Chapter 32 – Exile of the Palestinians
Approximate Reading Time – 8 minutes
Warning – this chapter contains strong language
The Colonel sat in Captain Salim's small office nervously smoking a cigarette, staring at a fax he had received. It was an official directive with the Ministry of Defense and Aviation emblem at the top. It had arrived an hour before. He held the memo at arms-length, starring but wouldn't let go of it. Captain Salim sat quietly at a table in his office, wondering what upset the Colonel in this message. The Colonel had called half an hour ago, telling the captain to find Nick and Julian and instruct them to join him in Salim's office as soon as possible.
Patience had never been one of the Colonel's strengths, and the letter's contents disturbed him in a way he had not expected. The Colonel kept silent, and it was improper for Salim to ask questions. Waiting for the Westerners to arrive was frustrating him almost to his breaking point. Usually, he would disregard the time, but now he kept staring at the clock on the wall. It read five minutes past two. He had asked them to meet him at two, and the five-minute wait was becoming agonizing. Like a pack animal carrying a heavy load, he wanted to release himself from the stress of this burden. Until they arrived, he would have to take responsibility for the message. He crushed out the remains of his cigarette and reached for another when he heard Julian's voice coming down the hall.
Nick entered first, looking around to see who was in the office before he sat down. Julian followed closely and sat down next to him. They were across a small table from the Colonel and Captain Salim.
"Close the door, Julian. I don't want any of those peeping ears," said the Colonel.
Julian got up quickly, closed the door, and sat down again. Nick was going to joke about the Colonel's misuse of the phrase but decided against it, sensing the tension in the room and seeing it on the Colonel's face. The Colonel's lack of a greeting was a further indication this was something serious.
Nick broke the silence, speaking to the Colonel.
"My apologies for being late. I had to stop and answer a question from one of the doctors on the way over. You look upset. What's wrong?"
"Yanni, I am upset, Doctor Nick. I received this letter from Riyadh. I would show it to you, but it's all in Arabic. It says the Ministry of Defense wants you to get rid of all the Palestinians and Jordanians and send them home immediately. It says they are a security threat and must leave the Kingdom immediately."
A small smile crossed Captain Salim's face. He had been warning the Colonel for weeks that some of the Palestinians had been holding clandestine meetings, his sources telling him that their mood was growing more aggressive. Ever since Yasser Arafat's public support for Saddam Hussein, some of the Palestinians had become antagonistic to the Westerners and even some of the Saudis. He had received reports that some had even gone so far as to express the hope that Saddam would crush the Americans and liberate the Kingdom. He had dismissed most of this as mere bravado from the younger men, but he kept a close eye on the ones he knew to be officers in the PLO, of which there were more than a few, even among the doctors.
It dawned on Nick that this was a setup. He stood up and began pacing the small room, and his voice rose as he spoke.
"What! That's ludicrous; they can't be serious. We can only run the hospital with them. But, my God, we're getting closer to the UN deadline. Julian, we can't get more staff here in that time, can we?"
Julian quickly replied.
"No, I doubt it, and even if we could find anyone willing to come, we now have a potential war hanging over our heads."
Nick's pace quickened as he became more agitated.
The Colonel sat back in his chair, lit a cigarette, and looked at Nick. He had successfully shifted part of the burden to Nick's shoulders.
"Yanni, Riyadh doesn't give "ludicrous" orders. You must fire them! That's what the Ministry says, and you still have to run the hospital, too; that's what I say!"
The Colonel said this without looking directly at Nick.
Julian now spoke up.
"Colonel, you can't be serious. On what grounds am I supposed to fire these people? They haven't violated any hospital rules or procedures. I can't fire them without a good reason."
Captain Salim spoke up.
"They are a security risk. That is the only reason they need to hear."
Nick stopped pacing and started thinking out loud.
"And what makes you think they are more of a risk this week than a month ago or two months ago? Why now? Most of these people are just doing their jobs and helping us keep the hospital open. You know what will happen to them if we send them out, right? They'll end up in refugee camps on the West Bank or Gaza, and it won't do them or us any good. We both lose."
Julian, who had been watching each of the other men intently, spoke up again.
"Colonel, I don't think security issues are addressed in the contract. I don't think the Chairman would want to lose all that revenue from the contract, do you?"
Nick and the Colonel looked at him quickly. Nick spoke first, his temper near the boiling point.
"This whole damn war is not in the fucking contract. How the hell are we supposed to be ready to treat the wounded if we lose some of our key staff right before the war starts?"
Nick's voice continued to rise, and he could feel himself getting angrier. He was angry again at this whole crazy situation. Mad at the politicians who were letting this monstrous war get closer every day. He was upset at the thought of not providing the care that might be needed and furious at the stupidity he sensed was behind this order. Arafat had stood with Saddam Hussein, and now the Saudis were punishing them the same way they had the Yemenis a few months ago. He knew most of the Palestinians didn't support Iraq. Most of them were too intelligent to believe Saddam's propaganda. Nick stopped for a moment and decided to test the Colonel.
"What if I tell you that I won't fire them, make it a contract issue? Julian says there's no provision in the contract that addresses this."
The Colonel looked at Nick; in that look, Nick thought he saw something unspoken. He needed a way out of this demand from Riyadh. The Colonel stumbled, trying to find words in English to express a thought forming in his brain. He turned and spoke briefly to Captain Salim in Arabic. When he finished, he turned back to Julian.
"Yanni, Julian, how many Palestinians and Jordanians do you have on the staff now?
Nick sat down as Julian reached for his briefcase, retrieving a staff roster from a file he carried. The figures were easy to find as he had analyzed the staff by nationality the week before.
"Right. Here we go, Colonel. We have five primary care physicians, two X-ray technicians, two lab techs, five in the pharmacy, eight nurses, our transplant specialist, twenty interpreters, twelve secretaries, one cook, and six support personnel. Are you counting their current passport, or do they want their birthplace? As you know, some of our "Canadians" and even an Irishman are really of Palestinian origin?"
The irony of his last comment fell on deaf ears.
"Just passports, Julian. Riyadh didn't say anything about where the heck they were born."
The Colonel then turned to Captain Salim.
"How many of these people do you have files on?"
"Most of them, but we know who the bad ones are, the PLO officers, the troublemakers. Dr. Abbas and his wife have been holding meetings at their apartment. Dr. Fadhi is an officer in the PLO, and Walid, the transplant specialist, is also an officer in the PLO. So we keep a close eye on them. The rest of them are not troublemakers."
Julian and Captain Salim's conversation gave Nick a brief minute to think about how to avoid this awkward situation. He wanted no part in exiling perfectly innocent people into a life that he knew would be miserable. This departure was not theoretical but would change the lives of dozens of men, women, and children who would be sent out of Saudi Arabia. But, on the other hand, he didn't know how accurate the threat was. He paused momentarily, wondering how much he could trust his interpreter, Khalil. If the war didn't go well, these people could threaten Nick and the rest of the staff. There was no way to know for sure. But The Colonel would have to do something to appease the security people in Riyadh.
When Captain Salim finished his assessment, Nick spoke, looking directly at the Colonel.
"We can't eliminate all these people and still run the hospital. I can't fire them without cause, and I won't, but if Captain Salim says there is a security concern, he can deport them on that basis, and I won't object to security matters. I hear these five are the real troublemakers, so why don't we send them home? We can do without two GPs, and we certainly won't need any kidney transplants during a war so that we can send Walid out. Dr. Abbas's wife is a good nurse, but we can get by. And I have one special request."
This unexpected request took the Colonel and Captain Salim back. What could this American doctor have in mind?
Nick added his condition.
"I want Marwan added to the list. What do you think, Captain Salim?"
The captain took his time in responding.
"Well, I don't know if it will be enough to make Riyadh happy, but we can try. I will gladly add Marwan to the list if you like. I understand your point."
Relief began to show on the Colonel's face, and he smiled for the first time during the meeting. He guessed that the security people in Riyadh would already know who the PLO members were, and once they saw those names on a deportation list, they might question the rest but probably wouldn't make an issue of it. The plan might work. At least it was worth a try for now. He had nothing to lose by suggesting the names to Riyadh and seeing how they reacted.
"Tayib (OK), Captain Salim will send a letter saying that these five, no, six now, are security risks. Julian can then send them home. Yanni, you better get Abdullatif to help with the 'Exit-Only' stuff."
Julian smiled; the storm had passed for now.