[Debate] Israel aiding Syria refugees on Turkish, Jordan borders

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

<http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/israel-aiding-syria-refugees-on-turkish-jordan-borders.aspx?pageID=238&nID=25334&NewsCatID=352>
Israel aiding Syria refugees on Turkish, Jordan borders
JERUSALEM - Agence France-Presse

Israeli aid groups are working with Western organizations to provide
humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees in Turkey and Jordan, MP Ayoob
Kara told AFP on Thursday.

"We have found a way, with voluntary organisations from Israel that
are now on the borders of Jordan and Turkey with Syria, to provide
humanitarian help to the Syrians who are there," Kara said.

"My advisors are also in Jordan to try to find a way to help the
refugees in Jordan," he added, saying that Israeli volunteer groups
had been working in Turkey and Jordan for the past two months.

Kara stressed that the aid was humanitarian, with Israeli groups
providing "food, medicine, a lot of help." And he said the
organisations involved were non-governmental groups working under the
auspices of European institutions to assist Syrian refugees in the
border areas.

"This is not the government, it's volunteers," he said, declining to
identify the groups involved.

"They are Israelis but they don't work there as Israelis, they work
with the European groups there." Kara said the Israeli government was
wary of being seen to aid the opposition groups fighting to overthrow
the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose country is a
sworn enemy of Israel.

"If we are part of the conflict, it's a danger for all the region, all
the world," he said.

But Kara said he was eager to see the Jewish state provide
humanitarian assistance, where possible.

"It is important for us that when there are big problems in our
neighbour states, we are helping," he said.

Kara, a member of Israel's Druze minority who belongs to the rightwing
Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the governments
of Jordan and Turkey "know about the work of the Israeli
organizations." And the deputy said he was working with Jordan and the
Israeli government on the possibility of bringing wounded Syrian
refugees to the Jewish state for treatment.

July/12/2012
-- 
Yoshie Furuhashi
<http://mrzine.org/>