Palestinians Under Attack, but Unable to Flee
Human
Rights News
September 10, 2006
Regional Countries Must Open Borders to Palestinians Fleeing Threats
in Iraq
(Cairo, September 10, 2006) – Amid widespread sectarian violence in Iraq, Palestinian refugees in Iraq face particularly grave security threats, including targeted killings by mostly Shi`a militant groups and harassment by the Iraqi government, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.
Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government, Palestinian refugees in Iraq have increasingly become targets of violence and persecution.
Countries in the region such as Jordan and Syria must open their borders
to Iraqi Palestinians at risk, and the international community must urgently
respond to their plight by providing financial assistance to the host countries
and third-country resettlement opportunities on a humanitarian basis.
“Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s government, Palestinian refugees
in Iraq have increasingly become targets of violence and persecution,”
said SarahLeah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Shi`a
militant groups have murdered dozens of Palestinian refugees, and the Iraqi
government has made it difficult for these refugees to stay legally in Iraq
by imposing onerous registration requirements.”
The 42-page report, “Nowhere
to Flee: The Perilous Situation of Palestinians in Iraq,” documents
the drastic deterioration in the security of the estimated 34,000 Palestinian
refugees in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad in April 2003. Since then, militant
groups have targeted Iraqi Palestinians for violence and have evicted them
from their homes, largely because of the benefits these refugees received
from Saddam Hussein’s government and their perceived support for the
insurgency.
Available evidence indicates the involvement of Shi`a militant groups in attacks
against Palestinian refugees, which have intensified since the bombing of
the Shi`a al-`Askariyya mosque in Samarra on February 22. Since then, more
than a dozen Palestinian refugees have been murdered, including the two brothers
of the former Palestinian attaché in Baghdad, and entire Palestinian
refugee communities have received death threats. A militant group calling
itself the “Judgment Day Brigades” issued death-threat leaflets
in March, stating they would kill all Palestinians who did not depart Iraq
within 10 days.
Since 2003, successive Iraqi governments have done little to protect Palestinian
refugees, and have often displayed open hostility to them, claiming they are
involved in terrorism and supporting the insurgency. Ministry of Interior
officials have arbitrarily arrested, beaten, tortured, and in a few cases
forcibly disappeared Palestinian refugees. The Ministry of Interior has also
imposed onerous registration requirements on Palestinian refugees, forcing
them to constantly renew short-term residency requirements and subjecting
them to harassment, rather than affording them the treatment they are entitled
to as refugees formally recognized by the Iraqi government.
The neighboring countries of Jordan and Syria, while providing refuge to hundreds
of thousands of Iraqi citizens fleeing Iraq, have kept their borders firmly
closed to Palestinian refugees who reach their borders. On the few occasions
that Jordan and Syria have allowed Palestinian refugees fleeing Iraq to enter
their territory – as Jordan did briefly in 2003 – they have confined
the Palestinian refugees to camps and immediately closed their border again.
In Jordan, several hundred Iraqi Palestinians admitted in 2003 remain confined
to the wind-swept, isolated and barren al-Ruwaishid camp, under constant guard
and with no resolution of their plight in sight. Israel has refused two requests
by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to allow Palestinian refugees from
Iraq with origins in Gaza to return to the Gaza Strip.
Human Rights Watch called on Iraq, the United States and other members of
the Multi-National Forces in Iraq, as well as Jordan, Syria, Israel and the
broader international community to recognize that Palestinian refugees in
Iraq are being targeted for persecution, and to contribute to a solution of
the problem. The Iraqi government and the Multi-National Forces must take
immediate steps to improve security for Palestinian refugees in Iraq and end
discriminatory and abusive practices by Iraqi officials. Jordan and Syria
must open their borders to Palestinian refugees from Iraq.
The Palestinian refugee crisis in Iraq needs a regional approach. Consistent
with respect for the right to return
(http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/israel/return/),
Israel should begin by allowing those Palestinian refugees and their families
originally from Gaza to return to Gaza now. The Gulf states, which are currently
not hosting significant Palestinian refugee populations, also should share
the refugee burden. The broader international community must also assist,
either through financial assistance to the host countries or by offering third-country
resettlement on a humanitarian basis.
“Jordan and Syria urgently need to open their borders to Palestinian
refugees fleeing Iraq, and the international community should provide financial
assistance to help them host these refugees,” said Whitson. “Jordan
and Syria can’t just pick and choose the refugees they are allowing
to enter. They must admit the Palestinians at risk as well as the Iraqis.”
In October 2005, the Human Rights Watch report entitled “A Face and
a Name: Civilian Victims of Insurgent Groups in Iraq” documented the
widespread unlawful attacks against civilians by insurgent groups in Iraq.
To view the report “Nowhere to Flee: The Perilous Situation of Palestinians
in Iraq” in English, please visit:
http://hrw.org/reports/2006/iraq0706
The report is also available in Arabic at:
http://hrw.org/arabic/reports/2006/iraq0706
To view the Human Rights Watch report entitled “A Face and a Name: Civilian
Victims of Insurgent Groups in Iraq” please see:
http://hrw.org/reports/2005/iraq1005