However, the Palestine pavilion has not officially opened to the public, as employees described a litany of headaches trying to get approval from Israeli authorities to get certain goods out of the occupied West Bank.
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The exhibit creates a full sensory experience, inviting visitors to touch handmade ceramic jugs, watch vendors slicing knafeh, a syrupy cheese-filled pastry, and smell oranges from Palestinian farms. Expo organizers, the person added, were trying to prevent the takeover, but the pavilion's fate remains uncertain.Īfter the UAE announced it would normalize relations with Israel last year, infuriating the Palestinians and upending a long-standing Arab consensus, the Palestinian Authority declared it would boycott Dubai's Expo.Īnd yet just a two-minute stroll from Israel's mirrored arch, Palestine's pavilion stands tall, its vast exterior painted with Arabic calligraphy reading: “Yesterday it was called Palestine. The previous government, which was toppled by a coup in February, had appointed a leading Burmese philanthropist to direct and sponsor the showcase years ago.īut a person familiar with pavilion's operations, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said Myanmar's military junta in recent weeks had been trying to overhaul the philanthropist's exhibit and change the event schedule, with hopes to host nationalist, military rallies over the fair's six months. The pavilion for Myanmar, where the army's seizure of power has spiraled into a bloody conflict, displays a golden chariot and beckons visitors to its pagoda-studded plains. Merchants described harrowing nights trekking with Expo-bound sacks of stones, spices and honey through the battlefields of Marib, Yemen's last government stronghold now under siege by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. “We wanted to present Yemen in a different manner … to demonstrate the people and not any political agenda.”īut the winding journey the exhibit's handicrafts took from the nation's rebel-held north to the sleek Emirati-funded pavilion betrays a very different Yemen.
“We had one bullet to shoot,” said Manahel Thabet, Yemeni pavilion director.
But even as nations use their pavilions as benign infomercials, the political turbulence of the wider world manages to intrude. Welcome to Dubai’s Expo 2020, the first world’s fair in the Middle East that boasts over 190 participating countries - except Afghanistan, whose new Taliban rulers are a no-show.ĭubai has gambled billions to make the built-from-scratch Expo village a triumphant tourist attraction and symbol of the United Arab Emirates itself - a feast for the eyes designed to be devoid of politics and built on the promise of globalization. Yemen, on the brink of famine, is very excited about its honey and coffee. Syria wants you to forget about its brutal war and learn about the world’s first alphabet. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Iran wants you to put politics aside and marvel over its ornate carpets.
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