Word: alis
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...Ali reckoned he had guided them all through Petra: heads of state, U.N. ambassadors, even royalty. His proudest moment, however, was the day the Iron Lady came to town. "I was selected to show Margaret Thatcher around the site," he says with pride. "What a woman! It was 40C and she still turned up in an immaculate twinset and high heels...
...Nowadays, however, Ali is lucky to be guiding a handful of backpackers, let alone world leaders in inappropriate attire. On a good day, Petra?the ancient city of the Nabataean kingdom that ruled Arabia 2,000 years ago and was, until recently, Jordan's primary tourist attraction?drew 3,000 visitors daily. But that was before Israel erupted in a spate of violence that sent tourists packing region-wide. These days, only a few trickle through the two-kilometer-long narrow, rose-hued stone gorge to emerge, blinking in the sunlight, opposite the Treasury building, a location easily recognizable...
...street level, this lull means Ali is grumpier than usual because taking home poor tips guarantees a regular ear bashing from his wife. In a wider context, however, it's even more serious: luxury hotels across the country?a legacy of the Israeli-Jordanian peace accords of 1994 and the subsequent joint tourism projects undertaken a few years before the start of the second intifadeh?are nearly empty, and the tourist sites deserted. Any passing traveler can currently walk into a five-star property and pick up a room fit for King Abdullah II himself for less than...
...enough. Smit particularly likes the idea of deporting criminal offenders of Turkish or Moroccan origin, even if they were born in the Netherlands and have Dutch passports. "We grant nationality too easily," he says. "We should make it easier to take it away." The idea offends Ali Aslan, 24, a Rotterdam-born steelworker whose father came from Turkey 35 years ago to work. "If you break the law, you should be punished," he says. "But send me back to my own country? That's Holland, whether they like it or not." So far a proposal for such expulsions from...
...Ali Salem is a playwright and the author of several books, including Journey into Israel. He lives in Cairo