CPTnet
July 21, 2003
IRAQ: A new refugee camp in Baghdad
by Maureen Jack
The situation of Palestinians dispersed throughout the Middle East has been
precarious for over fifty years. In Iraq it has never been satisfactory,
but since the recent war and the fall of the previous regime the position
has been even worse. Many Palestinians have been made homeless and UNRWA
has had to establish a new refugee camp in Baghdad.
UNWRA is the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees, but it was not
allowed to operate in Iraq. Instead, successive Iraqi governments undertook
to provide accommodation for those Palestinians who fled to Iraq directly
in 1948. The figure of 5,000 at that time has now grown to 3,5000. Some
families lived in government-owned accommodation, some rented their own
accommodation, and some the Iraqi government housed in privately-owned
accommodation. Over the years, the government failed to increase the rent
paid to the Iraqi landlords. Thus with the fall of the previous regime,
some, (not all) landlords took the opportunity to evict their Palestinian
tenants, so that they could rent out the property at rents that reflected
current market rates.
So, once again, Palestinian families are living in tents as refugees, this
time at Haifa Stadium and Cultural Centre in Baghdad. When the Iraq
Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) visited the camp on July 12, 2003, 291
families were living there. Several hundred other families have been served
with eviction notices, and so the number of the homeless is likely to
increase further.
Toilet and washing facilities in the camp have been extended but are still
limited; water for cooking and washing comes from communal standpipes. Most
tents are without electricity. Under the sun of a Baghdad summer, a tent
with no relief from a fan is potentially dangerous. Last week a woman died
because of the heat.
The camp administrators and the Red Crescent do what they can to protect
the most vulnerable, by providing a nursery for young children in the
centre's building and by arranging for the elderly to spend time inside,
but there are more people in need of respite from the heat than can be
provided for.
No one in the camp says that they come from Baghdad; they come from Gaza,
Hebron, and other places in the West Bank. What everyone wants is to return
to their families' homes in Palestine. In the meantime, however, what they
want and need is secure housing in Baghdad with essential amenities. What
no one wants is for there to be a refugee camp at Haifa other than for
immediate relief. Additional buildings will be an admission of defeat
rather than an achievement.
This week CPT-Iraq has, along with other internationals been supporting a
peace tent at the camp as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians'
demands for secure housing.
The international community cannot allow Haifa to become as permanent as
Sabra, Shatila, or Aida camps. And the occupying authority cannot, in all
conscience, allow the suffering of the Palestinian families at Haifa to
continue.
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