IRAQI PALESTINIANS COMPLAIN OF PERSECUTION,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BAGHDAD 001068

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2017
TAGS: PREF PHUM PGOV PREL KPAL KDEM YE IZ
SUBJECT: IRAQI PALESTINIANS COMPLAIN OF PERSECUTION,
CONTINUE TO SEEK THIRD COUNTRY RESETTLEMENT

REF: A. 2006 BAGHDAD 4748

B. STATE 23276

C. BAGHDAD 880

D. BAGHDAD 640

Classified By: Acting Pol Counselor Robert Gilchrist for reasons 1.4 (b
) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: Palestinians in Iraq continue to fear and
experience persecution on account of their nationality. A
police raid in a Palestinian compound on March 14 resulted in
the death of a Palestinian guard, possibly the death of a
Palestinian detainee, and allegations of abuse and torture by
police. According to the PLO refugee manager in Baghdad,
Mohammed Abdel Wahed, no place in Iraq is safe for them.
While many Arab countries have expressed concern for the
situation of Palestinians in Iraq, no country has offered to
host them. If unofficial reports that Yemen may offer them
asylum are confirmed, many Palestinians in Iraq would move
there. According to Abdel Wahed this would be preferable to
living in camps in Kurdistan or moving to Salah Ad Din.
Abdel Wahed also stated that many Palestinian families are
concerned about losing their homes because they can not
afford the rent or because of property disputes over the
apartments they occupy. He added that the rent subsidy that
UNHCR had started to pay directly to some families was not
sufficient to afford an apartment in Baghdad, and that many
Iraqi landlords would not accept Palestinian tenants
regardless. End summary.

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In search of a safe haven
--------------


2. (C) Embassy Refugee Coordinator (RefCoord) met with Abdel
Wahed on March 18 to discuss the ongoing persecution of
Palestinians in Iraq (reftel A) and to seek his opinion about
possible ways to address their plight. RefCoord briefed
Abdel Wahed about USG efforts to assist the Palestinians
(reftel B and C),and asked him about the possibility of
relocating the community (estimated to number 15,000) outside
of Baghdad. Abdel Wahed responded that no place in Iraq
would be safe for Palestinians. He added that, while it was
true that the governor of Salah Ad Din had publicly stated
that Palestinians are welcome in that province, they would
not want to move there because even if this Sunni governorate
is free of sectarian violence, Iraqi insurgents are very
active in the area (Note: The governor confirmed to Salah
Ad Din PRT officers his willingness to host Palestinians, see
reftel D). Abdel Wahed also pointed out that the insurgents
would try to recruit young Palestinians to join them, but
quickly added that Palestinians take no side with any of the
Iraqi warring factions. He stated that moving to Tikrit
--Salah Ad Din's capital and Saddam Hussein's hometown--
would be perceived by many Iraqis who already distrust
Palestinians as "proof" that Palestinians are Saddamists. In
this regard, Abdel Wahed complained that Iraqi media continue
to associate Palestinians with terrorists. This association
dates back to the arrest in May of 2005 of four Palestinians
in connection with a bombing at a Baghdad market that killed
fifteen people. At the time, the Ministry of Interior
paraded the arrested Palestinians as terrorists on national
television. Abdel Wahed claim the four were later released,
but that Palestinians continue to be viewed with suspicion.

3, (C) Abdel Wahed advocated for a solution to the plight of
all Palestinians in Iraq, not just a relatively small number
that could benefit from programs to resettle specific cases
in third countries. RefCoord noted that focusing on specific
cases would assist the most vulnerable. This would require,
however, a safe location where these cases could be processed
for possible third country resettlement, and a willingness on
the part of potential beneficiaries to live in camps set up
for this purpose. Abdel Wahed responded that all
Palestinians in Iraq are vulnerable, and that a program that
resettles a few dozen Palestinians a year hardly addresses
the fear of persecution of the community as a whole. He also
stated that the Palestinians did not look forward to living
in camps and have their movements restricted, but that, if
their encampment was temporary, they may agree to it. (Note:
Palestinians are mostly concentrated in specific compounds
in several neighborhoods in Baghdad, not camps, and enjoy
freedom of movement. End note). Abdel Wahed stated that, if
any country in the region --including Yemen-- would host
Palestinians, the community would leave (Note: Yemen has
been recently mentioned in humanitarian circles in Washington
as a possible host country for Iraqi Palestinians. End
note.) He lamented that the plight of the Palestinians in
Iraq has been discussed twice in the past three months in
Arab League meetings in Cairo, but that no country had

BAGHDAD 00001068 002 OF 003


offered to host them. Instead, he said, Arab countries had
stated that the Palestinians should be allowed to return to
Palestine, and that --if this failed-- they should defend
themselves in Baghdad.

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New incident and allegations of abuse and torture
-------------- --------------


4. (C) In a separate meeting on March 18, three Palestinian
residents of the Baladiat residential compound --where it is
estimated that up to 10,000 Palestinians live-- told Embassy
PolOffs that an Iraqi Police (IP) and National Police (NP)
raid at the compound on March 14 resulted in the death of a
Palestinians guard and possibly that of a Palestinian
detainee as well. (Note: The reasons for the raid are
unclear. In similar, past incidents, the police have
justified them as part of an investigation or in response to
shootings against police officers. End note). Shaheen Gazee
and Hasam Musbah (strictly protect) provided first hand
accounts of the behavior of the IP and NP during and after
the raid. Gazee said that five IP officers arrested him,
along with at least 40 other Palestinian men, as he was
leaving the compound to pick up his children. The IP
officers pulled the bottom of his shirt over his head and
beat him with rifle butts and cables as they dragged him
through the alleyways to the Al-Rawshad police station, 400
meters away. Gazee noted that when U.S. forces approached,
he heard the police say they should pull down his shirt and
leave him alone. He stated that U.S. forces photographed him
and other detainees from the same raid at the station, and
that the IP feigned concern for the detainees' well-being
when U.S. forces were present, but slapped and punched him
when they were not watching. Gazee reported that when he was
dragged to the police station, he heard women yelling "kill
the Saddamists", and that police officers harassed him by
telling him that Saddam gave homes to the Palestinians while
Iraqis suffered.


5. (C) Hasam Musbah stated that the NP arrested him inside
his home, handcuffed and blindfolded him, and then beat him
on the way to NP's 4th Public Order Brigade headquarters
building in Baghdad, where they held him for four hours.
Musbah said the NP behaved properly while a U.S. soldier
questioned him outside of the headquarters building, but that
once inside the building, the NP threatened him. When he was
released, two NP officers gave him their telephone numbers
and said they would send a police car to arrest him at his
home if he did not report back the names of Palestinians who
had allegedly shot at Iraqi forces during the raid. Musbah
did not call, and moved with relatives to a different part of
Baghdad instead. Ghassan Mohamed (strictly protect),also a
resident of the Baladiat compound, told PolOffs that he
bribed an NP officer for information on the location of the
13 men that reportedly have not been released since the raid.
The officer told him the men were held in different
facilities in Baghdad: three at Al-Rawshad police station;
six at the NP 4th Public Order Brigade Headquarters; and four
at the 2nd Division NP command detention facility in
Khadamiya district. Mohamed and other Palestinians believe
that one of the four at Khadamiya may have died from torture.
(Note and comment: Embassy has reported on past evidence of
torture at Khadamiya. Post will press GOI contacts for
further information regarding the status of any Palestinians
arrested on March 14 who may still be in custody. End note
and comment.)

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Housing pressures
--------------


6. (C) Abdel Wahed raised concerns about UNHCR's decision to
stop transferring funds to the Ministry of Displacement and
Migration (MODM) to lease buildings housing Palestinians. He
explained that in 2003, Iraqi landlords who had been
previously coerced by the former regime into below-market
contracts to host Palestinians as tenants took advantage of
the fall of Saddam to cancel the contracts. Over four
hundred Palestinian families lost their homes and briefly
established a makeshift camp. The government of Iraq and the
Palestinian mission in Iraq asked UNHCR to care for these
families. UNHCR and the GOI agreed that UNHCR would transfer
funds for MODM to lease apartment buildings to house these
Palestinians that year, and the camp was dismantled. UNHCR
continued to transfer about USD 700,000 a year to MODM for
this purpose. Abdel Wahed stated that UNHCR was frustrated
with MODM's failure to properly account for the use of the
funds, and recently decided to terminate the arrangement.
Instead, he added, UNHCR is now working with the NGO Italian
Consortium of Solidarity to provide a monthly rent subsidy of

BAGHDAD 00001068 003 OF 003


$135 directly to each of the four hundred and forty seven
families for whom MODM was leasing houses. Abdel Wahed
complained that UNHCR's subsidy is too small. RefCoord
commented that the measure gives some Palestinians the
flexibility to choose where they want to live, to which Abdel
Wahed replied that Iraqi landlords do not want to rent to
Palestinians because they are afraid of militias, but may
rent their buildings to the GOI. (Note and comment: RefCoord
was aware of UNHCR's concerns about MODM's management of the
program. While Abdel Wahed opposes the new arrangement, it
is not yet clear if his prediction that these Palestinian
families will go homeless will materialize. End note and
comment). Without elaborating, Abdel Wahed lamented that
UNHCR, and not UNRWA, is responsible for Palestinians in
Iraq. RefCoord pointed out that the GOI is responsible for
refugees within its borders, to which Abdel Wahed responded
that the GOI will do nothing for Palestinians, and hoped that
the US would intervene instead.


7. (C) Abdel Wahed also stated that another fifty Palestinian
families are at risk of losing their homes because the
Ministry of Finance was demanding from MODM the return of an
apartment building that the Ministry of Labor and Social
Affairs (who was in charge of the Palestinian portfolio until
MODM was established) had appropriated to host Palestinian
families. According to Abdel Wahed, the Iraqi Council of
Ministers has sided with the Ministry of Finance, and the
families have received eviction notices. He said that some
of these families may join the approximately 500 Palestinians
camped in Al-Waleed, on the Iraqi side of the Iraqi-Syrian
border (Note: another 350 Palestinians are camped in At-Tanf,
on the Syrian side of the border).

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Comment
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8. (C) The Government of Iraq is not fulfilling its
obligation to protect and provide housing for Palestinian
refugees in Iraq, although the situation for many Iraqis has
also worsened. This obligation to ensure the welfare of the
Palestinians was assumed in 1948 --years before Saddam
Hussein came to power-- when the GOI accepted these refugees
displaced by the first Arab-Israeli war. While many in Iraq
perceive the Palestinians as a minority favored by Saddam,
housing and exemption from military service are legitimate
privileges of refugee populations in general. Palestinians
in Iraq had little control over the way in which Saddam dealt
with landlords, but benefited from it in the form of free
housing. (Note: During most of Saddam's reign, Palestinians
were not allowed to own property. End note). At the same
time, Palestinian websites criticizing the trial and
execution of Saddam Hussein have done little to change
Iraqis' view of the Palestinians as Saddamists. Many Iraqis
resent what they perceived as a culture of entitlement among
Palestinians in Iraq. They also recall and resent the
Palestinians' enthusiastic support for Saddam's belligerent
foreign policy: while Palestinians danced in the streets to
celebrate Saddam's foreign aggressions, poor Shia and Kurds
drafted into the Iraqi army were dying in the fields.


9. (C) The weak UNHCR presence in Iraq --particularly in
Baghdad, where there is no UNHCR international staff and only
one local staff-- limits its effectiveness to advocate and
provide for the needs of the Palestinians. RefCoord has
observed that, despite UNHCR's assertions to the contrary,
there is little cooperation between UNHCR and the GOI.
UNHCR's recent decision to terminate its leasing arrangement
with MODM, while legitimate, will further strain their
relationship. UNHCR does not have strong relations with the
Palestinian mission either. In this context, the Palestinian
community in Iraq sees the USG as its best -- and often only
-- hope. From Palestinian refugees' perspective, their
persecution in Iraq started with the liberation of the
country in 2003, and has only gotten worse since. The
Palestinians we have spoken to have no illusions about
relocating to Israel, Gaza or the West Bank. They tell us
they would like firstly for the US military to protect them
and their housing compounds, which is beyond the coaltion's
mission here to the the degree that the Palestinians seek it.
They also continue to tell us they hope that their whole
community could resettle in a third country. End comment.
SPECKHARD