Alwaght- Iraq is one of the countries that always has been victim to foreign plots and interventions. This deteriorated especially after the US invasion of the country in 2003, leaving Iraq grappling with a variety of conspiracies. The latest conspiracy was unveiled recently by Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, the former Iraqi parliament speaker who talked about a joint Israeli-American plot.
According to al-Mashhadani, a new international scheme eyeing Israeli control of Iraq is underway, including the granting of Iraqi citizenship to 500,000 Jews and the "resettlement of a large population of displaced Palestinians" in Iraq.
But what goals are driving this plot and what consequences can it bring to the Iraqi political future in case of adoption?
Big plot against Iraqi unity and Shiites' power
The foreign plot, with two aspects, could pose a major threat to national security and the integrity of Iraq.
The first aspect is granting Iraqi citizenship to 500,000 Jews. This seems very significant considering the population of about 41 million people in Iraq. Granting Iraqi citizenship to half a million Jews will undoubtedly become an important gateway for Tel Aviv to infiltrate Baghdad and Erbil. In addition to threatening the internal political process in Iraq, this issue could become a threat to the national security of Iraq's neighbors, especially Iran. The plot is based on Farhud story according to which the Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Rashid Ali Kilani, who was an ally to Nazi Germany, in 1941 attacked the Jews of the country, killing 170 of them. This assault led to Jews of Iraq leaving the country and heading to the Palestinian territories in which a Jewish state was founded seven years later.
The second aspect is settling a large number of Palestinians in Sunni-majority Al Anbar province and granting them Iraqi citizenship. This would considerably increase the number of Sunnis of Iraq. Basically, such a plan is a plot to mar the unity and solidarity between the Sunnis and the Shiites in Iraq. This population will give a pretext for growing destabilizing intervention in Iraq under the ruse of aids from Washington and Tel Aviv. Such a plan is in opposition to the Axis of Resistance and designed for meddling in the Iraqi political affairs.
A plot to solve Palestinian refugees case as "deal of the century" fails
In addition to targeting the Iraqi unity and the Shiites, this Israeli-American plan seeks to make Iraq a place absorbing the long-time Palestinian refugees challenge.
In a overall definition, Palestinian refugees can be defined as the total number of people who lived in Palestine between June 1946 and May 1948 and lost their homes and all their property due to the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948. Also, to this can be added the total number of Palestinians displaced as a result of the 1967 and 1973 wars. The US, along with Britain, have been working since 1950 to resolve the Palestinian refugees issue by resorting to various solutions in order to legitimize the existence of the Israeli regime. The Americans claim that from 1950 to 2017, they spent more than $6 billion to help Palestinian refugees.
According to international figures, the population of the Palestinians is about 13.5 million, of which about 5.98 million are displaced in Arab countries and about 727,000 living in other countries. Also, about 28.7 percent of Palestinian refugees live in 58 camps. The camps, operating under the auspices of the UNRWA, are scattered in neighboring states. The UNRWA supervises 10 camps in Jordan, 9 in Syria, 12 in Lebanon, 19 in the West Bank, and 8 in the Gaza Strip.
Under "the deal of the century", which was sponsored by the Trump administration, the Palestinian refugee issue was tried to be settled in best Israeli interests. Under the deal, the Palestinian refugees were sought to be painted as an ordinary case beside a broader 80 million population of world refugees. Also, such countries as Syria and Lebanon which have so far resisted pressures to grant citizenship to the Palestinian refugees were censured and Jordan, the only country giving the Palestinians its citizenship, was lauded.
The intriguing point in the deal of the century was that it did not restrict definition of refugees to the Palestinians and claimed that many Jews were expelled from Arab countries and were forced to migrate to the Palestinian territories. So, the initiative emphasized on claiming compensation from Arab states or returning part of the Jews to them. Under the deal, three proposals were made regarding the refugees: First, admitting Palestinian refugees by selected states. Second, eternalizing settlement of the Palestinian refugees in the hosting states like Lebanon and Syria. Third, admission of 5,000 refugees annually by the Muslim countries within a 10-year time span, under the title of resettling the Palestinian refugees based on multilateral agreements.
Trump went to great lengths during his presidency only to find himself failing to implement Palestinian refugees resettlement project. Even to the American and Israeli frustration, the settlement of Jewish migrants in the Arab states more looks like an impossible dream.
Despite the collapse of the deal of the century, a new plot eyes settling Palestinians in Iraq's Al Anbar, however. The likely scenario is that the US makes big financial aid promises in return for Baghdad accepting part of Palestinian refugee population and even giving them Iraqi citizenship.
