Designer Abdalla Almulla creates palm installation for Dubai Design Week 

DUBAI: US Dutch Palestinian model Bella Hadid this week paid tribute to her father, real estate mogul Mohamed Hadid, on his birthday with a special post on Instagram that celebrated his Palestinian roots.  

The 27-year-old catwalk star posted a picture of her and Mohamed from last year at the “Labour of Love” exhibition in Doha, which investigated the symbolism of the Palestinian thobe. 

“Happy birthday to my baba Mohammed Hadid, born in Nazareth, Palestine November 6, 1948,” Bella captioned her post.  

Last month, Bella spoke up about Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and mourned the loss of all “innocent lives,” but also lamented the continued oppression and dispossession of the Palestinian people. 

The supermodel said her phone number had been leaked and she has been getting “hundreds of death threats daily.” 

“My family has felt to be in danger. But I cannot be silenced any longer. Fear is not an option. The people and children of Palestine, especially in Gaza, cannot afford our silence. We are not brave — they are,” she wrote. 

She shared the story of her father who was born in the year of the Nakba or “The Catastrophe” in 1948. 

“Nine days after he was born, he, in his mother’s arms, along with his family were expelled from their home of Palestine, becoming refugees, away from a place they once called home,” she said. 

“My grandparents, never being allowed to return. My family witnessed 75 years of violence against Palestinian people — most notably, brutal settler invasions which led to the destruction of entire communities, murder in cold blood and the forcible removal of families from their homes,” she added. 

This week, Mohamed gave fans a look at his childhood. He shared family photos and a picture from his parents’ wedding on Instagram.    

“1942 they had three daughters and I was the last to be lucky to be born in Nazareth, Palestine,” he said. “My mother left Safad to her parents’ home in Nazareth, a few meters away from where Jesus was conceived.” 

“I was nine days old when my mother and my sister of one and a half year old came back to Safad … unfortunately our guests that my mother and father hosted for two-and-a-half years locked us out of our house … furnished. (She) couldn’t even let her take a blanket for her infant son,” he added, referring to a family of refugees the family had hosted before they were barred from entering their home and forced to leave Nazareth.