It was truly so darn good and convenient that NATO backed ISIS grabbed and occupied all the land that was so conveniently intended to be the newest NATO state - Kurdistan or as I like to call it Israel 2.0Yup, convenient! How is it I was the only one to see that as it unfolded? It really was quite obvious.Thankfully Willyloman-American Everyman caught on, or I would have felt truly alone.So many others, though,.... busy cheering for NATO’s destabilizers - The bestest fighters of them all- Backed by the biggest guns. The poor beleaguered Kurdish militias completely supported by the biggest global terror army: NATO. Kurds: Annexers of Syrian, Iraqi and soon Turkish territory. While so many died. And so much has been lost. Wasted. Because the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and expect a different result- No wrongs will be corrected- Just a whole big batch of new wrongs are being created.Federal plan for Rojova advances with U.S. - backed forces
The autonomous federation being planned by Syrian Kurdish parties and their allies is taking shape fast: a constitution should be finalised in three months, and possibly sooner, to be followed quickly by elections, a Kurdish official said.The plan had taken on even greater significance since the Syria Democratic Forces alliance, which is spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, mounted a rapid new advance westwards this month into Islamic State's last foothold at the Turkish border.
It holds out the prospect of more areas being included in the federation, plans for which were first unveiled in March.The idea of newly-captured territory joining the "Democratic Federal System for Rojava - Northern Syria" was discussed last week with members of a local council set up to run the IS-held city of Manbij, a target of the campaign.
YPG FIREPOWER AND INFLUENCEThe political federation for northern Syria builds on three self-ruled regions carved out by the YPG since Syria descended into conflict in 2011 in an uprising to topple President Bashar al-Assad. It has already grown, expanding last year to include the town of Tel Abyad that was captured from Islamic State by the YPG in October.The YPG has been the most effective partner for the United States against Islamic State in Syria. Syrian Kurdish groups have made no secret of their aim to link up their two autonomous regions, or cantons, in northeastern Syria with one further west -NO AGREEMENT YET ON FLAG
Yousef said meetings had been held in the United States, Russia and Europe to explain the plan, and to assure them that the aim was not to establish an independent state.Letters had also been sent directly to U.S. President Barack Obama and the U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, who left the main Syrian Kurdish political party, the PYD, out of peace talks earlier this year in line with Turkey's wishes."We expect acceptance of this plan and we are working to win international, domestic, and regional support," Yousef said.Speaking by telephone from Syria, she said the constitution to be known as "the social contract" was nearly complete..Pending issues included the design of a new flag to be flown alongside the Syrian flag, the location of the main legislative council - to be known as the Peoples' Conference - and the administrative borders of areas in the new system."Within three months we should have finished all preparations and frameworks for the social contract," she said.Once approved by the 151-member assembly which Yousef co-chairs, preparations will start for elections to take place three months later.They have yet to decide which will be held first - elections for the Peoples' Conference or to regional assemblies. "The entire process will take six months and perhaps less," she said.
No Syrian flag will fly alongside the flag of Kurdistan. Except perhaps that bastardized one that the FSA (kurds included) always ran around with? - Because the plan is the unite into one Kurdish nation- That has always been the plan!As for Israel 2.0Jews of Kurdistan want more recognitionCrypto jews abound. It’s the strangest thing- Benjews. Donmeh.
Israel should accept us," says Sherko Sami Rachamim, a Kurd with Jewish roots, who lives and works in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. For years he has been wanting to settle down with his family in Israel, "but the Israelis closed their doors."He says that many Jews who converted to Islam like him feel the same. Rachamim is one of thousands of so-called Benjews in Iraqi Kurdistan, whose grandparents converted during the persecution of Jews before and after the founding of the state of IsraelAlthough some of the converted Jews became devout Muslims, many are Muslim in name only. Like Rachamim, who shrugs when asked about his faith. "I am not interested in Islam." His wife does not wear a scarf, he did not educate his three children according to Islam either, because he feels Jewish. "People in [the town of] Koya know me for my criticism about Islam; sometimes friends tell me to shut up for my own safety," he smiles, as if it is a joke. "I consider religion a private thing."After the Kurdish region gained de facto autonomy from Saddam in 1991, Israel organized two secret operations to evacuate Jews - and children of converts - from Kurdistan. Rachamim's parents were airlifted in one of them.
Their sons visited them in Israel, but found out later that they were not allowed to join them. After 10 months their parents returned to Kurdistan. Even though Rachamim had sold his house in order to move to Israel, he was not accepted. "Because my grandfather and father were Jewish they do not accept us," he told DW. Rachamim finds it hard to swallow that Israel only accepts heritage through the mother's line. His wife's Jewish bloodline also goes through the male line of her father, whose mother converted.
Staying in touch
For years there have been close ties between most Benjews in Kurdistan and their relatives Israel, he says. "Before the mobile phones, we would use three-way-calling, calling through another country."Since last year, the ministry for religious affairs in the Kurdistan region has had a special representative for the Jewish religious minority which has established good relations with Israel. However, the government agency has not been set up to facilitate people leaving for Israel, says Sherzad Mamsani who was appointed to the post."We are not a consulate for Israel, nor do we want to bring the Kurdish Jews back to Kurdistan. But both groups can travel to and fro, and we would be very happy if some of them came to invest here, instead of investment only from Iran and Turkey," he told DW.
At the same time, Mamsani is trying to restore Jewish heritage in Iraqi Kurdistan. He recently travelled to the United States, where he spoke to the Congress and asked for support to restore locations like the tombs of the prophets Nahum, Eliezer and Daniel.
A search for identity
In Rachamim's hometown of Koya, which was a trading town, many Benjews remained to build up the community's identity. Benjews here call each other 'cousin,' and for them it makes no difference whether the bloodline runs through the male or the female side. Intermarriage happens, but there is also marriage outside the group.
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