Dear Diary: My month in Tel Aviv… Emirati woman researcher recollects her travels
What I learnt about living ‘tolerance’ and the coming together of people
The Abraham Accords is no surprise coming from the children of Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. To be an Emirati is to be Zayed, and to be Zayed is to be resilient, peace-loving, moderate, accommodating and above all to be someone that holds on to their religion, tradition and values. It is to never draw a line between “you” and “me”, but to pull together as “us”. I was born and raised in a country seen as the heart of diversity – the UAE, and this diversity was the key to the success of the Abraham Accords.
As an Emirati researcher working in a global think-tank, I have been given the opportunity to open doors to a place we have never explored before. One of Trends’ main objectives is to bridge different think tanks globally, and they gave me the chance to exchange knowledge with the researchers of Israel, which is now possible thanks to the Abraham Accords.
I won’t lie; I got goosebumps when I got the news of being the first Emirati researcher to intern at an Israeli-based think-tank, The Moshe Dayan Centre for Middle Eastern and African Studies in Tel Aviv. I wanted a chance to see who Israelis are. This meant I had to jump into the unknown and to explore the unknown.
I won’t lie; I got goosebumps when I got the news of being the first Emirati researcher to intern at an Israeli-based think-tank, The Moshe Dayan Centre for Middle Eastern and African Studies in Tel Aviv. I wanted a chance to see who Israelis are. This meant I had to jump into the unknown and to explore the unknown.
I was so excited that I talked about it for a whole week. I told my friends, family, and co-workers, and the excitement was mutual. You could see it in everyone’s eyes. I mean, yes, there was a slight fear, but it was the fear of something that no one in my community had experienced before. I knew that when I left, I had to come back with a story to tell. Now that I have a story, I don’t know where to start. Do I tell you how much I loved it there, or how beautiful it felt to be around the Israeli community? Or do I talk about how good the food was? Or how successful our conference turned out to be?
It started when I got into the car to drive to the hotel I was staying at. All along the way, I saw the beach that was across the street from where I was staying in Tel Aviv-Yafo.
The palm trees, the beach, and the vibe made me feel like I was in California, yet far away from California. 'Toda-Roba' were the first two words I learned: they mean 'Thank you'. That same afternoon, I walked to the Shuk Hacarmel, a popular market that was two blocks away. The woman at the counter told me that it was the market of life, and that life is what attracts every young person.
'Toda-Roba' were the first two words I learned: they mean 'Thank you'. That same afternoon, I walked to the Shuk Hacarmel, a popular market that was two blocks away. The woman at the counter told me that it was the market of life, and that life is what attracts every young person.
That street was my turning point. The market brought together food and clothing stands from different parts of the world.
It was more like an international market, and it was full of young people working, laughing, eating, talking, or just chilling. I stood among the crowd and was confused; was this the same country that was seen so differently by others on social media platforms?
I ordered takeout from a falafel stand and smiled. Back in Abu Dhabi, I have falafel for breakfast almost every day with my friends at work. Falafel tasted like home, yet I was away from home, somewhere in the heart of Tel Aviv. I reflected for a moment and realised that history was being made; then a second later, I realised that I was the one making history.
“Where are you from?” was one of the first questions I was asked. After stating that I was from the UAE, I received such heart-warming responses like “OMG, We love the UAE!” and “We are so happy the Abraham Accords were signed, and we finally have the chance to take our families to the UAE.” But what stood out even more was the support and encouragement I received after I said that I was a researcher promoting tolerance, cultural diversity and coexistence. The conversations warmed my heart and quite frankly surprised me.
How my colleagues became friends
My internship at the Moshe Dayan Centre for Middle Eastern and African Studies lasted a month. I would need more than just a diary entry to write down the experience in a way that would make others understand the true power of people-to-people connections. An agreement can be signed any day, but to have that agreement succeed requires people to meet and understand each other despite their different religion, ethnicity, culture, or even the way they consume knowledge.
It was a Monday morning when I walked into Tel Aviv University. It was a huge campus, and it made me want to relive my university days. The environment was nothing like the picture I had in my head. It felt like the entire world was attending the same campus. My initial fear was that I didn’t want to be seen differently by others, so I tried to fit in quickly. I immediately got lost, but made a friend who pointed me in the right direction and talked to me as we walked towards the Moshe Dayan Centre. I was shy at first, but I met Efrat, the friendliest face. She then introduced me to the director of the centre and the other researchers.
The exchange of knowledge at the Moshe Dayan Center made me realise how important it was to simply communicate and listen. Two individuals with the same interests, in this case, merely coexist with one another and can have different ideas and perspectives, even when specialised in the same field. Slowly we started to bridge the knowledge gap created by the media. We began to look and speak to one another as who we were, not where we came from and what we believed in.
Weeks later, we were laughing while drinking tea. We were together organising the first conference with the Emirati-based private think-tank, Trends Research and Advisory. The conference highlighted the Abrahamic Accords, and I would be a speaker. What scared me the most was speaking on a subject ‘out loud’ rather than writing it down and publishing it via a computer. But I received a lot of support, not just from my team, but from the entire Moshe Dayan family, who made me feel as if I was among friends. It turns out this wasn’t just a fleeting moment, and I can now truly call them dear friends.
Shabbat Shalom — breaking bread and mending fences at the dinner table
I always devoted my Fridays to family gatherings, and in Tel Aviv it was no different. I spent my Fridays with the families of the ones who have now become friends of mine. I was invited to a friend’s home to experience Shabbat with their family. Before we sat to eat, I heard the prayers, and in that specific moment, I knew what tolerance sounded and felt like: to share other moments, blessings, and values and still be respected for being “different”. These are the moments when even an outsider starts feeling like an insider.
We sat at the table, and I learned that the word “kosher”, meant that the food on the table fit the Jewish dietary laws. This meant that meat and milk products were not mixed together. That same night I learned many other phrases such as “Shalom Alekhem,” which is very similar to the Arabic “Salam Alekom.” I smiled and realised there were so many similarities, even between the differences.
I sat at a dinner table with a family who made me feel like I was one of them. I felt safe in the homes, offices, universities, and streets of a country that wasn’t spoken about much as I was growing up, even though we are both a part of the Middle East. The people I met started to become people I know, and from strangers, they became friends.
It’s not a ‘goodbye’, but rather a ‘see you again’
Goodbyes were never something I was good at. I was on a Zoom call with my friends at work a week before leaving Tel Aviv and told them how much I loved it there. I wanted to extend my stay and explore more. No matter how much I felt I was getting to know the people, there was always something new to learn. The best thing about my experience was that I was among people who were open to communicating and were patient enough to teach others about who they are as people. A month can reveal a lot, but I knew deep down that I would be back again.
- The writer is a researcher and head of the Media Communications Department at Trends Research and Advisory, a UAE-based global think-tank that looks to ‘Produce cutting edge research that helps decision-makers better understand the challenges of the future’.