Ramadan drama ‘Um Haroun’ conjures up a religiously harmonious Middle East

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Updated 01 August 2020
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Ramadan drama ‘Um Haroun’ conjures up a religiously harmonious Middle East

  • MBC series features character of a Jewish nurse who is respected by her Arab neighbors in 1940s Kuwait
  • Drama harks back to a time when Arabs, Jews and Christians lived and worked together in the Gulf region

LONDON: If the very best drama seeks not only to entertain but also to educate and provoke debate on the pressing issues of the day, then MBC’s hit Ramadan series “Um Haroun” must surely be in the running for multiple awards.

Before even a single episode had aired, controversy had flared over the series, in which a central character is a Jewish nurse living in harmony with her Arab neighbors in 1940s Kuwait.

A spokesperson for the Palestinian Hamas group told Reuters that portraying Jewish people in a sympathetic light was “cultural aggression and brainwashing,” while a group of organizations opposed to normalizing ties with the state of Israel took to social media to urge viewers to boycott what it condemned as the “wicked drama.”

The program-makers insist that, while “Um Haroun” promotes themes of tolerance and coexistence, it is nevertheless a work of fiction and not a docudrama. Yet it is no coincidence that the series is set in the early 1940s, a time when Jews and Arabs lived in harmony throughout the Gulf states.

In fact, main character Um Haroun, after whom the series takes its name, is loosely based on real-life Jewish midwife Um Jan, who moved to Bahrain from Iraq in the 1930s, a time when Arabs, Jews and Christians lived and worked together throughout the region.

All that changed, however, on November 29, 1947, with the passing of UN Resolution 181, which called for the partition of the British-ruled Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state and envisaged Jerusalem as a “corpus separatum,” under a special international regime to be administered by the UN.

Thirty-three countries voted in favor of the resolution but, unsurprisingly, not a single Arab state did so. Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen were among the 13 nations that voted against it.

The outcome, compounded on May 14 the following year with the foundation of the state of Israel, undid centuries of peaceful Arab-Jewish relations. The day after the UN vote, Palestine erupted in civil war. On May 15, 1948, a coalition of Arab forces invaded Palestine.

In the Arab world the consequences of what followed — Al-Nakba, or the “Catastrophe,” in which three-quarters of a million Arabs were driven from their homes in Palestine — have never been forgotten.

Less well known, however, is the fate of a similar number of Jews who after 1948 were either driven out or who chose to migrate from the Arab countries they had once called home, in many cases leaving behind all of their property.

One of those refugees was 16-year-old Ada Aharoni, an Egyptian-born Jew of French descent whose father, a flour merchant in Cairo, had his business and assets seized by the Egyptian government in 1949. The family fled first to France and then to Israel.

Aharoni grew up to be a writer, sociologist and peace campaigner, credited with coining the phrase “the second exodus” to describe the forced migration of Jews from Arab countries after 1948. 

In her work, however, her purpose has always been to seek a resolution between Jews and Arabs through mutual understanding.

The motivation of a paper she published in the journal Peace Review in 2010, she wrote, was to “placate both the Palestinians and the Jewish refugees from the Arab countries by pointing out that their sufferings, problems and feelings of victimization have many common points, and that both sides share them.”

Before and after the rise of Islam in the Middle East, Jews had “enjoyed well-being and a degree of tolerance and protection under the law and in some instances even rose to prominence under Arab rule.”

This harmonious state of affairs came to an abrupt end in 1948, to be replaced by “intolerance, discrimination, degrading civil codes and often cruel persecutions which were meted out to members of the Jewish faith by their host countries.”

Until the foundation of Israel in 1948, there were an esimated 800,000 Jews living throughout the Arab world in the Middle East and North Africa.

According to regional censuses, by 1976 most of these communities had all but disappeared. Between 1948 and 1976 the Jewish population in Egypt fell from 100,000 to about 200. Iraq’s Jewish population dwindled from over 130,000 to just 400.

“These historic facts,” Aharoni argued, “could be used to advance the peace process in the Middle East today if they are presented and used in a positive way.”

Now there is evidence of a positive change in the decades-old blanket rejection of Israel among Arab states and, while no one at MBC is claiming that “Um Haroun” is anything but dramatic fiction, there is little doubt that the program’s themes have caught the mood of change.

In 2019, the UAE declared the “Year of Tolerance,” appointing a senior member of the royal family as Minister of Tolerance and reinforcing its commitment to being “a bridge of communication between the people of the world and their various cultures in an environment of openness and respect that rejects extremism and promotes coexistence.”

That same year US rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding and special adviser to Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, wrote an article for the Jerusalem Post celebrating the “blossoming of Jewish life in the Gulf as part of an overall positive trajectory of Israel-Gulf relations.”

It is, of course, no secret that while Bahrain has the only remaining indigenous Jewish population in the Gulf, for the past decade Dubai has been home to a synagogue serving the emirate’s small Jewish community.

Now, wrote Schneier, Gulf leaders are “very optimistic about the opportunities that will present themselves once they have diplomatic relations with Israel.”

Their desire to move that process forward is informed, he believes, in part by political realities — economic benefits and the fact that “both Israel and the Gulf are facing the common threat of Iran” — but are not exclusively pragmatic.

There is a “genuine interest from Gulf leaders in bringing together Muslims and Jews.”

There have been other recent signs that the mutual enmities created in 1948 may finally be running out of steam.

In February this year, Dr. Muhammad al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League, became the most senior Islamic figure to visit the Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.

His historic visit — on the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation in 1945 — was followed by a tweet from the foreign minister of the UAE, declaring that “in memory of the Holocaust, we stand on the side of humanity against racism, hatred, and extremism.”

Such is the changing mood in the Gulf that “Um Haroun” has translated to the screen. The sentiment, however, has not attracted instant universal support, as a mix of angry and supportive posts on social media testified.

Mazen Hayek, MBC Group’s director of PR, stressed that the series was pure fiction and not a docudrama.

“We are not worried by controversy,” he added. “We look at it as a healthy debate about issues, conceptions and conflict, which is necessary for any society to advance.

“How can any society move forward and embark on advancement and gradual change if it does not debate preconceived ideas and concepts?”

The Middle East, he says, “has for the past three or four decades been stereotyped, been portrayed by hardliners, extremists and terrorist networks as a region of hatred, fear, atrocities and blood.

“This is the ugly face of the Middle East that has been projected, and we consider it a positive thing to be able to show the other face.

“If with this show we are showing how Middle East societies had, and still have, tolerance, cross-cultural dialogue and cross-religious coexistence, then that is positive and that is MBC being true to its mission.”

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UM HAROUN’S MESSAGE AS EXPLAINED BY MBC

The MBC drama “Um Haroun” has topped the list of Ramadan series for 2020 for two main reasons: its depiction of a time before sectarianism and its controversial nature.

Set in 1940s Kuwait, the show’s main message is coexistence in a village where tolerance, moderation and openness is the norm.

Written by Ali and Mohammed Shams and directed by Mohamed El Adl, “Um Haroun” follows a series of fictional events in a community composed of Muslims, Christians and Jews, and tells the story of a greatly respected and admired Jewish physician.

The show’s all-Arab cast includes Kuwaiti actress Hayat Al-Fahad, Abdulmohsen Alnemr, Fatima Al-Safi, Rawan Mahdi and Ahmed Al-Jasmi among others.

Al-Fahad’s character Um Haroun, which translates to “mother of Haroun,” plays the role of a midwife and nurse who assists women in giving birth and helps others across the village with their problems, with no regard to religion or background.

Representing the true meaning of “loving one’s neighbor,” the show’s main character takes viewers back to a time when Jewish communities existed in the Gulf.

“This is a first in Gulf drama, and so it’s something quite different for our audiences and something interesting to explore,” Al-Fahad said.

“Umm Haroun possesses kindness, honesty, charisma and a genuine love for her people, which makes her easy to trust and a pillar of the community.”

The plot could not be more relevant in the time of the coronavirus disease pandemic, when people across the world are realizing the importance of community and collective well-being.

Much like the character of Um Haroun, millions of health workers are selflessly putting themselves on the line for the greater good, proving that humanity is stronger when united.

“Um Haroun” demonstrates the importance of differentiating between what drives politics and what should drive humanity.

Tolerance and hope are far more powerful than hate, fear and divisiveness.

 

 


Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps

Updated 18 February 2025
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Tens of thousands of Palestinians flee West Bank refugee camps

  • The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, have long been major centers for armed militant groups

JERUSALEM: Tens of thousands of Palestinians living in refugee camps in the occupied West Bank have left their homes as a weeks-long Israeli offensive has demolished houses and torn up vital infrastructure in the heavily built up townships, Palestinian authorities said.
Israeli forces began their operation in the refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Jan. 21, deploying hundreds of troops and bulldozers that demolished houses and dug up roads, driving almost all of the camp’s residents out.
“We don’t know what’s going on in the camp but there is continuous demolition and roads being dug up,” said Mohammed Al-Sabbagh, head of the Jenin camp services committee.

An Israeli army excavator demolishes a residential building in the Tulkarem camp for Palestinian refugees during an ongoing Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

The operation, which Israel says is aimed at thwarting Iranian-backed militant groups in the West Bank, has since been extended to other camps, notably the Tulkarm refugee camp and the nearby Nur Shams camp, both of which have also been devastated. The camps, built for descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled or were driven from their homes in the 1948 war around the creation of the state of Israel, have long been major centers for armed militant groups. They have been raided repeatedly by the Israeli military but the current operation, which began as a ceasefire was agreed in Gaza, has been on an unusually large scale. According to figures from the Palestinian Authority, around 17,000 people have now left Jenin refugee camp, leaving the site almost completely deserted, while in Nur Shams 6,000 people, or about two thirds of the total, have left, with another 10,000 leaving from Tulkarm camp.
“The ones who are left are trapped,” said Nihad Al-Shawish, head of the Nur Shams camp services committee. “The Civil Defense, the Red Crescent and the Palestinian security forces brought them some food yesterday but the army is still bulldozing and destroying the camp.” The Israeli raids have demolished dozens of houses and torn up large stretches of roadway as well as cutting off water and power, but the military has denied forcing residents to leave their homes.
“People obviously have the possibility to move or go where they want, if they will. But if they don’t, they’re allowed to stay,” Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani told reporters.
The operation began as Israel moved to banish the main UN Palestinian relief organization UNRWA from its headquarters in East Jerusalem and cut it off from any contact with Israeli officials.
The ban, which took effect at the end of January, has hit UNRWA’s work in the West Bank and Gaza, where it provides aid for millions of Palestinians in the refugee camps.
Israel has accused UNRWA of cooperating with Hamas and said some UNRWA workers even took part in the Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that set off the 15-month war in Gaza.

 


More than one million Syrians return to their homes: UN

People walk past shops in Homs on February 10, 2025. (AFP)
Updated 19 February 2025
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More than one million Syrians return to their homes: UN

  • “Since the fall of the regime in Syria we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees

GENEVA: More than one million people have returned to their homes in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar Assad, including 280,000 refugees who came back from abroad, the UN said on Tuesday.
Assad was toppled in December in a rebel offensive, putting an end to his family’s decades-long grip on power in the Middle Eastern country and bookmarking a civil war that broke out in 2011, with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
Syria’s war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions from their homes.
The Islamist-led rebels whose offensive ousted Assad have sought to assure the international community that they have broken with their past and will respect the rights of minorities.
“Since the fall of the regime in Syria we estimate that 280,000 Syrian refugees and more than 800,000 people displaced inside the country have returned to their homes,” Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, wrote on the X social media platform.
“Early recovery efforts must be bolder and faster, though, otherwise people will leave again: this is now urgent!” he said.
At a meeting in Paris in mid-February, some 20 countries, including Arab nations, Turkiye, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan agreed at the close of a conference in Paris to “work together to ensure the success of the transition in a process led by Syria.”
The meeting’s final statement also pledged support for Syria’s new authorities in the fight against “all forms of terrorism and extremism.”
 

 


Israeli military says it struck weapons belonging to former Syrian administration in southern Syria

Updated 19 February 2025
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Israeli military says it struck weapons belonging to former Syrian administration in southern Syria

CAIRO: The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it struck weapons which it said belonged to the former Syrian administration in southern Syria.

 


Algiers slams French minister’s visit to W. Sahara

Updated 18 February 2025
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Algiers slams French minister’s visit to W. Sahara

  • France’s stance on Western Sahara has been ambiguous in recent years, often straining its ties with Morocco

ALGIERS: Algeria on Tuesday denounced a visit by French Culture Minister Rachida Dati to Western Sahara, after Paris recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed territory, as “objectionable on multiple levels.”
The vast desert territory is a former Spanish colony largely controlled by Morocco but claimed for decades by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.
Dati, who described her visit as “historic,” launched with Moroccan Culture Minister Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid a French cultural mission in the territory’s main city, Laayoune.
An Algerian foreign ministry statement posted on social media Tuesday said the visit “reflects blatant disregard for international legality by a permanent member of the UN Security Council.”
“This visit reinforces Morocco’s fait accompli in Western Sahara, a territory where the decolonization process remains incomplete and the right to self-determination unfulfilled,” it said.
Dati’s trip, a first for a French official, “reflects the detestable image of a former colonial power in solidarity with a new one,” the statement added.
The United Nations considers Western Sahara to be a “non-self-governing territory” and has had a peacekeeping mission there since 1991, whose stated aim is to organize a referendum on the territory’s future.
But Rabat has repeatedly rejected any vote in which independence is an option, instead proposing autonomy under Morocco.
France’s stance on Western Sahara has been ambiguous in recent years, often straining its ties with Morocco.
But in July, French President Emmanuel Macron said Rabat’s autonomy plan was the “only basis” to resolve the Western Sahara dispute.
Algeria has backed the separatist Polisario Front and cut diplomatic relations with Rabat in 2021 — the year after Morocco normalized ties with Israel under a deal that awarded it US recognition of its annexation of the Western Sahara.
In October, the UN Security Council called for parties to “resume negotiations” to reach a “lasting and mutually acceptable solution” to the Western Sahara dispute.
In November 2020, the Polisario Front said it was ending a 29-year ceasefire with Morocco after Moroccan troops were deployed to the far south of the territory to remove independence supporters blocking the only road to Mauritania.
The Polisario Front claims the route is illegal, arguing that it did not exist when the ceasefire was established in 1991.
 

 


Kurdistan region’s pipeline restart ready to go, foreign minister says

Updated 18 February 2025
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Kurdistan region’s pipeline restart ready to go, foreign minister says

  • Baghdad has periodically withheld the Kurdistan region’s share of the federal budget to try to stop it from exporting oil independently

BAGHDAD: A major pipeline connecting Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region to Turkiye is ready to reopen and resume exports, the Kurdish foreign minister said on Tuesday, potentially ending a dispute between Baghdad and Irbil that led to the closure of the pipeline in 2023.
Foreign Minister Safeen Dizayee declined to say when the pipeline would reopen but said it would mark a turning point in relations between Kurdistan and Baghdad.
Iraq’s oil minister said on Monday the Iraq-Turkiye pipeline (ITP) will resume next week.
“All arrangements that were set on the table have been agreed to, with the aim to prepare for re-exports. There shouldn’t be any hiccups. The legal aspects have been met, the technical aspects are in place,” Dizayee told Reuters by phone. “The button just has to be pushed to increase production and then re-export.”
The oil flows were halted by Turkiye in March 2023 after the International Chamber of Commerce ordered Ankara to pay Baghdad damages of $1.5 billion for unauthorized pipeline exports by the Kurdistan Regional Government between 2014 and 2018.
Negotiations to restart the pipeline have been ongoing, with US officials participating in some of the talks.
Resuming oil exports will boost the Kurdistan region’s budget, Dizayee said.
“This means Kurdistan will benefit from the federal budget and hopefully this will end the saga of (civil servants’) salaries coming or not coming, received in dribs and drabs,” Dizayee said.
Baghdad has periodically withheld the Kurdistan region’s share of the federal budget to try to stop it from exporting oil independently.
Oil producers in the Kurdistan region have had to wind down production without an export route. It will likely take some time for them to restart their oil wells and for the pipeline to use its full capacity. Before it was shut down, it transported around 450,000 barrels per day.
“They’ve invested a lot. It was a risk they took and it must pay off. They [the companies] need assurances that their investment will not be down the drain,” Dizayee said. “Compensation is something that needs to be discussed.”
An international consultancy will be brought in to do an assessment of the cost of production, expenses, cost recovery and the production sharing agreements, he said.