the day i became palestani

Here I am, on the eve of my five month anniversary in Sharjah with a story to tell. I was in a taxi the other night with a Bangladeshi man who was very happy to have a "Palestani" in his car. He shared with me the story of when he saw Arafat give a speech in Dhaka. The man spoke about it with great happiness.

He told me that Bangladeshis love Palestanis, something I knew (and totally appreciate).

He started talking about religion, how they too were Sunnis. And then he asked me about Arafat's widow, Suha - was she really Christian? I said yes. And did she convert to Islam when she got married? I said no. He said that wasn't good, that she should have. My response was that God knows what's real, so it's best that we're truthful about our religious leanings.

He said, "I believe we all, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, pray to the same god." I totally agreed with him, but for different reasons. While I think that he believes that we are all Muslim, I believe that it doesn't matter what religion you are, or what you call your god (actually, maybe we're both saying the same thing?).

The night before, i was privy to an annoying debate about Arabness, and why one should or shouldn't call themselves "Arab." It was annoying only because it was going in circles. But it reminded me about the issue of one-ness, not a one-ness that erases difference, or a one-ness that is hegemonic. It's not the one-ness that I understood the taxi driver was talking about, but a one-ness that we should all believe in. It's a one-ness that inspires us all to rise up against tyranny.

And so today, I'm here to say that I"m proud to be Palestani.