- Today, on "Table for All," we explore what it means to be Palestinian in America, their culture, their struggles, their food, and the spirit of endurance.
[bright music] [air swooshes] [air swooshes] [gentle music] The Palestinian reality has found new awareness since the October 7th Hamas attacks and the ongoing violence in Gaza.
But this conflict goes back, way back, decades, and resulted in a diaspora of Palestinians spread across the world.
But although miles from home, they carry on the beauty of what makes their culture so special.
If you want to explore Palestinian culture in the US, you've got to head to Paterson, New Jersey, one of the largest concentrations of Palestinians in the country.
The Palestinians here have contributed so much to the community that in May of 2022, part of Paterson's main street was renamed Palestine Way to preserve the culture's lasting impact.
And since the renaming, visits to Little Palestine have skyrocketed, from 10,000 to nearly 20,000 per week.
And it's where you'll find one of the top must-visit bakeries, Nablus Sweets.
This Paterson institution has been serving up everything from baklava to special cookies to celebrate the month of Ramadan since 1996.
But what they're famous for is their knafeh, a traditional Arabic pastry soaked in sugar syrup and layered with cheese.
Second-generation Palestinian sweets master, Layth, took me into the kitchen, after I snuck a sample, of course, to get a hands-on lesson from knafeh master Mohamed.
Ooh.
- We start with the butter ghee with food color and with the dough.
- Okay, is there a special meaning to what knafeh represents to the culture?
- When people think of Nablus, the city in Palestine, this is like the first thing that comes to mind, Kind of how like Philly is the cheese steak, New York is the pizza, over there, you think of Nablus, you gotta get knafeh.
- [Mohamed] Finished with those?
- All finished.
- Cheese now.
- I'm putting cheese on?
- More cheese.
- Okay.
- Go for it.
Spread it out.
- And then we're just all over?
- All over, yep.
- [Buki] Like a pizza.
- Like a pizza.
- Like, how much are we talking?
- [Layth] You do as much as you want.
We'll fix it up.
- Yeah, you'll fix it up.
It's my first knafeh, come on now.
- Finish here.
Now we put it in the fire.
- Like most businesses, Nablus is family-owned.
That's a serious burner.
- Yep.
- With three generations of Palestinian Americans working at the shop today.
Layth, his five brothers and sisters and cousins have all walked through this kitchen learning the Palestinian tradition from his father and uncle, the co-owners of Nablus Sweets.
- And bring this tray on over here.
- [Buki] Once the cheese has melted to complete perfection, it's time to flip the knafeh.
- [Layth] And this is what we've come out looking like.
- [Buki] Mm.
- [Layth] Now we have to apply the syrup on it.
- And we'll put the syrup.
- [Buki] Okay, we're not skimping.
- No, no, we don't skimp here.
- [Mohamed] We're gonna cut for you a nice piece.
- [Buki] Ooh, look at that pull.
- [Layth] Keep going.
- See?
- There we go.
- Wow.
- It's for you.
- Okay, the moment of truth.
Mm.
[light upbeat music] It's like pancake-y.
- Yeah, it's a little- - Cornbread-y.
Ooey-gooey.
I mean, [tapping] this is excellent.
Wow.
- You want more syrup?
- Yes, I mean, the master said I need more syrup.
I need more syrup, right?
My trip to Paterson was already worth it, but I had to get out of Nablus before I ordered one more piece of knafeh.
Layth told me if I really wanted to know about this part of town, I had to grab a chair at Palestine Hair Salon and talk to Paterson's deputy mayor and master barber Amu Raed.
Amu loosely translates to uncle in Arabic, a title given to men in the community as a sign of respect.
[knocking] Amu Raed.
- Hey, Buki, how you doing?
- I'm good.
How are you?
- Good to see you.
- Do not tell my barber about this.
The bond between barber and client is sacred.
If you know, you know.
[hair clippers buzzing] So I hear you have been cutting hair for a long, long, long, long, long time.
- When I was a kid, I used to love my curly hair, but every time I go with my dad to the barber, he used to shave it with number two all over, and that used to break my heart.
So one day I decide to not go with my dad, and when he came home, he seen me with a haircut, was like, "Who cut your hair?
How come you didn't come with us to the barber shop?"
I was like, "Well, I cut my own hair."
- [Buki] And soon after, Amu Raed was cutting everyone else's hair, including his father's.
He took his passions all the way to the competition level and won gold.
You're in good hands when you're in Amu Raed's chair, but Palestinians here in Paterson also feel in good hands thanks to Amu Raed's valiant efforts to uplift the community.
- I'm very passionate about being part of this community.
So we, as Palestinians, especially my own experience, I was born and raised in a refugee camp somewhere else, not where I was belong, which is Palestine.
So that's kind of like always made me feel like there is something important to my life was missing.
So when you grow up with that, you always look for an opportunity to speak out about it.
When I opened the barbershop, I was looking for the name to remind our community of where they come from and to remind our community of the struggle that our people going through.
And there is a heavy price for that.
We do receive phone calls, threat calls, and one of those recent calls was, "We gonna come kill you, burn you, and burn your business and family."
For me naming my business Palestine, maybe that's bothering others, but to me personally, I'm proud of that, and I'm gonna keep it up.
- Amu Raed had me looking like a billion dollars, perfect timing for a tour of the neighborhood.
And he showed me the evolution of Little Palestine, from the businesses that have been here since the beginning to the new crop of Palestinians making their mark on the city.
And Little Palestine's biggest champion, of course, ran into some familiar faces.
[Raed speaks in Arabic] You got this, right?
Yep, everybody knows Amu.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Amu Raed's Palestinian pride runs deep and is paving the way, Palestine way, for everyone to experience the foods, traditions, and legacy Palestinians have to offer, including this freshly baked Bavarian cream croissant from the gorgeous and Palestinian-owned Mokafe.
[Buki squealing] It's so good.
All right, the French better watch out.
Raed reminded me, the advocates and organizers are the glue keeping communities together.
His friend Rania, who runs the Palestinian American Community Center nearby in Clifton, New Jersey, is one of those advocates and a force to be reckoned with.
She leads a team of young women leaders at PACC fighting to defend their people and preserve their culture, and I found out their work has been anything but easy.
So this is a family business.
You got the activism bug from your father, I hear.
- Yes, my dad, since I was in my mom's womb, basically was reading history books.
And then once I, you know, got out, my parents were taking me in strollers to protest and, you know, making me think of the big questions and always thinking of like, social justice and what is my impact on the world, like, what can I do to make this world a little better.
- [Buki] Rania took those lessons she learned from her father to start PACC over a decade ago.
She says the non-religious non-partisan organization shook things up.
- Everyone was like, "What's your agenda?"
Like, you know, everyone got really worried, and it was very unclear of what was happening.
And I think 2020 during COVID, that was a huge turning point for our center because we basically transformed all of our operations, and we became like a social service agency for the community.
We gave out over 8,000 PPE, not only to the Arab community, but to the whole wider community.
We gave out over 5,000 food boxes.
So that's when things changed, where people are like, "Oh, okay, the center that says they're there for the community, well, they're actually there for the community."
- How has that changed the way people have thought about Palestinian Americans?
- You know, I think that's always been something very pivotal to how we do things.
When we first started PACC, we said we are not going to be operating in a silo.
We're not just going to be helping our community.
We are part of the Clifton fabric here.
We're part of the Passaic County fabric here.
We're part of the New Jersey fabric here, and we're gonna give back to that larger community so that we all feel like we're connected.
- With this current conflict, how has the community shown up for you?
- Unfortunately, not as much.
We've been questioned a lot of times, like, "What are your motives?
Are you guys gonna put out statements?"
And it's really been difficult for us because why do I now have to prove myself and who I am, and why do we have to prove our organization?
You've known us for years.
- Now I'm hearing that there have been some death threats.
There have been some- - Yes.
- Some things happening.
- Yeah, we were getting a lot of harassing phone calls, you know, telling us, "You all should die."
You know, "Gaza is gonna disappear.
This is what you all deserve."
- And I even hear the FBI was called?
- The FBI did come, and we had a meeting, and we were discussing a couple of incidents, and we were telling 'em, and I remember like going through it and saying, "You know, but we're used to this."
And she literally like stopped for a second, like, looked me in the eyes and said, "This is not normal.
You should not be used to this."
Like, we had [laughs] a conversation about it.
- I mean, you're laughing about it, but has it taken a toll?
- I think it has in terms of the long term.
I think right now we're just in such a overstimulated time.
Like, you don't know to sit down and cry all day because of all the, you know, the ongoing genocide that's happening, and people are getting killed every day.
You don't know how to deal with the community and the needs that are happening here.
Our students are being attacked.
You know, people are getting fired.
- Have a lot of people in this community lost people in Gaza?
- Yes, unfortunately a lot of people have.
Over 2,500 people have been killed, and they're direct family members of just people in New Jersey, so we're not talking about other states.
And they're just living their lives.
And I think that's what's important that people are not realizing, that these are normal civilians, normal people, and people are scared.
- [Buki] What does being Palestinian mean to you?
- My idea is that my existence is a form of resistance.
Never giving up, speaking out loud, and keep going until we see a day of freedom for all.
- [Instructor and Students] One, two, three, four.
- [Buki] That spirit of freedom is what Rania and the leaders of PACC strive to teach the next generation of Palestinians, and that includes the dabke.
- You're gonna step forward with your left, so one, two, three, four.
[feet clicking] - Okay.
- All right?
- It's a little bit like the "Cha Cha Slide."
- [Instructor] Yep, a little bit, a little bit.
- We can do that.
- All right.
You guys got this, right?
- You guys got this, right?
- You got this?
- All right.
- Okay.
- All right, let's go.
- Okay, let's go.
- [Instructor] All right, one- - [Buki] And before you can say two-step, I was learning to dabke.
- [Instructor] Three, four.
- The dabke is a folk dance that originated in the Levantine region of the Middle East.
Well, you're doing a little hop too.
- Yeah, there you go.
- What are you up to?
[laughs] Legend has it the dabke originated as a form of construction.
Villagers would gather on the mud roofs of their neighbors to stomp and compress the mud and twigs to prevent cracks.
Fast-forward to today, and the dabke is stomped into the souls of Palestinians, performing this dance during festivals and weddings but also demonstrations as a symbol of protest and resilience.
- This one, five, six.
- Okay, I'm not as advanced.
I'm gonna keep working on my moves.
- [Children] Three, two, one!
[lively music] [lively music continues] - [Buki] The kids at PACC took me for a spin on the dance floor I will never forget.
The dabke is only a pinch of how much Palestinians have contributed as patrons of the arts.
Whether it be dance, music, paintings, or design, Palestinians are working harder than ever to make sure their art stands the test of time.
Famed Palestinian fashion designer Rami Kashou is one of those patrons advocating for his people.
I met him at his Brooklyn studio to learn about his upbringing- - Hello.
- How are you?
- Remarkable career, and efforts to preserve Palestinian fashion heritage through his beautiful work.
Wait, before we start, I need to know from a renowned fashion designer- - Yeah.
- Who's dressed queens- - Yeah.
- For crying out loud.
How do I look?
- You look fabulous.
- Okay, you know, I try.
- I love the cinched waist.
- I tried for you.
You've gotta cinch a waist when you meet a fashion designer.
- And the gloves.
You're prepared for this.
- We gotta do it.
So tell me about growing up in Palestine.
What are some of your fondest memories?
- I think dressing my younger sister when I was a kid was definitely one of those memories, where I started draping her with bedsheets.
[laughs] I would do fashion shows.
Being around my grandmother before she passed, she used to let me pick her outfits when we were kids.
Being with my dad, like, farming in our garden, I think I used to resent it when I was a kid, but now that's all that I wanna do.
I wanna have my own garden.
- I remember you said somewhere that growing up in Palestine was kind of like a quarantine, and that it robs you of a childhood.
- Yes.
- What was robbed from you, and what are the children being robbed of now?
- Well, I think living under a military occupation where the laws are different.
We are under military law.
Back in the day when I was going to school, we had to constantly be stopped every morning and have a soldier come into the bus and inspect us with a giant gun that was pointing at us.
And there was a lot of also dehumanizing rhetoric that was going on since we were children.
So I think the way I started designing and sketching is when we would have enforced curfews by the Israeli military as collective punishment, where entire towns and villages were unable to move.
And those were the times when I actually started picking up my high school notebooks and actually sketching in them, and it was my guiding light, and nothing was gonna stop me.
- Is there a part of you that is so fiercely and intently following your dream because you know so many people back home will never get the chance?
- I think when I reflect back on growing up and how I grew up and being under many limitations by the Israeli occupation, that, yes, I feel like it's a duty to make it happen and sort of like, reach my fullest potential possible because there are people who are still trying sometimes to leave and are not able to leave.
So I feel like it's a duty to continue to push forward.
- And boy, did Rami push.
At the ripe old age of 18, Rami landed in Los Angeles to make his fashion dreams come true.
It took time, sacrifice, and hard work, but Rami says his culture and family kept him going.
Soon enough, Rami was featured in magazines and designing for everyone, from the likes of Kim Kardashian to Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan.
Was there a moment for you, it just clicked that fashion is your thing?
- Yes, there was a "Time" cover photo that I'll never forget to this day, and it was Naomi Campbell on the cover, and she was wearing a super vibrant straw, colorful strapless dress.
And I just remember looking at that and just being in awe of it.
- I mean, hopefully she saw you on all the seasons of "Project Runway."
Season four, I was Team Rami.
- Oh.
- You were King of the Drape.
I was there.
I was there watching in real time, rooting for you.
Rami's claim to fame was as a finalist on season four of "Project Runway" and as a contestant on "Project Runway All Stars."
He chose not to reveal his Palestinian identity on the first season but owned it on "All Stars," with the freedom challenge being his ode to Palestine.
- Using, you know, design as a way to talk about a struggle that's happening to an entire society I think was a big moment, and I thought it was important.
It wasn't even a political statement as much as it was talking about my childhood.
It's my truth.
- One of the things that makes Palestine and the Palestinian fashion culture and the women is that you can tell where someone is from by just their embroidery.
What does that tell us about the culture and their relationship to fashion?
- That fashion is not just something that's pretty to look at.
It talks about preservence of a craft that's endangered, which is the cross-stitch hand embroidery, which is passed on from one generation to another generation.
And it's also about Palestinian history and identity.
Through the embroidery, it talks about that particular family.
Were they farmers?
Was she a widow, for example?
If she's a widow, she only wears blue embroidery on black.
If she decides to remarry, she'll starts putting some color into her actual tobe.
- [Buki] Tobe means garment or dress.
So every dress truly tells a story.
- [Rami] Yes.
- Tell me the story about the scarves.
What are they traditionally called?
- This is the kaffiyeh.
The kaffiyeh originally was worn by bedouin men to protect their heads from the heat of the sun, but eventually it became a solid symbol of Palestinian resistance.
This is sentimental to me because outside of doing evening wear and bridal wear, I started applying Palestinian heritage into my work.
So I've been working on little projects here and there in Palestine with different women.
The idea is to build on this project, where connecting to my roots and connecting and learning also about my own history through the work as well has been quite inspiring, to say the least.
- Well, I mean, if you wanna create something for me with that, you know, listen, I will be the muse.
Getting the opportunity to see how Rami infuses his heritage into his designs was this fashion kid's dream come true.
I couldn't schlep all the way to Brooklyn to visit the King of the Drape without a lesson from the master himself.
- You wanna listen to the fabric and start moving it around.
Can you hear?
- I'm listening, yeah, yeah.
- Do you do you hear something fabulous coming?
[both laughing] - As you know in fashion, one day you're in, and the next day you're out.
And Rami, you are so in.
[upbeat music] Palestinian food is often thought of as hummus and kebabs, but I wanted to taste real-deal Palestinian cuisine, so I headed to meet Chef Tarek at Qanoon, the first Palestinian restaurant in Manhattan.
Qanoon serves modern takes on the best traditional dishes of Palestine, and it's all inspired by Chef Tarek's roots on a farm in the West Bank.
So, Chef Tarek, I have heard so many good things about Qanoon.
How did that come about?
- It's actually, it's a lot of hard work, and when I say hard work, I mean basically I devote all my time for the success of the restaurant.
I stem that energy from growing up back on the farm with my parents.
- [Buki] The road to Qanoon didn't happen overnight.
Chef Tarek spent the first decade of his career as an accountant in Israel.
He says he faced ongoing prejudice for being Palestinian, only given jobs deemed, quote, "Arab work."
So he decided, like many people looking for a better life, to follow his dream of becoming a restaurateur.
In a twist of fate, Chef Tarek arrived in the United States on September 11th, 2001.
- I did not land in New York City.
I landed in Canada.
I only had tough experience on the borders, and that's where my, I wanna say your awake moment.
I was in a bus.
I speak different languages, and with all the difficulties at that time where people are like suffering from what's happening, no one gives you bad looks in a way that, "Oh, you are different.
Oh, you speak different language."
That doesn't happen back home at that time.
- Where did your love affair of food come from?
That's my mother's.
Because I'm the youngest of the nine siblings, I always spent a lot of time with my mother.
One thing I loved about the farm is once we are done working, an amazing meal is waiting.
And I have no idea how my mother was able to cook that meal when she was, like, she was really physically working with us.
And I always had passion for that type of thing.
My parents used to tell me that I have golden hands in a way that anything that I do and touch like become really like gold in a way.
It's success.
- [Buki] Chef Tarek took me behind the bar to show me what those golden hands can do by whipping up the popular dish, maqluba.
Maqluba, which means upside down in Arabic, is considered a national dish of Palestine and dates as far back as the 13th century.
This one-pot wonder combines layer after layer of fried vegetables, delicious chicken or lamb, and seasoned rice.
Just like the Palestinian people, once you peel back each layer, you find the meaning of family and community.
Your mom is still in Palestine.
- [Tarek] Yes.
- Are you worried for your family?
- Yeah, I miss them a lot.
It was hard for me to go visit lately, and I'm waiting for things to get better to go visit.
It's not an easy for any Palestinian, doesn't matter where are you.
I mean, I'm here in the city.
Sometimes I just don't wanna leave the house.
It pulls me down.
- [Buki] So what pulls you back up?
- The minute that I have a flashback memory from the farm and the hard work that we have been doing, I forget everything.
Look at the curve from being on the farm to being in New York City and, like, doing amazing things.
That's a recipe for success, and I am hoping that I will continue doing that.
- And this just smells like it's going to be a success.
Here we go, on the fire it goes.
- Yeah.
[merry music] - A quick change later, and it was time to eat.
For an Iftar dinner to break the fast of Ramadan, I decided to invite my new friend Rami to join us along with his friend Suzy Tamimi.
Suzy is a first-generation Palestinian American fashion designer herself based in New York, who like Rami, weaves Palestinian textiles and symbols into her work.
The spread Chef Tarek Prepared was awe-inspiring, made with the freshest ingredients.
Flip.
- Oh!
- [Buki] Starting with the flip of the big beautiful maqluba.
Whoo.
- Ah!
- [Buki] Drum roll, please.
- [Rami] Wow.
- Whoo.
- Oh my God.
- [Suzy] Yum!
[claps] - Nostalgia.
- [Buki] I'm ready to chow down for sure.
- Maqluba for me is like a hug in your tummy, like a Palestinian hug.
It's just like, such a comforting meal.
- [Rami] Yes.
- And what goes better with great food than great conversation?
I feel like as we've done this entire episode, speaking to so many different incredible Palestinians, it's very much culture-focused.
It's very much closeness, family, and community.
Where does that come from?
- I think community is key.
To be Palestinian is about to be connected to beyond your direct siblings and family.
It's to be connected to the whole town and, you know, or village wherever you live.
- I'm curious though.
I mean, as we break fast for Ramadan, in the Palestinian culture, where does faith play a role?
- I feel like it gives us strength to move forward, and it also kind of grounds you and brings you back to what is really important in life.
This life isn't all that there is.
When we die, we're not taking all of our gold with us, and we're not taking, you know, all of the things that we've been in a rat race for in this life.
What's important is the memories that we create with our loved ones, you know?
So I feel that it's kind of the glue that binds everyone together and keeps them strong.
- Shall we raise our glasses?
- [Rami] Yes, of course.
[Tarek speaks in Arabic] [all speak in Arabic] - [Buki] My stomach and heart were full, and my eyes were open to the beauty of Palestine.
Thanks to Rami, Suzy, Chef Tarek, Layth, Amy Raed, and Rania.
Despite the hardships, displacement, and the ignorance Palestinians face on a day-to-day basis, their spirits have never wavered.
And more importantly, they press on, knowing that now more than ever, passing on their remarkable traditions and food is imperative to their survival.
And Palestinians, if nothing else, are survivors.
[bright music] [bright music]
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