Middle East Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Update: WVU Students Show Support For Palestine With Rally

Students on West Virginia University’s Morgantown campus held a rally in support of Palestine Wednesday.

Updated on Friday, Oct. 13, 2023 at 10:35 a.m.

Students on West Virginia University’s Morgantown campus held a rally in support of Palestine Wednesday.

About two dozen people gathered outside WVU’s student union to show their support for Palestine at the event organized by the Muslim Student Association.

Omar Ibraheem, president of the association, said the rally also hoped to raise money for humanitarian aid in Gaza, and push back against misinformation.

“Our main goal is just to educate people passing by and encourage research,” he said. “We want them to get out of the mindset that Palestine is the villain. Don’t believe everything you hear, don’t believe everything you just see, even the stuff I’m preaching right now, I want people to go home and fact check me.”

Ibraheem said they are advocating for human rights, regardless of race or religion.

“This is a human rights issue,” he said. “There are Jewish Palestinians, there are Christian Palestinians, there are Muslim Palestinians, all of them are being persecuted. We are here for the sake of human rights, not for the sake of a religion. As the Muslim Student Association we stand against injustice, and we stand for human rights at all costs.”

Computer science major Nada Mikky lived in Gaza for 13 years before moving to West Virginia with her family. She said she lived through three wars in that time and beyond misinformation she feels there has been a lack of coverage on the psychological impact of the fighting.

“The sound of the bomb, now that I’m hearing it through social media, that’s nothing compared to the sound that you can hear in real life,” Mikky said. “It not only shakes you from the outside, it can shake your lungs, it reaches the very bottom of your heart. Children there are struggling with PTSD.”

She said she hoped the rally helped to fix any misconceptions and possibly push people to look at the other side of the situation.

Jewish student organizations – including Chabad at WVU, Hillel and the AEPi fraternity – have also organized campus events in support of Israel such as a counter-protest Wednesday and a vigil in Woodburn Circle Thursday evening.

*Editor’s note: This story was updated on Friday, Oct. 13. to include the activities of Jewish student organizations.

West Virginians Respond To Escalation In Israeli-Hamas Conflict

The Israel-Palestine conflict in the Middle East has the attention of many West Virginians who have religious, familial, or ethnic ties to the region.

At least 1,200 Israelis have died, and Palestinian authorities say 1,055 Palestinians have died in the recent escalation of the ongoing conflict between the two countries.

The Israel-Hamas conflict in the Middle East has the attention of many West Virginians who have religious, familial, or ethnic ties to the region.

At least 1,200 Israelis have died, and Palestinian authorities say 1,055 Palestinians have died in the recent escalation of the ongoing conflict.

Spiritual leader of the B’nai Jacob Synagogue in Charleston Rabbi Victor Urecki held a service for reflection and memorial. He said he’s been talking to his family members in Israel – including one family member who is a part of the Israeli military – and others who live in Jerusalem.

“We’ve checked in on them,” Urecki said. “They’ve heard sirens and they’ve heard bombing in the background. But at least for now they feel relatively safe.”

He said as the death toll rises it gets harder and harder to process.

“Many of us are shell-shocked,” Urecki said. “We’re traumatized. We have many that have friends and family who live there.”

Urecki said there is a feeling of helplessness he and others feel living so far from the conflict.

Dr. Shadi Abo-Halima’s is a heart surgeon here in West Virginia. His family is from Palestine, but he said they moved many times moving away from Israeli expansion. Now his family lives in Jordan and the U.S.

Abo-Halima said that he is heartbroken for the loss of lives and frustrated that it has come to this point. He said there are many trigger points that the international community has ignored, and that the Palestinian people have been living under oppression.

“Unfortunately, war is war. Casualty happens for soldiers, or for militia, people understand that’s what they sign up for,” Abo-Halima said. “But when it comes to civilians it’s sad, it all just crushed my heart. And just completely unacceptable. But the problem that we’re having now is people always look at the situation that is happening now. They didn’t look at what caused all this.”

He said lasting peace involves Palestinians being treated humanely and with dignity.

“The Palestinians really want to live in peace.” Abo-Halima said.

W.Va. Soldiers Return Home From Middle East Duty

Families welcomed home 138 members of the West Virginia National Guard at Laidley Field in Charleston Tuesday.

Hundreds of people came out to greet members of the 1st Squadron, 150th Cavalry Regiment, who were returning from the Middle East. The squadron was deployed for nine months, mostly in Kuwait with some serving in Iraq and Syria.

The soldiers arrived on two buses, walking out onto the field under sunny skies, between two lines of American and West Virginia flags. Families held signs that read: “You promised to come home. I promised to be here. Welcome home.”

Soldiers were met with tears, laughter and screams.

Gov. Jim Justice, who is also the commander in chief for the guard, spoke at the event.

“It’s so wonderful to have you home, to have you home in these absolute wonderful mountains,” he said.

There are over 450 members of the state’s Army and Air National Guard deployed across the world. Holli Nelson, the national guard state public affairs officer, said COVID has not impacted deployment other than social-distancing requirements at welcome-home events.

“Ultimately we have a responsibility to be ready to fight no matter what else is taking place in the world,” she said.

The welcome-back event closed with the beloved Mountain State theme song, John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads.”

WVU Officials Opening 1st Alumni Chapter in Middle East

West Virginia University officials are opening the school’s first alumni chapter in the Middle East.

WVU says in a news release that President Gordon Gee is leading a group of faculty and staff on a trip this week to Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

The group will establish a WVU alumni chapter in Kuwait, which already has a partnership with the WVU School of Dentistry.

The trip also includes signings to extend a partnership with the Royal University for Women in Bahrain and to establish a partnership with Qatar University.

WVU dental school dean Tom Borgia also plans to travel to Saudi Arabia to meet with the University of Dammam’s dental school dean.

Gee says the entire trip should help bolster WVU’s global presence.

Cultural Preservationist Sheds Light on Threatened World Heritage Sites

The idea of preserving artwork during times of war was brought into the public consciousness by a recent movie called “The Monuments Men.” The movie is based on a true story about an international team of experts who saved works of art from the Nazis during World War II.

There is a modern-day version of that story playing out right now in the Middle East and an American cultural preservationist says everyone should be concerned about what Islamic State militants are doing to destroy the world’s common cultural heritage.

Corine Wegener is a retired major with 21 years of service in the U.S. Army Reserve. She played a vital role in helping the National Museum of Iraq recover from the looting that took place during the Gulf War.

“I came home and realized there’s just not a lot for the disaster response for cultural heritage around the world. There just aren’t too many organizations that are really equipped to do that kind of work,” Wegener said.

Now Wegener works with a group whose mission is to protect cultural and artistic treasures around the world from conflict and natural disasters.

Much of that effort today is focused on Iraq and Syria, where Islamic State extremists are destroying artifacts that date back to the dawn of civilization. Wegener says that even though what’s happening in the Middle East seems far away, everyone should be concerned about it.

“The heritage of ancient Mesopotamia, the land of the first cities, some of the first writing in the world — this is part of our shared cultural heritage,” she said. “If you write, or if you read languages, this is part of your cultural heritage, too. And what right do these people have to destroy it?”

Wegener will speak at West Virginia University’s Creative Arts Center at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17, about efforts to protect cultural heritage sites in the Middle East and around the world.

Her talk is part of the activities celebrating the opening of the Art Museum of WVU.

Manchin Won't Support Arming Syrian Rebels

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin today delivered remarks on the Senate floor outlining why he opposes funding, arming or training Syrian opposition forces. The Senator says he will vote against a continuing resolution to fund the U.S. Government if the measure contains that language.

The senator said this should be an Arab ground war and a U.S. air war. But he will not support arming or training the Syrian opposition force.

“I would ask my colleagues to consider America’s history of intervention in the Middle East. It is not a successful one. Interventions have failed in Lebanon, Somalia, Libya and Iraq, and Afghanistan is on the brink of failure. What have we learned from our actions? Certainly not that going into Muslim countries to restore order or establish democracy is a winning strategy.”

Manchin notes that there needs to be a vote on a continuing resolution to keep the U.S. government operating, but resents that the resolution may also contain a measure to support Syrian rebels.

“I do not believe we should be forced to decide between funding our government and arming Syrian rebels. We should be ashamed for failing to pass appropriations bills to finance government operations for the fiscal year that starts two weeks from now. And more ashamed that, for the sake of expediency, we are using a stop-gap continuing resolution as a vehicle for authorizing major military activity. Asking us to make this choice is a disservice to the American people. But if that is a decision I am forced to make, it is one I am committed to making.”

The first vote in Congress on the President’s plan to fight Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria will be made in the House.