At most every local gathering of advocates for Palestinian rights, one figure always stands out – a 74-year-old, Haifa-born firebrand always wearing colorful skull caps, wristbands and knee-high boots over baggy pants.

Yusif Barakat with a group of young Gazans

“I’ve been unique my whole life. I’ve always dressed different, looked different,” said Yusif Barakat, who came to the U.S. on a ship in 1947 after his family was displaced with the establishment of Israel.
After arriving on Ellis Island and making his way to Detroit with his family, the 12-year-old shepherd boy would grow into an unrelenting nonconformist and staunch activist for human rights.

“The way I dress draws attention to Palestine,” Barakat said. “I burnt my ties back when women were burning bras.”

At 16, Barakat lied about his age to take over his late father’s shift at the Highland Park Ford plant to support his family. He later served in the Air Force, helped found social service agency ACCESS and never stopped talking about his homeland to anyone who would listen.

Barakat, of Hamburg Township in Livingston County, was the only local Arab American who made it into Gaza in December during an international effort to send aid convoys into the besieged territory.

He toured some of the worst hit areas, spent time playing with children at an orphanage and spoke to Gazans about their plight.

“I feel like I’ve been to the mountaintop and seen the suffering and spoke to the people,” Barakat said. “They are resilient people… after 62 years. They never stop being hospitable, caring.”

Over 1,300 activists from around the world were supposed to enter Gaza for the effort, but only 90 got in after a tense, sometimes violent campaign to cross the border from Egypt.

He described the environment in the territory – sealed off by the Israeli military with very limited food and supplies, mostly smuggled through tunnels – as horrendous.

“I saw people living in squalor… It’s ethnic cleansing, genocide, and apartheid all rolled into one,” he said. “I told them that we’re here in solidarity to support your struggle, and even though there’s only a few of us here, more than 1,300 people came to Egypt and that the rest of the world is aware of their plight.”

Barakat believes awareness about the Palestinian territories is just now starting to heighten to levels that can support an effective movement.

“It’s only the last 10, 15 years that the Palestinian voice started to be heard,” he said. “There are more people now that are aware of the problem. There are peace groups… You get enough of these people, and eventually it’s just going to start boiling.”

Despite over 60 years of waiting and fighting, with little progress in the peace process, there’s still much hope and enthusiasm in Barakat’s gruff, energetic voice.

“They have this life about them,” he said about an undying spirit he found in the Palestinians he came across during his trip. “Despite the suffering, they were full of life. They were full of spirit. It is amazing.”

He crossed into Israel during his trip and visited Haifa. As soon as a group of locals found out he was an American displaced from their city in 1947, returning to visit and show support, Barakat found himself hoisted up on the shoulders of a crowd of young men.

They lifted him, shouted chants of resistance and celebration, and danced.