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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The spectacle of a massive flight from Ukraine resonated deeply in the Middle East on Saturday. a Russian military invasion.
But in a region ravaged by seemingly endless wars, the empathy was tinged with bitterness from some who saw European countries adopt a more compassionate stance towards Ukrainians than they had in recent years towards Arab and Muslim migrants desperately seeking security. reaches. of the European coasts.
Images of destroyed cities from Syria and Iraq to Libya and Yemen distributed onlinewith memes and comments accusing Western democracies of fomenting violence and destabilizing these countries, while evading responsibility and applying double standards, especially in their treatment of refugees.
When neighboring European countries quickly opened their borders to tens of thousands of Ukrainians, many social media users were quick to point out that refugees from the Middle East had been received more harshly.
“Imagine that the human face of Ukrainian refugees can also be seen in MENA refugees,” tweeted Lina Zhaim, a communications manager from Lebanon, referring to the Middle East and North Africa. “Imagine your sovereignty and dignity as human rights unrelated to race or nationality.”
Not a few commentators acknowledged that some European countries had been generous in resettling migrants from the Middle East. A wave of asylum seekers from the wars in Syria and Iraq made their way to Europe in 2015 and 2016, and the European Union took in more than a million refugees over that two-year period, most of them Syrians, with Germany receiving the bulk.
But Arab critics said migrants from Muslim and Arab countries were often viewed as a threat, rejected and sometimes faced violence and violence when they tried to enter Europe.
“What is happening in Ukraine is incredibly tragic and heartbreaking to watch,” said Rana Khoury, a Syrian-American postdoctoral researcher who focuses on the study of war and displacement at Princeton University. “But like many others, I also saw how those same countries, which have created so many obstacles for refugees fleeing the conflicts in the Middle East, open their borders to Ukrainians.”
In November, Polish security forces retaliated with truncheons from migrants from the Middle East and Afghanistan as they tried to cross the border.
In contrast, the refugees who arrived at the Polish border from Ukraine in recent days were greeted with smiles, hot drinks and transported to train stations.
Ayman Mohyeldin, an Egyptian-American television host on MSNBC with hundreds of thousands of social media followers, said in a Twitter post, “So what you’re saying is Europe knows how to deal with a large and sudden influx of refugees escaping war?”
Unlike migrants from the Middle East, Ukrainians are allowed to enter the countries of the European Union without a visa. And almost a million already live in Poland.
Ms Khoury acknowledged the generosity of some European countries such as Germany in taking in migrants from the Middle East, but said she saw a clear bias.
“There are these justifications that war and violence are somehow endemic to the Middle East in ways that they are not to Europe,” she said, adding that countries in the Middle East and Africa with far fewer capabilities are left to “house many more refugees around the world”. time.”
Many Syrians opposing the government of President Bashar al-Assad watched the invasion of Ukraine with particular interest, having personally witnessed a Russian military intervention in their country that destroyed cities and displaced large numbers of people.
War Between Russia and Ukraine: Important Things to Know
Two years ago, some posted images on social media of rows of cars fleeing an advance by Russian-backed Syrian troops, alongside photos of rows of cars fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
More than 5.6 million Syrian refugees remain in the Middle East, most of them in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. Of those who reached Europe most effectively penetrated, crossing the Mediterranean on flimsy boats that sometimes sank, killing their passengers.
Once in Europe, many found that countries were trying to close their borders.
During the 10-year war in Syria, the United States has let in about 22,000 Syrian refugees.
Jomana Qaddour, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who focuses on Syria, said the violence in the Middle East tends to be blamed on the region’s culture.
On Saturday, a clip contrasting Ukraine with two war-ravaged predominantly Muslim countries appeared to go viral, sparking a storm of criticism.
A CBS reporter described the flight of tens of thousands of Ukrainians and expressed a sense of shock, saying, “But this is not a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan where the conflict has been raging for decades.”
The reporter, Charlie D’Agata† went on to describe the scenes he saw take place in a “relatively civilized, relatively European” city.
Hwaida Saad and Ben Hubbard contributed reporting from Beirut and Nada Rashwan from Cairo.
Audio produced by Parin Behrooz†
