I think the first thing you read was closer to the truth. The second is something that people came up with after the fact. Had I come from a different background, people would have a different take on things. My husband didn't look at me and say, “This is her background, so that makes her suitable for me.” It wasn't something that was in our minds. We always say that we have 30 percent Jordanians, 30 percent Palestinians, and the rest are Jordanian-Palestinian, because Jordanians marry Palestinians and we have a second generation. We feel that Jordanian society is very well integrated. When I meet people, I don't know if they are Jordanian or Palestinian. I never ask, and it's not something that crosses my mind. The makeup of the country is something that analysts look into, but with us, living day to day, it's not something we think about.
What advice would you give to the people of America about how to carry on in the face of terrorism and a vastly changed world?
What happened in the United States was tragic, was dramatic; it was a huge shock. The American people should not expect themselves to be over this any time soon. But it's very important to take this negative event and turn it into something that we can build on in a positive way. Out of tragic events, sometimes we can have shifts in the way we think, and it improves the way we look at our world. Since September, there's been a feeling all over the world of collective moral consciousness. We feel that what happens in different countries in the world is important to us. That is a positive thing, we need to build on that. So I would advise the American people to learn about what happens in other parts of the world, to get to know the Arab world, the Islamic world and to try to understand that there's nothing to fear in that society. That will help them to get over the emotions that they're going through now. Faith in God is the most important thing to deal with traumatic situations such as these. I know that what has happened has really strengthened all of you today.
