US embassy cable - 03AMMAN2626

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002626 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA AND PRM; PLEASE PASS TO USAID 
KUWAIT AND NICOSIA FOR DART 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/01/2013 
TAGS: PREF, PREL, PHUM, KPAL, IZ, JO, UNSC 
SUBJECT: PALESTINIANS IN POST-SADDAM IRAQ 
 
REF: CAMPBELL/PRM MAY 2 E-MAIL 
 
Classified By: A/DCM Doug Silliman per 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary and Comment:  The estimated 90,000 long-term 
Palestinian residents of Iraq reportedly are losing the legal 
protection, privileges and access to government services 
extended by the Saddam government, resulting in a flow of 
more than 800 Palestinians toward Jordan since the onset of 
hostilities.  Palestinian refugees in Iraq are not covered by 
UNRWA's mandate and therefore have no alternative to Iraqi 
government services.  Absent coalition plans to ensure access 
to basic social services for Palestinians in post-Saddam 
Iraq, the PLO plans to seek a new UNGA resolution to expand 
UNRWA's mandate to Iraq.  UNRWA is not interested in a new 
mandate and doubts the PLO's efforts will be successful. 
Although UNHCR is prepared to provide assistance to 
Palestinians fleeing post-Saddam Iraq, a new Palestinian 
refugee population queuing on international borders could 
prove destabilizing throughout the region.  To prevent that 
refugee flow, we believe the authorities in Iraq should 
examine ways to ensure that protection and basic services are 
extended to Palestinians resident in Iraq.  End summary and 
comment. 
 
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Background -- Protection & Privileges Under Saddam 
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2.  (U) The 90,000 Palestinians resident in Iraq are believed 
to be a mix of original 1948 refugees and their descendants 
(roughly 30,000) as well as more recent arrivals who have 
migrated to Iraq for economic and political reasons. 
(Comment:  Because Palestinian refugees in Iraq are not 
covered under UNRWA's mandate, there is no practical 
difference between UNRWA refugees and ordinary Palestinians 
resident in Iraq.  UNRWA status only gives Palestinian 
refugees the right to access UNRWA services in areas under 
UNRWA's mandate -- Gaza, West Bank, Jordan, Syria and 
Lebanon.  It does not provide legal protection or in any way 
influence a sovereign state's decision to admit or deny entry 
to Palestinian refugees.)  Under the Saddam regime, 
Palestinians resident in Iraq had rights to legal residency, 
including travel documents, and access to free government 
services such as health and education.  According to PLO 
Refugee Affairs official Mohamed Abu Bakr, a significant 
portion of the Palestinian population in Iraq also enjoyed 
preferential housing arrangements, paying nominal rent or 
sometimes even no rent at all.  Because very little 
information is available about the Palestinian community in 
Iraq, it is unclear what percentage of this population was 
financially dependent on subsidized housing. 
 
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Housing Evictions & Threats of Reprisals 
---------------------------------------- 
 
3.  (C) Palestinians in post-Saddam Iraq appear to be losing 
at least some of these privileges.  On April 15, PLO Official 
Abu Bakr reported to refcoord that 27 Palestinian families in 
Baghdad's Baladiyat neighborhood had been evicted from their 
homes because their landlords no longer agreed to the low 
rents previously guaranteed by the Saddam government.  These 
families sought shelter in a football stadium near the 
Palestinian embassy and have been there ever since.  ICRC 
officials subsequently confirmed to US Mission Geneva that a 
total of 120 Palestinian families have been driven from their 
homes in this neighborhood and are in need of both protection 
and basic humanitarian assistance (ref).  According to an 
April 27 report in the Arabic daily newspaper Al Sharq Al 
Awsat, another 1500 Palestinian families are in danger of 
being evicted from their homes.  PLO and UNHCR officials 
worry that Palestinians may be subjected to politically based 
evictions as well.  Nabil Musawi, an aide to INC leader Ahmed 
Chalabi, was widely quoted in mid-April (including in the 
Jerusalem Post) as having suggested that any Arabs expelled 
from their homes in northern Iraq would be welcome to expel 
Palestinians from their homes in Baghdad. 
 
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Access to Government Services? 
------------------------------ 
 
4.  (C) In addition to shelter needs, the PLO's Department of 
Refugee Affairs fears that long-term Palestinian residents of 
Iraq will lose access to free health and education services 
formerly guaranteed by the Saddam regime.  Abu Bakr told 
refcoord that because Iraq is not covered by UNRWA's mandate, 
Palestinians in Iraq do not have any alternative to Iraqi 
government facilities.  Abu Bakr asked whether the coalition 
forces had long-term plans to ensure that Palestinians 
retained access to Iraqi government services.  Absent such 
plans, he continued, the Palestinians would seek to extend 
UNRWA's mandate to Iraq.  Palestinian Observer to the UN 
Naser Al Kidweh already has been instructed to seek UN 
support for the General Assembly resolution required to 
change UNRWA's mandate.  (UNRWA Deputy Commissioner General 
Karen Abu Zayd later told refcoord UNRWA was not interested 
in expanding its mandate and expressed doubts that the PLO's 
planned approach to the General Assembly would be effective.) 
 
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Palestinians Already Fleeing Iraq 
--------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) The changing status of Palestinians in post-Saddam 
Iraq has already resulted in the movement of Palestinians 
from Iraq to Jordan, with more than 800 having sought entry 
since the onset of hostilities.  As of mid-day on May 4, 762 
Palestinians have been admitted to the UNHCR refugee camp at 
Ruweished, while another 40 remain in the Jordan Red 
Crescent's TCN transit camp.  (Approximately 100 Palestinians 
in the UNHCR camp hold Jordanian citizenship but have elected 
to stay in the camp with their family members who do not 
possess Jordanian passports.)  UNHCR protection officials 
report that the Palestinians have provided a range of reasons 
for fleeing Iraq.  Some report that they have been physically 
threatened and told that they no longer were welcome in 
post-Saddam Iraq, while others report that they have been 
evicted from their homes due to post-Saddam rent increases. 
A large number of these Palestinians (163 today, May 4) are 
unaccompanied young men, some of whom have told UNHCR they 
would like to study in Jordan and may have lost access to 
Saddam-guaranteed scholarships in Iraq.  Other young men 
appear to be economic migrants, simply looking for better 
opportunities in Jordan.  Although the GOJ in early April 
allowed a group of 40 Palestinians to enter Amman on a 
temporary basis (with guarantees from Jordanian family 
members that their stay truly would be temporary), the GOJ is 
unlikely to allow any Palestinians to enter Jordan from the 
UNHCR refugee camp until the steady flow of new Palestinian 
arrivals from Iraq (estimated at 30-50 per day) abates. 
 
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Comment 
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6.  (C) The Palestinians, like other groups viewed as 
supporters or guests of Saddam Hussein, are in danger of 
losing their privileges and possibly suffering political 
reprisals in post-Saddam Iraq.  If the post-Saddam government 
does not extend legal protection and basic services to 
Palestinians, they most likely would seek refuge in Jordan in 
increasingly large numbers -- a political and economic burden 
the GOJ has indicated it will not accept.  While UNHCR is 
prepared to meet the needs of Palestinians fleeing 
post-Saddam Iraq, creation of a new Palestinian refugee 
population queuing on international borders could be a 
destabilizing factor throughout the region.  To prevent that 
refugee flow, we believe the authorities in Iraq should 
examine ways to ensure that protection and basic services are 
extended to the Palestinian population of Iraq. 
BERRY