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Palestinians: Barzani agreed to give thousands of
Palestinian refugees a safe haven in Kurdistan
21.2.2007 |
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Iraq agrees to give Palestinians passport, shelter
in Kurdistan region areas, negotiator says
February 21, 2007
AMMAN, Jordan, -- The Iraqi government and
Kurdish leaders have agreed to give thousands of
Palestinian refugees in Iraq a safe haven in
Kurdistan autonomous region, a Palestinian official
who negotiated the deal said Wednesday.
The deal was brokered in Iraq last week following
negotiations with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani,
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Kurdistan region
president Massoud Barzani and other officials, said
the negotiator, Hamadah Faraaneh.
He told The Associated Press that the Iraqi
government also agreed to issue temporary passports
for the Palestinians to enable them to travel
outside the country.
There was no immediate comment from the Iraqi
government or Kurdish leaders. |
Massoud Barzani, the President of the Regional
Government of Kurdistan |
"It's a successful deal that allows Palestinian
refugees trapped in Iraq a safe haven, a place to
live, work or study in the Kurdish provinces and to
treat them appropriately as guests of the Kurdistan
region," said Faraaneh, an Amman-based member of the
Palestine National Council, which regards itself as
a parliament in exile.
The U.N. refugee agency estimates that about 15,000
Palestinians living in Baghdad as refugees face
constant threats from militias and are unable to
move freely. Some are being killed, kidnapped or
forced to leave their homes in different Iraqi
neighborhoods, the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees has said.
Some Iraqis resent Palestinians living Iraq because
of Saddam Hussein's longtime preferential treatment
toward them until he was ousted in the 2003 U.S.-led
invasion.
Saddam gave large cash payments to Palestinian
suicide bombers in the 1990s, when Iraq faced
crippling economic sanctions and many Iraqis were
jobless. That caused Iraqis to feel strong
resentment toward Palestinians and other Arabs who
came to work in Iraq. Palestinians have left in
large numbers since the 2003 invasion because of
widespread anger and violence toward them.
Faraaneh said he was accompanied by Palestinian
Authority representatives Jibril Rajoub and Assad
Abdul-Rahman, who headed the three-man delegation.
He said the deal was kept away from the press for a
week to allow a committee to form made up of
Baghdad-based Palestinian refugees, the Palestinian
mission in Iraq and Iraqi government officials.
The committee will soon review safety procedures and
compensation to be given to Palestinians who have
been harmed in Iraq, he said.
Faraaneh said the deal also "entails giving
Palestinian residents of Iraq since 1948 equal
treatment as Iraqi citizens in terms of social
security, health care and to pay compensation for
those who were inflicted harm."
He said other guarantees included providing "special
security protection to predominantly Palestinian
neighborhoods and to care for them as guests of Iraq
until they return to their country in Palestine."
Palestinians who have fled Baghdad for safety and
are stranded at Iraq's borders with Arab countries,
including Jordan, would be allowed back into the
country and be assisted, he added.
He said Barzani, the Kurdish leader, anxiously
accepted the deal.
"He said he was gladly helping out because he was
paying a debt back to the Palestinians," Faraaneh
said, explaining that Barzani felt a personal debt
to deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat because
he had helped him by giving shelter in Lebanon-based
Palestinians camps in the 1970s and 1980s when the
Kurd was "pursued by Iraqi intelligence."
"I used my personal contacts with Mr. Barzani to
help the refugees," Faraaneh said.
AP | IHT
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