معضلة اللاجئين من هايتي في الدومينيكان

يهربون من جحيم بلادهم ، هايتي ، ليعيشوا في جحيم آخر ، الدومينيكان

تاريخ بث التقرير : 24 يناير كانون الثاني 2012

مكان التصوير : جمهورية الدومينيكان

تصوير ومونتاج : ألبرتو كاسترو

ساهمت في الإعداد والبحث : إرمينيا فيرنانديس

اعترافات امرأة عاشقة : حلم الدولة

أشتاقُ إليكِ 

أحن إلى ترابكِ 

إلى رائحتكِ.. إلى حضنكِ

 اشتقت إليكِ

 أنا التي لا تعرِفُـكِ

ولا تعرفينَها

 لكني هكذا ولدتُ

 مشتاقةً إليكِ

ستصبحين دولةْ

 ْعضوةْ في منظمات دولية

 ْ خطوةْ جد نوعية

 فرحتُ كثيراً لي .. ولكِ 

أخرجتُ المفتاح من الدرجِ

 بعد انتظارٍ دامَ 

ثلاثاً وستين عاما 

حزمتُ حقائبي 
وتسارعت دقاتُ قلبي

كم اشتقتُ إليكِ

أخيراً حانَ موعدُ لقياكِ 

أمسكتُ المفتاح بيدي 

كالأمُ بيدِ طفلِ 

إنه مفتاح بيتِ جدتي 

مفتاحُ بيتي عندكِ
وبيدي الأخرى خارطتكِ 

أبحثُ فيها عن بلدةِ جدتي 

بحثتُ وبحثت، فلم أجدها 

أليست طبرية عندكِ؟

كلا، بل عند "دولة" أخرى، غيركِ

لكن ما يهم. ستكون لكِ دولتكِ

فرحتُ لكِ.. وحزنتُ على نفسي

عدتُ أدراجي

وغصةُ في حلقي

 المفتاحُ عاد إلى الدرجِ 

لكني فكرتُ بعرسكِ 

تخيلتكُ دولةً

عضوة ْ في منظماتٍ دولية

وفخرتُ وتفاخرتُ بكِ

 حتى سمعتُ أن الدولةَ التي ستكونين

والتي لا تتسعُ حتى لمنزل جدتي 

هي الأخرى في كفِ عفريت

 فحزنتْ .. حزنتُ هذه المرة عليكِ 

وازداد اشتياقي إليكِ

أصبحنا أنا وأنتِ

يسري علينا مَثَلٌ علمتني إياه جدتي

 إجَتْ الحزينة لتفرَحْ ما لَقَتْ لَها مَطْرَحْ 

لا "فرح" ولا "مطرح" حتى على حفنةِ ورقْ

بتوقيع دول لا تقل شأناً عنكِ

ولا فرق بينها وبينكِ
سوى أنها وطن لأهلها 

سوى أن أهلها في منازلهم 

وليسوا مثلي، يتيمة دونكِ

كَتَبَ علي القدرُ أن أبقى أبداً

مشتاقةً إليكِ  

خربشات واعترافات أخرى

Hello Egypt !

This is the first glimpse I got of Cairo, the very first glimpse, ever. It looked so vibrant from my airplane window.

I have been to the pyramids in Mexico. I have been to all 5 continents, have lived in 4 of them. I have gone to places as remote as the Falklands/Malvinas in the South Atlantic. I have spent time inside the Amazon jungle. I have been to countries whose names many people might not even know.

But I had never been to Egypt, the Mother of the World (Um el Dunia) !

My heart was pounding. My hands were sweating. My feet were cold. I was so excited. I was about to meet Egypt. I was about to meet the Revolution.

I always thought Tunisia was going to be the first revolution I'd meet. It is my first love, after all. But my passionate love for Egypt hijacked me away.  It is destiny fooling around with love !

As a Palestinian, I am used to humiliation in airports everywhere I go, but particularly in Arab airports. I am immune to the nasty looks and the endless unnecessary questions about why I am visiting, how long I am staying, whom I am meeting, etc etc

I handed my passport to the immigration officer. He hardly looked at me, stamped my passport, gave it back to me and said: Welcome (Ahlan biki!)

Ahlan? That's it? No questions? No delays? Just a smile?

I cannot recall any time I ever entered an Arab country with just a "welcome" and a smile.

I like revolutionary Egypt.. So far !

It was past 9pm. There was hardly any traffic on Salah Salem Street which took us from Cairo International Airport into downtown Cairo.

"This is 6 October Bridge"..  I said it when I realised we were already on the famous bridge. I discovered it is more like an elevated highway than an actual bridge. But it is really long (20km).  We went past Ramses Train Station then we got to the spot where protesters prayed on the bridge despite the water cannons fired at them by the police, and then pushed back the police water cannon cars. It was a video I shall never forget.  

I asked the driver to take me to Tahrir Square.  My nervousness is gone. Now I am full of energy in spite of the almost 24-hour trip from Caracas.

I guessed we must be on Abdul Mounim Riyad. I have never seen a map of Cairo but I recognised the places from the revolution days.  It felt like I had been here before.

And.. there I was in Tahrir Square ... 

I could not have missed the famous "Kentucky" on the square. The protesters were accused of being agents with "foreign agendas", getting free food from the "revolution's sponsor": KFC !! Just for the record, I did not eat there! :)

And even at 10pm there were people gathered to talk about something related to the revolution..

I tried to imagine how it must have been to spend days and nights camped there.. I tried to picture the protesters and their tents.. I tried to hear their voices.. I tried to imagine the thugs coming..

Unforgettable 19 days and nights I spent living fully through the Egyptian revolution from my home in Caracas, sharing its details with Twitter users around the world. It felt like I had ceased to exist as a person, although I was thousands of miles away. Now that I am here on the square, it did not feel the same. 

Quickly after the square visit, I was already shopping for a local mobile phone and other things, chatting with people..  discovering, as I reached my hotel, how cordial Egyptians are. 

I could not sleep. I was too excited. It is not every day that one ends up suddenly in Egypt ! It is not every night that one sleeps in the arms of sleepless Cairo ! It is not every lifetime that one gets to breathe the air of a revolution ! The 9th of June 2011 was not a date like any other.

-----

Read my previous post about Egypt, from the plane ---> موعد مع ثورة

The BiBi No Speech

Now that was one speech I shall never forget.

I plan to store it in my memory in the same box as this season's Arab leaders' speeches, except that it was not a dictator's pre-overthrow speech, it was rather a keep-the-peace-process-dead speech !

I am not sure what Netanyahu's "painful compromises" for peace are. But his address was not "painful" at all to him. It might have been painful to anyone naive enough to hope some progress could be made in the so-called peace process with Mr. Netanyahu at the helm of the Israeli cabinet.

No to a shared Jerusalem

No to the return of Palestinian refugees

No to pre-1967 borders for a future Palestinian State

No to Palestinian reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah

No to any military in a future Palestinian State

No to Palestinians recognising anything less than a Jewish State of Israel 

No to the end of occupation (because Mr. Netanyahu says it does not exist)

No No No No

Did I miss any other No in his speech?

It is not "painful" to say so many No's in a speech described by media as carrying conditions for a "peace settlement" whereby Israel would be "generous" with the size of a future Palestinian State.

Right !

Each one of those No's is a bullet fired at the already very dead peace process. Recent attempts to get the body resuscitated seem to just end in vain. Twenty years wasted in negotiations that only lead to a worse situation for the Palestinians.

I wonder why Mr. Netanyahu did not simply say: 

No to a Palestinian State

No to the Palestinian people

He was very vocal in telling Mahmoud Abbas what to do : tear up the pact with Hamas and come back to the negotiating table.

Mr. Netanyahu, and he is not the only one in Israel, seems to think that Hamas is some alien entity that can simply be excluded from the Palestinian canvas. Regardless of what one thinks of Hamas, it is a reality, it is part of the Palestinian political arena and it was elected by the people of Palestine, at least the ones inside Gaza and the West Bank. Therefore Hamas represents many Palestinians whom Mr. Netanyahu seems to think he can just simply cut out of the picture. 

An Israeli on Twitter keeps telling me that Israelis would be delighted to make peace with someone like me, as opposed to Hamas or other Palestinian factions. But the "other" Palestinians are just as Palestinian as I am, like them or dislike them. And if I were ever to find myself working on peace, I would make sure they are all represented.

If Israeli leaders one day really want peace, they should not think they can choose what Palestinians they like and what Palestinians they dislike, what Palestinians they wish to make peace with and what Palestinians they wish to leave out of peace.

Palestinians are left with no choice but to go for their unilateral bid to get a UN recognition for a Palestinian State in September. They can obtain it at the General Assembly even if the US stalls it, which Barak Obama has already warned he would do. It would give the Palestinians access to the International Criminal Court for example to try and put some Israeli war criminals on trial. It would also mark the 1967 borders as internationally recognised borders.

But I am not sure where all of that leads if the de-facto situation on the ground is occupation, more settlements, new discriminatory laws inside Israel, intolerant rhetoric, continuing siege of Gaza, checkpoints, thousands of Palestinian prisoners, control over everything within the Palestinian "zero" Authority territories, Apartheid wall, etc.  All backed by the most powerful nation on earth: the United States of America, whose congressmen, congresswomen and senators clapped and cheered through more than 20 standing ovations during Mr. Netanyahu's speech.

In his own Knesset (Israeli parliament), Mr. Netanyahu would not get any such cheering and support. Nor would Mr. Obama with his country's own Congress and Senate.

Mr. Netanyahu might have impressed American legislators with his eloquent American English, his charm playing US politics and his intense love for America. But he surely did not impress any Arab or Palestinian.. or even others in the rest of the world.

He came across as one more leader who is behind, unable to understand and/or accept that the Arab Spring has changed everything. His conditions for his version of peace sounded out-dated for the new era of Arab Awakening, where his usual collaborators in the region are not in control of their people any more.  The people are now capable of anything. The Geo-politics are changing as regimes change.  The gap between what Arabs want and the decisions their leaders make is what helped Israel maintain the status quo of occupation and aggression all these decades. When that gap is gone, the people will want one thing : a free Palestine including at least part of Jerusalem, and not an "undivided Jerusalem", "forever capital of Israel", as Mr. Netanyahu wishes. He claimed Israel is the best party to guarantee religious freedom. Alas Israel has a very bad record when it comes to allowing people to pray in one of the world's most sacred places.

Netanyahu also doesn't seem to realize that although his allies still control the U.S. Congress, public opinion in the United States -- including Jewish public opinion -- on the Middle East has shifted significantly in the last few years, and his views are considered extremist by more people in the world than he thinks.

To many in the Arab World, the fawning applause and obsequious cheering in the U.S. Congress was very similar to a typical Arab parliament's behaviour in the presence of their dictator. Whatever he says, they just clap, smile and agree. Many would even go as far as comparing it to Bashar Al Assad's latest address to parliament when Syrian MP's would even recite poetry to Assad to express their love and allegiance.

Just like an Arab dictator, Mr. Netanyahu does not seem to get it. What he now suddenly praises as the "promise of a new dawn" when referring to Arab revolutions -- which he at first dismissed by warning of Islamist take-overs -- that "new dawn" is bound to reach Palestinians too. It is now only a matter of time before Arabs have a real say in their regional politics, not through U.S. client states. Only when that happens can real negotiations take place and real peace be reached. 

Two States, one State, all will be possible. 

Until then, Mr. Netanyahu can continue playing the peace clown for his American audience.

I am not a suspected "terrorist" any more !

Something unbelievable happened to me.

As I waited at the immigration queue at Miami International Airport, I was already preparing myself psychologically for the “terrorist room” experience.

Since 9/11 whenever I travelled to the United States of America, I would be sent to what I call the “terrorist room”, which others call the “black room”. It is where people like me, Arabs, go through an additional process of immigration registration.

Last time I was in Miami, in summer 2009, the “terrorist room” was so full, it took several hours for the process to be done. I ended up missing my connecting flight, had to stay the night in Miami, had to pay the difference in my ticket, etc. Immigration could not care less that I had a connecting flight.. and I had more than 3 hours connecting time. But that was not long enough for the “terrorist room” visit.

I was praying my “terrorist room” experience would not be so bad this time.

Just like everyone else?

His name was Marti. He was pleasant and polite. He was very intrigued by my travel document. He had never seen a Palestinian refugee travel document before.

“Where did you come from, ma'am”

“Caracas”

“What were you doing there”

“I live there”

“What have you come to the States for?”

“I am invited by Florida International University to speak this afternoon”

“What do you do?”

“I am a journalist”

After a pause, as I watched him check my visa, I asked:

“Are you sending me to that room now?”

“No ma'am. We don't do that any more”

Don't do that any more????

My eyes went wide open as I asked in total disbelief:

“Really?”

“Yes ma'am”

“Since when?”

“Since about a week ago”

My eyes opened up even more, lit like a 4-wheel-drive-car's headlights at night.. I could not believe what I was hearing.

“Please place your four fingers on the machine and take your glasses off for the picture”, he continued.

“So what happens after this?”, I asked anxiously.

“Nothing ma'am you go through”

“You mean I am just like everyone else now?”

“Yes ma'am.. just like everyone else”

He smiled as he looked at my smile become wider and wider, almost reaching ear to ear. I felt like jumping over that desk of Marti's to give him a kiss or a hug or something. He stared at me as he could sense my joy then gave me back my passport.

“You're done ma'am”

No further questions. No further nothing.. Amazing!

I asked him what the name of that room was. He said: NSEERS (National Security Entry-Exit Registration System) 

I must have thanked Marti 3 or 4 times. And here I am, walking away without being interrogated, without waiting, without feeling I am a suspect.

My first terrorist room

Flashbacks of my past experiences in the “terrorist rooms” were haunting me. In 2004 as I disembarked a flight, two officers were there waiting for me.

“Dima Khatib?”, one of them said with a lousy accent as they saw me walk into the airport building. 
“Yes?” I said, taken by surprise.

“Come with us please”

The man who had been sitting next to me on the very long Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles (13 hours!) and with whom I had had an interesting conversation, suddenly walked away from me. Of course he would. I was taken away like some criminal.

How did they know my name? How did they spot me? They must have got the information from the flight attendants as I walked out of the plane.

The hours I spent in Los Angeles Airport's “terrorist room” were absolute hell. They asked me things I never thought anyone would ever ask, things about my grandparents, my friends, my life. I had to sit down and write a list of all the countries I have visited in my entire life, with dates of the visits and names of persons or institutions I visited there. They expected me to know the phone number of my primary school and the name of the headmaster. My purse was emptied and everything in it was checked, bit by bit, including everything that was in my wallet. On a later visit to the USA, during another “terrorist room” experience, one officer said to me : “Is your credit card still number such and such ma'am?” !!!! That is when I realised that in Los Angeles “terrorist room” they had stored the numbers of my bank cards!

For someone who travels as often as me, it is really impossible to list all the countries I have visited. The officer said: if you give any false information you could be denied entry to the United States of America.

I wondered whether I was in some Arab regime airport. I reacted submissively as though I were in one. I was truly in shock.

The Los Angeles “terrorist room” was even more hellish due to the attitude of the officers. I thought they would be nice, being mostly Latinos because Latinos are nice people. But they were mean. I remember one Guatemalan female officer, her last name was Paz. I could hardly understand her English so I spoke to her in Spanish. She got upset and started interrogating me on why on earth an Arab like me coming from Hong Kong speaks such good Spanish. Speaking languages is now suspicious?!

You don't like life in the USA?

Another “terrorist room” experience in 2006 at Miami International Airport included two different interrogation sessions in small interrogation booths. One of my interrogators was a woman. She had a Middle Eastern accent but I did not ask her where she was from. I suspect she was of Iranian or Afghan origin.

“Have you ever applied for immigration to the US?”, she asked, based on the fact that I have family members who have.

“No I haven't”

“Do you plan to apply for a Green Card?”

“No I don't”

“Why?”

“Because I live in Venezuela and I don't plan to live in the US”

"You don't like life in the US?"

"I just have my life in Venezuela right now"

“How is life in Venezuela?”

“I like living in Venezuela”

“Wouldn't you like living in the US?”

“I am happy living in Venezuela”

“But you are a Palestinian refugee.. wouldn't you like to have a US passport?”

“I am happy with my Palestinian document”

She went on and on. I knew that if I told her at any point that I was interested in a Green Card, she could deny me entry to the US on the basis on illegal immigration. But telling her the truth, which is that I wasn't interested, only made her ask more and more questions. And it was none of her business really, after all! But she reminded me several times that having a visa is not sufficient to enter the USA.

Chavez says hello to you!

The other guy who interrogated me that time in Miami asked about my work with Al Jazeera and why I am based in Venezuela out of all countries. When I explained to him that it is the most newsy place in all Latin America for our Arab audience, he got very curious.

“How is Mr. Chavez doing?”

I was not sure how to answer that question. Tricky.

After a brief pause and a smile, I said:

“Chavez is fine. He says hello to you”

“He does?”

“Yes he does. He says hello to every American citizen... You can go back to his speeches and double-check for yourself”

The interrogator tried to get my feelings about Chavez and other leftists in the continent. Again what do my political views or my analysis have to do with an immigration officer?

Why do you travel to the Middle East?

Another flashback came to me from 2010. It was at Houston George Bush International Airport. The immigration officer kept flicking through the pages of my travel document.

“You travel a lot ma'am”

“Yes”

“You have been to many Middle Eastern countries”

“Yes I have. Well, I am from the Middle East”

“But do you go there for leisure or for something else?”

“Mostly to see family”

“Why did you go to Syria and Iran in 2009?”

“I was accompanying Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on a tour in the region”

“Oh.. so you did not go there for leisure... What did you go there for?”

“I was covering the President's tour in the region”

“And why were you doing that?”

“Because I am a journalist, it is part of my job.”

“And what did you report?”

“You may watch Al Jazeera to find out!”

“And why did Chavez go there?”

“You can ask him that yourself if he shows up here one day..”

And I smiled!

He got irritated by the joke but I was not going to let him go through with this interrogation about my reporting. What is his business what I report or where I travel or with whom?

Our conversation ended there. He then sent me to the “terrorist room”.. arrrrgh !

Running around

Often as I left the US I would have to look for the immigration office myself, hidden somewhere, sometimes in a different terminal than the one I was traveling from. I had to get registered as “out” of the country in the system. Otherwise I was told I would never be able to return to the United States.

So over the years I got to learn where these NSEERS offices are located in many US airports. In an airport like Atlanta's you had to go through a complicated route, and then go through security checks all over again.

It was always a pain, always required waiting for some officer to show up, to make sure the “potential terrorist” is registered as having left the US.

Well not any more !

Feeling welcome

As flashbacks faded away, I was enjoying my newly acquired almost hassle-free reality at Miami International Airpot.

Proud and happy, I walked out of the luggage area, still in disbelief. I was still expecting some officer to pop up and get me. I was waiting for that voice to say: “Dima Khatib?” !

But nobody did..

I could not help feel overwhelmed by this new situation. My eyes were full of shy tears. I felt like shouting out loud to everyone: I am like everyone else !

I don't know how the decision was made to abolish this. Surely it wouldn't be because of Bin Laden's recent death. I just read online that it turned out not to be such an efficient policy in combatting terrorism because it focuses on origin or country instead of other factors. Not sure if there is some new procedure that will replace it. I could not care less at this stage.

I am just enjoying this historic day. It added to the feeling of freedom and dignity Arabs are feeling today thanks to the revolutions. NSEERS is gone. It almost sounds like some State Security body in an Arab country abolished by the revolution.

For the first time in 10 years, I can say I entered the United States of America with dignity.

صعوبات اللاجئين الفلسطينيين في تشيلي

يعاني بعض اللاجئين الفلسطينيين الموجودين في تشيلي من صعوبات جمة في التأقلم مع الحياة في بلدة صغيرة خارج العاصمة سانتياغو. فالحياة في البلدة بعيدة كل البعد عن الحياة في بيئة عربية إسلامية. وتجد إحدة الأسر الفلسطينية أن إمكانات بلد مثل تشيلي قد لا تكون كافية لتلبية احتياجات من مروا تجارب أليمة في العراق ثم في المخيمات

لقد أثرت بنفسي كثيراً هذه الأسرة