2016 Aqsa School Summer Reading Program

2016 Aqsa School Summer Reading Program
In order to improve our students’ reading levels, the English Department is requiring
summer reading for all students enrolling in the 2016-2017 school year. All students will be
assessed on the books they read over the summer, during the first full week of school. The
assessment will be worth 100 points for each book that students are required to read.
Honors students must read two books on the list for their specified grade. Regular
students must read one book. Students must only read the books assigned to their grade
level. Students may read more books only on their grade level's list for up to 10 points extra
credit for each book read and assessed.
Regular students will have the option between reading a book or writing the research
paper about whether or not Syrian refugees should be allowed into the US. Honors students
may read both books or read one book and write the research paper.
All students must participate in the Ramadan postcard project.
6th Grade List
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5.
6.
The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
Lemonade Wars by Jacqueline Davies
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
7th Grade List
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Because of Anya by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Touchblue by Cynthia Lord
Where I’d Like to Be by Frances O’Roark Dowell
Define Normal by Julie Ann Peters
Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech
As Simple As It Seems by Sarah Weeks
The Yearling by Majorie Kinnan Rawlings
8th Grade List
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Under the Same Sky by Cynthia Defelice
Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
The Lord of the Opium by Nancy Farmer (Sequel to The House of the Scorpion)
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
9th Grade List
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Juvie Three by Gordon Korman
Cheaper by the Dozen by Ernestine Gilberth Carey and Frank Gilberth Jr.
La Linea by Ann Jaramillo
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (Book 1)
Pretties by Scott Westerfeld (Book 2)
Specials by Scott Westerfeld (Book 3)
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
10th Grade List
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The Wave by Todd Strasser
Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
For One More Day by Mitch Albom
Trash by Andy Mulligan
A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
The Autobiography of Malcom X by himself
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
11th Grade List
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Emma by Jane Austen
Quaking by Kathryn Erskine
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer
Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
12th Grade List
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Matched by Ally Condie (First Book in Series)
Crossed by Ally Condie (Second Book in Series)
The Land of the Silver Apples (Sequel to The Sea of Trolls) by Nancy Farmer
The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
Postcard Project
All students must send a postcard to Aqsa School at some point during Ramadan or
shortly after. Students may purchase the postcard or create one of their own.
Students should choose or create a postcard that artistically expresses who they
have become or what they learned about themselves this summer during the holy
month of Ramadan.
On the back of the postcard, students must write a well-written note occupying all
the space allowed. The note must reveal something new that the student learned
about themselves this summer through an activity or experience they engaged in
during Ramadan. Students must provide specific examples to support their ideas.
Students should also analyze how the image on the postcard symbolizes their
growth.
The note must adhere to the good writing techniques, such as--action verbs,
similes/metaphors, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, dialogue, reflection, imagery,
alliteration, personification, etc.
Make sure the student's name is clearly written on the postcard.
This project is worth 50 points.
Postcards must be sent to the following address:
Aqsa School
7361 W. 92nd St.
Bridgeview, IL 60455
Summer Project Essay Assignment Sheet
Directions: Carefully read the following sources, then synthesize information
from at least three of the sources and incorporate it into a coherent, welldeveloped essay that defends, challenges or qualifies the claim that Syrian
Refugees Should Be Allowed in the US.
Make sure your argument is central; use the sources to illustrate and support your
reasoning. Avoid merely summarizing the sources. Indicate clearly which sources
you are drawing from; use the title of the source or the author's last name.
Make sure you also provide at least one example from your own experience to
support your position. You may also provide other examples in your essay from
news stories you have read or watched. Be sure to address the counterargument.
Make sure your essay is typed with Times New Roman, 12 point font and 1 inch
margins.
This project is due the first full week of school.
It is worth 100 points.
(This project may be completed instead of the summer reading requirement.
Honors students will still have to read at least one book.)
Length requirements:
6th graders: Must write a 1 page essay.
7th/8th graders: 1 1/2 page essay
9th/10th graders: 2 page essay
11th/12th graders: 3 page essay
(Due to the length of the articles, students will find the sources to read on
engrade and the Aqsa School Website)
Why the US should welcome Syrian refugees
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/28/
By Elizabeth MacBride Monday, 28 Sep 2015
There's a kind of tight, choking cough that parents of young children know well. Croupy and asthmatic, that
cough used to send me running for the nebulizer when my kids were little. But there were no nebulizers or
emergency rooms in the Za'atri refugee camp in northern Jordan last Christmas Eve.
I kept hearing that cough from a little girl of perhaps 3 or 4, sitting across from me in the trailer I was visiting.
I worried that her chest, pumping like an accordion, would seize up right before my eyes.
That's the first feeling that you get in a refugee camp, even one run as well as Za'atari: You're overwhelmed by
the volume of people and the level of need.
Asma'a Rashed in the trailer where she reads to kids each week at the Za'atari refugee camp in Northern Jordan
There are at least 4 million Syrian refugees officially registered across the Middle East and Europe. Jordan, a
tiny country of 8 million, will have an estimated 937,000 refugees by December. Europe is dealing with an
onslaught of refugees, and more will be arriving soon in the United States: Secretary of State John Kerry
announced that it would accept 85,000 migrants next year, including many Syrians.
One of the first responses as the refugees settle in is likely to be fear. Research shows an economic backlash
against refugees can cloak something deeper: cultural unease, nativism or even racism. But over time, refugees
can benefit societies.
There's an incredible amount of talent, and wisdom and accrued experience," said Ronit Avni, 38, a serial
social entrepreneur working on an education enterprise, LocalizedED, to deliver university-level online
training and education, in local languages, to refugees and others. "These are people who are capable of
thriving and being full-fledged members of whatever society they live in."
The Australian Bureau of Statistics earlier this month released a study showing "humanitarian migrants," many
Afghanis and Iraqis, were more likely to start businesses than other kinds of migrants. The entrepreneurial
spirit of people who have been through a forced flight is almost mythic. Immigrants or their children founded
40 percent of America's Fortune 500 companies, according to the Partnership for a New American Economy.
Programs that enable refugees to take a productive place for themselves — or return home — offer some
charity and more empowerment. Aid that works in the long run tends to be grassroots, technology-driven and
enabled, and directed by the people in need, say experts. Many such programs, including microloan and
microequity programs, are not even that expensive.
"Great things can start from nothing," said Rana Dajani, associate professor of molecular biology at Hashemite
University in Zarqa, Jordan, who started a program called "We Love Reading" in the Za'atari camp.
Recognized as one of the best ideas worldwide for educating refugees, "We Love Reading" has spread to 25
countries. Deceptively simple, it helps instill — or re-instill — confidence. A volunteer refugee, often a
woman, establishes a library with donated books, runs a story time, and builds community support from
parents.
There are other models too: The Karam Foundation runs workshops for a group of 300 Syrian high school
refugee students in the Salam School in Reyhanli, Turkey. The school includes a computer lab, seen as crucial
by its supporters.
Kids "connect to the world, supplement their education, see what others like them are doing and collaborate to
solve problems — and know today and tomorrow they have paths to a future they want," said Christopher
Schroeder, a U.S. Internet executive, board advisor and investor who helped fund the center, by email.
With the right kind of aid that restores a sense of control, displaced people are often more resilient than we
expect.
Asma'a Rashed, whom I also met at Za'atari, is the kind of refugee the world might be tempted to write off, or
to fear as a burden. Married at 14 in her Syrian village, she had two children by the time she was in her late
teens, and no high school degree. Now 21, she reads to as many as 100 children at a time. Running a library
gave her the confidence to write for the camp newspaper. She was starting to pitch stories via her mobile
phone — for pay — to a Turkish magazine.
"I could never think these things would have taken place," she told me through the translator. "But I am very
happy."
Just a few weeks ago, a camp school asked Rashed to start teaching. The seeds of the job were planted last year
when Rashed began reading stories to the children living there, including the little girl I was worried about.
Rashed sat at the front of the trailer with a small stack of books, and began a story about electricity shortages.
As she listened, the little girl relaxed and stopped coughing. "Suddenly, suddenly, suddenly," Rashed said in
Arabic, building the tension. "The power comes back."
The U.S. State Department Says Syrian
Refugees Should Be Welcomed
http://time.com/4117820/syria-refugee-us-state-department/ Sept.
12, 2015
Only two percent of refugees are young, single males of fighting age
Allowing 10,000 Syrian refugees into the United States is the American thing to do, the
State Department said Tuesday after 24 governors issued orders to deny entry to their
respective states of refugees of the Syrian civil war.
The statement, made to reporters by Mark Toner, deputy spokesman for the State
Department, comes at a politically contentious time when lawmakers and governors
have criticized President Barack Obama’s plans to allow refugees into the country, USA
Today reported.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, called for a comprehensive assessment to
ensure ISIS militants were not entering the country alongside the thousands of refugees
seeking safety, USA TOday said. The concern was raised after at least one attacker in the
recent attacks in Paris was believed to have entered France as a refugee. More than 129
people were killed in a series of shootings and explosions in Paris on Friday.
The State Department said only two percent of refugees leaving Syria are single males of
fighting age, while the majority of refugees are children and adults. About two and half
percent of refugees are over 60 years old.
“It speaks to who we are as Americans, and the importance of sheltering those who are
escaping from other countries,” Toner said, according to USA Today. “The vast majority
of these refugees are victims of the very same crimes we saw in Paris, and have been
living with a level of violence and suffering that is incomprehensible to us.”
Ben Carson: The U.S. Must Not
Accept Any Syrian Refugees
http://time.com/4116014/paris-attacks-ben-carson/
Americans must stop viewing Islamic extremism through the lens of
political correctness
The carnage in Paris last Friday reminded us all of the evil of Islamic extremism. President
Barack Obama has promised to “bring these terrorists to justice.” Yet his administration appears
altogether oblivious to the threat posed by an influx of refugees from war-torn Syria into the
U.S. homeland. Furthermore, in the war against Islamic extremism, the President cannot even
bring himself to confront the enemy by its name.
This Monday, I sent letters to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan
urging Congress to terminate all public funding for ongoing federal programs that seek to
resettle refugees from Syria into the U.S. I also call on the American people to stop viewing
Islamic extremism through the lens of political correctness.
We now know that several teams of ISIS terrorist attacked six different locations in Paris, killing
at least 132 people and wounding hundreds more. We have also learned that one of the terrorists
responsible for this grotesque attack may have left Syria posing as a migrant and was able to
gain safe entry to France, Belgium and perhaps other central European countries.
Given the tragedy in Paris last Friday, the U.S. simply cannot, should not and must not accept
any Syrian refugees. Unfortunately, the Obama administration has pledged that the U.S. would
accept an additional 45,000 new refugees, mostly from Syria, from 2016 to 2017. This must not
happen. Instead of half talk and feel-good promises, the U.S. must defend itself with sound
security measures.
Paris offers a bloody reminder that we must not be afraid to confront those who harbor the
jihadist views that have spread violence and hatred around the world.
Although President Obama and presidential candidates from the Democratic Party prefer to
describe radical Islam as just a form of extremism, the rest of us should remember that jihadists
who have spilled blood on our soil before and must never be allowed to do so again.
If we thought Islamic extremism is a phenomenon reserved for foreign lands, terrorists have
made sure to expose our naiveté. From London to Paris, Sydney to Madrid, Fort Hood to
Chattanooga, radical Islamists and their lone wolf followers have inflicted their savagery across
the civilized world. Paris now offers the latest gruesome reminder of radical Islam’s barbarism.
Given this troubling reality, and given the bloodbaths that have been perpetrated in the name of
Islam in the modern era, I announced a few months ago that I personally would not support
having a Muslim president in the White House if he or she had not renounced Islamic
extremism, Sharia law or the tenets and practices of Islam that are in conflict with the
Constitution.
Certainly, not every Muslim subscribes to jihadist ideology. Throughout my career, I have
worked with superb Muslim Americans. Many more have served America honorably by joining
the U.S. military, fighting for America overseas, working with federal and local law enforcement
to combat radicalization in their own communities and publicly denouncing the violent or
misogynist teachings of radical Islamists.
For their decency and courage, we should be grateful. Unfortunately, their own communities
have often viciously vilified them as heretics and infidels.
The reality is that the threat of radical Islam and the corrosive influence of Sharia law here in the
U.S. is not just a figment of our imagination. The U.S. must defend itself by preventing the
infiltration of terrorists who pose as refugees to enter our land. To do anything less is foolish.
Dr. Ben Carson was a Republican candidate for president.
'Offensive and hysterical’: Obama lashes
Republicans over Syrian refugees
President says Congress lawmakers and state governors are doing Islamic State’s work
by wanting to lock refugees out or only accept Christians
Barack Obama has hit back at Republicans who want to stop the US taking in Syrian
refugees – with the president saying some of the language used in the wake of the Paris
attacks only serves to strengthen the Islamic State terror group.
Obama rounded on Republicans in Congress who are preparing legislation that
threatens to suspend a US refugee program for Syrians – and on state governors who
have said threatened to try to block the refugees’ entry. The Obama administration has
revealed details of its screening system to reassure skeptical lawmakers worried about
terrorist infiltration.
The House speaker, Paul Ryan, escalated the political row that has been growing since
the Paris attacks by announcing on Tuesday that he had formed a taskforce to examine
ways of forcing Barack Obama’s hand on the issue.
Obama, speaking in the Philippines where is attending a regional summit, said: “We are
not well served when, in response to a terrorist attack, we descend into fear and panic.
We don’t make good decisions if it’s based on hysteria or an exaggeration of risks.
“When individuals say we should have a religious test and that only Christians, proven
Christians should be admitted, that’s offensive.
Aid Group Uses Successful Syrian Refugee To Inspire
Others In Turkish Camp--Radio Interview
http://www.npr.org/2014/12/01/367835154/aid-group-uses-successful-syrian-refugee-to-inspire-others-in-turkish-camp
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
More than 3 million Syrians have been forced to flee their country because of the Civil War. More
than half are children, and for them, the hopelessness of the situation can be especially
overwhelming. Relief workers struggle with how to convince the young refugees that there is a
future. NPR's Deborah Amos reports one private U.S.-based group, the Karam Foundation, uses a
refugee success story to try to inspire them.
DEBORAH AMOS, BYLINE: Lina Sergie Attar comes to Turkey every six months to work with Syrian
kids. She heads the Karam team. Her volunteers include counselors, artists and doctors to reach
children in a variety of ways. In Istanbul, she showed me the highlights on her cell phone of a week
of working with kids.
AMOS: These children are students in Reyhanli on Turkey's southern border. Many are traumatized
and depressed. Sergie Attar created a workshop to help them work through the past called Mapping
The Memories.
LINA SERGIE ATTAR: Because I'm an architect by training, I tell the children to draw a floor plan of
their home. And I tell them they all will be little architects and they have a future. And they
understand how to make a technical drawing that's abstract but also do storytelling through drawing remembering in a non-traumatic way.
AMOS: There are some kids she can't forget - a 10-year-old named Omar.
ATTAR: He stood up, and he said I don't want to draw anything. I don't have a future. All I want to do
is grow up as fast as I can and become 18 very, very fast and then die.
AMOS: Remembering the past is just too painful for some kids. So how to get them to think about
the future even believe that they have one? Enter 34-year-old Mohanad Ghashim, the newest
member of the team. A refugee himself, he fled from Syria's northern city of Aleppo in 2011 when he
feared for his life, leaving everything behind. He tells the kids that war is awful, but it taught him
things.
MOHANAD GHASHIM: You accept change. You accept losses. I had to lose. I had to accept it
quickly, adapt to the loss and then look at what I could do.
ATTAR: People like Mohanad really give them hope for the future because he actually did it.
AMOS: What Mohanad Ghashim did is remarkable, but he doesn't tell his story right away. He tells
them he was a refugee just like them. Then he tells them he used his education in technology. He
developed a new business - an internet business. He found customers and then investors just as his
cash was running out. His e-commerce company, Shop-Go, is now a regional success. Even he is
astonished at what the business is worth.
GHASHIM: Over $5 million. (Laughter).
AMOS: You went from $2,000 in your pocket...
GHASHIM: ...To over $5 million. Yeah - in about two years. Yeah. It's crazy. I know. I know.
Whenever I think of it, it's really crazy.
AMOS: And you were a refugee?
GHASHIM: Yeah. I had to start over from scratch.
AMOS: Here's another memory on Lina Sergio Attar's cell phone. She says that Ghashim's story of
loss and success is inspiring. He also delivers a tough message - education is the key, and you have
to rely on yourself.
ATTAR: Because there's that refugee mentality that you have to come save us. You owe us. And
somebody like Mohanad can say the world doesn't owe you anything, and life is really hard, but life
also has a ton of opportunities. And that was so powerful.
AMOS: Powerful for kids who don't see a future or a life beyond a refugee camp away from home.
GHASHIM: It's bad. Some of them are extremely depressed. I'm not going to plant in all kids that
seed in the future. I'm not saying it's easy. But you have to decide where you want to go.
AMOS: Nobody handed me my future, he says. I had people who showed me the road, and I took it.
He's showing the road to Syrian kids in southern Turkey. He'll be back with a volunteer team in six
months. Deborah Amos, NPR News.
Copyright © 2014 NPR. All rights reserved
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced
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List of famous Americans of Arab descent or from Arab
nations https://www.facebook.com/notes/arab-american-casting/list-of-famous-americans-of-arab-descent-or-from-arabnations/341938172564202
August 20, 2012
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F. Murray Abraham, Academy Award winner for role in Amadeus, father is from Syria
Moustapha Akkad, film producer, Syrian-American
Malek Jandali, composer & pianist, Syrian-American
Ferras Alqaisi, singer-songwriter, Jordanian-American
Tige Andrews, actor, Syrian-American
Paul Anka, singer and songwriter, Lebanese parents Andy and Camelia Anka
Jim Backus, actor/comedian, Lebanese
Jeff Becerra, Death metal musician, Arab Mexican origin
Yasmine Bleeth, Actress ("Baywatch") Mother is of Algerian Descent.
Cindy Crawford - fashion model (mother Jennifer Sue Crawford-Moluf).
Jenna Dewan, film/TV actress (Step Up), half-Lebanese[19]
Shannon Elizabeth, film actress ("American Pie", "Scary Movie"),[20] Lebanese and Syrian ancestry
Emilio Estefan, Cuban-born, manager and producer of wife Gloria Estefan, Lebanese ancestry
Amy Fadhli, fitness model, actress and winner of the Fitness America National Champion 1996, Iraqi father
Rima Fakih, Miss USA 2010, Lebanese immigrant
Khrystyne Haje, actress on Head of the Class, Lebanese descent
Sammy Hagar[citation needed], Rock musician
Teri Hatcher, actress, mother of Syrian ancestry
Salma Hayek, actress, (Mexican father of Lebanese-Assyrian ancestry), naturalized US citizen
Casey Kasem, radio personality and voice actor,[23] Palestinian descent
Kerri Kasem, TV hostess, Palestinian descent
Catherine Keener, Lebanese ancestry on mother's side
Khaled Khaled, a.k.a. DJ Khaled popular Hip-Hop DJ for Fat Joe's Terror Squad group, Palestinian ancestry
Kristy McNichol, co-star on "Family" and "Empty Nest",[25] Lebanese descent
Wentworth Miller, actor on Prison Break, Lebanese-Syrian from mother's side[26]
Naomi Shihab Nye, poet/songwriter, Palestinian father[31]
Tony Shalhoub, three-time Emmy Award-winning television actor on Monk, Lebanese[32]
Mark Shami Syrian Descent Musician
Alia Shawkat, actress on Arrested Development, Iraqi father
Tiffany (singer), born Tiffany Renee Darwish, singer, father is of Lebanese descent
Vince Vaughn, actor, Lebanese ancestry
Frank Zappa, musician, part Lebanese father[34]
Images
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Does the Quran Speak to the Syrian Refugee
Crisis?
http://understandquran.com/does-the-quran-speak-to-the-syrian-refugee-crisis-cc.html
The next time you feel like complaining about the fact that you don’t have the latest
smartphone, jeans, or running shoes, think about Najiba.
Najiba Abdul Rahman lived in Turkish refugee camps for three years. She cared for two
small orphaned grandchildren in a trailer that she shared with her daughter and her
daughter’s family. The trailer, holding 10 people, stood in a camp of 14,000 refugees.
She knew her house was destroyed, had lost one son, and didn’t know if her other son or
her husband were still alive.
What does the Quran have to tell us about the current world refugee crisis? Quite a bit.
The Quran is clear on condemning the actions of evildoers, but from where we’re sitting
in our comfortable houses, fed often questionable information by international media, it
can be very hard to know who the real evildoers are. Needless to say, taking sides is a
waste of time and energy. The Quran, however, clearly commands us to respond to
suffering.
What Kinds of Refugees Are We Supposed to Be Helping?
Although the limitations of technology didn’t allow this scale of catastrophe in the time
of our prophet (saws), his words still clearly inform us as to how to respond to human
suffering as Allah decreed:
Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true]
righteousness is [in] one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and
the prophets and gives wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy,
the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves; [and who] establishes
prayer and gives zakah; [those who] fulfill their promise when they promise; and
[those who] are patient in poverty and hardship and during battle. Those are the ones
who have been true, and it is those who are the righteous. [Quran, 2:177]
The Pious Slave of Allah (swt) is Caring and Generous
In spite of the fact that the roots of the Syrian conflict reach back a long way into the
shady pasts of many nations and subcultures, the stabbing reality is that much of the
harm is being carried out by those who insist that they follow Islam. The above aya
spells out clearly that when faced with the tragic condition of humanity, the obedient
slave of Allah is required to be pious, righteous, generous, honest, and patient, and for
good reason.
If all of the ummah had taken this aya to heart, there would be no refugee crisis. But
since they haven’t and the crisis goes on, we Muslims must do what we can to help.
. . . Do not worship except Allah; and to parents do good and to relatives, orphans, and
the needy. And speak to people good [words] and establish prayer and give zakah . . .
[Quran, 2:83]
What can you do to help? A few suggestions, to which you should feel free to add your
own in the comments section below:
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Donate money. Find a reputable charity and give your extra money to the refugee relief effort.
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If refugees come to your town, welcome them, Muslim or not, and do what you can to provide for
their needs.
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When you hear others discussing the dangers of helping refugees, or talking disparagingly about
Syrians, try to tilt the conversation in a more positive direction.
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Be nice. These people have lost their country, their homes, their friends and family members. Talk
gently to them and show them you care. The depth of their pain alone demands that they be treated
with kindness and dignity.
The final word came from the brave Najiba herself: “I believe that God will stand with
me.”
And she was right.
May your mind and heart be opened, enlightened, and nourished.
The Understand Quran Academy Team
(Najiba’s story appeared in the Washington Post in 2013, in an article by Kevin
Sullivan.)
Biblical References to Immigrants and Refugees
http: //www.u cc.org/jus tic e_immigration_ wo rship_bib lica l - refer ences - to
The following passages from the Bible refer to immigrants and refugees.
All quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version.
Genesis 3:22-24 – Adam and Eve are forced out of the Garden.
Genesis 7 and 8 – Noah builds an ark and takes refuge from the flood.
Genesis 12:1 – The call of Abram: “Go from your country and your kindred and your
father’s house to the land that I will show you.”
Genesis 12:10 – “Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to
reside there as an alien, for the famine was severe in the land.”
Genesis 19 – Lot takes his family and flees Sodom.
Genesis 23 – Abraham is a stranger and an alien in the land of Canaan.
Genesis 46:1-7 – Jacob moves his family to Egypt to escape the famine and reunite with
Joseph.
Genesis 47: 1-6 – Joseph brings his brothers to Pharaoh and they are welcomed and given
jobs.
Matthew 2:13-15 – Jesus and parents flee Herod’s search for the child.
Matthew 5:10-11 –“Blessed are those who are persecuted.”
Matthew 25:31-46 – “…I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
Luke 3:11 – “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none…”
Romans 12:13 – “Mark of the true Christian: “…Extend hospitality to strangers…”
James 2:5 – “Has not God chosen the poor in the world…”
I John 3:18 – “…Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”
I John 4:7-21 – “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God…” We love
because God first loved us.”
Top 10 global facts about refugees
http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/latest/news/4350_top_10_global_facts_about_refugees 18Jun2015
Today the UN's Refugee Agency UNHCR have published their annual analysis of global
forced displacement, revealing shocking numbers of people who have been forced to flee
their homes.
Here are top 10 stand out facts.
1. In 2014, global displacement reached historic levels: 59.5 million people
were forced to flee their homes: roughly the same number of people in Britain. If
these people made up their own country, it would be the 24th largest nation in the
world.
2. In 2014 alone, 8.3 million people were forced to flee: the highest annual
increase on record.
3. That means that 42,500 people were forced to leave their homes every
day because of conflict or persecution.
4. Of these people, 19.5 million are refugees, 1.8 million are asylum seekers and
38.2 million were internally displaced within their own country.
5. 86% of the world’s refugees are hosted by developing countries.
6. Britain is home to just 0.6% of the world’s refugees.
7. More than half (53%) of the world’s refugees are from just three
countries: Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia. The largest source of the world’s
refugees is Syria. One in five displaced persons is from Syria.
8. The top 5 host countries for refugees are:



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Turkey
Pakistan
Lebanon
Iran
Ethiopia
9. More than half of the world’s refugees are children (51%): the highest figure
in over a decade.
10. In 2014, 34,300 asylum claims were made by unaccompanied children:
the highest number since records began. Most of the children were Afghan,
Eritrean, Syrian or Somali.
US Officials Admit Concern Over Syrian
Refugee Effort
By JUSTIN FISHEL
Feb 12, 2015, 5:28 PM ET
Are Syrian Refugees a Threat?
Top U.S. counterterrorism officials say they worry a potential terrorist could be hiding
among refugees who are looking to come to the United States after escaping the brutal
war in Syria.
"It's clearly a population of concern,” the director of the National Counterterrorism
Center, Nicholas Rasmussen, told the House Homeland Security Committee on
Wednesday.
Committee Chairman Mike McCaul, R-Texas, went further, saying it would be a “huge
mistake” to bring refugees from the conflict to the U.S. – even as an estimated 4 million
children, women and men have been forced to flee Syria and another 7 million have
been displaced from their homes there, unable to leave.
Senior officials leading the State Department’s refugee efforts say the U.S. government
has a long history of caring for the innocent victims of war.
“It’s not a matter of should we do it, it’s really a matter of how we do it,” Larry Bartlett,
the State Department’s director of Refugee Admission for the Bureau of Population,
Refugees and Migration, told ABC News. “One of the fundamental principles of our
country is that we care about others. We will help others.”
Bartlett insisted every refugee is vetted through an “intensive” system, drawing on
information and expertise from several U.S. intelligence agencies, including the Defense
Department.
“We have a very slow process of moving refugees through our pipeline, and part of it is
because of the security vetting component,” Bartlett said.
Homeland security officials also testified Wednesday that any potential refugees from
Syria would receive “the most rigorous screening.”
"Any tasking we're given ... will be as thorough as we can make it," said Francis Taylor,
the head of the Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence office.
Yet that’s not reassurance enough for McCaul and other leading Republicans, who
recently penned a letter to National Security Advisor Susan Rice cautioning that the
U.S. government’s ability to screen refugees from Syria might not be sufficient.
“The continued civil war and destabilization in Syria undeniably make it more difficult to
acquire the information needed to conduct reliable threat assessments on specific
refugees,” they wrote in the letter two weeks ago.
With tens of thousands of Syrians joining groups in the region like the Islamic State, the
U.S. government “cannot allow the refugee process to become a backdoor for jihadists,”
they added.
At the hearing Wednesday, an FBI official also questioned whether the U.S. intelligence
community – with few assets on the ground in Syria and little insight into the country
from elsewhere – can provide authorities with the information they need to properly
determine whether any refugee could pose a threat.
"You have to have information to vet,” said FBI Assistant Director Michael Steinbach,
who heads the bureau’s counterterrorism division. “Databases don't [have] the
information on those individuals, and that's the concern.”
Still, Rasmussen vowed “the full weight of the U.S. intelligence community” would be
employed to "unearth" any concerning information about potential refugees. And Bartlett
and other State Department officials say the U.S. is far from opening the flood gates.
Of the 7 million of Syrians seeking refuge, only about 500 have been let in the United
States. Compare that with Syria’s neighbor, Jordan, whose Foreign Minister recently
said they’ve let in over 80,000 Syrians -- a figure that represents nearly 21 percent of
Jordan’s total population. Or compare it to the response to the Iraq war, with the U.S.
admitting over 120,000 Iraqis.
So far Germany and Sweden are leading the charge when it comes to accepting
Syrians. Germany has let in nearly 12,000 refugees, not including those who have
sought asylum there.
Officials at the State Department were quick to report that overall the U.S. accepts more
refugees than the rest of the world combined. Bartlett and others also say they expect
the U.S. to steadily increase the number of Syrians it accepts as applications at the
United Nations continue to pile up.
Most Americans Oppose Admitting Syrian Refugees, Poll Finds
TIME By: Charlotte Alter http://time.com/4122938/refugees-syria-america-poll/ Nov. 20, 2015
A majority of Americans support the use of force against ISIS and oppose
admitting Syrian refugees in to the United States in the aftermath of ISIS’s Paris
attacks, according to a new poll released Friday.
Some 54% of total respondents said they oppose taking in refugees, according to
a new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News, and 52% say they’re not
confident in the American screening process to weed out possible terrorists.
But if refugees are admitted, the poll found, an overwhelming 78% say all
refugees should be considered equally– only 18% support a preference for
Christian refugees. Presidential candidates Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz have both
argued for giving Christian refugees a special preference.
The poll found that 73% of surveyed Americans support U.S. participation in a
military operation against ISIS, and 60% support the use of ground forces. 59% of
Americans said the U.S. is at war with radical Islam, and 81% say they anticipate a
serious terror attack on U.S. soil– one of few moments since 9/11 when anxiety
about another attack has reached this level.
The results come a day after the House passed a bill to drastically tighten security
measures for Syrian and Iraqi refugees, against the objections of President
Obama.
[Washington Post/ABC]
Meet the Syrian refugees who do not dream of Europe
Inna Lazareva | 29 Apr 2016 09:25 GMT | Middle East, Syrian Refugees,
Jordanhttp://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/04/meet-syrian-refugees-dream-europe-160426122400104.html
Some of those stranded in a Jordanian refugee camp say they would rather wait to
return to their homeland.
Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan - Though they both spend their days in the Zaatari refugee camp,
share the same country of origin and even have the same first name, Ahmed and Ahmed could not be
more different.
Ahmed, 33, who did not provide a last name, wears a smart jacket and sips cola in a cool cafe in the part
of the camp reserved for visitors and aid staff, having secured a job with an international aid agency.
Meanwhile, 55-year-old Ahmed Ali, a father of 14, spends his days in the blistering sun, running a
ramshackle stall where he sells bikes, wheelbarrows and discarded, rusty bric-a-brac on an unpaved road
in the desert camp.
Yet both men are in full agreement about one thing: Despite the war that has forced them to flee their
country, it is not Europe or North America that they ever intend to call "home" - rather, that title will always
be reserved for their native Syria.
"I love my country; I want to go back," Ahmed Ali told Al Jazeera. "We used to have land, houses, farms
and cars. We were happy, and we had enough food."
Statistics from a recent programme by the Canadian government to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees
surprised many: Out of the 7,000 Syrian refugees in Zaatari camp who qualified for the opportunity, one in
four turned it down, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This contradicts
the perception among some in the West that many refugees are moving abroad in order to find "a better
life and to stay and settle there", UNHCR's Gavin White told Al Jazeera.
"That's clearly not the case if you speak to Syrians themselves," he said. "[What is] quite unique to
Syrians than maybe to other refugee populations, is that they seem to be particularly attached to their
country, more so than others. If you were to ask refugees themselves, what is your top priority, [they
would say]: 'We want to go home to Syria.' This is 100 percent the case."
Ahmed Ali says he fled Syria fearing for his life when heavy bombardments and shelling struck his home
village on the outskirts of Damascus.
"The regime bombed areas and innocent people without discrimination. In my village, everyone lost their
houses and property," he said, noting he still fears being identified by the regime for his anti-government
sentiments, as some of his children and relatives are still in the country.
Despite this, he says he longs to go back home and rebuild his life. "I basically feel nostalgic," he
admitted, noting he and his wife missed their children and relatives back home.
Fear of being separated from family can be a strong enough deterrent for some not to consider
resettlement abroad, especially in countries far from the Middle East, experts say.
"It is the sense that if they were to leave and move so far away from Syria and the region, that it would be
a permanent move," White said. "And so many were not ready to give up the idea that they would return
to Syria."