Palestine: An agreement is important for the Development Summit's initiatives in Baghdad
Palestinian PM Mohammad Mustafa stressed "the importance of reaching an agreement to implement the initiatives of the Baghdad Development Summit" and reaching a common Arab position to implement the proposed initiatives.
"Today we presented our comprehensive vision aimed at achieving peace through a ceasefire in Gaza, the entry of humanitarian aid, the withdrawal of occupation forces, the sheltering of displaced persons, and the reconstruction of the Strip," said Mustafa in his speech at the Arab Development Summit - followed up by the Iraqi News Agency - INA.
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Iraqi News
an hour ago
- Iraqi News
Hamas says holding consultations on Gaza truce proposal
Gaza City – Hamas said Friday it was holding consultations with other Palestinian groups on a proposed truce with Israel, in a possible sign that it was preparing for negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire. The statement came ahead of a visit on Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, where President Donald Trump is pushing for an end to the war. The conflict in Gaza began with Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked a massive Israeli offensive aimed at destroying Hamas and bringing home all the hostages seized by militants. Two previous ceasefires mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have seen temporary halts in fighting, coupled with the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. 'The movement is conducting consultations with leaders of Palestinian forces and factions regarding the proposal received… from the mediators,' Hamas said in a statement early Friday. Hours earlier, Netanyahu vowed to bring home all the hostages held by militants in Gaza, after coming under massive domestic pressure over their fate. 'I feel a deep commitment, first and foremost, to ensure the return of all our abductees, all of them,' Netanyahu said. Trump said on Thursday he wanted 'safety for the people of Gaza'. 'They've gone through hell,' he said. – 60-day truce proposal – A Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations told AFP earlier this week there were no fundamental changes in the latest proposal compared to previous terms presented by the United States. The source said the proposal 'includes a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release half of the living Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip — thought to number 22 — in exchange for Israel releasing a number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees'. Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the October 7 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. The military said in a statement it had been striking suspected Hamas targets across the territory, including around Gaza City in the north and Khan Yunis and Rafah in the south. Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations against Hamas militants. – Deadly Israeli fire – Gaza civil defence official Mohammad al-Mughayyir said Israeli fire killed at least 40 people on Friday, updating an earlier toll of 15. The Israeli military said it was looking into the reports, except two incidents for which it requested coordinates and timeframes. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency. Mughayyir said those killed included five who were shot while waiting for humanitarian aid near a US-run site near Rafah in southern Gaza and one who was waiting for aid near the Wadi Gaza Bridge in the centre of the territory. They were the latest in a spate of deadly shootings near aid distribution centres in the devastated territory, which UN agencies have warned is on the brink of famine. At Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis, crowds mourned people killed on Thursday by what the civil defence agency said was shooting close to a nearby aid centre. 'I lost my brother in the American distribution centre that they set up to feed people,' cried one mourner, Narmin Abu Muammar. 'They are killing people, not feeding them.' Bereaved mother Nidaa al-Farra said her 19-year-old son Eyad too had been killed while waiting for food. 'My son went to get flour and they say: 'Here is the aid, come here.' And when they go, they shoot them.' The US- and Israeli-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distanced itself from reports of deadly incidents near its sites. – Strikes reported on displacement camps – The civil defence official told AFP that eight people, including a child, were killed in an Israeli air strike on the tents of displaced civilians near Khan Yunis. Mughayyir said eight more people were killed in two other strikes on camps on the coast, including one that killed two children early Friday. Contacted by AFP on the earlier toll, the Israeli military said it could not comment on specific attacks without precise coordinates, but noted it was 'operating to dismantle Hamas military capabilities'. The Hamas attack of October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 57,130 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
Shafaq News
6 hours ago
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Russia's Lavrov appeals for de-escalation: No repeat of Iran-Israel conflict
Shafaq News - Moscow On Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for preventing any future escalation between Iran and Israel, emphasizing the need for restraint and continued diplomacy in the region. Speaking at a joint press conference with his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan, in Moscow, Lavrov urged all sides to avoid renewed conflict. 'We count on the wisdom of Gulf countries and Iran to implement the positive steps reached in recent months,' Lavrov stated, adding that Russia hopes the ceasefire between Iran and Israel will hold. He also reiterated Russia's position on Syria, stressing the need to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity. 'Our positions are closely aligned with Saudi Arabia's regarding Syria,' he noted. The Russian FM called on Israel to implement a ceasefire in Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to reach Palestinians. 'Conditions in the West Bank are no better than in Gaza,' Lavrov added, reaffirming Russia's support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Bin Farhan echoed this stance, emphasizing the urgency of international efforts toward a just and comprehensive peace. 'This must be based on the establishment of a Palestinian state along the June 4, 1967 borders.' The Saudi minister highlighted Russia's role in the Iran nuclear file, expressing hope that Moscow would continue to support diplomatic solutions and 'facilitate dialogue across sensitive regional matters.'
Rudaw Net
9 hours ago
- Rudaw Net
Kurds in the mirror: The psychology of oppressed people
Also in Opinions The 12-day war and silent transformations of western Asia A decade into the Iraq-Kurdistan Region salary crisis: A deeper look behind the numbers The birth of mental health care in Mesopotamia Washington, London agreements: future prospects for Erbil-Baghdad oil, gas relations A+ A- For centuries, Kurdish women and men across various regions have endured severe oppression, structural violence, and cultural assimilation. How have these external labels and self-definitions, linked with recurring persecution and massacres, influenced their collective memory? Has an entrenched sense of victimhood taken root among the Kurds, shaping their personalities, social behaviors, and cultural practices? And precisely how do these experiences affect a community's self-image and its perception by others? Which psychological mechanisms come to the fore when members of an oppressed group seek a way out of the endless repetition of such violent experiences? Countless events - from massacres to genocides - accompanied by violence, discrimination, torture, death, flight, and sustained persecution over many centuries have left profound marks on Kurdish society. To what extent are Kurds truly free to think, feel, and act in a manner that reflects their Kurdish identity? We know that identifying as a victim society can intensify across generations, as younger Kurds inherit and pass on a collective sense of threat, exclusion, low self-esteem, and guilt. This inheritance includes the experience of being vulnerable to renewed violence at any moment, of being unable to defend oneself, and of feeling helplessly at the mercy of powerful authorities - alongside the awareness of lacking full participation in the majority societies around them. In rural Kurdish regions, tribal structures and large extended families remain central. On one hand, they can offer protection, especially in times of political instability. On the other hand, they can trigger internal conflicts when different tribes align with opposing political camps or, in the worst cases, strike collaborative deals with oppressors. The Kurdish concept of ixanetî (betrayal) has become firmly embedded: groups, parties, or individuals are quickly labeled traitors even when no betrayal has occurred. Such internal divisions deepen existing mistrust and perpetuate lasting fractures within the collective identity. Personal and collective consequences The ongoing experience of oppression often leads to pronounced symptoms of resignation, commonly known as learned helplessness. At the collective level, this can manifest as retreat into one's own group or political passivity. Feelings of isolation, denial, and distancing from one's own people may arise from disappointment or the painful recognition of belonging to a marginalized community. This can breed shame and a desire to adopt Turkish, Arab, or Persian identities - even when individuals remain conscious of their Kurdish heritage. At the same time, dynamics of resistance continually surface, whether through protest movements or the growth of Kurdish parties and organizations up to the point of armed struggle, all striving to assert a confident identity. What impact do these conflicting developments have on the Kurdish community? A key element in the psychology of oppressed groups is the danger of falling into a permanent victim stance. On an individual level, this stance is accompanied by feelings of fear, powerlessness, and resignation; on a collective level, it can crystallize into pervasive pessimism. The affected group may adopt the creed that their situation can never change and that they will always be victims. Such negative expectations for the future can severely limit their scope for action: mobilization, uprising, or political participation become difficult. Many suffer so profoundly under this victim stance that they struggle to achieve personal success, slipping into chronic dissatisfaction and responding to everything with complaint and pessimism. It is a form of inner self-abandonment and slow self-destruction that can exert a powerful influence on society, culture, and identity. This becomes particularly evident in Kurdish societies through examples such as tribal rivalries, where various clans form strategic or economic alliances with power elites or even oppressors - collaborations viewed by other Kurds as betrayal, further weakening solidarity. Religious and confessional tensions also play a role: Alevis, Yazidis, Sunnis, and Shiite each carry their own histories of persecution, which frequently give rise to competing narratives of memory and identity. And then there is the divide between diaspora and homeland: Kurds living abroad often develop a more politicized form of Kurdish identity, while those who remain face direct repression that makes open engagement difficult. All these fault lines can produce a changed personality structure, profoundly affecting feelings of security, self-confidence, and communal belonging. Identification with the aggressor One of the most complex psychological mechanisms arising from sustained oppression is identification with the aggressor. Members of an oppressed group may adopt the patterns, values, and behaviors of their oppressors in response to exclusion. This can involve denying their own language, culture, or religion to escape stigma; embracing the aggressor's ideology to break free from the victim role or to gain social advantage; or even enacting violence against other minorities or within their own community in the oppressors' likeness. Such identification intensifies tensions within the Kurdish community, pitting those who align with the aggressors against those who cling to resistance and cultural self-assertion. In extreme cases, some Kurds in prison have switched sides, torturing fellow inmates, while tribes or individuals have taken up arms alongside the oppressors. Fueled by deep frustration and anger towards their own identity, they at times outdo their enemies in brutality. This dynamic unleashes a destructive, self-destructive rage. On the societal level, it can erupt in violent clashes, factional fights, or a general readiness for violence. Psychologically, it partly expresses a desperate search for agency - an attempt to cease being a victim by finding any outlet for pent-up helplessness. Breaking the cycle and fostering a confident identity To achieve genuine societal and cultural processing, it is essential first to create spaces where collective memory can be actively honored and reflected upon. Public debates, artistic initiatives, and memorial sites enable transgenerational trauma to be understood not merely as an individual burden but as a shared societal legacy. Developing a common narrative allows Kurds to tell their own history and forge a new, positive identity. Education and empowerment play a parallel role. Promoting Kurdish language and culture strengthens self-esteem and nurtures historical awareness. When schools and universities address not only the major genocides but also the complex roles of different groups vis-à-vis past regimes, they create room for critical engagement and the dismantling of internalized victim stances. Dialogue is another key. Within the Kurdish community and with other ethnic and religious groups in the region, moderated forums must give voice to all groups from religious group to cultural and young activists, and other stakeholders alike. Only when these dialogue spaces are sustained with resources and political backing can genuine understanding emerge. Finally, international acknowledgment of past crimes is indispensable. Lasting reconciliation requires states to stop denying or downplaying historic atrocities and to officially name them through truth commissions, memorials, and, where appropriate, legal proceedings. Such measures increase pressure on those responsible to offer reparations and public apologies. Only this thorough reckoning can pave the way to a self-determined, solidarity-based coexistence. Conclusion The shifts in the Kurdish personality structure, shaped by victimhood, divisions, tribal loyalties, and, not least, identification with aggressors, are not static conditions but the outcome of a long history of oppression and resistance. Overcoming such collective traumas is a complex endeavor requiring the interweaving of individual and societal interventions. Prospects for the future arise where education, political participation, and psychosocial initiatives advance in tandem. Recognizing historical responsibilities and cultivating a culture of remembrance are the starting points for breaking destructive victim or perpetrator dynamics. Ultimately, only a critical engagement with the past and an inclusive vision for the future can heal the inner fractures that continue to stand in the way of peace, autonomy, and self-determination in the Kurdish context - especially at a time of great upheaval in the Middle East, when transcending historical ruptures is vital to becoming an equal partner in the region. Dr. Jan Ilhan Kizilhan is a psychologist, author and publisher, an expert in psychotraumatology, trauma, terror and war, transcultural psychiatry, psychotherapy and migration. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.
