I never said that Arabs/Westerners couldn't be friends. Some of my best friends in Qatar are Qatari's, Jordinans and Palestinians. I feel completely comfortable with them despite our cultural differences, (conversations on dating usually end up with shock and laughter on both sides). The problem is, that no matter how cute I think my Jordinian friend is I know he is a strict Muslim and therefore I wouldn't date him, because if it worked out then he would expect me to convert, which I couldn't do. Not only that but I can imagine dating him in Qatar would be similar to blacks and whites dating in 1950's United States.
More importantly than all that, we would never date because we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things about dating and what is proper or improper. We are good friends, but we would never make good lovers.
I never said that Arabs/Westerners couldn't be friends. Some of my best friends in Qatar are Qatari's, Jordinans and Palestinians. I feel completely comfortable with them despite our cultural differences, (conversations on dating usually end up with shock and laughter on both sides). The problem is, that no matter how cute I think my Jordinian friend is I know he is a strict Muslim and therefore I wouldn't date him, because if it worked out then he would expect me to convert, which I couldn't do. Not only that but I can imagine dating him in Qatar would be similar to blacks and whites dating in 1950's United States.
More importantly than all that, we would never date because we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things about dating and what is proper or improper. We are good friends, but we would never make good lovers.