Half-Palestinian, half-English, born in Scotland, Selma Dabbagh’s life trajectory has taken her through eight countries; ‘places disappearing behind me’ she says, movingly, because she cannot return to many of them.
It makes her thankful for the solid ground of London where she has now settled – albeit a London much damaged by Brexit. She cannot return to Palestine, where she worked as a human rights lawyer, because Israel will not give her permission. She cannot return to Kuwait, where she lived as a teenager until the disruption of invasion. And she cannot return to Bahrain and Cairo because the transience of her community of friends leaves her without purchase there. They held other passports and moved on for political, personal or professional reasons.
