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CAIRO — The United Arab Emirates has revived “The Arab Dream” operetta. This pan-Arab song, widely described as an operetta in the Arab world, became famous in 2000 at the time of the Second Intifada and has become a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
A new version of this operetta was performed by 11 Arab artists on Feb. 26, as part of the closing ceremony of the 4th edition of the UAE’s Hope Makers program, which celebrates philanthropists in the Arab world. Hope Makers is one of some 33 philanthropic initiatives overseen by Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE vice president and ruler of Dubai.
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Yet this revival transformed the operetta, emptying it of every tie to solidarity and unity with the issues of the Arab world. Its content is no different from the UAE’s vision: just words of human development fit for multinational companies, not for countries or nations. Using archival images of the operetta make it appear as if the dream was still a dream, with some modifications to empty it of nationalistic sentiment.
The original Arab Dream video
The original Operetta made in 1998, Produced by Ahmed Al-aleryan & Directed by Tareq Al-aleryan, in support of the Arabic and Islamic struggle in the 20th century.
An empty message
The escalation of the Israel-Hamas war, which has claimed the lives of more than 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza, had prompted calls for a revival of and sequel to the operetta. And the song’s writer, the Egyptian poet and lyricist Medhat Al-Adl, had announced rehearsals for its performance at the Cairo Opera House in October 2023. That performance was later postponed indefinitely.
Al-Adl then announced the Hope Makers performance, saying “They found that this is reviving hope in the Arab dream again. They asked, we responded and are happy to be there.” He insisted that the war had prompted the operetta’s revival; it had become the most searched song on Google.
“The messages of ‘Arab Dream’ are one of the reasons for reviving it through a live broadcast,” he said, citing “the escalation of Israel’s brutal crimes, and the shameful and inhumane international attitude that amounts to complicity”.
For one Emirati writer, the new version of the operetta is better because it is free of “hatred and politics.”
Al-Adl’s comments are similar to speeches by many Arab politicians: They say one thing and do another. Despite his goodwill, he deleted, at the request of the UAE’s Hope Makers, unwanted sections of the operetta related to the Palestinian cause and the Arab reality, which 28 years after the operetta was first performed, has only worsened: Arab rulers’ position toward the genocide in Palestine; the genocide of the Syrian people by President Bashar Assad; the failure of the Arab Spring uprisings; the deteriorating political and economic situations in Iraq, Yemen, etc.
One Emirati writer said that the new version of the operetta is better because it is, as he put it, free of “hatred and politics.” Meaning it is free of the subjects that are needed.
A symbol of solidarity
The Arab Dream operetta was performed for the first time in November 1996 at a festival of the same name in Abu Dhabi. Two years later, it was performed at a ceremony was attended by 700,000 people in Martyrs’ Square in Beirut, on the 50th anniversary of the 1948 Palestinian Nakba, the establishment of Israel. The song was a symbol of Arab solidarity with Lebanon, which was then occupied by Israel.
The Arab Dream music video was filmed with the participation of 21 singers and 100 musicians from different Arab countries, and used archival video from the UAE. The operetta became famous at the time with the Second Intifada, in 2000.
The original version included material of clashes between Palestinian civilians and Israeli troops, as well as historical figures linked to major events in the Arab world, such as the 1967 Middle East war, the resignation of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and the Sabra and Shatila massacre.
Meanwhile, the new version cuts the operetta from 19 to 4.5 minutes and cuts most of those passages, including a few moments of victory such as the breaching of the Bar Lev Line in the 1973 war and liberating Egyptian territories captured by Israel.
Some singers who performed in the original version were dropped in new one, notably Tunisian singer Lotfi Bouchnak, who is known for and his support of the Palestinian cause and sharp opposition to normalization with Israel. The UAE normalized ties with Israel in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords brokered by the administration of then-U.S. President Donald Trump.
Hope Makers have come together because the dream is big.
Some lyrics were also cut: “Justice needs power to be able to protect it.” It was replaced with lyrics such as “The whole world is running and racing from around us. We must move forward, running (using) knowledge with the determination within us.”
Hope as an anesthetic
The creators of the new version sought also sought to link to the UAE’s Hope Makers, with a lyric sung by the Emirati singer Ahlam: “Hope Makers have come together because the dream is big. Hand in hand they will join in the renaissance and reconstruction.”
The new operetta was emptied of any common Arab issues and or any issues that could anger Israel. Even Palestinian singer Mohammed Assaf, who is from Gaza but holds a golden residency in the UAE, appeared without a Palestinian flag or keffiyeh.
It is easy to link the Abraham Accords to the removal of everything controversial in the operetta.
This comes as the UAE is accelerating its normalization with Israel. For example, according to the Israeli Channel 13, it opened a land supply route with Israel through Saudi Arabia and Jordan, which likely aims to avoid the Houthi attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea.
It is easy to link the Abraham Accords to the removal of everything controversial in the operetta. This may be to ensure that the operetta is not produced with intentions to condemn Israel, as announced by Al-Adl at the start of the war, and before the revival was shifted from the Cairo Opera House to the Hope Makers ceremony.
Israel’s strongest Arab ally achieved its goal: It turned an operetta that had stirred momentum in the Arab world in the past, into a melodramatic-nostalgic song that is no different from a tourist brochure.
