* the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party) freedom fighters in Turkey and Iraq have declared a unilateral cease-fire, for a limited time.

* the Turkish parliament is renewing its efforts to reach a peaceful accommodation with its Kurdish minority, to further Turkey's entry into the EU.

* the Iranians have problems over their own disputed elections.

* elections to the Iraqi Kurdish parliament take place later this month; bombing would encourage votes for Kurdish extremists.

* maybe our appeals have contributed to international pressure on the Turks (especially) to stop the bombing. If so, thanks for your help and support.

The easing has encouraged some of the refugee families to leave the IDP camps and return to their villages. It's risky. The bombing may restart any day. I fear especially for the children – with no school and no relief from the constant fear of bombs and rockets. The attached photograph shows some of the women and children in the camp; (the one on the right is my team-mate Michele). Some of my team-mates have also put together a short video about the Zharawa children; you can watch it on – Zhawara video You can understand why families feel they must leave the camps. Conditions there are terrible. At last shade matting has been delivered to the Zharawa camp, where we have been staying; see attached photograph of mats being unloaded. But still the promised electrical generator has not arrived, and the agencies we have spoken to refuse to accept responsibility for providing fuel to run it. So food cannot be refrigerated although temperatures are over 100 degrees F every day. Who can blame these refugees for feeling abandoned by UNHCR, by the Kurdistan Regional Government, by the Iraqi government, by the whole world? The UN agencies are run by good people, but they have to work in air-conditioned offices in their own guarded compounds and, for security reasons of which we are well aware (bombing, land-mines and hostage-taking), are not allowed to visit the IDP camps or the bombed villages. They ask us, “Isn’t it dangerous to go by bus?”, “Aren’t you afraid to go inside the camps?” Ours is virtually the only first-hand information they get, and it is often at odds with what they hear from government sources. I know you will continue to uphold all the victims of this sad conflict – the officials on all sides, the soldiers and airmen, and the refugees who long to return home and raise their families in peace.

   Villagers along the northern Iraqi Kurdistan border have been subject to repeated cross-border bombardment from Turkey and Iran for over two decades. Turkey has identified the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Iran cites the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan (PJAK) as their targets. Those groups have been resisting Turkish and Iranian repression of their Kurdish populations, and both are on US and EU lists of terrorist organizations. Meanwhile thousands of villagers have been forced to flee. Those from around the town of Zharawa are 137 families from eleven villages, totalling more than 600 people, now sharing 45 tents. In 2008, the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) contracted a private company, Qandil, to build an IDP camp outside Zhawara. The conditions at the camp are terrible. There is no shade, and summer temperatures here can reach 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit). "I spend most of my day looking for shade for my children," one parent told us. The people have no electricity to refrigerate their food. Latrines are dangerously close to their tents. They anticipate rampant illness, and worry about how the elderly will survive. There is no employment; whatever resources people had are dwindling away. "Some families cannot buy even a bag of fruit," one man told us. There is no prospect of an early return to their homes. Something must be done urgently before people start dying. So two women from the Christian Peacemaker Team will move into the tent camp on 14 June 2009. We hope their presence will help to focus international attention on the plight of the IDPs. A week later, all being well, the men from the team will follow them. Please help us to tell the world what is going on. Join us too in praying for the IDPs, and for a just solution to this sad conflict.

June 15th 2009

   I will be close to Iraq’s border with Turkey and Iran. This is mountainous country, where Kurdish villages are regularly bombed by Turkish and Iranian aircraft and rockets. Their ultimate target is the Kurdish Workers’ Party (the PKK), a Kurdish resistance movement which has mounted cross-border attacks in the past. However the immediate victims are the Kurdish farmers and their families who have been forced to abandon their homes. They dash back to plant and harvest their crops at the risk of their lives. These farmers and their families, mostly illiterate, are not engaged in terrorism and simply want to get on with their lives. The Iraqi and Kurdish authorities are in no position to protect the villagers and have chosen to ignore the attacks. Indeed they forbid outsiders, especially journalists and even their own parliamentarians, from approaching the border villages. Apart from the Christian Peacemaker Team there is nobody to tell the world what is going on. The problems of Kurdistan, and of other parts of the Middle East, will never be resolved by military means. Bombs and rockets just make matters worse. Once this is recognised, compromise solutions will surely emerge. In addition to the possibility of being taken hostage and of being bombed, we face the danger of landmines and unexploded bombs, many left from the Iran-Iraq War. UN Agencies are committed to removing them but not yet, for fear of the current bombing. I have seen for myself the urgency of the work of the Christian Peacemaker Team. CPT has been funded mainly by North American congregations. Their contributions have been hit by the recession so the future of CPT’s work in the Middle East is in the balance. As most of you know, each Christian Peacemaker is asked to assemble a “support community”, affirming the work in one or more of the following ways:

• By prayer and spiritual support. Our life is stressful; we need your prayers for ourselves and for those among whom we live.

• By staying in touch and letting others know what I am up to.

• By arranging talks when I get back home in September.

• By offering respite, healing and patience when I feel down.

• By supporting CPT financially, especially now. A footnote below explains how you can do this. You are not asked to do everything on that list. Pick whatever feels right for you. You may choose to do nothing. That’s OK. I’m mailing lots of people so that these tasks can be shared and so that you will all understand the financial needs.

There have been changes in the way donations can be made to CPT. The simplest way now is to donate through the CPT website – Christian Peacmaker Team using your credit or debit card. For international donations you have to specify the amount in US dollars (1.6 dollars = 1 pound sterling). But using this route you cannot claim UK Gift Aid. If you are a UK taxpayer or if you pay with a CAF cheque you can use a form to donate to CPT through the British Shalom-Salaam Trust (BSST) BSST . They arrange Gift Aid. This is an especially happy arrangement as the BSST is a Jewish charity associated with Jews for Justice for Palestinians, and they provide this service in recognition of CPT’s work for reconciliation in Palestine. Although their constitution does limit their activities to Palestine, they will forward your contribution to CPT’s Chicago office with no problems. Canadian dollars should go to CPT Canada, 25 Cecil Street, Unit 307, Toronto, ON MS5T 1N1.

If anyone reading this would like to get in touch with the people in Iraq, complete the Contact screen on this website, selecting the "Zhawara" option and I will pass your email details on.

June - August 2009