Maven University

So Nu, Where's The Outrage?? Funny how the American media seems to have missed this one, don't you think? Palestinians are driven from homes by armed Iraqis by Jack Fairweather The (London) Daily Telegraph Monday, June 9, 2003 The gardens of Baghdad's Haifa Club have been turned into Middle East's newest refugee camp as hundreds of Palestinians are driven out of their homes at gunpoint by their Iraqi neighbours. The Haifa Club, where Palestinians came to meet, drink coffee and play table tennis, is now packed with more than 250 tents, housing 2,000 people forced to flee. The reason for their eviction is their inability to pay their rent, previously paid by Saddam's government. For all its golden words in support of the Palestinian cause, the government refused to let them own their homes and restricted their employment to manual labour. In the climate of fear and reprisals that persists in the Iraqi capital, however, Palestinians' association with Saddam Hussein has made them easy targets. While the Palestinian cause may stir the passions of Arabs across the Middle East, Palestinians themselves are often regarded with suspicion. Palestinian militants were involved in civil wars in Jordan and Lebanon. In 1991, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were evicted from Kuwait after the emirate was liberated from the Iraqis. And in 1993 and 1994, hundreds were evicted from Libya on the grounds that Yasser Arafat had supported Saddam. Now it is the Palestinians in Baghdad who are the victims of the political upheaval. Youssef Nabil, who lives in one of the tents with 10 other family members, recalled how his landlord beat him with a gun before giving him five minutes to leave his home for the past 27 years. "We were not even given time to collect our belongings. Baghdad has become a jungle in which the strongest animals pick on the weakest." Inside the club, the walls are stacked with furniture from evicted families and bags of grain and water supplies block the corridors. About 50 armed men patrol the club's perimeter. Makeshift classrooms have been built because camp dwellers have had to remove their children from school for fear of attack. "Iraqis say we brought about the war and all the bad things which followed because of Saddam's support for us," said one refugee.