"John MacKenzie and Lizzie Cornish are both displaying a complete ingnorance of how women think in Islamic societies."


Peter, for nearly 10 years I worked in Harley Street, back in the 70s, when the people of the Middle East had no hospitals of their own, or only a very few. The pavements of London at that time, were thronged with black. There I came into contact with thousands, (over the years) of women, of all ages, from all parts of the Middle East.   

From Princesses to Peasants....

I also dealt with interpreters, accountants, Embassy Officials of different countries.

I got to know the sharks and the kittens of the Middle East. I got to know a whole mini Middle East society.

I talked to body guards (with their guns) and to Heads of State, who would come to see us after hours....when we 'mere women' were told to remain in our office, as the Ruler of Oman did not want to see us.
Of course, I always made sure I walked straight into the waiting room, and said good evening to them all....

I bartered, I argued, I cuddled, I uplifted, I offered my shoulder to cry on.

I had Princesses giggling in my office, because men were outside...and I dealt with the deeply unhappy beaten wives, who spent their summers 'doing Europe' searching for the cure from an illness they didn't have, because the illness was the beatings they had to endure. Their summer appointments were their one respite.

I spent Ramadan at the Saudi Health Office, patiently trying to explain to the crooked regime there that yes, they did owe Mr.Phelps Brown well over £100,000 for patients seen in just a few months...and I rebuffed the 'You show me some honey, and I'll show you the money' request from their bastard of a slimey Chief Accountant....

I was friends with Bassim and Hisham who always looked after me when I disappeared into the Embassies...and I worked out pretty fast that the Kuwaitis were lovely people, as were the Egyptians...The Qatari's pretty much did as they were told, the Libyans were pretty darn loopy and papered their Embassy walls with Harley St. bills which they never did pay...The Saudi Health Office eventually rumbled their crooked accountant...and years later he was returned to Saudi, in disgrace...Dr. Juma Bilal and Dr. Solomon, both heads of the United Arab Emirates Embassy were also friends of mine..Juma in particular was a real sweetiepie, who went out his way to inform me that the Saudi Health Office were telling lies about the doctor I worked for..

The womenn called me 'Habibi' and loved the fact I wore kohl on my eyes...and we'd laugh and joke, or mop up tears, whatever needed doing in their lives....

I learnt also that most Arab men felt that most Western women were/are sluts...and treated them accordingly. I never flirted with any of them, never gave them cause to treat me with anything, other than respect.

And I still have the beautiful scarf Sheikh Assaf gave me, the Worry Beads that Mr. Ali Bin Ali gave me, which he held to his heart...

The women interpreters told me much about their countries, about their lives....

I have always loved people from the Middle East...and I got to know many of them...but I also know that many of the men think very differently to western men...treat their women differently....see women as belonging to them.

I saw the spoilt Princesses, doing their European Tours of doctors and hospital appointments, filling their days with buying Western clothes to wear at home, inside their palaces, or going to Harrods...dropping gold bracelets to the 'peasants' (me) from their grandfather, Sheikh Al-Thani, the wise old man of Qatar...

I watched the Arab women walking behind their men, hidden in their black outfits, their leather masks hiding all but their beautiful eyes...and how their eyes betrayed their lives....sometimes sparkling, but so often like Alice's Puddle, telling of never ending tears....

So don't tell me that I don't know about people from the Middle East...because I have a strong affinity with them...I held their babies, held their hands, held their souls, whatever they needed most.

There *are* some women who prefer to hide behind their robes. There are many who do not. Women should be free to be who they want to be..not forced to wear burkhas all their lives, or have acid poured on their faces purely for wanting to become educated..

May I politely suggest you also read 'The Prince and I' and 'Not Without My Daughter' for an insight into how women are treated in Arab society...

Inshallah...