Thousands of Palestinians living in the United Arab Emirates gathered at Expo City Dubai to mark their identity and connection to both their ancestral homeland and their adopted country. The event, Emirates Loves Palestine, drew families across generations, many of them born in the UAE and encountering their cultural heritage through music, traditional dress, and food for the first time in a formal public setting.
The scale of attendance reflected the size of the Palestinian community in the Emirates. Organizers arranged capacity for more than 20,000 people at the indoor venue, with thousands arriving in the hours after doors opened. Grandparents in wheelchairs were pushed by grandchildren. Fathers carried young children on their shoulders as families queued to hear folk songs and sample Palestinian breads and sweets. The gathering reflected a population with deep roots in the country, as many Palestinian residents were born in the UAE and have never visited or lived in the Palestinian territories.
For attendees, the event carried profound personal meaning. Kholoud Ferwana, a mother of four who was born in the UAE, expressed the dual identity that defines many in the community. “I’m Palestinian, I’m born in the UAE, I love UAE and I love Palestine. Both are my own country,” she said. She brought her teenage children to traditional handwoven garment stalls to help them understand Palestinian craftsmanship and heritage. “I want them to see how much the UAE loves Palestine. I want them to see also the tradition of Palestine, our special dresses, the colours, handmade clothes,” she explained.
Sultan Mohamed, 15, attended with his siblings and parents. “This event is so important to Palestinians, because it shows us how the UAE loves us, and takes care of Palestinian people,” he said. “I came here because we want to experience the music, the songs of the Palestinian people.”
The event also highlighted the UAE’s material support to Palestinians facing humanitarian crisis. The Emirates has provided convoys of food, medicine, shelter equipment, field hospitals and medical centres in Gaza. Between 2023 and 2025, the UAE became the largest single donor to Gaza in wartime, spending approximately 3 billion dollars. Abeer Al Ramahi, ambassador of Palestine in the UAE, framed the gathering as mutual gratitude. “This is a thank you message from Emirates to Palestine and its people and it is also a big thank you message from the Palestinian people to the Emirates,” she said. “The numbers reflect the huge Palestinian community who live in this land. We are so grateful as a people to celebrate Palestinian heritage and culture together in the UAE.”
Hundreds of visitors lined up to taste traditional Palestinian foods. Maamoul cookies stuffed with dates, pistachio and lotus biscuits, halawa ice cream, and basboosa (a semolina dessert soaked in rose syrup) drew long queues. For many families, these were opportunities to pass cultural knowledge to children who had no direct experience of Palestinian life.
Leen Elayyan and Anas Abu Shashiek, a Jordanian-Palestinian couple, brought their children, aged seven and three, to the event specifically to expose them to Palestinian music, food and clothing. “Palestine will remain as Palestine and that we support our country,” Ms Elayyan said. “We have never visited Palestine, so we want our children to engage with traditional food, clothes and music.” Her husband emphasized the importance of the UAE’s role in enabling such cultural expression. “We are raising our kids here and want to show them how this country is building this special environment,” he said. “This message is really important and it comes from our second country, which is the UAE. We really love and respect that they allow us to have something like this here. There are so many talented Palestinians from all over the world who have big restaurants and shops here and have great opportunities to live a normal life.”
The event was organized in partnership with the UAE-Palestinian Friendship Club and the Palestinian Business Council, Dubai and Northern Emirates. It marked the first community gathering of its kind and is part of a broader “Emirates Loves” series designed to celebrate the heritage and contributions of resident communities throughout the UAE. Whether future editions of the series draw similar crowds will say much about how deeply these communities feel seen in their adopted home. More details are available at https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/uae/2026/08/29/both-are-my-country-palestinians-on-ties-that-bind-them-to-uae/.