Review: In 'Who Killed Alex Odeh?' the death of a California activist haunts the present

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Set us as preferred The pain of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is personalized in Jason Osder and William Lafi Youmans’ straightforward documentary about a murder that remains unsolved 41 years later.“Who Killed Alex Odeh?” chronicles the death of a Palestinian American community leader in Santa Ana from a tripwire bomb, which prompted an FBI investigation that went nowhere.

Unspooling in inquisitive, sometimes discursive fashion, the film ultimately becomes a musing on prejudice and thwarted justice, the project’s modesty belying the anguish still felt by those who knew him.Born in the West Bank village of Jifna in 1944, Alexander Michel Odeh attended Cairo University, then was unable to return to his homeland in 1967 due to Israel’s occupation.In the early 1970s, he moved to America to further his education, becoming a teacher in Orange County.

Struck by the negative representations of Arabs in the media, Odeh was appointed regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, whose East Coast offices had been targeted by extremists in 1985.On the morning of Oct.

11 of that year, Odeh arrived at work, opening the front door and unwittingly setting off the explosive that took his life.He was only 41.“Who Killed Alex Odeh?” starts in Santa Ana, introducing us to his widow, Norma, and one of his daughters, Helena, as they peruse old family photos.

Described as gentle and thoughtful, Odeh sought to find common ground with those who supposedly were his enemy and, as a result, his death was as mourned by the local Jewish community as by his loved ones.California Alex Odeh’s murder 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.Still, cultural biases informed the ne...