UNCHR says Palestinians at Syrian border need medical facilities

A UNHCR team visited Al Waleed on Sunday and found that the tented camp is overcrowded and many people are suffering from respiratory and other ailments that need proper medical treatment. But the nearest hospital in Iraq is located four hours away by car and the road runs through dangerous territory. At least three people, including a six-month-old baby, have died from treatable illnesses since the camp opened. Living conditions are likely to get worse during the summer months. Temperatures of more than 50 degrees Celsius have already been recorded this month, while sandstorms are another regular hazard. International aid agencies, including UNHCR, are not allowed to maintain a presence in the camp due to security reasons and so they must visit during the day and can only visit on an infrequent basis. Water is trucked to the camp daily, but this is rationed to less than one litre per person because of the increasing numbers of Palestinians fleeing to Al Waleed to escape threats and attacks in Baghdad. More are expected.

Fire in al-Tanf camp injures 28

A fire swept through the Al Tanf refugee camp in no-man's land desert area between Syria and Iraq on Tuesday night, leaving 28 Palestinian refugees injured. "Within one minute the tent was a fireball. We had seconds to pull our families out of the surrounding tents, which are one metre apart," said a Palestinian refugee who lost everything in the fire. "There was no time to take anything. Our children were sleeping. My neighbour has serious burns because he went into the burning flames looking for his child who had already run out of the tent. Everything is lost, including our hope in life." The fire was apparently caused by a spark from an electric cable in a tent which ignited a diesel can and gas cylinder. The flames spread rapidly, fanned by strong winds. Border guards two miles away said they heard several loud explosions as gas cylinders and televisions exploded in the flames. Fortunately, the previous day UNHCR had brought in extra oxygen canisters for five asthmatic refugee children suffering from the swirling sand and dust around the desert camp. These supplies were used to help over thirty people, mostly children, suffering from the inhalation of toxic smoke fumes. Seven tents, personal documents and all the possessions of seven Palestinian families who have been stranded at the camp for the past 11 months were destroyed in the blaze. "This is the second time a fire has broken out in this camp. It is an example of how inappropriate and dangerous this place is for humans to live in and underlines the need to move these refugees to an appropriate and safe place," said Laurens Jolles, UNHCR's Representative in Syria. "This was an accident waiting to happen. In the winter the refugees have endured flooding; now the heat is becoming unbearable and we can expect tragedy upon tragedy to follow if we do not find a solution for these people."

US official discusses resettlement in Kurdistan or OPTs

"Palestinian refugees are the most vulnerable population [in Iraq] with no where to go", said US Department of State Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration Ellen Sauerbrey in a press briefing Monday about the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Displaced Iraqis held in Geneva last week. Sauerbrey added that the estimated 15,000 Palestinian refugees inside Iraq are "the most difficult situation we are dealing with". Sauerbrey said her administration is talking to Kurdish officials and the Palestinian Authority to resettle those refugees, but no outcome has been reached so far. She said the Palestinian officials she talked to have told her that "they view this issue as unique" and they are requesting the settlement of those refugees in the Palestinian territories.

Palestinians threatened in Anbar

IRIN reports that Palestinians living in Anbar have come under increasing pressure from militants to leave or be killed, according to NGOs and Palestinian sources. “Palestinians had been looking for safety and had found it in Anbar province but now they are being targeted [there also]. The threats they have received are an effrontery against the feelings of Muslim Arabs. They have nowhere to go and might be killed if they try to go to another place,” Mahmoud Aydan, a media officer for the Ramadi council, said. “We believe that there are about 150 families taking refuge in different cities of Anbar province but they haven’t been registered with the National Food Programme which makes it harder to know their exact location.” Ahmed Muffitlak, spokesman for the Baghdad-based Palestinian Muslims Association (PMA) said he was concerned about the fate of Palestinians in Anbar province after militants left threatening notes on the doors of Palestinians taking refuge in the area. “At least 17 families have fled Ramadi after militants gave them a week to leave their homes or become the next victims of violence in Iraq." Muffitlak is in Ramadi trying to persuade the local authorities to protect Palestinians.

Ahmed Raki, a 43-year-old Palestinian father of three lives in Ramadi. “There are dozens of [Palestinian] families living with Iraqis in Ramadi, Fallujah and al-Qaim and the threats have been delivered to their homes. We don’t have money, goods and some elderly people are very sick, requiring urgent medical assistance. But they will be forced to flee the area to save their lives. Two girls from our community were raped last week by militants who told them that it was a message to the Palestinians in Anbar to leave the area,” Raki added. “I have to leave before my two daughters meet the same fate.”

Palestinian killed in Baghdad explosion

Mohammad Shihada left Al Baladiyyat compound in Baghdad, this morning, to go to Al Yarmouk Hospital to conduct medical checkups and receive medications for a chronic disease. He was killed, along with his Iraqi nephew, in an explosive charge apparently left on the side of the street.

Sandstorm at al-Tanf camp

WAFA reports that the Palestinian refugee camp at al-Tank on the Syrian-Iraqi borders was exposed on Thursday to a sand storm resulting in the uprooting and tearing of tents.

UNHCR conference makes no decision on Palestinians

IPS reports that no decision had been reached by the end of the UNCHR Geneva conference on the status of the refugees who were in Iraq prior to the invasion, especially that of some 15,000 Palestinians, whose plight High Commissioner Antonio Guterres described "the most dramatic and frustrating situation we have at the moment," he said.

Civil society sources said that the United States is trying to interest Latin American governments in granting asylum to groups of Palestinian refugees from Iraq. The U.S. delegation at the conference admitted that its government has already made contact with the Brazilian authorities towards that end.The Middle East Times says that a US official attending the conference would not be drawn into saying what seemed to be implicit - that Palestinians are not being considered for possible resettlement under the expanded American allotment of 25,000 places for this year - but said, "don't forget, there are also Sudanese refugees in Iraq, too." The same official said America would consider any cases for resettlement submitted through the UNHCR.

Palestinian refugees in India protest at UN

Palestinian refugees in India staged a sit in outside the UNHCR office in New Delhi today. Istasar Mustafa, one of the protesting refugees, said she had fled from Iraq a year back due to attacks on her community by the militia. "We are Palestinian refugees from Iraq. We were facing a lot of persecution from different militias in Iraq. We fled from there and arrived in India. We are facing problems here. We are here to ask for a solution to our problems." Around 160 Palestinians from Iraq are seeking refugee status in India and are struggling financially as they are no allowed to work.

Yemen to champion Palestinians at UNHCR conference

Yemen will be participating in the UNHCR Geneva conference on refugees from Iraq. The head of the Yemeni delegation to the conference Ameen al-Yousfi said that the Yemeni delegation would particularly "concentrate on the matter of the Palestinian refugees in Iraq."

Palestinians protest at Iraq-Syria border

758 Palestinian refugees who are stranded at al-Waleed on the Iraq-Syria border have staged an open sit-in since 12 April to draw international attention to what they say is their ongoing suffering. “Our situation is getting worse from day to day, yet no one sees what we’re going through and helps us get through this ordeal,” Qussai Mohammed Saleh, a 32-year-old Palestinian refugee. Saleh said the refugees were tired of short-term solutions to their predicament. “We’re refusing all assistance. The solution to our problem does not lie in giving us assistance. We rejected two truckloads of aid two days ago, donated by an Italian aid agency. It’s been raining cats and dogs for the past two days and the heavy rain has filled our tents with water. We demand that Arab and international leaders take an immediate decision about us. There’s only one goal for us and that’s to get out of Iraq as soon as possible without being hurt. We’ll continue with our sit-in until we achieve this goal.” Another 826 Palestinian refugees are scattered in three other makeshift camps.

High Commissioner says 600 Palestinians killed

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, speaking at a press conference in Abu Dhabi yesterday, urged Arab and Islamic countries to have a stronger voice in the UNHCR, to ensure Muslim refugees get adequate protection and assistance. He voiced particular concern for ensuring protection for the Palestinians in Iraq, noting that they in particular "have been the targets of ongoing violence and suffering ... We are discussing with the Iraqi government the possibility of establishing a safe haven inside Iraq for the Palestinians." At a press briefing a few days previously in Bahrain he said: "There are 15,000 Palestinian refugees in Baghdad who are being targeted by the militia because they are thought to be associated with the previous regime and 600 of them have been killed."

Washington Post article on Ruweished

Anthony Shahid interviews a Palestinian at Ruweished camp, Samir Abdel-Rahim, for the Washington Post. Robert Breen, the representative of the UNHCR in Jordan says of Ruwesihed: "I can't recall ever having seen this kind of situation in such a bleak environment. They can't go backward, and they aren't moving forward. They're literally stuck in the desert -- no way back, and nowhere to go."Abdel-Rahim's wife recalled the fate of her brother, Marwan Lutfi. Members of a Shiite militia, wearing police uniforms, entered his tailor shop on Baghdad's storied Rashid Street in April 2006, she said. His co-workers told her that the militiamen asked him to come with them for 15 minutes. "He walked with them," she said. For a moment, she was silent, tears welling in her eyes. "He never returned." Four days later, her brother's body was found in the street, covered in acid burns, she said. He had been shot 21 times.

Yemen's President says Arab summit must help Palestinians

President Saleh of Yemen, arriving in Riyadh, said that the Arab League summit has to tackle with a sense of responsibility the ordeal of the Palestinians living in Iraq, in light of the threats and violence they have been experiencing at the hands of militias and death squads.

Refugees appeal to Arab League Summit

IMEMC reports Palestinian Refugees in Iraq sent a statement to the Arab League summit in Riyadh asking the participants “not to allow the Iraqi delegation to side-step their issue”, and asking them not to believe the delegation’s pledges of protecting them. They said that the Iraqi government is not interested in protecting the refugees “since it had many chances to do so, but chose not to”, and accused the Iraqi government of “giving orders for committing crimes against the refugees”. The refugees also said that the government repeatedly vowed in several previous conferences that it would provide the Palestinian refugees with the needed protection “but waged more violent attacks against them”. In their message to the summit, the refugees stated that there is a growing rejection to their presence in Iraq. “If the summit only voices a naïve statement calling for our protection, the leaders should know that they have fired the mercy bullet at us”, the letter of the refugee reads, “a naïve statement would be similar to passing a death sentence on the refugees who remain here”.

2 Palestinians killed in prison

Mafkarat al-Islam reported that two Palestinian refugees living in Iraq had been tortured to death in Iraqi Interior Ministry prisons. The Palestinian Information Center quoted Palestinians who were among a group of 12 who were locked up in an Interior Ministry prison who said that the two were killed when they were being tortured in an attempt to extract “confessions” that they were responsible of attacks on the US and its local puppet allies. The source indicated that seven Palestinian refugees, detained in the Interior Ministry’s prisons since the massacres in the al-Baladiyat neighborhood of Baghdad two weeks ago, are expected to be released on Monday. Palestinian sources said that the Interior Ministry, launched a major campaign of raids, searches, and mass arrests targeted on Palestinians in Baghdad in the last two days. A group of four large buses hauled about 200 Palestinian refugees out of Baghdad, dumping them at the al-Walid tent camp near the Iraqi border with Syria.

The Yemen News Agency reports that a symposium organized by Kanan Association for Supporting Palestine called for Arab Leaders to alliviate the suffering of Palestinians in Iraq and sent a copy of the call to the UN Secretary General, Security Council and European Union. The Chairman of the Association, Yahya Saleh, said the symposium aims at shedding light on the suffering of the Palestinian refugees in Iraq within the framework of preparing for an international conference to protect the civil rights of Palestinian refugees in different countries.

Abbas asks Security Council to help

At a press conference with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, President Abbas demanded that the UN Security Council rescue the Palestinian refugees in Iraq since they are subjected to systematic attacks.

UNHCR discusses Yemen as a temporary refugee for Palestians

Ma'an news agency reports that a spokesperson for the UNHCR said that consultations are ongoing regarding transporting the Palestinian refugees in Iraq to Yemen as a temporary settlement. She said that the project is not the first suggestion and previously Kurdistan, Canada and Australia had been considered.

Palestinians from Iraq in India

CNN in India reports on a family of Palestinian refugees from Iraq now living in India (see video). It focuses on 8yr old Jamal who's home in Iraq was bombed, his school shelled and his best friend killed. He says “I want to go to an Indian school and learn English. Children in the Iraqi school [in Delhi] do not treat me well. They call me a refugee." The report says the family has "been living off their savings and there isn't much left" as well as aid from UNHCR. The report says there are 160 refugees living Delhi, but it is unclear whether this refers to Palestinians from Iraq specifically, or refugees from Iraq in general.

UNCHR reports abuses in detention

UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said "UNHCR and other organisations have also received allegations of physical abuse and possibly torture being carried out [on Palestinians] in detention, an allegation denied by the Iraqi authorities. One ex-detainee reported he was beaten on his back and suffered a broken hand. He believed that others had been subjected to worse treatment." Seperately UNHCR notes that it has "received reports that the families of several detained Palestinians have been forced to pay thousands of dollars to some members of the Iraqi security forces – allegedly for protection from torture and mutilation of their family members while in detention. Higher sums have reportedly been demanded to ensure their release. The Palestinians who arrived at the border claimed that their houses had been raided by the special forces, their furniture thrown out of their homes and that they were told they had two days to leave their homes. Others claimed they had been detained and maltreated before being released. UNHCR is also very much concerned about the safety of NGOs working with the Palestinians. On March 13, one NGO staff dealing with the Palestinian community was abducted in front of his son by unknown men and found dead the next day." He added that at least 186 Palestinians had been confirmed murdered in Baghdad between April 2004 and January this year. UNHCR believes the number may be significantly higher. "How much more will have to happen before the international community and the countries in the region respond positively to calls to have Palestinians relocated out of Iraq," said Andrew Harper, head of UNHCR's Iraq Support Unit. "The Palestinians are particularly targeted, not protected and have nowhere to flee to."