I was at the post office to mail some books to my brother in Thailand. I stood at the chest-high table where customers prepare their mailings, stuffing a postal service fixed-rate box. I was working next to a woman, with a four-point cane, who was filling out some forms for a box herself. A line of customers snaked around us. The woman was grumbling about the people bumping into her as they passed and about the limited number of handicapped parking spaces. “They were full,” she said to me. “Everybody in Montgomery County claims they are handicapped!”
I finished my preparation and moved into line and to the service counter. A few minutes later the woman came up; apparently she knew my clerk and wanted to deal with her. But the postal worker said, sweetly, “I’ve got this other international package to deal with now, so you better finish up with her.” She motioned to the clerk at the next station, also female. “Okay,” the woman grumbled, “but I don’t want the man. He is never nice to me.”
I was finishing up my transaction when I happened to overhear the conversation between the woman and her clerk.
“You have to write down the country,” said the clerk, pushing the package back to the customer.
“Israel and the U.S. won’t let me write the name of my country!” The woman irritably took her pen and wrote.
The words came out of my mouth before I could even think. “Oh!” I said, turning to her, a smile of recognition shaping the sound of my words. “You’re from Palestine!”
“Yes!” she said. “What Israel is doing is so terrible. They are terrorists, they are murderers. It is awful.”
Suddenly I was aware of all the people in line, hearing her say this to me.
“Yes,” I said. “I have been following the situation closely. How is your family doing? Are they in Gaza?”
“My family is in Ramallah,” she said. “They are doing okay.” And then she spoke again. “They stole our land!”
“It is horrible,” I said, then more words of empathy.
We introduced ourselves—her name is Maryam—and then we both left the post office. I stopped at my car to watch her lean on her cane as she walked to a parking spot behind the building, far from the front door. I was thinking, no wonder she is cranky. It is August 25—Day 48 of the assault on Gaza.
I have been thinking about that woman ever since. I have been thinking how this was not the first time Maryam has sent a package to Palestine, but each time she refuses to write “Israel” on the address slip and each time she is forced to make a Hobson’s choice so that the package reaches her family.
I also have been thinking about me. I have been thinking how it isn’t just up to American Jews to speak out and American Palestinians to resist. It is also up to the rest of us Americans, even those like me who have never set foot in Palestine. More often and more candidly, we need to speak up in public settings. We need to say, in a normal voice, as if everyone agrees with us, “Yes, what Israel is doing to Palestine is terrible. I am following the situation closely. I am resisting. I am doing what I can.”
Yes, and it is not easy to achieve a “normal voice” to say, “Yes, what Israel is doing to Palestine is terrible. I am following the situation closely. I am resisting. I am doing what I can.” Outrage is just around the corner.
Unfortunately this isn’t a new problem. It’s been going on for decades. When my parents were alive and letters were the only method of communication my mom would be forced to write Ramallah Via Israel . She’s refused to just write Israel
US POST OFFICE RECOGNIZES ONE STATE IN ISRAELI-CONTROLLED TERRITORY, TWO STATES IN CHINA-TIBET
I had an experience a few days ago at the Post Office. I went to mail a letter to Christians in Bethlehem, but on the internet they put Bethlehem, PALESTINE as the address. So I wasn’t sure what to put. The Post Office said that I had to put a country that was in their database, and they have no PALESTINE or WEST BANK or PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES, or even the pro-Israeli “JUDEA AND SAMARIA”, so they wouldn’t accept my letter with those listed. They said even if they took i, it would get returned to me.
I mainly want the letter to get to the recipient, but I just wasn”t sure what to put. The Israeli state doesn’t want to include Bethlehem, because it doesn’t want to bear responsibility for Palestinians. So even from the Israeli POV, Bethlehem isn’t annexed yet as part of ISRAEL. So it’s not “in” Israel.
I heard that sometimes West Bank mail is routed through Jordan. Does that mean you can put JORDAN?
I told the postal workers that this was like Tom Hanks’ movie TERMINAL, where the South Slavic man’s country vanished in a war when he was at the airport and couldnt get through Customs. They agreed and found my comment amusing. They said they liked the movie.
I asked if there were situations like that, and asked if “Tibet” is listed as a country. As you may know, TIbet has been annexed by China since at least 1949. It turns out, Yes, Tibet is a country in the US Postal database.
Off Topic:
I wish Phil’s much touted revolution in the Jewish community would hurry up and get here. Here’s the list of journalists Obama chose to pitch his ISIS policy to —
By my count, that’s roughly one-half who are commited Jewish Zionists. Now that may indeed be a wonderful thing, what with the Holocaust and everything, but it does represent a rather limited range of foreign policy perspectives.
“I have been thinking how it isn’t just up to American Jews to speak out and American Palestinians to resist. It is also up to the rest of us Americans, even those like me who have never set foot in Palestine.”
I’m rather inspired by this article to send a letter to Palestine.
It would be a great, peaceful protest if many went to the Post Office to do so.