Abu Dhabi: There’s more to some street names than meets the eye.
The recent naming of a major Abu Dhabi’s street after Saif Saeed Gobash, the UAE’s first Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, is a prime example of this, authorities in Abu Dhabi said.
Gobash, who was assassinated in 1977, is not only being remembered as an Emirati hero but the street naming is meant to remind everyone of the country’s work against terror, officials said.
The street naming was ordered by General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
“The gesture says it loud: Although the arm of evil reached Gobash and deprived the UAE of a loyal and charismatic citizen, it has failed to remove him from the collective memory of the Emiratis.
“He is remembered as modern, self-made, educated, open-minded and at the same time deeply rooted in tradition,” said Zaki Nusseibeh, Adviser at the Ministry of Presidential Affairs and Deputy Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Culture and Heritage Authority.
Nusseibeh, one of Gobash’s close friends, said a nation prospers through the contributions of its heroes.
Some of them sacrifice their own lives in this mission. Gobash was undoubtedly of a calibre that national legends are made, Nusseibeh said.
Gobash was assassinated on October 23, 1977, at Abu Dhabi airport as he passed through the departure lounge to bid farewell to the former Syrian foreign minister Abdul Halim Khaddam, who was on a visit to the UAE. Khaddam was the target of the attack, according to investigations conducted after the incident.
Nusseibeh said Gobash gave his life while on active duty.
“The UAE, which has grown in the last decades to become a leading regional and Arab country has shown its greatness once again by naming one of its main streets after its fallen hero,” he added.
Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan had a chair in Gobash’s name kept at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., not just to keep his memory alive but to make his memory a living contribution to human relationships.
Nusseibeh recalls: “I came to know Gobash during my official work as interpreter to Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan and director of his press office. I was always impressed by the wide network of friendships that Gobash had throughout the world, his deep knowledge of current affairs and vast cultural interest.”
Gobash was undoubtedly a star in the cosmopolitan city that Abu Dhabi had come to represent, Nusseibeh added. “And yet I was always touched by his humility and the low profile he always managed to keep.”
Nusseibeh says Gobash was a victim of the blind terrorism that marred the cause of the Palestinians, which he had spent all his life defending.
In Gobash’s memory, his family is sponsoring the Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation.
The prize for the translation of a full-length work of literary merit published in English is aimed at raising the profile of contemporary Arabic literature as well as honouring the important work of individual translators.
Dr Yousuf Al Hassan, leading political expert, said Gobash was a man who loved his country.
“He showed great respect to the Arab experts and consultants who came from Egypt, Iraq, Sudan and Jordan to help the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs set up its operations and internal procedures.
“He was affected emotionally when the conflicts in the Arab world rose, such as the civil war in Lebanon and the Iraqi-Syrian conflict.”
