Racism in the Middle East

The article describes the state of race relations and racism in the Middle East. Racism of various forms is found in every country on Earth. [cite web|url = http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engACT400202001|publisher = Amnesty International|title = Racism and the administration of justice] Racism is widely condemned throughout the world, with 170 states signatories of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by August 8 2006. [cite web|url = http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/208ba1d9617d31d1c1257259003eed53?Opendocument|title = Report of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 68th and 69th session|publisher = United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights] In different countries, the forms that racism takes may be different for historic, cultural, religious, economic or demographic reasons.

Iran

Racist opinions occurred in the works of some Persian historians and geographers: so in the 982 AD, the Persian Hudud al-`alam could write:

"As regards southern countries, all their inhabitants are black on account of the heat of their climate... Most of them go naked... In all their lands and provinces, gold is found.... They are people distant from the standards of humanity." "About the Zanj: "Their nature is that of wild animals. They are extremely black." About the Sudan: "Among themselves there are people who steal each other's children and sell them to the merchants when the latter arrive."

Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (1201-74), Tasawwurat (Rawdat al-taslim):

"If (all types of men) are taken, from the first, and one placed after another, like the Negro from Zanzibar, in the Southern-most countries, the Negro does not differ from an animal in anything except the fact that his hands have been lifted from the earth -in no other peculiarity or property - except for what God wished. Many have seen that the ape is more capable of being trained than the Negro, and more intelligent." [ [http://www.colorq.org/Articles/article.aspx?d=2002&x=arabviews West Asian views on black Africans during the medieval era] ]

Iraq

During World War II, Rashid Ali al-Kaylani blamed British hostility toward his pro-Nazi stance on the Iraqi Jewish community. In 1941, Iraqi nationalists murdered 200 Jews in Baghdad in a pogrom.Rubin, Michael. "Iraq." "The Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East". Ed. Avraham Sela. New York: Continuum, 2002. pp. 410-419.]

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Iraqi Jews faced persecution so great that by 1951, approximately 100,000 of them left the country while the Iraqi rulers confiscated their property and financial assets.

During 1987-1988, Iraqi forces infamously carried out a genocide against the Iraqi Kurds that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

The UN reports that although Christians comprise less than 5% of Iraq's population, they make up nearly 40% of the refugees fleeing Iraq. [ [http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2007-03-22-christians-iraq_N.htm Christians, targeted and suffering, flee Iraq] ] [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/26/AR2007082601004.html Iraq's Endangered Minorities] ] More than 50% of Iraqi Christians have already left the country since 2003. [ [http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA052707.01A.chaldean_christians.3555f3e.html Out of Iraq, a flight of Chaldeans] ] Iraq's Christian community numbered 1.4 million in the early 1980s at the start of Iran-Iraq War. But as the 2003 invasion has radicalized Islamic sensibilities, Christians' total numbers slumped to about 500,000, of whom 250,000 live in Baghdad. [cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,,1961207,00.html|title='We're staying and we will resist'] [cite web|url=http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=7410|title=Terror campaign targets Chaldean church in Iraq]

Furthermore, the Mandaean and Yazidi communities are at the risk of elimination due to ethnic cleansing by Islamic extremists. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6412453.stm|title=Iraq's Mandaeans 'face extinction'] [ [http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/15/iraq.main/index.html?iref=topnews Iraqi officials: Truck bombings killed at least 500] ]

A May 25, 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from Iraq have been granted refugee status in the United States. [Ann McFeatters: [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/317322_mcfeatters27.html Iraq refugees find no refuge in America] . "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" May 25, 2007]

Israel

On 22 February 2007, the [http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/ United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination] will consider the report submitted by Israel under Article 9 of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination. The report states that “Racial discrimination is prohibited in Israel. The State of Israel condemns all forms of racial discrimination, and its government has maintained a consistent policy prohibiting such discrimination”. [http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/CERD_C_471_Add2_En.doc] However, this report was challenged by several reports submitted to the Committee by other bodies. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel alleges that "Israel's discriminatory planning practices","discriminatory permit regime" and "egregious and systemic discrimination against Palestinians based solely on their national origin ... [is] reminiscent of policies characteristic of an Apartheid regime." [http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/acri-ShadowReport.pdf]

Adalah (The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel) has alleged that “the State of Israel pursues discriminatory land and housing policies against Palestinian citizens of Israel” and that “the needs of Palestinian citizens of Israel are systematically disregarded” [http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/ADALAH%E2%80%99S-Feb07.pdf] A joint report submitted by 19 Israeli, Palestinian and international NGOs referred to “ [S] tate laws and institutions that dispossess the indigenous Palestinian and Syrian populations”. [http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cerd/docs/ngos/coverletter.pdf]

References

ee also

Racism by country