The "Ninevah Plan" is a schema to purportedly protect some Christian populations in Iraq – specifically, this:

The Plains of Nineveh contain a series of Christian villages (approximately twenty), in which most people speak the Syriac dialect known as “Sureth.”  The area has always been under the jurisdiction of Mosul – about 30-25 km away – which is the area’s cultural, commercial and ecclesiastic hub.  The Plains are surrounded by Arab, Shedac, Yezidi and Kurdish villages.  Some 120,000 Christians live there.

Having an independent zone has been something of a national dream for the Assyrians dating back to World War I; subsequently, in the 1970s, various Christian politicians and religious leaders called for an autonomous province, but this dream was never achieved!

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime and, above all, in 2006, many Christian nationalists outside and within Iraq, having seen the experience of autonomous Kurdistan, see the Niniveh Plains as a possibility for achieving a safe haven.

AsiaNews has been running articles strongly critical of the plan, Here

Groups of politicized Christians in the United States and Europe are seeking to exploit the tragic religious persecution underway in Iraq to accelerate the creation of an “Assyrian enclave” in the Plains of Niniveh, on the border of the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan.  The plan, however, does not have the support of Catholics in the country and abroad, who refer to it as a “diabolic and dangerous” plan, the debate over which “risks creating a division” among Christians.

Closing the Christian community into a ghetto/buffer-zone between Arabs and Kurds in the north seems, for some, the only solution for salvation.  According to local AsiaNews sources, the utmost is being done to make this convincing: religious leaders are being duped, the press is being manipulated; even suffering and sorrow are being exploited.  The latest example is the murder of Fr Ragheed Ganni, Chaldean priest, whose death, along with that of three friends, is at the centre of a media circus in Iraq that even Iraqis themselves are saying is “excessive.”  An AsiaNews source says. “Ragheed, who lived and died in Mosul, sacrificed himself for the exact opposite: for peaceful coexistence, for the future of the Church in Iraq, not abroad, not caged within political or territorial borders.”

Ever since the anti-Christian campaign has become violent enough to be in the spotlight of international media, more and more articles and television coverage speak of what would be the unavoidable necessity, at this point, of creating a safe haven for this minority. Yesterday, an article of the Eastern Star News Agency (a Sweden-based Assyrian agency) compared the situation of the “Assyrian people” (a term that is meant to include Chaldeans and Syriacs) to that of the Kurds under Saddam: they need protection.  And they go on to say that: “Assyrians are calling more and more for an autonomous Christian region in Iraq.”

Those in favour

The project for an “Assyrian ghetto” is strongly supported by the Christian diaspora in the United States, which holds a lot of sway over the Baghdad Patriarchate, by Evangelicals and by Kurdistan’s Finance Minister, Sarkis Aghajan, who over the last year has donated large sums of money for the reconstruction of numerous villages and churches in the north.

In October 2006, American Catholic bishops wrote to Condoleezza Rice to urge Washington to consider the possibility of creating a new “administrative region” around Niniveh, connected directly to the central government in Baghdad, which “could provide Christians and other minorities with greater safety and offer more opportunity to control their own affairs.”  And given that numerous Christians are seeking refuge in the country’s north, the document also suggests collaboration between the U.S. government and Kurdish authorities to ensure the security of Christians in these areas.

It is expected that the Vatican will express its position on this matter on the occasion of the forthcoming meeting – set for June 8 – between President George W. Bush and the Pope.

Those against

Various prominent figures of the Church, as well as ordinary members of the faithful, have, for some time, been pointing out the risks of a “Niniveh Project”.   In comments to AsiaNews a few months ago, Monsignor Louis Sako, Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk, acknowledged the need for an “end to the violence” but was nevertheless puzzled about the idea.  “The Plains of Niniveh,” he explained, “are surrounded for the most part by Arabs: Christians would be a handy and vulnerable buffer between Arabs and Kurds.  In my opinion, it would be much better to work at the level of the constitution and the single states to guarantee religious freedom and equal rights to the members of all faiths over the entire territory, for Christians too who live throughout Iraq.”

and here:

The Christian message is a universal one, which appeals to all men in all ages:  “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28, 21). Jesus of Nazareth was criticised because of his openness to all peoples, which created unease within the Jewish community of the time. A Christian, born of this truth, makes “his homeland” there where he is called to live, bringing to that land the message of truth and of salvation.

Iraq’s Christians have always been present, in all areas of the nation:  from North to South, from East to West. Historical data is abundant and difficult to counter; it is confirmed in every history book and by experts on the History of Iraq. Among them all I choose to quote Fr Albert Abouna’s books on the history of the Church, a reliable academic and excellent scholar on Iraq’s ecclesial history.

Christians have long sought to live in peace within the greater community, by earning other peoples respect through their example of a peaceful existence.  Down through the centuries they actively participated in the building of the nation and in the restoration of it’s’ culture, proving themselves true citizens, without ever lending their support to an ethnic or religious utopia.  Rather they attempted to show their complete openness to human values wherever they could be found.

Today Christians can be found in Basra, Emara, Baghdad, Ramadi (Falluja), Samara, Kirkuk, Mosul, Erbil, Dihok… This fact proves that Christian conscience is motivated by a desire to be children of the land, brothers and sisters to all men and women, citizens of this country. All of these terms (land, brother, and country) indicate the universal aspect, the openness to others, which are at the heart of the Christian message.