Palestinians living in IraqÂ’s Anbar province have come under increasing pressure from militants to leave or be killed, NGOs and Palestinians say. Palestinians in the capital, Baghdad, have long been threatened by armed groups and harassed by authorities but threats to them in other provinces are a new development, aid workers say. Sunni-dominated Anbar used to protect Palestinians, who are predominantly Sunni too, but times have changed.
| Boy howdy that really gets to me ... no, wait, that's the chili dawg I had for lunch. |
“Palestinians had been looking for safety and had found it in Anbar province but now they are being targeted. 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.
| Say Mahmoud, any idea why the Paleos ain't so welcome any more? |
“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,” Aydan said.
| Which I suspect is exactly their intent. |
A 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,” Ahmed Muffitlak, a spokesman for PMA, said.
| So they get to go home to Gaza. No wonder they're unhappy. |
“But they don’t have anywhere to go. Some families told me they are going to try to reach the al-Waleed camp near the Syrian border. Others expect to be accepted in Baghdad’s Sunni neighbourhoods,” he added.
In Baghdad, Palestinians - especially those in the mainly Palestinian neighbourhoods of Baladiat, Hurriyah and Iskan - continue to be discriminated against and continue to receive threats to leave the country.
| Tusk, tusk. Someone put this on the agenda with the Prime Minister of Iraq for somewhere around, oh, 2022 or so. March. Before it gets hot. |
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a press statement in March that at least 186 Palestinians have been murdered in Baghdad between April 2004 and January 2007, while about 15,000 Palestinians remain in Iraq, fewer than half the number who had lived there previously.
"They should do something before more Palestinians are killed. It is the minimum they can do to save so discriminated against a community, which cannot even return to its original land," added Muffitlak.
| Sure they can. The Rafat crossing is open. Some days. Or they could dig a tunnel ... |
Muffitlak reiterated the PMAÂ’s call for the protection of Palestinian refugees in Iraq and has urged the Iraqi government and international NGOs to assist the threatened families in Anbar.
| They're a little busy right now trying to stop the splodydopes from killing the innocents. Splodydopes who, by the way, got the idea from your people. |
Ahmed Raki, a 43-year-old Palestinian father of three lives in Ramadi. He is looking for a place at al-Waleed camp on the Syrian border, which has become a makeshift home for hundreds of Palestinians fleeing violence. “There are dozens of 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,” said Raki.
“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.”
| Condolences to the women. They don't deserve that. Now why don't you guys leave Iraq? Seems like that without Saddam you're no longer wanted. |
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