We Need Strangers

By Michael Vatikiotis

I know who I am. My Italian and Greek antecedents left Europe in the mid-19th century to escape poverty and persecution. They found safe haven in the Middle East — in the emerging economies of Muhammad Ali’s Egypt and Ottoman-ruled and reformed Palestine. They thrived and prospered — and then returned to Europe at the end of the colonial era.

[The remainder of this article is behind a paywall at Asia Sentinel.]