Sep 26, 2014

DAHUK, Iraq — Yazidis and Muslim Kurds displaced from their homes in Mosul governorate by the Islamic State (IS) have expressed reluctance to resume life amid their Arab neighbors, many of whom they accuse of supporting the extremist group. The stories of betrayal by Arab neighbors are numerous among the internally displaced persons interviewed by Al-Monitor. Although there was praise for the Arabs who helped them, many also said they were few and that most of the Arabs supported IS.

A displaced Kurd from a village in the outskirts of Telkaif told Al-Monitor, “The difference between IS and our Arab neighbors is that IS wanted to control our region and expand its power, while our Arab neighbors — in addition to their support to IS fighters in controlling our areas — entered our houses and stole our cars and belongings. This is why we cannot live with them anymore.”

Not only do the residents of Sinjar and Zummar say that they can longer live with Arabs, but so do some politicians who grew up in mixed, Arab-Kurdish areas. Mahma Kaleel, a former Iraqi parliamentarian taking part in the fight against IS from his village of Bara, close to Sinjar, told Al-Monitor by phone, “We cannot live with them. We ask the US and the international community to establish a boundary between us and the Arabs. What IS did to us, as Yazidis, is genocide.”

Mohsin Saadoun, a three-term Iraqi legislator for the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), is from Zummar, where Kurds and Arabs have coexisted for decades. He told Al-monitor, “There are about 20 villages on Zummar's outskirts, and unfortunately, most of the [residents] there sided with IS and killed our peshmerga forces.”

He also said, “I am a member of the Iraqi parliament, I come from Mosul governorate, and I am from a mixed area. After the liberation of mixed areas from IS, we will not be able to live in a peaceful society with the Arabs who joined hands with IS. Because of what Arab tribes did to Kurds, it is impossible to live with them again in the same region.”