Scattered like Seeds.

Shaw J. Dallal. Scattered like Seeds. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1998. 335 pages. Hardcover $29.95.

At the end of 2000, few Americans clearly understood the on-going conflicts between Jews and Palestinians. Although our newspapers reported information and disinformation on the "Peace Talks," we continued to view the issues from political perspectives. There is little news about the everyday lives of Palestinians, the people, "scattered like seeds."

Shaw J. Dallal, in his historical novel, intends to remedy the situation. Through the use of dialogue readers are immediately drawn into the story, which takes place in the early 1970s. We overhear private conversations and eavesdrop into the private life of Palestinian-American, Thafer Allam. Born in Jerusalem, he leaves Palestine for the safety of Kuwait, and later moves to the U. S. and attends Cornell University. As an undergraduate he marries Mary Pat, an Irish-American widow, with a baby daughter. During their marriage they have three children, two boys and a girl. In 1967, he is a successful lawyer, with a degree in nuclear physics, but something is missing from his life.

When the story opens, he and Mary Pat are discussing the full-scale war in the Middle East. This event triggers flashbacks of his boyhood in Jerusalem during 1938, when British troopers searched his family home. "Why do they want to search our house, Mama?" he asks. "They want to give our country to the Jews," (p. 4) she answers. In his New York house, far from his homeland, he wonders if his mother will be safe this time.

Thafer Allam expresses a desire to return to the land of his birth. His wife tells him to, "Stop thinking like that. You're an American now" (p. 11). His children feel distanced from him as he broods over the Arab-Israeli War. He is startled when his daughter announces that her friends and teacher are glad that Israel won. She wants to know how he feels? Thafer Allam is torn between his love of his adopted country, the United States, which has backed Israel, and that of his homeland, Palestine.

Loss is a central theme. Mary Pat who symbolizes what is good in America, dies. Her death and the Arab defeat bring past losses to the surface. Loss of homeland. Loss of family. Loss of identity. At Mary Pat's grave side, he places flowers and says, "I'm here again. I never realized how lonely it would be without you" (p. 23). Driving home he sings a refrain from a song that Mary Pat sang around the house, "Stand beside her, and guide her..." (p. 23).

Cautioned by colleagues for wanting to live in the Middle East, he nevertheless takes a leave of absence from the prosperous law firm. "Why do I want to go to the Middle East?" He even questions himself. "Those people over there have problems, big problems. Do you think they're your people?" (p. 34). The questions continue, but he needs to find answers for himself.

Thafer Allam accepts a job in Kuwait working as Chief Consul for the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). On the plane, his seat-mate is an elderly Jew, she asks him to hold her hand because she's nervous. When he tells her he's Palestinian, her face turns white. He thinks back to 1948, when more than seven hundred thousand Palestinians were evicted from their homes--Israel's public relations campaign claimed it was a voluntary exodus. They discuss the losses that both have endured. "You and I can resolve the problem," she tells him, "but it's the stubborn leaders who have to be convinced" (p. 44).

We travel with Thafer Allam to Lebanon and meet his relatives, who live in horrible conditions in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Beirut. Israel is not threatened by the PLO, we overhear during a conversation in the decaying, dilapidated living room. "Our continued existence is...a threat to them...[it is a] constant reminder of the ugly deeds they have committed against our people" (p. 48). Here we learn that, "The United States is the real enemy" (p. 46).

Relatives in Lebanon think that Thafer Allam needs to involve himself in freeing Palestine, and to follow in the footsteps of his father, a famous resistance fighter. They want him to build a bomb. "I believe in resistance based on nonviolence..." (p. 53). He answers and looks uncomfortable. Thafer Allam would like to say that he will carry the torch, but the words would not come. He tries to convince them that on the whole people in America are Good--although ignorant about Palestinians and their struggle. He is reminded that oil, a trump card, might make America sit-up and take notice.

After twenty years, Thafer Allam returns to Kuwait. He immediately sees that the standard of living has improved since he left in 1951, however, living conditions for the Palestinians have not. He's emotionally moved at being reunited with his family members and comes to know as an adult the beauty of his people. Inside homes, he breaks bread with Palestinian people and learns that the difficulties they face are not only from Israel taking over the homeland, but from Arab states keeping them weak. A professor explains that, "Arab governments are as guilty as Israel...[they] want to keep the Palestinians in shacks and in refugee camps; they claim to believe that if Palestinians become too comfortable they might give up their struggle to return to their homeland" (p. 227).

In Amman, Jordan, Thafer Allam is reunited with Kamal, his older brother. Kamal tries to convince him to build a nuclear bomb and adds, "I'll respect your decision, whatever it is. Go see Mother, and when you come back, we'll discuss it again" (p. 127).

The next day when he tries to cross the Allenby Bridge to visit his aging mother, who still lives in the West Bank, he's strip-searched by Israel officials. Terrified, Thafer feels his pulse racing. "What is this? He asks himself" (p. 132). But he complies because he desperately wants to see his mother and reminds himself, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb" (p. 132). Although he is an American with a valid passport, he is not allowed entry. "But why?" screams Thafer. "I'm a U. S. citizen. All I want to do is see my mother for a few days. I've never even carried or touched a weapon"(pp. 133-34), he yells in frustration. Humiliated and disappointed he remembers his mother's prayer, "Our Lord God, gives us the strength to defend ourselves against the evil of those who are intent upon hurting us and the fortitude to love and forgive them" (p. 135). A changed man after the bridge incident, he's still not willing to become involved in helping develop nuclear weapons.

Back in Kuwait, Thafer Allam hopes to find a balance between his Arab roots and his American nationality. A colleague, Dr. Suhaila Sa'adeh, also a Palestinian who was educated in the U.S. has captured his heart. "Hearing her breathe, he feels comforted and protected by her presence. Her breasts remind him of the gentle hills of his homeland, her soft skin of it plains, and her long, light brown hair of the rays of its sun" (p. 190). Her love brings Thafer Allam's emotions to the surface, he now has someone to share his pain and anguish, but, to his credit, never bitterness.

Suhaila Sa'adeh also helps him understand the workings of OAPEC's business practices, and readers get behind-the-scenes view of OAPEC and the little-known side of how Arabs conduct business. "The first day of the conference was a surprise to him. He expected neither the discipline nor the sophistication with which it was conducted" (p.178). At a later OAPEC Conference the Arab states vote to impose an oil embargo against any country supporting Israel's war efforts--the United States is the main target. OAPECS's embargo changes the economic history of the world.

Thafer Allam visits other Arab countries and facilitates governments in obtaining nuclear power plants from the law firm he works for in the U. S. "As long as the nuclear plant is for peaceful purposes, it's perfectly legal...," he explains to the Iraqi minister. "Exporting nuclear plants, Excellency, requires a validated export license that has to be issued by the U. S. Department of Commerce" (p. 203). The United States complies.

A simple mathematical error concerning what the Arab states owe QAPEC is magnified out of proportion and blamed on Sa'adeh. Although the mistake is not hers, the secretary general of OAPEC needs to save-face and she is fired and leaves for Alexandria, Egypt. Thafer Allam understands that in the Middle East people who make mistakes, are "punished, ridiculed, beaten, tortured, imprisoned, dismissed from their jobs, and sometimes executed" (p. 194). He sees Arab culture in a new light. To keep his job with QAPEC, he is asked to give up his American citizenship. Two countries offer him citizenship, but he declines and decides to stay on for six months until QAPEC can find a replacement.

It is 1973, and the beginning of another Arab-Israeli War, when his children visit him in Kuwait. At a family gathering, his daughters dress in traditional Palestinian clothes for the first time. They look uneasy and sit close to their father. He listens as his oldest daughter answers a difficult political question from a relative about what happened at the Olympic Games in Munich. When he and his children are alone, they ask why he didn't tell them about Palestinian problems and his family while they were growing up? He wonders if he could have told them about his guilt and shame, and desire to become Americanized, but gives an evasive answer, I just didn't want to burden you with all the tragic history. . . . I was sure you would hear about it either in high school or college" (p. 276). This is followed by an honest account of his life growing up in Palestine and coming to the United States. His children decide to stay with him in Kuwait and attend school.

Within this framework, Thafer Allam comes to know more about himself and how he and his family fit into the greater picture. When he helps Joan, who is married to an Arab colleague, and her son, both Americans, flee Kuwait, Thafer Allam questions if he has done the right thing. His children say he has-but he realizes he does not have all the answers. We say goodbye to Thafer Allam in Egypt, where he's been offered a position to teach law in Alexandria. One daughter, Kathleen wants to be a freedom fighter and his youngest son, Sean would like to join the PLO training camp in Egypt.

From the first to the last page, I was part of the story. Shaw J. Dallal is a powerful story-teller. His use of unpretentious dialogue makes intimate scenes come to life it is like watching a play. I shared Thafer Allam's humiliation, anguish, confusion and growing understanding of how the United States, his adopted country, helped scatter his people like seeds. Scattered Like Seeds is a must read for all Americans so that they can better understand the Palestinian issues and people. When Americans become educated, and Dallal's book intends to do that, the disinformation and bias so prevalent in our country can stop. The book is timely-we need to rethink our continued involvement in the Middle East. Perhaps it is not too late. Inshallah, we will meet Thafer Allam and his family again in another novel.

Carolyn Han is a lecturer in the college of Social Sciences at Hawai'i Community College. She is also a children's book author, short story writer, poet and traveler.