RECOVERING WOMEN AND CHILDREN ENSLAVED BY PALESTINIAN BEDUINS
In the same period, another question began to preoccupy the AGBU’s Egyptian leadership, that of the plight of women and children abducted during the War by Bedouin tribes in Palestine and Jordan. The arrival of the Allied forces in these areas had done little to improve the situation of these Armenians, whom most of the Bedouin tribes regarded as their property. At first, after obtaining reliable information about their numbers and whereabouts, the Union asked the British intelligence services to deal with the matter, hoping that they would liberate the young women being held against their will in Bedouin families in the Wadi Musa. To help the British accomplish the task, the AGBU listed the women and children by name, and also named the Bedouin tribal chiefs who refused to liberate their captives.
A memorandum the Union sent to the British is one of many documents in which these people are mentioned. It includes a list of children and young women, as well as the names of those holding them captive. It will give us some sense of the situation:
In Wadi Musa: Polor Asdurian, ... Read all
Humanitarian Assistance to Genocide Survivors in Palestine, 1917-1918
Hovhannes Kelejian of Marash, founder of a rescue team for women and children held by Bedouins (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).
Armenian deportees from the Jabal Druze who made their way to Aqaba in 1918 (Coll. Bibl. Nubar/Paris).