I remember the day I became fully aware of my identity as a Palestinian...

The year was 1970 and I was 9 year old 3rd. grader in Salina Elementary School in Dearborn, Michigan, USA. I had been in the U.S. for a little over a year, having immigrated to the US in the spring of 1969. My 3rd. grade class was asked to fill out a survey for some government agency. Amongst the usual questions such as name, age, date of birth and such, was a question of COUNTRY OF ORIGIN AND NATIONALITY...Since I was not yet a U.S. citizen, I naturally wrote in the box: Palestine and Palestinian.

After about 15 minutes, the teacher came around and collected the forms that we had filled out. There were kids from just about every country in the Middle East, since Dearborn had been a magnet for Arab speaking immigrants from the Middle East as well as Europe. The teacher went through the forms as they were collected one by one to check if they were complete. When she approached my desk, I handed her my paper. She took one look at it and let out a nasty groan. I was informed by her, in a rather loud tone, that I had made a mistake. I had written in a nationality and a country that did not exist. She made me stand up and asked me in front of the whole class what my nationality was.

I said, "Palestinian."

She replied, "Nonsense, there is no such thing."

She then handed me back my form and told me to correct it. I was confused. Exactly what was I supposed to write? She erased the words Palestine and Palestinian and told me that I had a choice. I could be Lebanese, Syrian, or Jordanian. I informed her that I was none of those.

To no avail, she wrote in the words SYRIA and SYRIAN on the form. She then scolded me in front of the whole class as someone that did not know his nationality. Of course all of the kids made fun of me and had a laugh at my expense. The cruelest ones were kids from other Middle Eastern countries. They so desperately wanted to be accepted, that they chided one of their own.

This episode occurred about around the same time that Golda Meir, the Israeli prime minister, made that infamous speech. In it she said that there was no such thing as Palestine or a Palestinian people. That episode only made me more aware and proud of my heritage and helped shape who I am. Palestinian then, now, and forever!