Stuck in camps along the border of Iraq and Syria, no MUSLIM country will take in 700 fellow Muslim Palestinians who fear returning to Iraq because they were given special treatment by Saddam and thus may suffer retaliation by other Muslims.
I have asked this on many previous occasions, where is the much ballyhooed Muslim charity? And, I am going to just keep on asking that question for however long it takes!
The start of 2009 offers little hope to the residents of Al Tanf, a refugee camp on the Syrian-Iraqi border housing over 700 Palestinians who had fled persecution in Iraq. No country has given any concrete pledge to take any of the refugees for resettlement in 2009, leaving them to battle the cold desert weather this winter with more despair than ever.
[…..]
Resettlement is the pressing need for the people of Al Tanf. Stuck in tents in No Man’s Land between the border crossings, the refugees are legally unable to go forward into Syria and fear going back to Iraq where they face persecution from Kurd and Shia groups who accuse them of being too close to the Sunni-dominated insurgency or resent the privileges they received under Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Every country has it’s immgration quota says UNRWA representative.
“It’s hard to say why resettlement is so slow,” said Kristian Boysen, project officer at UNRWA, the main UN agency dealing with Palestinian refugees. “Each country has an immigration quota and they choose who they think will fit into the country.”
So Mr. Boysen, tell me, what is the quota for Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, Turkey, or Kuwait? Have they filled their quota of Arab Muslim Palestinians? Or is it just western countries that must open their doors? Or, why can’t they go live in UNRWA administered Palestinian areas and get well-cared-for by the UN (that is, the US taxpayer)?
It is not just Al Tanf refugees who need resettlement. There are about 1,000 Palestinian-Iraqis in Al Waleed camp on the Iraqi side of the border. A further 300 live in Al Hol camp, further to the north on the Syrian side.
There were 306 successful resettlements from Al Tanf in 2008: 116 to Chile, 174 to Sweden and 16 to Switzerland. In addition, Iceland, Norway and Sweden took some refugees from Al Waleed and Al Hol. But for every family that leaves, another arrives – either fleeing from Iraq or having been unable to earn enough money to support themselves in Syria. [so some actually were in Syria, they are then economic migrants?]
I’m wondering if this is just one more public relations campaign to highlight the suffering Palestinians so that the US and Israel can be beaten over the head with the situation.
The refugees say they are rejected everywhere, but want to go to Europe.
Europe is the hope for most refugees who point out that each country need only take 10 families each in order to empty out the camps.
How come they aren’t asking to go join their co-religionists in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan, Iran, or Kuwait? How come those countries aren’t taking them in? How come the western media never asks that question? It’s all about the bad Christians and Jews isn’t it? It’s all about flooding western countries with Muslim immigrants, isn’t it?