As Ramadan comes to a close, Laila El Haddad, a Palestinian American from Gaza, is racing against time to prepare dishes native to her homeland.
She skilfully kneads the dough for Ka’ak El Eid, a cookie popular during festive occasions such as Eid Al Fitr, the Muslim holiday marking the end of month-long fasting. It is traditionally made in large batches and then distributed to friends, family and neighbours.
Following the cherished custom, El Haddad, who now lives in Maryland with her husband and four children, plans to serve the Ka’ak and meals to her community.
But she has help with the difficult day of baking ahead of her: her daughter Bayaan, age seven, and young visitors from Gaza fill the dough with date paste and shape them into rings. El Haddad, who grew up in Saudi Arabia and spent summers in Gaza, says dates – especially red ones – are significant in her homeland. In fact, the name of the city of Deir Al Balah translates to “monastery of date palm”.
As the Israeli military continues its renewed assault on Gaza and the US clamps down on students who participated in campus pro-Palestine protests, Eid celebrations feel subdued for many in America’s Muslim community.
“On one hand, we're trying to go about our life and honour our rituals and our traditions like Eid and our sacred holidays. And on the other, we're preparing ourselves for what might come,” says El Haddad, 47.
“We're preparing ourselves for ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] raids. We're preparing ourselves for the possibility of being questioned by the FBI. We're preparing ourselves constantly for, you know, deportation,” she says. “We're preparing ourselves for the continuation of genocide, and how and what else we can possibly do to stop that and help our families. Everyone is terrified.”
In recent weeks, US President Donald Trump’s administration has cited a seldom-invoked statute authorising the secretary of state to revoke visas of non-citizens who could be considered a threat to foreign policy interests, using this to target students and others who participated in the wave of anti-war protests on university campuses last year. More than half a dozen people are known to have been taken into custody or deported under this initiative.
Despite the anxieties and uncertainties, El Haddad is holding on to the traditions of Eid.
“I think this is a hard concept for a lot of people to understand. Why would you partake in something that is supposed to be joyous at a time that is so incredibly dark and painful? And it is precisely to combat that despair.”
El Haddad prepares the ingredients for Sumagiyya, one of the signature dishes of Gaza city. The tangy stew is prepared with beef or lamb, sumac, chard and chickpeas. The recipes are featured in the cookbook The Gaza Kitchen, which she co-authored with Maggie Schmitt.
“I think we have a sacred duty as Muslims, as human beings, you know, as a part of humanity, to be able to combat that despair with these acts of joy and resistance,” she adds.
El Haddad says the current state of fear among Muslim Americans is reminiscent of the time following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. At that time, she was in her early 20s and living in Boston on a student visa, and was among those detained.
“It was a very scary time for Muslims in general, especially Muslim Americans, but it was especially scary for those of us who were politically vulnerable, like Palestinians, and there was no one you could turn to. There were no advocacy organisations at the time.”
Preserving Gaza’s culinary heritage
Most of El Haddad’s family live in Gaza city, and have endured the harshest of conditions from the beginning of the war, dealing with starvation and displacement amid the bombardment. Since the war began 17 months ago, more than 50,000 people have been killed, including some of her relatives.
“Very early on in the war, in November 2023, I had an aunt and three adult cousins and my cousin's wife who were killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza city. It was absolutely devastating,” she says.
Several of El Haddad’s family members who had been displaced to the south, returned to the north to the remains of their homes that were destroyed in Israeli air strikes.
She has a special relationship with her aunt, An’am Dalloul, who taught her many traditional recipes. She was a conduit to El Haddad’s grandmother, whom El Haddad had not met, and Ms Dalloul passed on the recipes and traditions that the family loved.
She recounts her two-hour-long interview with her aunt for her cookbook on Gazan cuisine, which ended with her aunt wanting to share with her how her grandmother made Sumagiyya. But it was a hot Ramadan day in August and close to sunset.
“I said, another time. And of course, another time never came,” El Haddad says. “Their entire building was destroyed and they were all killed, and my surviving cousin was described to me in excruciating detail how he had to dig out their remains from under the rubble, and how he couldn't even give them a proper burial because it was during a time of active Israeli strikes.”
So, this Eid, El Haddad is making Sumagiyya to honour her aunt and to keep that connection to a place that she feels is being erased. In these moments, her children create memories of the place that they have visited, but which, for them, is growing increasingly blurry in memory.
“Sumagiyya is something tangible and real and delicious, and I think I feel a connection to her as I'm cooking it, and to my grandmother as well,” El Haddad says.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
From Conquest to Deportation
Jeronim Perovic, Hurst
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
INDIA SQUAD
Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Biog
Age: 50
Known as the UAE’s strongest man
Favourite dish: “Everything and sea food”
Hobbies: Drawing, basketball and poetry
Favourite car: Any classic car
Favourite superhero: The Hulk original
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet
Price, base: Dh429,090
Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder turbo
Transmission: CVT
Power: 170bhp
Torque: 220Nm
Price: Dh98,900
Five personal finance podcasts from The National
To help you get started, tune into these Pocketful of Dirham episodes
·
Balance is essential to happiness, health and wealth
·
What is a portfolio stress test?
·
What are NFTs and why are auction houses interested?
·
How gamers are getting rich by earning cryptocurrencies
·
Should you buy or rent a home in the UAE?
Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
ANATOMY%20OF%20A%20FALL
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJustine%20Triet%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESandra%20Huller%2C%20Swann%20Arlaud%2C%20Milo%20Machado-Graner%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%205%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
