DOHUK, Iraq: Khari Hasan Kalo peered out of the window of the repatriation flight as it touched down in northern Iraq.
It’s a place he and his family had hoped never to see again after they left for Belarus two months ago, driven by dreams of a new life in Europe.
Kalo, 35, had begged for loans and spent his savings on the ill-fated journey to the Belarusian capital of Minsk, the first stop on a journey to the West.
His wife, 30-year-old Zena, had sold her few belongings on the gamble that left the family of six stranded for days in a cold forest on the border of Belarus and Poland. In the end, they returned home, fearing they were endangering the life of Kalo’s ailing 80-year-old mother.
Yet they say they would do it all again to escape their hopeless life, spent in a camp for displaced persons for the past seven years. The Kalos are Yazidis, a religious minority that was brutalized by Daesh militants when they overran northern Iraq in 2014.
Years after their lives were torn apart, Yazidis are still unable to return home or locate hundreds of women and children who had been snatched by the extremists. The Kalos’ home lies in ruins.
“If it wasn’t for my children and my mother, I would never have returned, I would have stayed in that forest at all costs rather than return to this tent,” Kalo said Friday, speaking to AP from the Karbato camp in Dohuk province in the autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region.
His mother, looking frail, slept throughout the interview.
The Kalos, including three children ages 5, 7, and 9, had returned from Belarus a day earlier.
“It’s not even our tent; it’s his sister’s,” his wife interjected. “It’s no place to raise children, have a life.”
The region is considered the most stable part of conflict-scarred Iraq, yet Iraqi Kurds made up a large group among thousands of migrants from the Middle East who had flown to Belarus since the summer. Even in Iraq’s more prosperous north, growing unemployment and corruption is fueling migration, and the Yazidi community has endured particular hardship.
On Thursday, hundreds of Iraqis returned home from Belarus after abandoning their hopes of reaching the European Union. The repatriation came after thousands of migrants became stuck at the Poland-Belarus border amid rising tensions between the two countries.
Kalo’s family was among 430 people who flew from Minsk back to Iraq, where 390 got off at Irbil International Airport before the flight continued to Baghdad.
The West has accused Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko of using the migrants as pawns to destabilize the EU in retaliation for its sanctions imposed on his authoritarian regime following a harsh crackdown on internal dissent. Belarus denies engineering the crisis, which has seen migrants entering the country since summer, lured by easy tourist visas, and then trying to cross into Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, all EU members.
Kalo didn’t mind if a geopolitical game was being played at his expense if it got his family out of Iraq.
“So what if I was a pawn in someone’s hands if it gets me to Germany?” he said.
Since being displaced, the family had gotten increasingly desperate. Their tent burned down in an accidental fire in June that ravaged the Sharia camp, also in Dohuk. They tried to return to their original home in Sinjar but found their house uninhabitable.
He heard from friends about Kurds finding their way to Germany after Belarus eased visa requirements last spring. He begged his brother in Australia to wire him $9,000 to pay the smugglers’ asking price for his wife, three young children and mother.
He also had saved money from his time as a policeman — cash that was hard-won because he endured discrimination as a Yazidi.
“What good is a job if it’s still not enough to feed your family?” he said of his decision to quit.
The Kalos took the land route to Istanbul in September, and boarded flights to Minsk the following month. There, they headed straight to the Polish border. With two other Iraqi families, the Kalos dug under the border fence, reaching the other side in darkness.
They walked for four days in search of a GPS point where they were promised a car would meet them and take them straight to Germany.
But that never happened.
Instead, on the fourth day, Kalo’s family ran out of food as temperatures dropped in the dense and soggy forest.
Polish authorities found them and sent them back across the border. They were greeted by an encampment of hundreds of migrants. Belarusian authorities were handing out wire cutters and pushing the migrants back through the razor wire.
Polish authorities used water cannons to repel them. But this did not deter Belarusian authorities, who beat and threatened them, Kalo said. He said they shouted: “Go (to) Poland!”
Still, husband and wife fought to stay, agreeing that anything was better than their life in a tent.
But with his mother struggling to survive as conditions grew increasingly squalid, Kalo sought the pity of the Belarusian authorities. They allowed them to return to Minsk to seek medical help.
Kalo heard the Iraqi government had agreed to repatriate citizens free of charge. He turned to his wife and they considered their choices: Return to their desperate lives in Iraq, or bear the responsibility if his mother died.
Reluctantly, they put their names on the list.
But their hope is not lost, Kalo said, as his 5-year old daughter, Katarin, dug her face into his chest at the Karbato camp.
“I have two priorities now,” he said. “The first (is) to get a tent of our own. The second, to get back on my feet and leave this country. I will make it this time.”
He added: “If it was my last day on this Earth, I will spend it trying to leave.”
Yazidi family abandons EU dream, reluctantly returns to Iraq
https://arab.news/6vztg
Yazidi family abandons EU dream, reluctantly returns to Iraq
- Kalo, 35, had begged for loans and spent his savings on the ill-fated journey to the Belarusian capital of Minsk
- The family returned home, fearing they were endangering the life of Kalo’s ailing 80-year-old mother
Egypt ‘hopeful’ of new Israel-Hamas truce: foreign minister
“There is a proposal on the table (and it’s) up to the two sides to consider and accept,” Sameh Shoukry said in Riyadh at the World Economic Forum.
“We are hopeful,” he added, explaining that “the proposal has taken into account the positions of both sides and has tried to extract moderation.”
“We are waiting to have a final decision. There are factors that will have an impact on both side’s decisions, but I hope that all will rise to the occasion.”
Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been trying to mediate an agreement between Israel and Hamas for months, but a flurry of diplomacy in recent days appeared to suggest a new push toward halting the fighting.
A Hamas delegation was due in Egypt on Monday, where it is expected to respond to Israel’s latest proposal for a truce in Gaza and a release of hostages after almost seven months of war.
A senior Hamas official said on Sunday that the Palestinian group had no “major issues” with the most recent truce plan.
“The atmosphere is positive unless there are new Israeli obstacles,” the official told AFP, requesting anonymity to discuss the negotiations.
Israel concerned over possible ICC arrest warrants related to Gaza war
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that any ICC decisions would not affect Israel’s actions but would set a dangerous precedent
- Israeli officials are worried the court could issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and other top officials for alleged violations in Gaza
JERUSALEM: Israel is voicing concern that the International Criminal Court could be preparing to issue arrest warrants for government officials on charges related to its war against Hamas.
The ICC — which can charge individuals with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide — is investigating Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border attack and Israel’s devastating military assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, now in its seventh month.
In response to Israeli media reports that the ICC might soon issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli government and military officials, Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Sunday warned Israeli embassies to bolster their security because of the risk of a “wave of severe antisemitism.”
“We expect the court (ICC) to refrain from issuing arrest warrants against senior Israeli political and security officials,” Katz said. “We will not bow our heads or be deterred and will continue to fight.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that any ICC decisions would not affect Israel’s actions but would set a dangerous precedent.
Israeli officials are worried that the court could issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and other top officials for alleged violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, Israeli media have reported.
They said the ICC is also considering arrest warrants for leaders from Hamas.
The ICC, based in The Hague, and Hamas, Gaza’s ruling group, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Israel is not a member of the court and does not recognize its jurisdiction, but the Palestinian territories were admitted with the status of a member state in 2015.
In October, ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said the court had jurisdiction over any potential war crimes committed by Hamas fighters in Israel and by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip.
Khan has said his team is actively investigating any crimes allegedly committed in Gaza and that those who are in breach of the law will be held accountable.
On Oct. 7, Hamas led an attack on Israeli military bases and communities in which 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 253 were taken as hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel has since launched a ground, air and sea offensive that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza authorities, and has laid much of the small, densely populated coastal territory to waste.
The Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants in its casualty reports but most of the fatalities have been civilians, health officials say.
Israel says that it takes precautions to minimize civilian deaths and that at least a third of the Gaza fatalities are combatants, figures that Hamas has dismissed.
Israel’s military campaign has displaced most of the blockaded Palestinian enclave’s 2.3 million people and created a humanitarian crisis.
The case at the ICC is separate from a genocide case launched against Israel at the International Court of Justice, also based in The Hague.
The ICJ, also known as the World Court, is a United Nations court that deals with disputes between states, while the ICC is a treaty-based criminal court focusing on individual criminal responsibility for war crimes.
Likely attack by Yemen’s Houthis targets a vessel in the Red Sea
- The attack happened off the coast of Mokha, Yemen
- The Houthis did not immediately acknowledge any attacks
JERUSALEM: A suspected attack by Yemen’s Houthis targeted a vessel in the Red Sea on Monday, authorities said, the latest assault in their campaign against international shipping in the crucial maritime route.
The attack happened off the coast of Mokha, Yemen, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said, without offering any other immediate details.
It urged vessels to exercise caution in the area.
The Houthis did not immediately acknowledge any attack there, though suspicion fell on the group. It typically takes the militia several hours before claiming their assaults.
The Houthis say their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden are aimed at pressuring Israel to end its war against Hamas in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the US Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the militia has been targeted by a US-led airstrike campaign in Yemen. Shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat.
American officials have speculated that the militia may be running out of weapons as a result of the US-led campaign against them and after firing drones and missiles steadily in the last months. However, the Houthis have renewed their attacks in the last week.
The Houthis on Saturday claimed it shot down another of the US military’s MQ-9 Reaper drones, airing footage of parts that corresponded to known pieces of the unmanned aircraft. US Air Force Lt. Col. Bryon J. McGarry, a Defense Department spokesperson, acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that “a US Air Force MQ-9 drone crashed in Yemen.” He said an investigation was underway, without elaborating.
Nations must find ways to unite on ‘issues that affect planet’: UAE adviser
- Tech, climate are key, says Anwar Gargash at World Economic Forum
- Norway FM highlights credibility ‘crisis’ of global, Western institutions
RIYADH: Nations must look for ways to unite on issues that “affect the planet” for the prosperity and stability of the global community, a senior UAE official told a World Economic Forum session here on Monday.
“We have to find a way that non-geostrategic issues should bring us together, rather than take us apart. I think technology, climate should bring us together because we have a vested interest,” said Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, during a panel discussion titled “Rising Powers for a Multipolar World.”
“We might all argue about who pays what, how fast it should go … but ultimately we should recognize that these issues that affect the planet are issues that we will all suffer from,” he added.
Gargash said that “to some certain extent we have a knack for politicizing these issues rather than making these issues an adhesive that brings us together.”
Another panelist, Croatia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Gordan Grlic Radman emphasized the importance of multilateral relationships, “not replacing them … and not watering down rules-based order. Rules are there to respect them.”
Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s foreign affairs minister, added that the global community was experiencing a crisis of credibility. This has been exacerbated by the situation in Gaza and by “the inability of many Western countries who have hesitated to use the same type of language … they used against Russia.”
“When it comes to Gaza, we have not been able to see the same type of response … the way that Israel has conducted the war has also been very problematic in light of global norms. If we do not call out that it comes back and haunt even the arguments on Ukraine,” Eide said.
“To be frank it is a crisis of Western-initiated values, but they also have turned into a crisis of institutions. The response to that is to be very clear on our own practice, as Norway, with friends. If we believe certain things are right or wrong, we should apply them consequentially across the board.”
Gargash said that building bridges and making friends has been the UAE’s strategy. “We see ourselves more on the geo-economic phase of our foreign policy. That in itself reflects what are our priorities with regards to BRICS or any other international organization we seek to join.
“We are increasing and concretizing the sort of bridges that we have. We are looking at it more on the geo-economic perspective. We have no interest in creating further schisms within the international system. We have an interest in being able to reach out on all our friends, and create more opportunities.
“Countries like us cannot afford to be fatalistic, and see this things are happening anyway. I think we need to work, whether in smaller or larger groups, it depends really on the situation … whether we will be more effective working with an Arab consensus, then we will do it.
“We are interested in joining many other organizations, we are looking at it from the perspective of having more friends, more bridges, more economic opportunities rather than a rejection of something and an adoption of something else.”
Citing the China-US relationship in the past, the UAE official said that “we should remember that this is not 1945, it is our duty as other countries to emphasize always that we are not at that moment and we do not want to recreate that bipolarity of the past.”
Gargash added: “The important thing is it is our job, whenever the China-US relationship is on the table, not to think in (a) 1945 framework but to say this is a different world. India today is not the India of 1945, Europe is not the Europe of 1945. There are many other players, we cannot ease the other players out and think of just the two major parties.”
Red Cross has no mandate to replace UNRWA in Gaza, chief says
- Earlier report concluded that Israel had failed to furnish proof that some UNRWA employees had links to “terrorist organizations” such as Hamas
GENEVA: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) does not have a mandate to replace the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, its director general said in comments published on Monday.
UNRWA was swept into controversy in January when Israel accused 12 of its 30,000 employees of being involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks which led to the deaths of around 1,160 people — mostly civilians — according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed nearly 35,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory.
The UN immediately fired the implicated staff members and launched an internal investigation to assess the agency’s neutrality.
“We have completely different mandates,” ICRC director general Pierre Krahenbuhl told Swiss daily Le Temps in an interview.
UNWRA’s mandate “comes from the UN General Assembly, the ICRC’s from the Geneva Convention. The ICRC cannot take over UNRWA’s mandate,” he said.
“We already have enough to do without replacing other organizations,” said Krahenbuhl, who himself had headed UNRWA between 2014 and 2019.
Last week, a report by an independent group led by French former foreign minister Catherine Colonna concluded that Israel had failed to furnish proof that some UNRWA employees had links to “terrorist organizations” such as Hamas.
UNWRA is a crucial provider of food to Palestinian refugees, defined as Palestinians who fled or were expelled around the time of Israel’s 1948 creation, or their descendants.
In March, UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini said UNRWA had “reached a breaking point,” with israel calling for its dismantling, major donors freezing their funding due to the Israeli accusations, and the people of Gaza facing a desperate humanitarian crisis.
