In Postwar Iraq, Fortunes of Palestinians Worsen
Hussein Was Viewed As Refugees' Patron
By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 3, 2003; Page A15
BAGHDAD -- On a dusty field inside an urban athletic club is a makeshift camp of yellow canvas tents, baking like ovens in the searing midday heat. Babies fuss, women worry and tempers flare among frustrated, idle men.
The 1,500 Palestinian refugees stranded inside the Haifa Sports Club were once part of former president Saddam Hussein's favorite foreign cause. He welcomed them after other Arab countries shut their doors, provided them with free housing, mentioned their political plight in major speeches and promised to liberate their homeland one day.
But with the collapse of Hussein's government in April, the estimated 70,000 Palestinians living in Iraq -- including some who arrived half a century ago and many who were born here -- lost a powerful patron. And in the chaotic, score-settling days that followed, a society that had embraced them for decades revealed an uglier face.
"We lived with our neighbors for years; we went to each other's parties; we took each other to the hospital. But after Saddam left, they told us there was no place for us in Iraq any more," said Feduah Abdel Ghani, 34, whose family moved into a tent last month after being forced from their home of 14 years. "I thought they liked me. It is a big shock."
Not every Palestinian here has encountered such ostracism. Many have deep roots in their communities. Some run second-generation businesses or professional practices. They point out that Iraqi leaders before Hussein also reached out to Palestinians as afflicted fellow Arabs, and they express confidence that any future Iraqi government will do the same.
But even in the ocher brick apartment complex constructed especially for Palestinians by President Ahmad Hassan Bakr in 1973, some longtime tenants said they are facing other forms of rejection. Mohammed Abdul Ghani Rauf, 63, a tailor who rented a shop for 20 years in the capital, said he was suddenly ordered to vacate it within 24 hours.
"I never had any problems before, and I had already paid my rent for the year," said Rauf, a dignified, soft-voiced man whose sitting room was crammed with hastily rescued sewing machines. "Then, 10 days ago, the owner came and said he didn't want any [foreign] Arabs in the building, and he could get four times more rent now, so I had to leave."
The main source of hostility has been the widespread perception among Iraqis that Palestinians received special treatment from Hussein, whose own people went hungry as he provoked wars and incurred U.N. sanctions. In addition to assisting the refugees, Hussein regularly gave cash bonuses to Palestinian families in the Middle East whose relatives died in the conflict with Israel.
What rankled Iraqis most, though, was the government's seizure of hundreds of private homes to house Palestinian families over the years. Their Iraqi owners were paid little or nothing, and their legal efforts to recover the houses invariably failed. So when Hussein fell, even owners who sympathized with the Palestinian cause jumped at the opportunity to get rid of unwanted tenants.
"For 30 years, we had to rent this house to Palestinians for 1,500 dinars [$1] a year. When the war came, we finally had a chance to get it back," said Abir Jassam, 70, who returned to his home in June. "There were five families here, and the house was a mess. The windows were broken and we had to repaint the walls.
"But we felt sorry for them, and we gave them two months to leave," he added. "After all, they are Arabs, and it's our duty to help them."
Palestinian community leaders said reports of their privileged status were greatly exaggerated. They noted that the majority of refugees live in poor neighborhoods, crowded apartments and converted public buildings. And while Hussein placed them on a political pedestal, he also placed severe restrictions on their rights.
The first group of 5,000 Palestinians arrived here in 1948 with the creation of Israel, and the community has since swelled to 15 times that size. But even those who were born in Iraq or married an Iraqi cannot become Iraqi citizens or hold passports, and few other countries accept their Iraqi travel documents.
Moreover, Palestinians could not own property such as houses or cars until last year, when Hussein suddenly reversed a long-standing policy. And although they were entitled to the same public education as Iraqis, they were barred from a variety of military and public-sector jobs, which marginalized them somewhat from the state-dominated economy.
"To be honest, Palestinians loved Saddam, but it was not because he gave us big houses and cars and money, as Iraqis say," said Qusai Riffaat, 45, who runs the Haifa Sports Club. "There was only one reason: He spoke the truth about Palestine when other Arab leaders did not. He was the one who said Arabs must stick together and that he would bring us back to our homeland."
After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, some panicked Palestinians tried to flee to neighboring Jordan, but they were turned back at the border and held in a temporary, U.N.-supplied camp along with other stateless minorities. In recent weeks, most have trickled back to Baghdad as the atmosphere has become less chaotic and dangerous. Still, the uncertainty of many Palestinians about their future here has been deepened by the prospect of an extended U.S. military occupation.
Built in an area that also housed a large Iraqi intelligence compound and was the scene of heavy Iraqi resistance fighting, the 1973 apartment complex was damaged during the war by U.S. bombing. Since then, U.S. forces have also clamped down on Palestinian diplomatic activities. On May 28, the Palestinian Embassy was raided by American troops, who seized some guns and cash and arrested everyone in the building. Three diplomats are still in custody in Baghdad and have not been allowed to see lawyers or relatives.
Nabil Qusous, the embassy's first secretary, said he had been given a diplomatic identification card by U.S. authorities but that the embassy was still shut down, leaving him unable to assist any Palestinians in Iraq. He said American officials told him they were investigating possible embassy links to terrorist activities.
Officials from the U.N. refugee agency said they had been collaborating closely with U.S. officials to assist Palestinians left homeless or vulnerable after the initial spate of postwar evictions, looting and hostility.
"We had had very positive contacts with the Coalition Provisional Authority," said Peter Kessler, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, speaking from Geneva. "They are well aware of the dangers facing the Palestinian community, especially the problem of housing, and they are actively working with us to find a solution."
The United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society have been assisting the hundreds of families sweltering in tents at the Haifa Sports Club, but their needs grow more pressing by the day. Many sold their belongings or lost their jobs, or lack the resources and confidence to search for a new home in postwar Iraq.
Abdul Latif Rajab and his family, who spend their days huddled next to a fan inside their tent, have endured especially heavy losses since the war. First, they were forced to leave their home of 12 years when the landlord doubled the rent. Then, Rajab, a flour miller, lost three weeks of work after falling ill with typhoid; he returned to the bakery and was told he had been replaced.
Last month, his Iraqi wife, Iman, who was nine months pregnant with their sixth child, was taken to a hospital complaining of unusual pain. She said the doctors told her to go home, and the nurses asked her why she had married a Palestinian. Two days later, her baby was delivered stillborn at another hospital.
"Our life was happy before the war, but now everything has changed," said Rajab, 53, who courted his wife in Baghdad 22 years ago by selling her fresh bread, and who said he spent all his savings last week for her hospital treatment. "We still love each other, and we still have what God has given us. Now all we can do is wait."
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