WHEN I was a child I heard my parents and their friends tell stories of exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard that US President John F. Kennedy had been shot. I was always skeptical about how true such remembrances could be. My young mind could hardly recall the details of any event, no matter how recent or significant it was. But now I know that the accounts I heard about Nov. 22, 1963 were indeed true because I will never forget the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
At noon that day I had been at the US Consulate in Dhahran. I was there to check on the action taken in regards to a letter I had delivered to them a few days before concerning the difficulties a medical mission was facing in the Occupied Territories. A box of medications which the doctors in the mission had brought with them had been confiscated by Israeli security. I said to the American diplomat who received me, “While it is not the US State Department that has done this deed, you must be aware that in some quarters it will be the Americans who get blamed for it.”
I had been assured that both the US Consulate in Dhahran and the American Embassy in Riyadh were aware of the problem and had made representations on the issue to Washington, D.C.
I returned to my office. At 3:45 p.m. I was discussing by telephone the most recent violence in the Occupied Territories with an American businessman of Palestinian origin. He was very concerned about the escalating military action and was worried about the safety of his relatives in Gaza. Suddenly, one of his employees rushed into his office and informed him that a plane had smashed into the World Trade Center. I reached over and turned on the television and got my first view of Armageddon. I terminated the telephone conversation and minutes later sat in shocked silence as the second plane smashed into the south tower. For the next five minutes I could do nothing except struggle to control the overwhelming urge to vomit.
The phone lines in the office erupted. People were confused. The reality was so horrifying that they could not accept it without someone confirming that what was being reported was fact not fiction. In the first hours, dozens of Palestinians called. They were desperate for assurance that Palestinians were not behind the heinous acts.
“Please tell us that there is any evidence that will absolve us of involvement,” they pleaded. “It will be catastrophic for our people if Palestinians are to blame.”
We have witnessed other horrors on television but this time the agony became unbearable as mobile phones made the misery personal. Innocent victims on the planes and in the office towers telephoned relatives to say “I love you” before they died. Palestinians watching their misguided comrades dance in jubilation called journalists to cry “No! This is not how we feel!” Parents in Saudi Arabia reached out to their children at colleges in the United States, telling them, “Stay indoors. Stay inconspicuous. Stay safe.”
Friends and acquaintances rang from the US asking, “Could Muslims commit such a horror?” “No!” we shouted back. “No, even if they say they are Muslims don’t believe it. No true Muslim would betray his faith with such deeds.”
One family that has been severely damaged by these acts of terror are the Bin Ladins. In the first moments after the terrible events, before any investigation was even begun the name “Osama” was on the lips of the international media Through the reputation of one man who bears their name they have been tarred and feathered internationally. Though their business activities have contributed positively to both national and regional interests and their philanthropic activities are substantial, for more than a decade the Bin Ladins have been forced to fight negative perceptions.
Watching coverage of the investigation into the attacks is a depressive experience for all Arabs and Muslims. Many in the international media appear to be pushing their own agenda. Warnings have come from friends in the US. While the messages are grim I am heartened that it is Americans who are sending them. It proves that there are still some who care for us. On Sept. 12, Tim Barger, the son of Thomas Barger, the former president of the Arabian American Oil Company, sent this comment:
“This is an impossible to comprehend tragedy. All the borders, airports and public buildings are closed, the entire nation is in shock. Everything has changed now. A storm will be coming against Arab-US relations. I am so sorry for the victims and their families, but fear any chance of justice in Palestine will be the last and biggest victim of this horror.”
This act of terror physically occurred in the New York and Washington D.C. but each one of us has in some way become a victim.