There is no Palestinian official who has felt the isolation of US President Donald Trump’s policies towards Ramallah in the last 18 months more than Husam Zomlot.
It was in March 2017, just two months after the American leader’s inauguration, that he would be appointed as Palestinian ambassador to Washington. As months went by, his phone would fall silent.
The president slowly chipped away at the Palestinian cause, dismissing their claims for resolving the decades-long conflict with Israel and making moves in favour of Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government as official contact between American and Palestinian officials virtually ground to a halt.
The final blow for Mr Zomlot was in September when Washington shuttered the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) office, revoked the visas of his wife and children, and sent him packing. He maintains that both he and the PLO chose to leave of their own volition.
Now, the Palestinian emissary has found a new home – a modest office block close to the glitzy embassy mansions of Knightsbridge, the diplomatic heartbeat of London – that captures their isolation. A short stroll from Hammersmith train station in the capital’s West End, the office has so much space, you can almost hear the echo of your own thoughts.
Like his colleagues in the West Bank, he remains defiant, refusing to bow to the Trump administration and what he says are its attempts to turn the Palestinians into a “nation of beggars” subservient to Washington and the Israelis.
“Ever since I arrived in Washington, one of the things I was told, by senior officials in the White House, every time we discussed things and I come up with our vision and position, they would say ‘these are old ideas,’” he said in an hour-long interview with The National in his new West London office. He speaks quickly and fluently, a draped Palestinian flag behind his right shoulder, to the occasional background rumble of a train pulling out of the nearby station.
“I’m afraid this term has to be taken with a grain of salt. I’m afraid this term ‘old ideas’ means you have to adopt new ideas. What they mean by new ideas is either full submission or redefining our rights to less than the collective self-determination of independent sovereignty.”
Those ‘new ideas’ refer to a range of options reportedly proposed by Trump’s Middle East advisers - envoy Jason Greenblatt, son-in-law Jared Kushner and US ambassador to Israel David Friedman - that the Palestinians have baulked at, such as confederacy with Jordan and Abu Dis, not Jerusalem, as the capital of a semi-autonomous Palestinian state.
In parallel to those offers, they have tried to change the reality on the ground through a series of unilateral moves the Palestinians say disqualified the US role as an impartial broker in the conflict.
Mr Trump relocated the US embassy to Jerusalem, effectively recognising the contested city as Israel’s, cut all American aid to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in a blow to their right of return and slashed funding for East Jerusalem hospitals that service sick Palestinians.
“At least my kids are now in school, but as a result of the US administration’s decision some kids in Gaza might not have a classroom in the very near future,” he says, brushing off the impact on him personally.
Washington says the moves were a reaction to Palestinian criticism and refusal to come to the negotiating table, a suggestion that he counters passionately.
“It’s very dangerous to say a big part of the problem was the Palestinian leadership’s inability… no, that’s again blaming the besieged and the occupied,” he says.
“This leadership has been transformational in their ability to start a revolution...to bring the people of Palestine together under one banner that is the PLO and...their ability to politicise and humanise our cause. They made sure nobody speaks on our behalf.”
At 44, Mr Zomlot has been labelled part of a younger generation rising through the Palestinian leadership, a movement that has been dominated by the likes of Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas for decades. President Abbas is now 82-years-old and in the 14th year of his presidency.
Though Mr Zomlot has a doctorate from London’s prestigious SOAS University, he had a less prosperous start to life. He was born, and spent his early days, in a refugee camp in southern Gaza, before being accepted onto the UK’s prestigious Chevening scholarship that grants access to a Western education for applicants from around the world.
One might expect a rising diplomat to agree that the peace process needs an injection of youthful thinking and a jolt of energy, but Mr Zomlot's view differs.
"This is not about the who; this is more about what," he says. "Young people do not necessarily come with young ideas, sometimes young people like myself can still be holding very old and bad ideas, and sometimes old people can bring very fresh and new ideas."
Seventeen years ago Mr Zomlot, barely out of British university, was handpicked by Yasser Arafat, the charismatic Palestinian leader who died in 2004, to serve as deputy ambassador in the same mission he now heads. More recently, he has served as an adviser to Mr Abbas, a role he continues to this day.
He is fiercely defensive of their legacies. "I have worked with the first generation of the movement, I worked with all the founders of the movement," he says. "I tell you, the problem is not them." (What did he say is the problem?)
The problem, he says lies in Tel Aviv, "Netanyahu is the one breaking the backbone of the two-state solution," he said. "I hope my generation can do a fraction of what the previous generation has managed to do."
Many on the Palestinian street disagree with Mr Zomlot. Mr Abbas, their leader in the West Bank, is increasingly unpopular for his perceived inaction and inability to deliver progress on the conflict. Palestinian security forces are reviled for collaborating with the Israeli military.
But, despite the trauma of the last 18 months, the Palestinian diplomat still manages to take pride in what has become a very bleak state of affairs, “What happened in the last year was unprecedented,” he says, “we were the only side in this world that said no to Mr Trump”.
For Palestinians at home feeling the brunt of Trumpism, that may be their only consolation.
Given the hostility to the Trump administration to historical Palestinian demands, some have suggested they should try to wait out the presidency, Mr Zomlot says this is not going to happen.
"We cannot afford that," he said. "People are losing their lives, losing their property, losing their dignity. What we need to do is activate and strengthen something that already exists – the international order."
"International order is the solution to the mess we are in, not waiting out Mr Trump. We cannot expect just one country to bring about peace between the two sides, only the world can do so."
'Top Gun: Maverick'
Rating: 4/5
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Miles Teller, Glen Powell, Ed Harris
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
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
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Directed by: Shaka King
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
Four stars
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
THE TWIN BIO
Their favourite city: Dubai
Their favourite food: Khaleeji
Their favourite past-time : walking on the beach
Their favorite quote: ‘we rise by lifting others’ by Robert Ingersoll
Premier League results
Saturday
Crystal Palace 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 2
Cardiff City 2 West Ham United 0
Huddersfield Town 0 Bournemouth 2
Leicester City 3 Fulham 1
Newcastle United 3 Everton 2
Southampton 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1
Manchester City 3 Watford 1
Sunday
Liverpool 4 Burnley 2
Chelsea 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1
Arsenal 2 Manchester United 0
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
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
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Emiratisation at work
Emiratisation was introduced in the UAE more than 10 years ago
It aims to boost the number of citizens in the workforce particularly in the private sector.
Growing the number of Emiratis in the workplace will help the UAE reduce dependence on overseas workers
The Cabinet in December last year, approved a national fund for Emirati jobseekers and guaranteed citizens working in the private sector a comparable pension
President Sheikh Khalifa has described Emiratisation as “a true measure for success”.
During the UAE’s 48th National Day, Sheikh Khalifa named education, entrepreneurship, Emiratisation and space travel among cornerstones of national development
More than 80 per cent of Emiratis work in the federal or local government as per 2017 statistics
The Emiratisation programme includes the creation of 20,000 new jobs for UAE citizens
UAE citizens will be given priority in managerial positions in the government sphere
The purpose is to raise the contribution of UAE nationals in the job market and create a diverse workforce of citizens
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Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Vikram%20Vedha
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirectors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Gayatri%2C%20Pushkar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hrithik%20Roshan%2C%20Saif%20Ali%20Khan%2C%20Radhika%20Apte%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3E3.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What it means to be a conservationist
Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
What is biodiversity?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
