Obama declared a Bedouin by Israeli tribe

20 November, 2008, 07:14

From Kenya to Canada, everyone is keen to associate themselves with American leader in waiting Barack Obama. In a remote village of northern Israel, eight thousand Bedouin tribesmen are laying claim to one of the world’s

In village sheikh Abdul Rahman Abdul Allah’s opinion no documents are needed when Bedouin instincts are at stake.

“God gave the Bedouins a very strong instinct. We can look at a man and immediately tell where he is from,” he said. “The first time I saw Obama, I felt he was one of us. I just felt it. He looks like a hero, so he has to be Bedouin.”

The story goes that Barack Obama had a descendant who passed through the region. A relative of Obama’s grandmother in Kenya, he met and fell in love with a local Bedouin girl. The two disappeared into the sunset before the legacy of their love-affair emerged nearly a century later in the White House.

The people in the village are so excited that they’ve slaughtered a lamb in his honour and have been handing out more than one and a half tonnes of sweets for days. Some villagers hope that ‘Bedu’ (his new title according to the Bedouin tribesmen) Barack Obama will come and visit them one day.

“It is so obvious. It is impossible to ignore. I hope Bedu Obama realises he is one of us,” said an old villager.

Meanwhile, in anticipation of Obama's visit Sheikh Abdul Rahman Abdul Allah has already prepared a present for Obama: a horse.

“Obama as a Bedouin is miraculous. He will be a great president and we believe he will bring peace to the Middle East and the world,” he said.