Paths

Author's name: Ismail Fahd Ismail

Late autumn of 1988, I received a call from a friend who works as a journalist for the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai Al-Aam. During a previous meeting between us, I learned from you that your hometown was in a village south of the Iraqi city of Basra. I wanted to spare him the effort, so I told him, “Al-Sabiliyat.” He responded quickly. Listen… to what he said… On the occasion of the end of the Iran-Iraq war a few weeks earlier, his newspaper received an invitation from the Iraqi authorities to view the destruction left behind by their war with him. He continued: His newspaper chose him to be their correspondent there. They gathered the Arab and foreign journalists inside the only terminal of Basra/Al-Maqal airport, then put us on three helicopters, which flew with us over the western coastal strip of the Shatt al-Arab heading south towards the port of Al-Faw. We were astonished to see the palm groves that had wilted, their fronds turning a bright yellow color. The war that lasted eight years had devastating effects on nature. Suddenly the yellow color disappeared. We were flying over a land crowded with green, like a lush oasis no more than two kilometers wide, starting from the Shatt al-Arab and ending at the outskirts of the Western Desert. Immediately after that, the yellow dominance returned. I wondered, pointing towards the green strip: Why this land alone? I did not receive an answer that satisfied my curiosity. One of the accompanying guides was satisfied, saying: This is the village of Al-Sabiliyat. My friend concluded his speech. As it is your hometown, you must discover the secret