New York City

Raghida Dergham, professionally and personally, straddled an Arab and American divide pre-Sept. 11. After the attacks, she was running.

The attacks one year ago exacted a toll on Dergham, a Plattsburgh State graduate who is a Senior Diplomatic Correspondent for Al-Hayat, the leading Arabic independent London-based newspaper. "The demand for understanding that part of the world became more acute in American public opinion," said Dergham. Al-Hayat’s readership had a corresponding interest in deciphering how America thinks and what America does.

Dergham appeared frequently as a foreign-affairs political analyst for MSNBC, CNN, CBC and other networks during the aftermath of the attacks and is featured in the documentary "Caught in the Crossfire: Arab-Americans in Wartime," airing on PBS.
She ran from one studio to the next. In an hour, she shifted from Arabic to English or English to Arabic, trying "to explain the two opposite worlds to eachother." The Middle East, preoccupied with its own pain under occupation and terrorism threats, is too angry to understand what happened in the United States.

The United States can see only red.

"When I address an Arabic audience, I try to explain America’s pain or anger and bring to America a more realistic picture of what goes on in the Arab mind and heart as well as explaining the pain of the other side."

Personally, she was not harassed on either continent. "I had to be more careful. I had to reckon with the fact that I create enemies on both sides from both camps." She does not subscribe to the position of President George W. Bush’s administration. "These are challenging times, and I’m not comfortable that this administration’s policies are of the kind we need to defeat the horror of terrorism. "It seems to me too dangerous for the younger generation of Americans in the world." Productive measures, she feels, would include a fair and final resolution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, democratic reform of Arab countries and U.S. foreign policy based on the sentiments of the American public.

Peace has no chance with Arab countries shying away from needed reform, continued Israeli occupation of Palestine and an "evil-empire"-terminating U.S. poised to drop bombs over Baghdad. "If we launch an invasion of Iraq, this defies logic, in my mind," Dergham said.
"It worries me deeply." Her point of view is not readily celebrated.

"I appreciate the reaction of the American public. It seems to be a thirst from the American public to learn what is going on and learn both sides of the story."

Dergham receives hundreds of e-mails from American viewers, who take the time to write down her name, find out her address and compose a letter. "It will never intimidate me. The thing that has always guided me and gives me a sense of courage is my acute sense of fairness I feel is essential for me as a human being and as a Journalist."

Fairness is want she wants to instill in her daughter, Thalia, 12, a third-generation descendent of Lebanese great-grandparents who gave birth to eight children in the United States in the early 1900s. "I fear for my daughter and all the children of her generation. These are very unsettling times."
Dergham worries about the lives of kids her daughter’s age globally. She calls on the moderate majority, American and Arab, to challenge all extremists. "I feel moderation is being compromised. It is not getting empowered."
Dergham has traveled a long way from making burgers and subs at the Chuckwagon in Plattsburgh to interviewing the likes of Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
Her work is her passion, but being a mother is her first priority. She’s committed to putting her point of view across to bridge what she calls, "that horrifying divide." "Part of it is manufactured, and part is blown out of proportion."

These are not normal times. For anyone. For Dergham. "We’re all living in fear, right now. I find myself angry, at times." Her ire is raised by Americans and Arabs who refuse to see each other’s point of view. "The world is schizophrenic. I’m trying to give it one personality. Anger blinds you. I don’t think chaos, might and threats are the way to resolve problems.

"If we take time to listen more to one another, there is huge space available for us to come together."

Robin Caudell can be reached by e-mail:
rcaudell@pressrepublican.com