SPECIAL REPORT: Flying While Arab

Ethnic Profiling Taking Its Toll on Arab-American Travel and Tourism

By Karen Gerwitz

Rita Zawaideh has personally felt the repercussions from many of the political tensions so long associated with the Middle East. Over her 16 years in the travel business, Zawaideh has seen the effects on her business from the Gulf War, the attacks on tourists in Egypt and the fears over Y2K. But the president of Seattle-based Travel Express Inc. and Caravan-Serai Tours now finds herself encountering something completely new. The aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, and the resulting backlash and ethnic profiling of Arab-Americans has led to an unprecedented 90% drop in her business. She understands the fears that her clients face, most of whom are Arab-Americans.

"Arab-Americans are afraid to travel not because of the political situation, but because of the security profiling that is occurring, which might prevent them from boarding a plane, and will certainly cause humiliation," she says. Zawaideh says that she expected some decline in business activity resulting from Sept. 11. Just not 90%.

A recent experience, she believes, is a perfect illustration of the reasons behind this decline. Zawaideh was recently approached by one of her regular customers, an Arab-American woman who wanted to travel alone to attend her brother's wedding in the Occupied Gaza Strip. After recognizing and voicing concerns about today's heightened security environment and the possibility of facing unwanted attention from local airlines and border officials, the client decided not to follow through on her plans to attend the wedding.

Another example is a story of an Arab-American family of seven, who flew from Spokane to Seattle in order to connect to a United Airlines flight to Frankfurt, Germany. Zawaideh says the family was first questioned and humiliated, then asked to leave the plane. The family eventually spent three days in Seattle before being able to board another flight to Europe.

Ali Alami, president of Royal Wings Travel in Denver shares similar examples. Recently, one of his regular customers, an Arab-American family, chose to drive from Denver to Chicago and board a Royal Jordanian flight to the Middle East to avoid domestic air travel altogether. The family believed that the profiling hassles associated with domestic flights wouldn't be as prevalent on international flights, especially on an Arab airline. Alami says he believes his customers' fears of being hassled or embarrassed in public are real, and cannot predict how many other Arab-Americans are avoiding flying and when those concerns will be overcome.

Probably the most compelling example of alleged profiling is the case against American Airlines from Arab-American Secret Service Agent Walied Shater. Shater was en route to provide presidential security detail for President Bush on Christmas Day when an American pilot removed him from a flight. An American Airlines spokesperson stated in a Jan. 5 CNN report that inconsistencies in the agent's paperwork made the pilot suspicious of his credentials. The airline would "not allow any armed individual onboard, regardless of who he or she is" if that person was angry or acting in a way that "could jeopardize the safety of the flight," the spokesperson said.

The Washington, D.C. law firm, Relman & Associates, which is representing Shater and three other Arab-Americans in profiling cases, contended the incident was a case of racial discrimination.

"Pure and simple, this is a case of discrimination," attorney John Relman said. "This wouldn't have happened if he wasn't of Arab descent."

Beyond Fears of Terrorism

For Arab-Americans, fears expand far beyond just the in-flight safety and the unpredictability of returning home safely. Many have avoided airports altogether due to the fear of being humiliated or discriminated against. Others have heard horror stories of being detained abroad and unable to contact anyone.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is involved in legal cases against three U.S.-based airlines - United, American and Northwest - for discrimination against Arabs. The ACLU is also involved in filing a complaint to the Department of Justice pertaining to the disclosure and the release of at least 500 names of Arabs that are still being detained since Sept. 11.

Additionally, the ACLU is fighting for new legislation to increase air travel safety without discriminating against passengers. Officials with that organization have said they believe that new security proposals need to be genuinely effective, rather than creating a false sense of security, and these measures should be implemented in a non-discriminatory manner. They added that travelers should not be subjected to intrusive searches or questioning based on race, ethnic origin or religion.

The rampant use of profiling, they have said, is often used in lieu of probable cause to subject some passengers to heightened security. These factors are not only unfair, but are an ineffective means of determining who may be a criminal, ACLU officials have said.

Other organizations have joined forces with the ACLU, namely the Washington-based American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which has made its legal department available for consultation or to report a discrimination incident. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has received more than 160 reports of airport profiling of Muslims or those who are perceived to be "Middle Eastern" since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) also is handling discrimination complaints, as well as issuing public information announcements concerning air travel of people who are, or may appear to be of Arab, Middle Eastern or South Asian descent and/or Muslim or Sikh. Still some Arab-American officials have questioned the effectiveness of such measures when other government agencies and officials are creating what they characterized as a climate of fear and paranoia surrounding Arab-Americans.

Another dedicated group, called the Arab-American Coalition, based in Seattle has tackled discrimination issues head-on since Sept. 11, with an objective to prevent hate harassment crimes. Zawaideh, who launched the organizations, confirmed that the hotline (206-634-9001) has received 175 calls since Sept. 11. She believes the actual number of abuses may be much higher, based in part on calculations by the Seattle Police Department which hold that for every nine people harassed, only one will typically call in on a hotline or officially report it. Arab-speaking representatives staff the line for two-hour shifts and deal with issues related to detention, immigration issues, safety tips, and general education on human rights and freedoms.

Most of the complaints reported on the hotline are related to interrogations from the FBI, recommendations for attorneys, dealing with the freezing of assets, the types of documentation needed when traveling and what steps to take if detained while traveling.

Some Travel Goes On

Despite fears, some Arab-Americans have carried on with travel plans, including many who make regular treks to the Middle East to visit relatives. Still others aren't letting their fears ruin planned vacations to Florida, California, Hawaii, the Caribbean or Mexico.

One unfortunate trend, however, is that since Sept. 11, Zawaideh has arranged one-way travel for at least 25 Arab-American families in the Seattle area that wanted to return permanently to the Middle East. "They left their countries for a better way of life and now have to continuously fight for their personal freedom," she says. "It's not worth the struggle to many.

"The irony," Zawaideh adds, "[is that] if you buy a one-way ticket, you're a bigger target by officials and are questioned further." She now advises those travelers to purchase a round-trip ticket, even if they have no plans to use the return portion of the ticket.

Outlook on Future Travel

When asked to consider the future of tourism travel to the Middle East, Ali Alami of Denver predicts that the travel industry won't rebound until June 2002 at the earliest. He believes that although tourism will remain depressed to the Holy Land, things will begin to settle down in the Occupied West Bank and tour groups will increase to Egypt, Syria and Jordan. "Europeans will be more apt to travel to the Middle East than Americans, due to proximity and because Europeans don't overreact to the media as much as Americans," he says.

Zawaideh explains that travel to the Middle East has always been difficult to forecast due to the volatility of the region. She feels the future of the travel industry to the Middle East is contingent upon what the Bush Administration plans to do.

"There have been promises of bombing Iraq, and statements of becoming the 'policemen of the world' to find all existing terrorist groups," she says. Although there are fears that the political situation could worsen, studies have shown that these downturns in passenger traffic appear to be short-lived, periodic and associated with disastrous conditions. In the meantime, Arab-Americans may continue to face unwarranted discrimination, perhaps even to the extent that Japanese-Americans did after Pearl Harbor.

Ali Alami, however, is skeptical. "No, it won't get that bad," he says. Five years ago, travel to the region increased at least 20% per year. Within the last one and half years, Zawaideh has seen an upsurge in demand for tours de signed to help Arab-Americans discover their roots. She looks forward to the days again where she can arrange tours for Arab-Americans to find their distant relatives in the Middle East.