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A Palestiian-American's extended Family life: one day and more!
by TruePeace • Thursday June 27, 2002 at 07:53 PM

Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American businessman living in the besieged Palestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West He is co-author of HOMELAND: Oral Histories of
Palestine and Palestinians (1994)

search
Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American businessman living in the besieged Palestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West Bank and can be reached at sbahour@palnet.com. He is co-author of HOMELAND:
translate Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians (1994).

update............breaking the fear...

We finally had a house visit of our cities uninvited guests. Sixteen fully armed Israeli soliders entered our home as part of the house to house searches that they have been carrying out for 4 days now
traducir in Ramallah, while we sit under 24-hr curfew.
Our home compromises of 3 flats. My in-laws live on the ground level, we live on the 1st floor and my parents on the 2nd. My wife, Abeer, and oldest daughter, Areen, spent all day baking to fill the time
while under house arrest (in international law they call that "collective punishment"). It was 7:30pm when Areen wrapped a tray of the sweet "Haresah" that had just come out of the oven and was
chat excited to send it to her grandmother in the flat below. When we are under curfew, like now, we use a basket and rope from our front porch to send things below since we are not allowed out of the
imc network house. When the basket swings into the door my in-laws know that they should open to see what we have lowered. This time Areen was alone on the porch and started lowering the basket when she
sf-active saw a soldier's helmet at her grandmother's doorstep after the basket was half way down. She hurried and pulled the basket up and in and left the window wide open. She came running saying the
soldiers are in our house. She was scared, more than she has been since we became under curfew. I had just got off the phone with Corky, a New York Daily News reporter, and was at my computer.
I went to the front window to see a lot of soldier's kneeling in front of the stone fence in front of our house. My dad happen to be with us at the time. As we sat to see what was going to happen our
doorbell rang. When my wife answered via the intercom it was her mom saying that the soldiers are here and we should open the door. When we did no soldiers entered, only Fadwa, Abeer's mom. I
met her in the stairway and she advised that they want one of us only to come downstairs. I proceeded to go see what was up. When I reached the doorsteps of my in-laws I looked in to see their
porch packed tight with fully armed soldiers kneeling in a full alert position.
One soldier was kneeling at the doorway and trained his rifle on me as I approached. I greeted them and asked what is needed. He asked me if I spoke Hebrew and I told him English or Arabic. He
proceeded in perfect English and asked who was upstairs. I answered that my family and father were there. He demanded that everyone come outside in front of the house. I asked if the children
should come too because the weather was a little cool. He snapped back and said "everyone". I yelled upstairs and asked my family to come down and bring their ID papers with them. As I waited the
soldier asked my mother-in-law where was Marwan Barghouti, as if she should know. I told him that although my mother-in-law has the same last name they are not related. I told him each are from a
different village. He said, sarcastically, "no this is Ramallah". I answered back and advised him that he was in Al-Bireh not Ramallah and that my in-laws are from Dir Ghasannah and Marwan was from
a village called Kober. He seemed to be confused so I just answered his original question and told him Marwan was in "your jail". He smirked and seemed to accept the answer, which is true.
My wife was now approaching with my daughters and father. Areen, my oldest daughter was shivering with fear. I held her and bought her in front of the soldiers who were absolutely crammed in the
doorstep and porch all in the kneeling position, weapons pointed. I told her, "see they are just like us, they don't scare us." My father tried to comfort her too and told her the same. My father was
itching to engage the soliders but we convinced him to pass this time so no one ended up sleeping in prison. Areen relaxed a bit, but did not say a word as the soldier in the doorstep demanded that
my wife open the car garage. I told him the key was upstairs and she would need to get the key. He approved and as we sat waiting for Abeer I told the soldiers, " we have a long way to go yet." No
one answered but 2 or 3 of the soldiers, young boys, shook their heads in agreement. We sat their looking at them, each looked as if they were fearing for there lives. They were in a foreign land in a
stranger's house and had a whole Palestinian (that is terrorist) family in front of them. They just stared at us as we hugged our children trying to relax the shock and shed the fear.
As Abeer came with the key to the garage two soldiers asked her to open the garage (in international law they call that being "a human shield"). As she opened our empty garage, the soldiers, full of
fear, entered step by step guns ready to fire. I could not tell if they were disappointed that they fund only dust or if it was a relief to them.
As the the two soldiers returned to the house, as we sat outside in the cool breeze, one soldier extended his hand with all of our ID's. My mother-in-law spoke to them in Arabic, she said, "maybe one
day you will come back in time of peace and not be so scared". No one answered.
The lead soldier called for the soldiers to exit the house. On his way past us he quickly said "bye", as if he knew had did something wrong by violating our life. They left, one by one, in full alert. It turns
out they had searched and taken refuge in every home of the house not just the porch. As they exited gunfire could be heard a little way up our street. It was another Israeli unit for sure but they took
no chances moving slowly and cautiously back to the street. As the walked past us, one by one, each with a heavy weapon or radio equipment or backpack, my daughter just hugged me tight. As the
last soldier left the house my father-in-law emerged and stood at the top of the steps. Frustrated, he bid them farewell and told them in broken English, "Be sure to come back tomorrow."
After they left we learned that they checked each room and closet of the first floor.
We returned to our home and Areen was much more relaxed. She came to us and said, "you know I used to be scared of them but not anymore." She went on, "you know, some of them look like nice
people. I feel sorry for them with all those jackets and gloves and helmets, they must be so hot, maybe that's why they did not talk to us." I assured her that I'm sure they are nice people but Sharon
forced them to come. I am struggling to make sure she does not view every Israeli, even those that violate the security of our home, as the enemy.
At last, the fear of those helmeted, armed soldiers running free in our streets has been broken. I was hoping for this day so my daughter will not live in fear of our future neighbors. Nadine my 2 year
old daughter can hardly speak but she imitates the whole above episode in the most cutest accent and body language ever.
As we settled down after our daily dose of occupation, we joked that they could have stayed since we had some of the best sweets in Al- Bireh to offer. More seriously, tonight we will give our girls an
extra hug and kiss good night, because we know how today could of ended if one of the soldiers in the street saw Areen lower a basket above the head of the soldier entering the house.
God help the next house they went to search.
Still under military curfew,
Sam

Jobless in Gaza By Amira Hass

Ha'aretz
Unemployed Palestinians are mobilizing. A demonstration is planned for July 1 and organizers hope workers from southern Gaza will join in marching to Arafat's seaside bureau
Unemployed workers in Khan Yunis are demanding that fruit stands be removed from the center of town because they are ashamed they can't afford to buy fruit for their children.
"They don't have anywhere to go during the summer vacation," F. complains, "so they roam the streets and see the piles of red and orange and yellow and ask if they are entitled to some fruit. As a
father, I'm so ashamed."
The circle of unemployed workers begins to swell as each tries to outdo the other in explaining how unbearable the situation has become. One man searched through his pockets until he found a half-
shekel coin together with an expired permit to work in Israel, which he still saves like a treasured memento. Another man said his Israeli boss owes him two months salary and is exploiting the closure
to avoid paying him. A third man said that he had received his last salary via the bank but when he asked his employer if he was entitled to severance pay after three years of work, he was told "I didn't
fire you, so it's not my responsibility."
Nonetheless, he added, his employer in Bat Yam does send him a little money to tide him over until he can return to work. "We've sold everything in the house, nothing is left," someone else laments.
The unemployed workers, most of whom had jobs in Israel until the intifada began, are starting to make their voices heard. About five weeks ago, workers in the northern Gaza Strip set up protest tents
on the main road, Saladin, leading from the Erez crossing - one at the entrance to Beit Hanun, another on the road to Jabalya and a third inside Jabalya. "Why don't you protest in Gaza City, near the
government offices? After all, almost no one passes by here." they were asked.
The answer couldn't be more simple - they don't have the four shekels for the round trip to Gaza every day. Several members of the Palestinian legislative council visited them, made declarations,
expressed support, and no more. The workers themselves came up with this initiative for protest tents and then contacted several activists in Palestinian non-government organizations. Gradually,
additional protest tents were erected - in the Shati refugee camp, in Khan Yunis, and in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
A demonstration is planned for July 1 and this time the organizers hope that unemployed workers from the southern Gaza Strip will join in marching to Arafat's seaside bureau. Committees have been
organized and banners printed that proclaim "We want work and wages. We don't want handouts."
In the protest tents and opposite the Palestinian legislative council building in Gaza, the protesters talked and argued with passersby, expressing nostalgia for the past and fears about the future. One
person told this story: "The prophet Mohammed, peace be upon him, once saw a poor man sitting at the corner of the street. He asked who the man was and was told `He´s a Jew, a non-believer.´ The
prophet said: `He used to work for you. Take him and attend to his needs.´" Others called out in response: "We built Israel. Who built Sharon´s ranch? We built it."
Since 1967, Israel's economic policy regarding the territories, and especially the Gaza Strip, has been based on two principles - bringing cheap Palestinian labor into Israel and preventing the
development of an independent economic sector in the territories. (The latter was achieved by restrictive laws and by blocking the development of infrastructure, despite the fact that Palestinians paid
taxes to the state). So the families of those working in Israel achieved relative economic prosperity on a personal level, while the community as a whole remained economically backward.
In Israeli in the 1970s it was hoped this economic dependence would prevent separation and that personal economic welfare would deflect any nationalist ideas about political independence. Even in
the optimistic days of Oslo, economists explained that this dependence still existed and that even if development plans went ahead with a hitch, it would still require many years to create new jobs.
Thus, economic stability in the territories - and especially in the Gaza Strip
- depended on jobs in Israel. No one considered the possibility that this source of livelihood would disappear.
Whenever someone in the crowd tried to point a finger toward the Palestinian Authority, there was always someone who tried to shut him up. "The Jewish journalist is just interested in criticism of the
PA," someone argued. But then the opposite view gained strength, especially outside the Palestinian legislative council. "I'm not afraid, let them arrest me," one person said, "but I'll tell the truth."
Last Wednesday, several Palestinian legislators looked out upon the demonstrators from a tall balcony and spoke words of encouragement. The workers looked from below and began losing patience.
They silenced the speakers with shouts and by banging on pots. "Everyone talks - we don't believe them," the workers explained. "Write, write," they urged, "Why doesn't Palestinian television come to
our tent? Why doesn't the Palestinian media write about us?"
Representatives of the Palestinian's "Histadrut" - the Association of Palestinian Workers' Unions, were noticeable absent among the protesters. These union officials, who are Fatah members and get
salaries from the PA, distributed what was called "an Arafat grant" to unemployed workers at the beginning of the intifada.
But there were accusations that some of these "grants" were being passed on to associates of senior labor officials. These charges were difficult to prove, but reflected the widespread feelings of
distrust.
Disappointment was also in store of course for anyone who believed the Arab states would continue forever to pay unemployment compensation each month for the approximately 100,000 workers in
the territories who were registered as workers in Israel. Workers are still asking, "Where is the money going?" and suspect that it's going into the pockets of senior officials.
But the monthly donations of the Arab governments (and Europe) cover about 65 percent of the PA's operating budget and non- government contributions are transferred to a network of charitable
organizations supervised by the Palestinian Interior Ministry.
This month, the PA has not yet even paid the salaries of 125,000 public sector employees because the donations earmarked for this expense have not arrived. Many of these public sector employees
were in need of food packages this month, just like the unemployed workers.
Nonetheless, the poverty and despair of the unemployed workers is making them more suspicious and engendering exaggerated accusations: "When the wages of the officials are late by two weeks,
they raise a tremendous cry to the heavens," one unemployed worker said. "But we're already 22 months without salaries."
When a senior official appears before them and tries to convince them that "there's no money," the workers ask, "so how was he able to buy a plot of land now?" or "he sends his children abroad to
study, while I can't even send my son to the Al-Quds Open University," or "he feeds his dog two chickens a day, and I don't remember the last time I was able to give my children chicken to eat."
Since the early 1970s, the Israeli authorities have collected social security (bituah leumi) from the Palestinians at the same rate as Israeli workers. But individual Palestinians have received only a small
part of these social security benefits (sick pay and worker's compensation). They did get unemployment benefits. When challenged in court on this policy, the state claimed that social security taxes
collected from the Palestinians were collectively used for the development of the territories, but had difficulty documenting this allocation and development.
The Oslo negotiators in 1994 decided that the social security collected in the past from Palestinians, together with the sums to be collected in the future, would be transferred to a special PA fund
dedicated to the welfare of Palestinians employed in Israel. But the PA never created this fund and has never provided a clear answer to explain this neglect. Thus, the money the workers continued to
pay for social security was never passed along by Israel to the PA.
PA officials have kept a watchful eye on the protest activities of the unemployed workers, who say that the authorities have sent "spies" to their tents and that some of the activists have been promised
jobs. The unemployed workers have set their hopes on the new finance minister, Salam Fiad, a native of Tul Karm who formerly represented the International Monetary Fund in the territories and is
 regarded as "an American appointment." Some of the workers noted that the Americans are interested in returning Palestinian laborers to Israel "because they understand how dangerous poverty is to
stability."
"On the border of the Gaza Strip, young people are killed by IDF fire and it is said that they were going to carry out a terror attack, but they were actually one their way to look for work," one man says.
A resident of Jabalya, whose family came from a village where Kibbutz Dorot is now located, adds: "I don't want my land back. Land belongs to God. I want to work and live." A third man joins in:
"Doesn't Israel understand how dangerous poverty is to everyone? Does Israel think it can throw us out? This situation makes everyone want to explode. I'm convinced that every one that blew himself
up has an unemployed brother."
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=1806 31&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

Sam Bahour can be reached at

sbahour@palnet.com.

Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American businessman living in the besieged Palestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West He is co-author of HOMELAND: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians (1994)

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Your U.S. Income Tax Obligation While Living Abroad

As a U.S. expatriate residing abroad, you still owe U.S. taxes each year on your worldwide
income! The stories you hear from some of your fellow expatriates sitting next to you at the
bar that once you leave the U.S., you no longer owe any taxes. That is true for citizens of
some countries, but not of the U.S. Its even against the law to give up your U.S. citizenship in
order to avoid U.S. taxes!

The IRS Presence Overseas

The U.S. has tax treaties with many countries in the world which allow them to exchange data
on their citizens living in the other country for tax purposes. The U.S. also has a few agents
located in each country that are there to help U.S. expatriates with their tax questions and
problems, but are suspected to also report on activities of U.S. expatriates which might not be
included in their U.S. tax returns.

The IRS has paid bribes, and made other deals with foreign bankers and investment advisors
to secure lists of U.S. people who have offshore accounts, and businesses in order to
determine if those individuals are reporting their activities on their tax returns. The IRS will not
release their statistics on the number of individuals living overseas who do file tax returns, but
it is believed that a large number do not.

If you do not file a tax return for a tax year, the statute of limitations on that year never runs
out. Therefore it is advisable to file a return for each year, even if your taxable income falls
below the minimum amount required for filing in order to cause the statute of limitations to run
out.

If you do file your tax return each year while living in Mexico, the statute of limitations for IRS
audits will expire three years after you file those returns. That means the IRS cannot go back
(absent fraud) and try to audit or change those returns later. Therefore, you should file your
return even if you have no income or don’t owe taxes in order to force the statute of limitations
to run and eliminate future problems when you decide to return to the U.S.

Foreign Earned Income Exclusion

If you live abroad for a full calendar year, or live there for 330 days out of any consecutive 12
month period, you can exclude up to $74,000 of earned income from U.S. Income Taxation for
1999. If you are married, and both of you earn income and reside in Mexico, you can also
exclude up to another $74,000 of your spouses income from taxation. These exclusions can
only be claimed on a filed tax return and is not automatic if you fail to file your Form 1040 for
the year it applies as well as the appropriate forms claiming this exclusion. This is a fantastic
advantage for people who live and work overseas. in Mexico. Earned income is that paid you
for your work or services and does not apply to rental income, dividend or interest income, or
other types of income that is not paid for your own personal efforts.

You can also claim additional an additional exclusion from your U.S. taxes in excess of the
$74,000, if the rent you pay on your residence overseas and other living expenses exceed a
standard amount established by the IRS. This exclusion only comes into play when your
earnings are in excess of the $74,000 foreign income exclusion.

Foreign Tax Credit

You can claim a foreign tax credit which directly offsets your U.S. taxes for any income which
is earned overseas and is subject to tax providing your residence country requires you to pay
income taxes. This foreign tax credit can only be used to offset U.S. taxes on income you earn
abroad or on interest or dividends earned abroad. The credit cannot exceed the amount of
U.S. taxes you actually pay on that foreign income. If the amount of foreign taxes, exceeds
the amount you can claim as a credit on your Form 1040, the excess can be carried over to
future years when it might be utilized when your foreign taxes on foreign income are less than
your U.S. taxes on that income.

U.S. Self Employment Tax and Social Security

If you are a bonafide employee of a foreign employer and have that country’s taxes and social
security numbers withheld from your pay, you do not have to pay U.S. social security or self
employment tax. The U.S. has social security treaties with only a small number of countries,
however. If you actually own your own business abroad or are an independent contractor, you
may owe U.S. self employment tax on your earnings, even though those earnings are not
subject to U.S. taxes due to the foreign earned income exclusion previously mentioned. The
self employment tax rate is 15.3% of your net income from self employment.

Forms Which Must be Filed With IRS to Avoid Severe Penalties

If you own more than a 5% ownership interest in a foreign (non-US) corporation you are
required to file a special form with the IRS reporting that interest. In many cases, if that
foreign corporation is making profits, it will be a “controlled foreign corporation” and you may
also owe U.S. tax on its earnings. If you are the beneficiary or trustee of a foreign trust you
must file a special form with the IRS. Another a form is required to be filed with the U.S.
Treasury if you have ownership or signature authority over a foreign bank account which
anytime during the year has a balance of more than $10,000 US or more. If you fail to file any
of these forms as required by law, you will be subject to penalties up to $10,000 or more.
These penalties might be assessed many years from now when the U.S. IRS and the
Mexican Hacienda finally start sharing information on a regular basis. If you do not file these
forms when required, it will be very difficult to later avoid those penalties.

Due Date of Tax Return

If you have your personal permanent residence abroad on April 15th of any year, you get an
automatic extension to file your tax return for the previous calendar year until June 15th. If
you need more time, you can file several further extension requests which can extend the due
date of your tax return until October 15th. If you owe taxes, and fail to pay the estimated taxes
in by April 15th, you will be subject to interest and penalties for that underpayment. However,
those penalties are not as severe as those imposed for failing to file your tax return in a timely
manner. It is therefore wise to always file an extension if you are going to file your return later
than April 15th, even though you do not have the money to pay your estimated taxes at that
time.

Avoiding U.S. State Taxes

If you have no income or maintain a permanent residence in a state in the U.S., you do not
have to file any state income tax return in your previous residence state. Some of the criteria
that a state looks at to determine if you are a resident for state income tax purposes includes
your driver license, if you register to vote there, if you maintain an address there, the location
of your bank accounts, if you own or rent real property there, the license plates on your cars,
and if you still receive utility bills in that state. There are many other factors used by state
taxing agencies to determine if you are a resident, but they are too numerous to mention here.
You must be careful to reduce or eliminate all indices of residency or your previous state of
residency in the U.S. will come after you for state income taxes. California is especially active
in attempting to tax individuals who have left to live overseas, by initiating a claim that they are
still actually California residents because they intend to return to California after their stay
abroad terminates. You must carefully review and structure you factual situation in order to
avoid California’s tentacles if you were previously a resident there.

You do have to pay taxes in a state if you receive rental income there or receive income from
a trade or business located there, even if you are no longer a resident. Investment income
such as from stock sales, dividends, and interest are not subject to state tax unless you live
there. Pensions are no longer taxable in the state in which you earned the pension if you
permanently leave that state.

Offers in Compromises and Payment Plans

If one of the reasons you are living abroad is that you owe substantial amounts to the IRS or
state taxing agencies, Offer in Compromise programs may allow you to settle the balance
owed for pennies on the dollar. When you do owe back taxes, the amount owed increases at
a fast pace due to interest and penalties and therefore can get very large compared with the
original amount of tax owed. In order to make an offer in compromise you must file tax returns
for all of your past tax years and cannot just rely on amounts assessed by the IRS.

Many delinquent taxpayers have used the “Offer in Compromise” programs to settle with the
IRS for payments of anywhere from 10% to 50% of the total amount owed. The IRS statistics
show that in the past 25 percent of the Offers in Compromise have been accepted and that the
average compromise was 18 percent of the total amount due. The entire process usually
takes three to six months and requires filing financial current information with the IRS as well
as the required forms. You can make an offer which allows you to pay off the amount agreed
over a period of time. The IRS very recently released new regulations which will increase the
number of offers in compromise its accepts and allows taxpayers to claim “hardship” as a
reason for the Offer. These Offers in Compromise can be made by a representative in the
U.S. and do not require the presence of the taxpayer in the U.S.
Don D. Nelson is an Attorney and CPA with offices in California. He has tax clients located
throughout the world and regularly prepares expatriate tax returns, and handles other U.S. and
state tax matters. He has worked with U.S. Citizens living overseas in connection with their
U.S. tax and legal concerns for over 20 years. He also is an expert in Offshore and U.S.
corporations and Limited Liability Companies. Since he is an attorney, all communications
between Mr. Nelson and his clients are privileged and cannot be disclosed to anyone. He
regularly prepares 5 to 10 years in returns for clients who wish to become current with their
U.S. taxation to pave the way for their return to the U.S. problem free. He is a member of the
Tax Section and International Law Section of the American Bar Association. He is also
admitted to U.S. Tax Court.

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5859 Maple Road
West Bloomfield, MI
48322
(248) 538-5283

Welcome to American
House West Bloomfield,
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