Fleeing chaos of Iraq, Palestinians at border look to Damascus

Although hopes are fading that Syrian authorities will allow them entry into the country, a group of 194 Palestinian refugees from Iraq are reluctant to return to Baghdad in fear of being attacked.

Mustafa Imad, 12, said he and his six-member family left Iraq after militants blew up their home and warned them to leave the country. “I’m scared, and life here is difficult,” he said. “I’ve already lost a full academic year because we had to leave Iraq.”

Many Palestinians have already left – or are in the process of leaving – Iraq after being targeted by resentful locals, who say that Palestinian communities were favoured by the former regime of Saddam Hussein. According to Moussa Abdul-Mutalleb, Palestinians in Iraq are now subject to “severe harassment”. “I hope to enter Syria because a return to Iraq means certain death,” he said.

Fatemah Ahmed, 39 said her husband had been killed by unknown assailants. “My husband was killed just because he was a Palestinian,” she said. “Then I received a death threat, warning me to leave with my five children.” Ahmed says that she applied with Lebanese authorities for entry into Lebanon, but that all her applications were rejected. “Life here is very bitter,” she lamented. “We want security and safety.”

Palestinians began leaving Iraq for Syria in groups following a decision by Damascus in early May to accept an initial group of refugees. Refugees generally make their way to the Syria-Iraq border at al-Tanaf checkpoint, some 300 km (187 miles) northeast of Damascus. The current group of 194 have been there since mid-May.

The group originally numbered 220 members, but several elderly people were obliged to return to Iraq due to rising temperatures that can exceed 40 degrees centigrade. The remaining group includes 75 women and 78 children.

Meanwhile, UN refugee agency UNHCR has erected a temporary camp of 60 tents at al-Tanaf, and is providing refugees with food, water and medical care, according to Abdel Hamid al-Ouali, the UNHCR representative in Syria.

One Palestinian on the border, insisting on anonymity, called on international organisations to heed the plight of the Iraqi Palestinians “and what they are subject to by the Iraqi government, especially the interior ministry”. “I appeal to the entire world: give me and my children a safe life anywhere in the world – other than in Iraq,” he said.

Despite such desperate appeals, however, the Syrian foreign ministry has said it would not allow any new Iraqi Palestinians to enter its territory. Nevertheless, Palestinians remain hopeful that Damascus might change its position.

During a visit to Syria on 20 April, Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar announced that the Syrian leadership had agreed to allow Palestinian refugees in Iraq who were stranded at the Iraq-Jordan border to enter Syria in coordination with United Nations agencies. The step was seen as an attempt to alleviate the suffering of refugees, struggling under harsh weather conditions.

ah/sz/am

watch video