Let me introduce myself. I am an Iraqi girl from Mosul, in the north of Iraq.
My past is probably very different from most other Iraqis in the way that I have never lived in Iraq. The first time I went to Iraq was back in the summer of 2001. Having never lived in your [...]

Antony Loewenstein provided the inspiration which lead to the creation of the Olivebranch Network, without his generosity and support the idea may never even have existed. This is what he has to say about it all.

Recently a video was released showing the horrible work-over given to 4 Iraqi teenagers who had been involved in stone-throwing riots. They were beaten senseless in a fashion beyond the terms “human rights abuse” or “war crimes”— by 8 professional, trained and fully clad UK soldiers. (see this ARTICLE)

The extent to which this kind of thug culture has infiltrated the UK military only has recenlty come to light.

Iraqi Children are too often deprived of their livelihood and the beautiful simplicity which occompanies childhood. The small things can be signs of changes much bigger, such a change is described in this article by Baghdad Treasure

It was the 29th of September 2005 , a horrible absolutely unforgettable day for me and my peaceful town , began as any other calm day of this conservative town . It was 7:00 pm , about 20 minutes before sunset , when I was out of my hospital to see a patient of my relatives, carrying a stethoscope , sphygmomanometer and a thermometer , I sat down , checked the patient and prescribed medicines to her , talked with the family about some subjects , laughed , smiled until I decided to leave them , my uncle decided to pick me up to the hospital again . I thanked him and told him that I can hire a taxi and refused but he insisted , I said ok , let’s go.

On behalf of OliveBranch’s network, I am here writing this to briefly introduce myself and look forward to posting more of my articles and opinions for you all to read.
Writers in exile often face the question of why they left their countries, and whether this departure has not resulted in a loss of memory [...]

On the 14th of January Antony Loewenstein sent me [olivebranch] an email- the email which was responsible for the formation of this network.

Hello everybody;
This is my first article in this website , It may be boring but I promise I will write further articles from daily practical life of me and my work mates.. The aim of this article is to have a general idea about what’s going on here in Iraq and to take a look to the health facts as seen by an Iraqi doctor living in Iraq and facing all the advantages and disadvantages of being inside Iraq..

At a time in world history where the Middle East of upmost importance to global politics and ecnomics knowledge about Middle Eastern culture amongst the general public in the West is increasingly important and still very limited.

This network is an attempt to fill the void and educated those who care to know who in turn will educate those who don’t. Ignorance is the cause of most racism and hostilities globally be it in the East, West, North or South and the only way to combat it is with knowledge and education.