The Peace on The Horizon - 75 Years after The World War 2 in the Middle East (193)

 

(Japanese Version)

(Arabic Version)

 

(contents)

 

Epilogue (5)

 

193 Mass refugees (1/3)

 

War or civil war creates many casualties of innocent citizens. They are not only death or injuries in the battle, but also refugees who lose their home and escaped to foreign countries.

 

After the World War II, the first refugees appeared in the Middle East during 1948 Arab-Israeli War, so called Israeli Independence War. They were called Palestinian refugees. They escaped to the Palestinian Autonomous Region in Israel or refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon. The number of Palestinian refugees registered in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reached 4.5 million. There were 12 refugee camps in Lebanon and 450,000 people had to live in a poor living condition.

 

In addition to the Palestinian refugees, new refugees were born in Syria. Triggered by "Arab Spring" in 2011, government troops and anti-government forces confronted in Syria. Furthermore, extremist of Islamic fundamentalism declared the independence of Islamic State (IS). The number of Syrian refugees was much larger than Palestine refugees. Mass refugees was borne in conflict zones across Syria and Iraq. The word "mass refugees" sounds ridiculous and might hurt the dignity of humankind. But there is no proper word except “mass refugees”.

 

(To be continued ----)

 

 

Areha Kazuya

(From an ordinary citizen in the cloud)