DAMMAM — The Israeli authorities have granted nationality to a Saudi woman after she sought citizenship in the country, Al-Yaum newspaper reported Monday, quoting Israeli media. According to Al-Naba Arabic daily published from Jordan, Ala Issa Khalaf from Jeddah met Yousif Samara while studying for a diploma in pharmacology at Petra University in 2005. They married and moved to Al-Tirah City in Palestine. Ala has been living there with her daughter, Lamar, and husband ever since. Ala applied for Israeli citizenship after moving to the city. She approached a lawyer who agreed to represent her pro bono. Six months later, Ala was issued with an Israeli ID. However, she cannot vote or hold any elected office in the country. Nazeer Majli, an expert in Middle East affairs, said granting the Israeli nationality to a Saudi girl has major political implications. “It simply unravels the evil intentions of the Israeli authorities. Zionist laws are very strict about granting Israeli nationality to any Arab. Arab representatives in the Knesset are deliberating the gravity of the situation,” said Majli. Ala misses her family and feels nostalgic sometimes. “I miss my family and my room at the family house in Jeddah a lot. I miss my maternal uncles who live in Jeddah. I can see my family in Jordan but I haven't seen my uncles for ages. I miss them although I talk to them over the telephone,” Al-Yaum quoted her as saying. Meanwhile, the Al-Khobar District Court is looking into the case of a Saudi girl who allegedly embraced Christianity and fled the Kingdom a few weeks ago. Two people are facing charges in the case. A Lebanese man is accused of converting the girl to Christianity and helping her flee to Bahrain, and a Saudi is accused of assisting them. New reports suggest that the girl fled the country using a fake travel permit obtained by the Saudi implicated in the case. The Lebanese man is still in police custody while the Saudi is freed on bail. The Saudi Embassy in Beirut said the girl left Lebanon for Turkey a few weeks ago after meeting her family in the Lebanese capital. The family tried to convince her to return to the Kingdom but the girl refused. Ali Al-Asiri, Saudi ambassador to Lebanon, said Lebanese authorities told the Saudi Embassy that the girl had traveled to Turkey. “It has not yet been confirmed that the girl embraced Christianity. She just told her family that she had some problems,” Al-Asiri said. Lt. Col. Emad Abdul Qadir, spokesman for the Eastern Province Passport Directorate, said his directorate did not receive any inquiries from the authorities regarding how the girl traveled to Bahrain. It shows that the girl left the country legally and had proper documents with her. The news of the Saudi girl embracing Christianity grabbed media attention worldwide after a clip of her talking to a Christian religious channel about her conversion went viral on YouTube. — SG
