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15 May 2017 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy
Articles
Iraqis fleeing Isis face dying from lack of water as dry summer season approaches
By The Independent, 15 May 2017
“I’m glad it is safe here, but it’s so boring, and it’s so hot,” 12-year-old Yusof says. “We don’t even have a fan in our tent. Sleeping is hard and it’s going to get hotter.” It’s only mid May and the temperature is already hitting 37C. Roads, which a month ago were muddy from spring rain, now leave dust on shoes and clothing, and the sunlight reflecting off thousands of white tents is blinding even with sunglasses. Last July, Basra in southern Iraq broke records when at 54C it became the hottest place on earth outside Death Valley. The mostly Kurdish north of the country didn’t fare much better when the mercury reached 49C. While searing heat is a part of every Middle Eastern summer, the abnormally high temperatures led the Baghdad government to declare a mandatory four-day holiday to help people cope. That was back before the US-backed Operation Inherent Resolve to retake the city of Mosul from Isis began. Seven months later the battle for Mosul’s city centre still rages. While many people have been able to return home, around 480,000 are currently living in UN or Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) run camps, and more arrivals keep coming: 11,000 have fled south to Haman al-Alil in the last week, and up to 450,000 people are thought to still be trapped or unwilling to leave homes behind the front line. The campaign was not supposed to last this long. While the UN and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have prepared contingency plans for new arrivals, building several annexes so existing temporary settlements can cope with demand, but now the weather is getting hotter they face new challenges.
Trump considering how move of U.S. Embassy in Israel could affect Mideast peace
By Reuters, 15 May 2017
President Donald Trump is trying to determine how keeping his promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem could affect his hopes of brokering a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians, his secretary of state said on Sunday. Since taking office in January, Trump has shown signs of shelving his campaign pledge to move the embassy from Tel Aviv, while vowing to do what is necessary to clinch a Middle East peace agreement. "The president is being very careful to understand how such a decision would impact a peace process," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told NBC's "Meet the Press." He spoke just days before Trump starts a Middle East trip that includes meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Israel regards Jerusalem as its eternal and indivisible capital and wants all foreign countries to base their embassies there. The relocation is strongly opposed by many U.S. allies as the Palestinians also claim the city as their capital. Tillerson said Trump's decision would depend greatly on how it is seen by governments in the region, including "whether Israel views it as being helpful to a peace initiative or perhaps a distraction." His comments drew a quick response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Israel's position has been stated many times before to the American administration and the world," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
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Jordanians 'won't support ground intervention in Syria'
by Al Jazeera, 11 May 2017
A joint military exercise between Jordan and the US sparked a frenzy of speculation about an imminent American, British and Jordanian military intervention inside Syria to stem the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group. The annual exercise, Eager Lion, was kicked off on Sunday by US and Jordanian troops with the participation of more than 20 nations. It is in its seventh year and is led by forces from US Central Command responsible for the Middle East region. This year's exercise, however, comes amid local and regional press reports suggesting a link between the timing of the military exercise and a possible US-led ground intervention in Syria. But according to Jordanian analysts, sending Jordanian ground forces inside Syria would have dire consequences for Jordan's stability and national security. It would be wise for Jordan, argues retired General Mousa al-Odwan, to keep a defensive-offensive posture on the Syrian borders. "We should not intervene in the Syrian conflict unless there is a clear and present terrorist threat to our national security," said Odwan, a former commander of Jordan's Special Forces and former deputy chief of staff of Jordan's armed forces.
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Will ‘Resistance’ Carry the Day in Iran’s Election?
by Chatham House, 03 May 2017
In the run up to Iran’s presidential election on 19 May, the idea of ‘resistance’ has become a key theme. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei set the tone in his annual Persian New Year address in March by declaring the coming year the ‘Year of the Resistance Economy’, a term that has been reiterated by conservative candidates who also speak of ‘the axis of resistance’ and ‘Islamic resistance’. But exactly what is Iran supposed to be resisting? Resistance is not a new concept in the Islamic Republic. Indeed, since the 1979 revolution, conservative politicians have continued to invoke the concept of ‘resistance’ to exploit popular fears of Western meddling in Iranian affairs. The narrative of resistance has also stoked the spirit of Iranian nationalism and independence inspired by the words of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini’s call for Iran to be dependent on ‘neither East nor West’. The Supreme Leader and conservative politicians have long used the narrative of economic and political resistance as a means to preserve Iranian autonomy. Enmity with the United States and by extension Israel is also tied to a national concept of resistance. Over the years, this national spirit has been used to justify Tehran’s unconventional foreign policy of supporting proxy groups as well as to provide support for its nuclear program. Resistance takes the form of political, revolutionary, social, cultural, economic and foreign resistance to change and interference from abroad all of which would result in the erosion of power. Ultimately, resistance is about protecting and preserving the Islamic Republic and its revolutionary ideals that have been gradually loosing sway and giving way to notions of reform from within.
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