GHALILAH, RAK // At the mention of goats, the majlis fell silent. Those present at the traditional gathering knew they would not like what they were about to hear.
"One died today," said Abdulla Khamisu, a man of about 70 who owns some 50 goats. His fellow goatherd, Hassan Saeed, 64, had similarly distressing news.
"I had five die this month," said Mr Saeed, 64, an owner of 20 goats. "One was small, good."
The men of Ghalilah, who meet every evening in a waterfront majlis, are concerned that traditional local industries are on the verge of extinction because of air pollution and water shortages. As commercialism in the form of cement factories and quarries have expanded in the last 10 years, so has the threat to their livelihoods.
Their goats are literally dropping dead. Mountain honeycombs, once found in abundance, are now a rarity. Date palms are grey with dust from lorries and factories, some just a few hundred metres away. Wells are dry, drying up or being fouled.
"Before, in one month, one goat might die, but now every day goats die," said Mr Khamisu. "The ground is polluted and the goats eat the grass."
Dr Alaa el Din Hassan, a veterinarian at the Al Waha Vet Clinic in Ras al Khaimah, said the pollution was a "major factor" in causing loss of life on farms.
"Primarily, their digestive system gets affected and, secondarily, their respiratory system," he said. "The pollution also causes deprivation in the animal's immunity system."
Traditional industries were the life source for families who migrated to the north coast from the mountains in summer. That may not be the case much longer.
Ahmed Abdul had 500 date palm trees four years ago, more than 400 of which have since died. Three of his goats died this month.
"The pollution comes and all our trees die," Mr Abdul said. "For 30 years it's been a problem. When they opened these companies the pollution was little, but year by year it increases. The water became salty and the air became dusty. Before I was selling dates in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but now I have none."
He is not the only one suffering from diminishment. Half of Mr Khamisu's 200 trees have died because of a water shortage.
"Before the dust, we didn't have to wash the dates," he said. "We had good water, the dates were clean and we didn't have illness before. Since the dust came everything is sick. The trees are sick, the people are sick, the water is dirty."
In the past, 50 cars from Ghalilah were filled with dates to export. They will be lucky if they can fill two this year. The town had a revenue of about Dh180,000 from dates 10 years ago, say the farmers. The surrounding area was thick with date palm trees.
"Now there's none," said Mr Saeed, picking through a basket of fresh dates. "Before, we would eat it straight off the tree. Look at this, it's all garbage. What is this? Forty years ago we had no AC but our goats were healthy. From Ajman, Dubai, people came here in the summer because it was very nice."
The men looked through photographs of Ghalilah from the 1950s, which show palm fronds houses on the beach, and more recent photos of grand pieces of honeycomb, several feet in length, which can no longer be found.
"There's been no honey for 10 years," said Mr Khamisu.
Although the local honey is not as clear as it once was and its taste is not of the same quality, its price has doubled because hives are less common and smaller than before. Where honey output was once measured in litres, a beekeeper will usually get about 300 millilitres from today's honeycombs.
Mohammed Salem, a respected local medicine man, will proudly tell strangers about the 11 wounds on his backside from his honey-collecting days. He is also quick to note that asthma and allergies were unknown 30 years ago. His friend Mohammed Abdulla, a renowned honey collector, believes that dust can be controlled with tighter regulation.
"The factories that put filters in them are good, but at night it's very bad and the Government knows," said Mr Abdulla.
@Email:azacharias@thenational.ae
Normal People
Sally Rooney, Faber & Faber
Martin Sabbagh profile
Job: CEO JCDecaux Middle East
In the role: Since January 2015
Lives: In the UAE
Background: M&A, investment banking
Studied: Corporate finance
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Honeymoonish
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THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
More from Janine di Giovanni
The Breadwinner
Director: Nora Twomey
Starring: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Laara Sadiq
Three stars
MIDWAY
Produced: Lionsgate Films, Shanghai Ryui Entertainment, Street Light Entertainment
Directed: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Aaron Eckhart, Luke Evans, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Darren Criss
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
ICC Awards for 2021
MEN
Cricketer of the Year – Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Babar Azam (Pakistan)
Test Cricketer of the Year – Joe Root (England)
WOMEN
Cricketer of the Year – Smriti Mandhana (India)
ODI Cricketer of the Year – Lizelle Lee (South Africa)
T20 Cricketer of the Year – Tammy Beaumont (England)
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League final:
Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports
FA Cup quarter-final draw
The matches will be played across the weekend of 21 and 22 March
Sheffield United v Arsenal
Newcastle v Manchester City
Norwich v Derby/Manchester United
Leicester City v Chelsea
Rashid & Rajab
Director: Mohammed Saeed Harib
Stars: Shadi Alfons, Marwan Abdullah, Doaa Mostafa Ragab
Two stars out of five
