Palestinians evicted

BBC — Sat, 10 May 2003 11:14:15 +0000

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has expressed
concern that up to 90,000 Palestinian refugees in
Iraq could be evicted from their homes.

The Palestinian refugees enjoyed protection under
Saddam Hussein, and Iraqi landlords were forced to
charge them very low rents.

But since the fall of the regime, landlords have
begun to evict their Palestinian tenants demanding
higher rents.

A group of Iraqis attacked us. They said ´You´re
Palestinian.´ They beat me and my father up

Evicted Palestinian
About 1,000 Palestinians have already been driven
from their homes in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad,
the UNHCR said in a statement.

The agency also said that dozens of Iranian
refugees had been turned out of their houses by
local communities in southern Iraq.

Aid convoy

The evicted Palestinians are living on waste
ground or in disused buildings around Baghdad, the
UNHCR said, expressing fears of a growing backlash
against the Palestinian community.

"I have two wounds here in my head," one of the
evicted Palestinians told the BBC Arabic Service.

"A group of Iraqis attacked us. They said ´You´re
Palestinian.´ They beat me and my father up. And
we were about to leave our house because we had
been given notice that we were evicted."

But the UNHCR said Palestinians had received much
less help from the deposed regime than people
imagine.

It is sending an aid convoy - including tents,
blankets and cooking materials - to Baghdad to
help the homeless Palestinians.

Many of the estimated 90,000 Palestinians in Iraq
have been living there since the foundation of
Israel in 1948.

- Palestinians evicted

Palestinians evicted