Palestinian activist's killing still resonates, 40 years later

Alex Odeh's friends, colleagues see an echo in backlash to campus protests over Gaza.

- BY SUHAUNA HUSSAIN AND GABRIEL SAN ROMÁN

ALEX ODEH, right, in an archive photo, was 41 when he was killed by a pipe bomb in his office.

(MICHEL SHEHADEH)

Alex Odeh looms large in Orange County's consciousness, decades after he was killed at the age of 41.

One fall morning in 1985 the prominent Palestinian activist arrived to work at the Santa Ana office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. When he opened the civil rights group's door, a rigged pipe bomb went off, mortally wounding him.

"How can I forget that horrible day?" said Michel Shehadeh, who replaced Odeh as the West Coast regional director of the organization, which formed in 1980 to combat anti-Arab stereotypes in U.S. media. "Fear spread through the community like fire."

Mourners filed into a church in Orange for Odeh's funeral, quietly discussing whether attacks would continue, and how they could protect the community, Shehadeh recalled.

Shehadeh described Odeh as a physically slight man, peaceful and soft-spoken a lover of poetry. He remembers wondering, "Why this guy?"

"He did not pose a threat, not in the way he looked, and not in the way he behaved, and not in the way he spoke," Shehadeh said.

Odeh's slaying remains unsolved 40 years later. To many Palestinians and other Arabs in Southern California, his death serves as a grim reminder of the discrimination the community has faced.

But he is also a symbol of resilience. His memory stands as a call to action that has taken on renewed significance in recent years.