#iraqi refugees

[totallyhussein-blog]

Solidarity with ACN’s international response. The world must not forget Syria!

Five days after the earthquake that shook southern Turkey and northern Syria, killing more than 30,000 people, several international aid groups continued to work on rescues in Turkey, showing the solidarity and support of the world.

In Syria, however, it was a different story. “There are almost no signs of an international response: the only international volunteers I have seen personally in Syria are from Lebanon,” said Xavier Stephen Bisits, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) representative in Lebanon and Syria, who travelled to Aleppo on the day of the earthquake, and on Feb. 10 visited Lattakia. 

“The world must not forget Syria!”

Aleppo and Lattakia were two of the worst hit areas in Syria. Other cities, such as Homs and Hama also suffered damage, and there has been very little news from Idlib, closer to the Turkish border, which is still in Islamist hands.

Eight Christians were killed by the earthquake in Lattakia, but hundreds saw their homes either damaged or destroyed, and had to seek shelter elsewhere. The Franciscan community in the city has been at the center of the relief effort, and ACN will provide them with much-needed material and financial support.

“The Franciscan Friars are doing their best to support the population in this time of crisis and put their parish hall at the service of the people”, Xavier Bisits added

Several buildings collapsed in Lattakia, including one in the north of the city which killed a family of Christians who had previously fled from Aleppo, due to the civil war. “The worst damage, however, seems to have been in the neighboring town of Jableh, where between 20 and 30 buildings were reduced to rubble, including cases of multiple buildings collapsing in a row,” he added.

ACN‘s representative met in Lattakia the Apostolic Nuncio Mario Zenari, who spoke to victims and volunteers, and promised them the support and prayers of the Catholic Church, adding that Pope Francis himself had sent financial aid to the relief effort in Syria.

The Pope’s diplomatic representative in Syria also visited a local mosque where up to 2000 people gathered in the first nights after the earthquake, and which continues to be home to between 400 and 600 residents of Lattakia.

ACN has already approved several projects to help the local Catholic Church respond to this crisis. This initial amount of $530,000  will go to projects aimed at providing immediate relief to communities, but the main concern is managing to get houses surveyed by engineers, so that the population can move back in to houses that are considered safe. 

As Filipe d’Avillez stated, Aid to the Church in Need is on the ground now in Syria and is working with a committee of representatives from Churches in both Aleppo and Lattakia to develop a much wider response to the current situation.

[thunderstruck9]

Mohammed Sami (Iraqi, 1984, active in UK), Refugee Camp II, 2019. Acrylic on linen, 170 x 200 cm.

[nesyanast]

Refugee Kurdish Jews in Tehran, Iran 1950

[girlactionfigure]

JPost Article

[leroibobo]

sorry about all that. tbh i'm an -sraeli jew[ish-american] and i genuinely like going out of my way to argue with z-onists because i feel like i can understand how they think. part of the reason i started this blog was also because i wanted to make a database/"memorial" for all of these things i found out about palestine for myself to refer back to (and also bc i genuinely love looking stuff up about buildings and religious sites), so "inserting politics into my posts" is also probably a given in that sense, though i'm aware the issue those two people had was more with that they didn't "agree" with me than about my apparent lack of integrity. i run this blog for me, not to indoctrinate anyone into my belief system like i'm jim jones. i don't have enough "clout" to do that either even if i wanted to.

well, back to regular posts ig.

[6ghassan]

Displaced Iraqi Children by Wasfi Akab Via Flickr: If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales. Albert Einstein

[todaviia]

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[totallyhussein-blog]

UK ruling sheds renewed light on justice for the Yazidi’s

The UK has now formally acknowledged that genocide was committed against the Yazidi people in 2014. The UK ruling follows Germany, who found a Daesh fighter guilty of acts of genocide and crimes against humanity.

"We have made the historic acknowledgement that acts of genocide were committed against the Yazidi people. This determination only strengthens our commitment to ensuring that they receive the compensation owed to them and are able to access meaningful justice."

In 2015, the AMAR Foundation launched 'Escaping Darkness' - the first specialized mental health service for Yazidi women. This 2015 video also demonstrates AMAR's efforts within Iraq’s displacement camps, for those Yazidis who were brutally displaced by IS.

For more information on the AMAR Foundation’s work with Iraq’s Yazidi community, please contact AMAR on 0207 799 2217. You can also direct any questions to @AMARLondon on Twitter or make a donation here.

[omeryotam4]

A few days ago, in my quest to fight the antisemitism that lifted its head around the world following the massacre of October 7th, I stumbled upon a clip from a UN assembly where the speaker asked a simple question-

Dear Arab world, where are your Jews?

A lot of people think that Israeli roots come from Europe exclusively. But in fact, Jewish people were hunted in all corners of this world. In Europe, of course, but also in Asia, Africa and other places all over the planet.

My grandma is an Iraqi Jew. Iraqi Jewish community is one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, being the direct descendants of the Babylonian exile Jews, so ancient it is an exile mentioned in the Bible.

Recent studies, in which DNA retrieved from canaanite burial lands was compared to current populations in the area of ancient Canaan, has found that Iraqi Jews share the highest similarity to canaanite DNA out of all Jewish communities, more than 50% of the DNA on average.

All the beautiful, peaceful Jewish communities of the Arab world were wiped out in the blink of an eye.

The Arabic world has never treated their Jewish communities as equal citizens, oftentimes robbing them of any rights and performing violent acts of genocide against them (check 'Farhud' on Google).

But their voice was silenced once they fled to Israel.

So I decided to recap my grandma's story in the comments of the clip:

Soon after, many Jewish people with Arabic, or 'Mizrahi' heritage, shared their stories as well:

Jewish people all over the planet were driven out of their homes, ethnically cleansed by their neighbors, rulers, and governments.

We are still not welcome in most of the countries of the Arab world. Unable to see glimpses of our history.

My grandma still wishes she could see the house she grew up in. Holding the memories, but unable to set foot in that land, because she would be executed.

Nevertheless, she's not a refugee. She might've fled to Israel, but in Israel, her family got equal rights as citizens, and she built a house on a land she now calls her home.

Don't erase my grandma's story. Don't erase the Jewish ethnic cleansing that brought her to seek a safe haven in Israel.

Israel is a home for more than half of the Jewish people on this planet. Out of the ~8,000,000 Jews who live in Israel, there are about ~2,500,000 Jews of Mizrahi heritage.

And as Golda Meir once said: "our secret weapon is that we have nowhere else to go."

[stuckinapril]

guys i actually beg of you to not let palestine become an unpleasant flashback, a transient tumblr trend, a hasbeen subject that just faded away. as an arab—and specifically iraqi—girl, i know what it feels like to have family displaced all over the world as a result of western imperialism. i know what it feels like to not be able to step foot into your homeland because it’s no longer safe. as an american iraqi, raised in the us and insulated from my roots, it wasn’t until last summer that i was able to visit iraq for the first time, and even then my family was worried for my safety—in my own blood country. although nothing like what palestinians are experiencing right now, it might be the tiniest semblance of what it feels like to watch your country disintegrate in front of you.

and this is a universal arab experience. i volunteer weekly at a refugee center that serves middle eastern refugees, and every day i see the longing in their eyes when they speak of where they hail from. it’s safe to say that we will be getting a wave of palestinian refugees very soon: just another generation of arabs who can’t inhabit their own country.

arab culture is so rich, so profound, so beautiful. i am tired of being told by the world—through literal genocide—that it doesn’t mean anything. please never let this be forgotten. free palestine. free palestine. free palestine.

[randomthoughtswhileeatingdonuts]

UPDATED LINKS PART 2

IRAQ

The Iraq protests explained in 100 and 500 words - BBC News

Iraq Protests - Latest news, videos and opinion | Middle East Eye

Petition · Stop The Violation Of The Human Rights In Iraq. · Change.org

Petition · Democracy and Accountability in Iraq · Change.org

Petition · Exposing and Sanctioning Human Rights Violations by Iraqi and Iranian-backed Militias · Change.org

Petition · Protect protesters rights and lives in Iraq · Change.org

CHILE

chilewokeup

ZIMBABWE

#FreeZimbabwe (google.com)

Zimbabwe (genocidewatch.com)

TIBET

Link in bio for petitions ⬁ The people of Tibet have been trying to get their voices heard for so long. Let’s help them by raising our… | Instagram

important)

MALAYSIA

Petition · JUSTICE FOR MUGILARASU · Change.org

Petition · Revoke Islamic Police license to arrest members of the Transgender community · Change.org

SINGAPORE

Lepak Conversations (@lepakconversations) • Instagram photos and videos

Singaporean Issues (sgmatters.carrd.com

Puerto Rico

Gree ✧ 🇵🇷🎱 on X: "A brief thread in the history of Puerto Rico -🧵🪡 To celebrate Hispanic heritage month, I decided to make two threads: One for PR history and another for culture. I'm going to start with history because it is very important to give context to current PR! https://t.co/lt6QG4vrkq" / X (twitter.com)

CUBA

What is happening in Cuba and why are protests happening now? | The Independent

VENEZUELA

Venezuela crisis: Facts, FAQs, and how to help | World Vision

Homepage - Stop AAPI Hate

Top Conflicts to Watch in 2021: Economic, Political, and Humanitarian Catastrophe in Venezuela | Council on Foreign Relations (cfr.org)

Venezuelan Humanitarian and Refugee Crisis - CDP (disasterphilanthropy.org)

SRI LANKA

Human rights in Sri Lanka Amnesty International

Still No Justice on Sri Lanka War Anniversary | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)

[opencommunion]

"The Israeli government’s creation of the linked property account [between the frozen assets of Iraqi Jews and the stolen property of Palestinians dispossessed in the Nakba] was a singular act — something of a historic milepost—that constructed a zero-sum equation between the Jews of the Arab countries and the Palestinians in Israel. The political theory that underlay the Israeli government’s construc­tion of that equation rested on a system of moral, diplomatic, and economic assumptions that resulted in a practice of nationalization and naturalization that was riddled with contradictions. The government of Israel automatically assumed that the Jewish ethnicity of the Iraqi Jews meant that they harbored a Zionist orientation. It 'endowed' them de facto with that particular form of national identity before they had any intention of immigrating to Israel, and certainly without having obtained their consent. The Foreign Ministry was aware that the Iraqi Jews could not be considered refugees, still less citizens of Israel. The process of nationalizing and naturalizing the Iraqi Jews — while they were still in Iraq — was collective rather than individual. The par­ties in question were not consulted. As Sharett put it, 'I said that we shall not rely on the free choice of the refugees, but that this is a question of an agree­ment between states.' On the basis of this naturalization, the Israeli gov­ernment 'appropriated' the property of all of Iraq’s Jews in order to utilize it — rhetorically, symbolically, and judicially— as state property in every re­spect.

... In 1975, the newly established government-financed pressure group known as the World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC) ar­gued that Palestinian refugees should not be allowed back into Israel, since an involuntary population exchange had already taken place in the Middle East. ... WOJAC too held the same attitude as the state toward the property claims of the Iraqi Jews, maintaining that they should be used to enhance the bargaining power of the Israeli gov­ernment, not to support individual claims. The government of Israel has cap­italized on the population exchange argument to deny the rights of the Palestinians to return to Palestine or to claim compensation for their 'lost' property.

... The Jews of Iraq became hostages of—and a fig leaf for —the Israeli gov­ernment in its efforts to divest itself of responsibility for compensating the Palestinian refugees. The conceptual model that guided the Zionist leader­ship vis-a-vis the Jews of Iraq, as with other communities, held that Jewish identity and Zionist identity were one and the same. The national leadership assumed a monopoly over the community and its property, even though nei­ther the one nor the other was located in its territorial domain. ... A condition of the trade-off equation was that the Palestinians' national identity be annulled, and that they be regarded as part of a 'united Arab na­tion' that included Iraq. That approach forged one of the most pungent il­lusions harbored by Israel in its brief history ('There is no Palestinian peo­ple,' as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir used to say). The trade-off equation cynically constructed the interests of Arab Jews and Palestinians as conflicting a priori."

Yehouda Shenhav, The Arab Jews: A Postcolonial Reading of Nationalism, Religion, and Ethnicity (2006)

[6ghassan]

Displaced Iraqi Children by Wasfi Akab Via Flickr: Use your voice for kindness, your ears for compassion, your hands for charity, your mind for truth, and your heart for love. Anonymous

[akajustmerry]

Hi

1 love your blog and podcast

2 I’m really enjoying your weekly Palestinian film recs

3. Do you have more recommendations for Arab and Middle Eastern cinema ?

Thank you ☺️

helloooooo, thank you 🥰 I have a whole sideblog which I don't promote enough called @swanasource where I and my co-mod @thatidomagirl frequently post middle eastern/SWANA film and films made by swana filmmakers in the film tag here:

I myself am still on my journey of watching more swana films (and non-english and non-Western films) so I won't claim to be any sort of exhaustive expert. but here are some of my favourites!

Salt of this Sea (2008). Dir. Annemarie Jacir. Palestinian film about a Palestinian-American woman heisting an Israeli bank

The Persian Version (2023). Dir. Maryam Kershavez. Comedy about an Iranian-American lesbian who gets pregnant after a one night stand and so decides to learn more about her family history.

Kedi (2016). A calming and beautiful Turkish documentary about the cats of Istanbul

Ali's Wedding (2017). A rom-com about an Iraqi-Australian Muslim who falls in love with the Lebanese girl from his mosque who's helping him get into med school.

The Man Who Sold His Skin (2020). Tunisian thriller about a syrian refugee who agrees to let his back be tattooed and be part of a living exhibition by a notorious artist so he can get a visa.

Sirens (2020). A documentary about the queer Lebanese all-girl metal band, Slave To Sirens, set around the Beirut explosion.

In Vitro (2019). A short Palestinian sci-fi film about an elderly woman in an underground bunker trying to describe the world before to a young woman who's only ever known the bunker.

Cairo Time (2009). Dir. Ruba Nadda. Look, this film isn't perfect but It's about a white American woman who's husband is a UN worker in Egypt. She goes to visit him in Cairo, but her husband is waylaid so he sends his bestie played by the beautiful Alexander Siddig to take her around Cairo and oh my GOD the romantic tension of this movie keeps me up at night.

Butterflies (2018). One of my fave movies ever. A Turkish comedy about 3 estranged siblings who have to take a chaotic road trip to fulfil their father's last wishes.