Palestinians flee to borders amid intimidation

“Tell the Palestinians in your neighbourhood to leave Iraq or you’ll all be killed,” said one of Luai Sulaiman's captors after beating him severely and dumping him in the street. On 28 May, 25-year-old Sulaiman, a football player, was on his way back home after training at a sports club in Baghdad's western Mansour district when three gunmen in a black BMW abducted him. He was tied up and blindfolded before being taken to an unknown location where he was beaten up by his captors. After that experience, Sulaiman’s choice was easy: “We’ll leave next week with ten other families,” he said. “Twenty families already left two weeks ago for the Syrian-Iraqi border.” Along with physical intimidation, leaflets have also been scattered in Palestinian neighbourhoods of Baghdad, warning Palestinians to leave the country in ten days or face death. “Two weeks ago, I saw unidentified militants in five cars roaming the neighbourhood and scattering leaflets warning us to leave,” said Salih Abu al-Feilat, a 65-year-old mukhtar, or local dignitary, in one such neighbourhood. “They said we had ten days to get out, and if we failed they would kill us.” Staff of the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR said that they saw a subsequent unsigned message warning all Palestinians to leave Iraq within 10 days. It read: "You have been warned. You will be judged fiercely." Iraq's roughly 24,000-strong Palestinian refugee community received preferential treatment under the regime of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. But with his fall in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion, they have become targets for unidentified militant groups who accuse them of cooperating with “terrorists”. On 1 June, UNHCR said that a fresh spate of killings and kidnappings of Palestinians in Baghdad had led to mounting anger, panic and fear among the community. “Hundreds of Palestinians have fled the capital in recent weeks and made their way to the Iraq-Syria border in hopes of finding sanctuary across the border,” the refugee agency noted in a statement. “A total of 212 Palestinians, including children and pregnant women, have fled Baghdad since 10 May and are now stranded at the border.” According to UNHCR staff in Iraq, at least six Palestinians in Baghdad have been killed by unidentified gunmen in the last two weeks alone. On 4 June, about 20 armed men entered one house in the capital and executed a Palestinian man in front of his family. Another Palestinian, who had been abducted on 15 May, was found dead shortly afterward. Many Palestinian residents – most of whom have Iraqi nationality – express confusion and fear. “We lived in peace with Iraqis in the past,” said Said Ahmed al-Khalayla, a 45-year-old teacher who is also planning to leave the country imminently. “But we’re Iraqis, and have nothing to do with terrorists.” The Interior ministry has stepped up police patrols in areas largely populated by Palestinians. “We can't do more than that,” said police Lt. Col. Ali Jaafar. SM/AR/AM