Israeli's cards in Kurdistan referendum

A senior Kurdish official said the Kurdish government could not prevent demonstrators from raising Israel's flag in demonstrations and mass events that were held in favor of a referendum on the territory's secession from the central government in Baghdad, which is scheduled for next Monday.

"Most of the demonstrations in which Israel's flag was raised were from Kurdish communities abroad, and specifically in Europe," added the resident official in Erbil, who spoke on the phone to the Youm7 envoy in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.

The official, who asked not to be identified, said that the demonstrators were in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and that "the street feels that Israel is the regional party closest to it after the unanimous rejection of the Kurds from all the countries of the region except Israel.”

Youm7 explored the opinion of a number of people on the streets of Sulaymaniyah about Tel Aviv's support for separation.The citizens expressed their rejection of Israel's interference with the Kurdish issue, believing that such interference weakens the Kurdish position and does not support those who favor the referendum.

Ara Enaya, a university student studying business administration at a Sulaymaniyah university, informed Youm7 on Monday that the Kurdish government is using Israel's paper and its support for secession as a strategic tool aimed at pressuring the central Iraqi government in Baghdad. He stressed that he has not been in agreement with the referendum from the very beginning, so he will go to the box on Monday and vote "No".

"The referendum is currently against the interest of the Kurds," said Bruas Salah al-Din, a pharmacist, adding to Youm7’s representative, "The Israeli position is proof of my point of view that I will say ‘No’ to secession, because Israel is the enemy of the Islamic world, and the Kurds cannot be removed from their Islamic identity or their Arab culture, and they cannot embrace Israel simply for a pro-referendum position.”

But Buya Oyat, a colleague of Ara, told Youm7 that he was not worried about the Turkish, Iranian and Iraqi refusal of the secession, believing that Israel is capable of protecting the Kurds after separation, as he envisaged. This was his response to a question about the dangers awaiting the territory in the case of separation.

 
In the city of Erbil, a participant in a march for Kurds to support the secession referendum raised the Israeli flag next to the Kurdish one during the march.

The Israeli daily Maariv has highlighted the news, stressing that the only place in the Middle East where Israel's flag is now being raised is the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

A number of European cities, such as Berlin, Cologne, Geneva and Oslo, have seen Israel's flag raised in public demonstrations over the past month, and the flag of the occupying power is being brought up in the cities of Brussels, Hamburg and Stockholm this week.

Former Israeli Deputy Chief of Staff General Yair Golan announced that the Kurdistan Workers ' Party (PKK) was not a terrorist organization, expressing his hope to see a Kurdish state in the Middle East that would gather the Kurds spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

According to politicians, these Israeli statements in support of the Iraqi Kurd's secession are aimed at allowing the occupation to encircle the Arab world, making the potential Kurdish entity a functional state that is in conflict with Arab interests and supports Tel Aviv in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, a member of the Knesset from the Jewish Home party, said it was in the interests of Israel and the United States to establish a state for Kurds in the region, beginning in Iraq.

These statements give rise to deep fears on the part of the Arab parties, since Israel's support for secession is a major breakthrough for Arab national security, as well as for isolating the Kurds from their Arab identity and culture and to remove them from their Arab surroundings.