Thousands of refugees are arriving every day into Europe. Many of them are being persecuted in their home countries by the Islamic State (IS) or other terrorist groups, and are taking refuge under life-threatening circumstances.

These refugees need our support, help and sympathy.

But, there is also a large group of refugees who are coming to Europe for economic and or other, not-so-benign reasons.

And, it is obvious from the chaos now going on in Hungary, Austria and Germany, that neither the EU, nor the individual states, have control over who is now entering to Europe.

For a longtime now, the Islamic State has used the "uncontrolled migration of peoples" to send potential jihadists to Europe, mixed-in with (or concealed by) the flow of genuine refugees. The IS has also supplied fake Syrian passports to these potential jihadists, in an effort to bring war and terror to Europe.

Thus, the time for naivete is over.

We may very well be at the beginning of a modern "migration of peoples". And, we should be aware that our social and societal structures may collapse if this situation remains unchanged.

This is not scare-mongering or race/culture-baiting. This is pure mathematics.

Before the war, Syria had 23 million residents, of which nearly 9 million are currently people “in transit”. By the end of this year, Germany, alone, officially expects 800,000 refugees from Syria, only. Unofficially, this figure is likely to be much higher, because in August (2015), Germany suspended the Dublin Agreement for Syrian refugees – the Dublin Agreement, being that EU accord which normally requires every refugee to apply for asylum in his or her country of entry (into EU territory).

In Iraq, currently about 3.7 million people are on the move. Aid agencies expect that by year-end, another 1.7 million refugees will be added to that already-massive number.

And, in Africa, it is estimated that nearly 15 million people are currently on the run.

Worldwide, nearly 60 million people are fleeing - many of them towards Europe.

Realistically, Europe can only handle a limited number of refugees and, therefore, must focus its assistance on those people who are actually in need of protection.

Promising too much, right now, can only end in chaos.

With this petition, we are appealing the one hand, to the very rich Gulf states such like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and also Iran, to take some responsibility for refugees who are their cultural brothers and sisters.

We are also appealing, on the other hand, to the United Nations, to establish reception centers, under their auspices, outside of Europe and at Europe's borders, so that asylum procedures can be maintained in such protected zones – so that, only refugees, with recognized status of “asylum seeker”, can attain passage to Europe.

This procedure, while ad hoc, would at least ensure that everyone seeking refugee status is screened and documented – and, it would also flush out economic immigrants and potential IS terrorists.

At the same time, we call on the UN and NATO to provide medical, humanitarian, logistical and organizational assistance in the Middle East. Launching concrete projects to help reconstruct parts of the Middle East ravaged by war – such as farms, schools, hospitals and roads – would speed the recovery of peace and calm, and would allow people to return to their homes.

By signing this petition you are sending an email to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, to NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, and to the Foreign Ministries of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iran.

This may not be a perfect solution, but the present situation is unsustainable.

Thank you!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

http://blogs.cfr.org/patrick/2015/09/03/world-on-the-move-understanding-europes-migration-crisis/ - Understanding the crisis.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34169726 - Austria to phase-out emergency measures.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=URISERV:l33153 - EU's Dublin Accord on Migration.