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MIDDLE EAST: IRIN-ME Weekly round up 151 for 3 - 9 November 2007

12 Nov 2007 10:13:39 GMT
Source: IRIN

Background

• Iraq in turmoil

• Lebanon crisis

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DUBAI, 12 November 2007 (IRIN) - Contents:

IRAQ: Thousands return home as violence drops, government says IRAQ: Families flee homes near Turkish border IRAQ: Christians seek new life in Europe IRAQ-JORDAN: Burying the eye to heal the mind ISRAEL-OPT: Court seeks reassurances on sanctions LEBANON: Iraqi refugees face prison and deportation YEMEN: Qat cultivation threatening water resources, specialists warn

IRAQ: Thousands return home as violence drops, government says

No major sectarian-related displacement of people has occurred over the past three months as violence between Sunnis and Shias is ebbing in this war-battered country, the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration said on 3 November.

[Read this story in Arabic: http://arabic.irinnews.org/ReportArabic.aspx?SID=412]

"We did not register any large-scale displacement nationwide over the past three months that related to sectarian violence except for a few individual cases in some areas of Baghdad and other provinces," Sattar Nawroz, spokesman for the ministry, said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75141

IRAQ: Families flee homes near Turkish border

About 120 Iraqi families living near the Iraqi-Turkish border have been forced to abandon their homes by fighters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), according to the Kurdistan Campaign to Help Victims of War, an NGO, and local residents.

[Read this report in Arabic: http://arabic.irinnews.org/ReportArabic.aspx?SID=415] Read this report in French: http://www.irinnews.org/ReportFrench.aspx?ReportId=75179]

"Militants broke into our home and told us to leave within an hour. They were armed and we couldn't resist," said Firamerz Adar, 48, from Deshtetek village, near the border. "One of my neighbours who complained was beaten and then forced to leave with his 11 family members.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75146

IRAQ: Christians seek new life in Europe

Members of the Iraqi Christian community in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk have asked European countries to expedite their visa applications and grant them asylum, according to Christian leaders there.

"Most of the Christians in Iraq have moved to northern provinces as they flee violence against their religious group. Most of them were taking refuge in Mosul and Kirkuk but in the past two months, at least 27 Christians were killed in Mosul and Kirkuk as they were leaving their churches or community prayers in private residences," said cleric and spokesman for the Christian Peace Association (CPA), Lucas Barini.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75149

IRAQ-JORDAN: Burying the eye to heal the mind

Abdullah Hussein (not his real name) could not contain his emotions when the doctor handed him his son's left eye after it was surgically removed.

"What is left of my son? His legs are gone and now I carry his eye in my hands to bury it," the Iraqi man told the doctor before bursting into tears. Hussein's son, seven-year-old Ali, lost half his face and both legs in a Baghdad explosion early this year.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75212

ISRAEL-OPT: Court seeks reassurances on sanctions

Israel's highest court on 7 November ordered the state to explain within one week how it planned to ensure that the latest sanctions imposed on Gaza, including fuel and power cuts, would not have a negative humanitarian impact.

[Read this report in Arabic: http://arabic.irinnews.org/ReportArabic.aspx?SID=422]

The court was hearing a petition lodged by 10 Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, and the deputy-director of the Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), demanding an end to the restrictions.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75202

LEBANON: Iraqi refugees face prison and deportation

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) puts the number of Iraqi refugees in Lebanon at 50,000 people, of whom only 8,476 are registered. Another 500 are being held in prison, it says, merely for violating immigration rules.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75172

YEMEN: Qat cultivation threatening water resources, specialists warn

For Ahmed Rajeh, a 54-year-old farmer from Sanaa Governorate, qat is as important as water. "Qat is the [life blood] of our economy," Rajeh says, adding that he owns more than 500 qat trees and irrigates them with water from a communal cistern.

"We inherited qat cultivation from our forefathers. And it will be the future business for my children as well," he said, adding that water scarcity in his country does not worry him. "Let us irrigate our crops, and God shall enrich our ground and renew our wells if they dry up," he said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75184

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Last updated:Mon Nov 12 10:16:26 2007