Iraq and the Kurds: How the 1960s-1990s Portrayed the Future of the Kurds

Kurdish ambitions and demands relative to the Iraqi central government have always impacted the equilibrium of the country. Kurdish requests shifted from demanding autonomy to insisting on recognition, causing the various Iraqi administrations to change their policies towards the Kurds many times. These changes in Iraq’s policies often caused violent repercussions among the Kurds, which sometimes escalated into armed conflicts. This paper aims to analyze the events that occurred between the Kurds and the Iraqi government from the 1960s to the end of the 1980s, specifically: the 1st and 2nd Iraqi-Kurdish War, how foreign countries were involved in these conflicts, and what were the short- and long-term consequences of the wars on the Kurdish population that paved the way to the al-Anfal Campaigns. A more in-depth analysis will be done on the 2nd Iraqi-Kurdish War and on the eight al-Anfal Campaigns, as the consequences were devastating for the Kurdish population, and marked a turning point in Kurdish relations with foreign countries. The goal of this study is to add a new understanding on how Iraqi and Western foreign policies affected the Kurdish sense of identity and of the state-building process that led to what is known today as the Kurdistan Regional Government.

אמונה, טהרה וקיום מצוות: שלושת הרבדים של המושג פִטרַה בספרות החַדִית' הסונית

In early Islamic literature, the concept of fitra (creation) reflected a vague meaning regarding innate human state. Scholars have generally focused on the perception of fitra as a mental state, and only a few have addressed its physical dimension. This article explores the ancient Sunni Hadith traditions involving fitra and argues that they reflect three different perceptions of fitra: a state of faith (mental state of nature), a physical state, and a behavioral state. Additionally, this essay discusses the possible connection between fitra traditions and prayer, and proposes that central fitra tradition may be based on a Talmudic tradition. Furthermore, it analyzes how traditions quoted by the Hanbali scholar al-Khalal reshaped the perception of fitra as a state of faith in accordance with the predestination doctrine.

The Poetry a Reflection to Hamas’s Perceptions in Its Formative Years: 1987-1993

The article is a study of Hamas poetry during the period from the founding of the organization (1987) until the signing of the Oslo Accords (1993). Poetry is one of the media that Hamas employs to transmit political, social, and religious messages that fit with its worldview of Islam cum Palestinian nationalism. In its formative years, dozens of Hamas poets used this special channel to give voice to the organization’s fundamental ideas. The article looks at 11 poets who were affiliated with Hamas leadership circles and who were intensively engaged in writing poetry during those years. It describes the background to this activity, extracts the main messages and motifs raised by the verse, and examines the goals served by this lyrical composition.

Implementation of Gender Policies by the Private Sector in the UAE: Challenges and Opportunities

The United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s “Vision 2021” set a deadline for the country to become one of the top 25 countries in the area of gender equality by the end of that year, with the government launching a gender balance program to achieve this goal. However, the private sector faces challenges in the implementation of these national gender policies. Even with country’s multinational entities leading the way for gender equality in the private sector, implementing the new gender policy is challenging. This study demonstrates the ways in which cooperation between private sector entities and the government is often dysfunctional. Testimony from 10 interviews with professionals in UAE-based companies suggests that businesses face problems implementing gender-balancing policies due to a lack of transparency, reporting, and accurate data on gender issues within both the private and the public sectors. The study concludes that businesses require greater guidance and more transparent measures to be able to advance gender equality issues in the UAE.

China Economic Relations with Mauritania in the Age of the Belt and Road Initiative

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania have maintained steady bilateral relations since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1965. This study examines China’s economic relations with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in the Belt and Road Initiative era. Over the past years, the PRC has been increasing its presence and engagement with Mauritania’s economy and presenting itself as a reliable financial and investor partner. The main argument is that the PRC’s relationship with Mauritania is based on shared or mutual commercial interests, especially Mauritania’s economic development, industrialization, and social development through integration in the BRI framework. China has collaborated with Mauritania both bilaterally and multilaterally, mainly through the BRI framework, and is also expanding its political power and influence in the country at the expense of Western hegemony.

Past and Future of Kurdish Autonomy in Syria: Prospects of the Autonomy in the Time of COVID-19

This article focuses on the current COVID-19 implications for the fissure between the Syrian regime and the Kurds in Syria. It explains how the Syrian Kurds cope with COVID-19, given the region’s political status and the current state of play in the Syrian war. It sheds light on (1) the practical application of Kurdish semi-autonomy in Syria along with its successes and shortcomings in the public health sphere; and (2) how COVID-19 has affected intra-Kurdish politics in Syria and Kurdistan. Although changes in the political framework of Syria are not expected in the near future, the pandemic has underscored the fissures between the Kurds and the central government. Since the pandemic reached Syria, the Syrian government has almost completely neglected the health situation in the Kurdish territories. The Kurdish Autonomous Administration, in turn, recruited all the means at its disposal to cope independently with the crisis. These on-the-ground developments are signs for both the overt and covert, anxious hopes and strivings of the Kurds for autonomy. To assess the prospects for Kurdish autonomy, the article also analyzes the Kurds’ relationships with the states involved in the Syrian conflict and the historical landmarks of intra-Kurdish politics.

“We Yearn for the Sun Like a Baby Yearns for Its Mother's Milk”: An Ecocritical Reading of Iraqi Literature of Exiles

Ghaʾib Ṭuʿma Farmān’s novel al-Murtajā wa-l-muʾajjal (The Yearned for and the Postponed, 1986) depicts the lives of Iraqi exiles in Russia. By using a new ecocritical analytical approach – a combination of Georg Lukács’s theory (1974) regarding the connection between longing and form, Mas‛ud Hamdan’s description of art as a means of expressing the complexities of human life (2009), and Theodor Adorno’s view of exile as a mutilating experience (2000) – this article aims to explore how Farmān uses ecological landscapes to reflect the exilic experience. The analysis, coupling environmental studies with migration studies and contributing to both, shows that not only is this novel as relevant to the depiction of current-day exile as it was at the time when it was published, but that through it, Farmān informs the existing knowledge of historical events by artistically documenting horrific chapters in Iraqi political history from the victims’ point of view, in a way that transcends the scope of the abovementioned theories.