The Eastern Mediterranean aka Middle East aka Near East aka Levant

In less than 36 hours I’m heading to Jordan and Syria for 2 1/2 months to make some photographs. The point? To better understand the healthcare issues faced by Assyrian and Palestinian refugees living in Jordan and Syria.

After the Arab-Israeli War and Israeli independence in 1948, a massive efflux of Palestinian refugees fled to Jordan seeking safety and shelter.  The West Bank (being the western bank of the Jordan River) was initially under Jordanian control before it was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, which led to another massive wave of refugees into Jordan.  According to the UN HCR, as of 2005 there were are 1.8 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan.  Dispersed throughout 10 UNRWA refugee camps and integrated into the country, they have had a significant impact a country the size of Indiana and with a population of only 6.2 million.

The Assyrian refugees in Jordan have had a longer history but are much fewer in number.  The initial influx came after Iraqi independence in 1932 as they fled from wide scale massacres and persecution. Past and current conflict in Iraq have pushed more out of their homes and into neighboring countries.  Unlike Palestinian refugees, the Assyrians are not granted the rights of Jordanian citizenship and as a result lack any access to social services.

More Assyrians have fled to Syria, with some in Damascus and Aleppo but the majority in small villages in the Khabur region of northeast Syria.  With little income, support, or recognition, these refugees have been among the silent victims aggression and persecution.

My goal in the next 10 weeks is help them tell their stories through photographs.  I’ll be visiting villages, refugee camps, clinics and hospitals, schools and churches. And to keep updating this blog with what I find.  Hopefully you’ll keep checking back.

Update: Alert reader Nicholas keeping my facts straight: “Dont forget there are Assyrian communities of the Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic and Chaldean communities in Jordan and Syria who were refugees before 1932, and especially from the Genocide of 1914-1924. In Jordan also you have Assyrian refugees from Israel/Palestine since 1948 (themselves Genocide survivors and refugees). But they have citizenship in Jordan now.