Conversation with Noura in Dubai

Art by Kamel Abuhalaweh (image credit)

Noura was born in Dubai but is of Palestinian nationality. It’s a big “NO” for her to become Emirati. From what I could gather, she felt very disappointed in the UAE’s refusal to grant her (and her family, I imagine, too) some of the privileges of an Emirati, given that she was born here. 

Iran and other countries want to create a “Shia belt” that stretch from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, to Lebanon.

Syria and Palestine were the primary countries in that part of the Middle East years ago. Syria was under French powers, and Palestine under British. Then Syria was ‘cut up’ to form Lebanon, where the Christian Syrians were housed.

I believe Noura said it was Palestine that was ‘cut up’ to form Jordan, on the eastern part of the country. That is why she and her family, like many other Palestinians, have a Jordanian passport.

Dolly, whom I met from the GEC, is Jordanian, and wanted to become a Kuwaiti National.

Zionism claimed portions more of Palestine:  Gaza strip, I believe, among these. She mentioned Herzl and Balfour.

This movement began in the late 1890s. She mentioned 1917 – was this when the formal (re-)migration of the Jews back to the Middle East took place? As I wrote in that entry, there’s more that I need to learn here.

Noura dreams of her homeland and visualizes it as something like a beautiful woman. I asked if she wanted to visit it someday, as she’s never been there. She’s afraid, she admitted, because of what a major letdown it might be to see the reality. She became a bit teary-eyed about this.

She said, “We lost Andalucia” (Spain). We were talking about Muslims. She related what I had come to know about Islam and Muslims, that is, that they were very knowledgeable people, dominant in key regions in the broader Middle East.

She said, “If only we had taken France, we would’ve been all over Europe.” I said, “Muslims are all over Europe, but as second-class citizens.” Mirroring my remark, her word was “invisible.”