is a one-sided mission and it's not to benefit the Palestinians whatsoever.
ROBERTSON: Fifteen miles away in the middleclass suburbs of Jerusalem at a party celebrating Israel's National Day, there is also disappointment with the outcome of Powell's mission.
JOYCE RENITZ (ph), NEW YORK PSYCHOTHERAPIST: I was very hopeful in anticipation of Powell's coming. And I think that my optimism throughout this year has been eroding, unfortunately, about the whole situation. And I think that Powell really tried to do -- to be evenhanded. And I think that it's a very, very difficult, complex situation, and...
ROBERTSON: A New York psychotherapist for 30 years, Joyce Renitz and her husband, Michael, sold up their business back home and moved here. But after a year, considering settling permanently?
RENITZ: At this point I don't see doing that. My -- our children were afraid to come.
ROBERTSON: Another native New Yorker, Marilyn Metzger (ph), chose to raise her family here. Her son will soon be eligible for National Service.
MARILYN METZGER, NATIVE NEW YORKER: We have to start talking, the Israelis and the Palestinians together, and I think it's impossible without the Americans helping us -- helping us out. And I just hope that they manage to push both sides into a corner where they have to come to some agreement.
ROBERTSON: Although, she says, she thinks in this case the Palestinians were pushed too hard.
METZGER: I think the fact that Powell should have come and demanded an end to the terror that the Palestinians have been doing within the borders of Israel, and it -- obviously, it didn't work because we had a bombing while Powell was here.
ROBERTSON: Back in Ramallah, where a curfew keeps everyone indoors and helps the Israeli army search for those they hold responsible for terror attacks, Powell's mission could be costing President Bush votes. Abdul (ph) and Carda (ph) both say they voted for him last time.
ABDUL: I look at him right now, he knows nothing about politics. He can manage probably a corporation, but he cannot manage the world.
ROBERTSON: Chief among their frustrations, the delay in Powell's visit and the failure of Prime Minister Sharon to heed President Bush's call for a withdrawal of the Israeli army.
CARDA: America is a superpower. America should have more control over Israel.
ROBERTSON (on camera): Whatever the perceived failures of Powell's mission, on both sides of the divide here there is the clear and certain knowledge that to resolve the impasse and establish lasting peace American diplomacy is required.
Nic Robertson. CNN, Ramallah.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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