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Kurdish leaders deny deal to allow
Palestinians in Kurdistan safe haven
22.2.2007 |
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February 22, 2007
AMMAN, Jordan, -- Kurdish officials denied
Wednesday that the Iraqi government agreed to allow
thousands of Palestinian refugees in Iraq safe haven
in northern Kurdistan region.
Earlier Wednesday, a Palestinian official in Jordan
said Kurdistan region president
Massoud Barzani had
agreed to take in Palestinians fearing attacks by
militias in other parts of Iraq.
"Such topics didn't occur during the visit of
Palestinian delegation to Kurdistan," said Barzani's
spokesman Fuad Hussein.
The Palestinian official, Hamadah Faraaneh, who said
he helped negotiate the deal, said the agreement was
brokered in Iraq last week following negotiations
with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki, Barzani and other officials. |
Massoud Barzani, the President of the Regional
Government of Kurdistan |
The discrepancy could not immediately be clarified,
and Faraaneh could not be immediately reached for
comment.
Faraaneh, an Amman-based member of the Palestine
National Council, which regards itself as a
parliament in exile, told The Associated Press the
deal would allow "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 Kurdish region.
The U.N. refugee agency estimates about 15,000
Palestinians live in Baghdad as refugees and 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.
AP | IHT
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