The scene is almost too wrenching for compassionate Americans to watch. Stout, proud, old women, trudging alongside donkey-drawn wagons loaded with what belongings they could hurriedly lash to the shabby timbers. Their hair is tied back in scarves once colorful and clean. Little children cling to their hands, quiet and confused, harboring a private misery. Stronger, younger women lead the beasts of burden forward; forward to an uncertain destination. The only thing for sure is that their final stop will not be home.

Behind them are smoking villages and interrupted dreams. Behind them are the fathers, the sons, the husbands; condemned to some unknown fate. The last time they saw them, guns were held to their heads. "Leave or die" was the message from their intruders.

Given the media coverage of the crisis in Kosova, many Americans might find such a scene all too familiar. But this scene is not from Kosova. In fact it is not even from this half of our century. This scene is from Palestine, circa 1947-48.

This is the Diaspora of the Palestinians. Torn from their orchards, fields and towns. Forced from their pianos, easels and inkwells. Banished from the markets, printing presses and houses of worship by colonizing Zionists.

The theft of Palestine is a story of terror and loss, injustice and courage, hardship and faith: all the elements that make the typical American heart break. It's the kind of story that causes an outpouring of compassion and assistance, both material and spiritual. It's the kind of story the news media jumps on and follows somewhat blindly. It's the kind of story that has immeasurable public relations potential. It's the kind of story Muslims need to tell the American public if they ever hope to see justice meted out their Palestinian brethren.

Analogy is a powerful tool for communication and with a few simple images and a few simple words, much can be said. Given the circumstances of the Kosova crisis, the images and words have been sitting there, waiting for someone to draw the comparison. Visually the stories match. Editorially they compare. The outcome, unfortunately, promises to be similar: eternal exile. So it would be hard to find a better moment to put forth the plight of Palestine, using the obvious and readily available analogy to Kosova.

But the opportunity has thus far been missed and the story of Palestine stays buried, even though it's counterpart, the eviction of the Kosovar Muslims, is headline news every day. Why?

Like Palestine itself, the story was stolen.

This theft occurred, in part, because of the lack of communication technology in 1947-48; in part because of a well-organized Zionist public relations machine; and in part because of a lack of vision among American Arabs and Muslims.

In terms of technology, there were no cameras at Dier Yassin to record bodies strewn in a mass grave; no live shots of terrified villagers scrambling to safety; no sound bites about missing family members and atrocities perpetrated by Irgun terrorists. There were no reporters at the orange groves of Jaffa. And there were no satellite links to chronicle the exodus from Haifa.

In terms of Zionist PR efforts, it took mere moments for the tragedy of Kosova to be compared to the Holocaust. "Ethnic cleansing" at least resembles "genocide," if not in scale, at least in intention. Forced removal of Kosovars by bus reminded Holocaust-sensitive eyes of the trains en route to Auschwitz. With such images tugging at people's heart-strings, it should have been no surprise that Israeli relief teams were immediately on the scene, helping displaced persons and inviting some to find respite in the Jewish state. How ironic, that Kosovar Muslims would be welcomed where Palestinian Muslims are not!

There has also been an apparent moratorium on the word Muslim to describe the people who are victims of Serbian aggression. "Ethnic Albanians" are the wretched ones here, not "Muslims," as they were characterized in Bosnia, where the United States tarried too long before lending assistance. A cynic would have to wonder if Americans couldn't connect the teary, blue eyes and curly, blonde heads with the image they so often connect with Muslims: fearsome, dark, brooding and bearded.

So, once again, the pro-Israeli story spinners win. They reinforce the pain and suffering of the Holocaust (thereby justifying the theft of an empty Palestine) with the pain and suffering of the Kosovars. "How can we let it happen again?" is the question. But it is more a war cry than a call to compassion.

So where have the champions of Palestine been? Working hard, no doubt, to improve the quality of education for their American-born children; participating in civic affairs; doing business while missing their last chance this century to raise the flag of Palestine with a major informational effort in America.

Let us imagine what might have happened had the moment been seized early on. Historic photographs, like those used by the Near East Report in the 1970s, would have been provided to newspapers, showing just how similar the evacuation of Kosova is to the evacuation of Palestine. Captions would have referred to the centuries-old claim of the Serbians to a land long lived in by people whose mother tongue is Albanian and who practice Islam; oh too similar to the centuries-old claim of the Zionists to the homeland of Palestinian Muslims and Christians.

Had the moment been seized in April, perhaps PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat would have been able to stick to his May 4 goal for declaring an autonomous Palestinian state with American support. This is a strong enough story to send American public opinion into second thoughts - away from the entrenched pro-Zionist position to a more moderate and balanced policy.

There are hard working organizations, like the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the American Muslim Alliance and the Arab American Institute, all of which focus on civil rights for Arab and Muslim Americans, and try to end stereotyping and achieve greater governmental representation. These are worthy and essential efforts. But American Muslims cannot forget that it is their responsibility, here, to make the biggest difference for freedom and justice over there; wherever there may be.

Anisa Mehdi is an independent broadcast journalist and a Contributing Correspondent for Public Television's Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly