As death tolls and temperatures rise in Baghdad, there are more than 1400 Palestinians stranded in a purgatory between Syria and Iraq. These Palestinians find themselves not only reviled and targeted in Baghdad, where many have lived for the past 60 years. Now they live in tents in the desert, left to wonder why none of the world’s governments will give them safe passage. Furthermore, so they claim, when the rare offer of resettlement comes, they’re left waiting desperately, hoping the government of “their country,” the Palestinian Authority, will permit the move. Many claim the PA is using them as just another pawn in a shell game of victimhood, distraction, and deal-making.
In part one of a two part series, these Palestinians (or are they Iraqis?) speak about desperate circumstances in Baghdad, and the reasons they fled the country they called home for generations. After they fled Baghdad, they found their circumstances still desperate, and perhaps in some ways worse. Syria has closed its borders to Palestinians, Jordan is closed to Palestinians and Iraqis alike.
This program was produced by Alive in Baghdad.
For more information, visit:
aliveinbaghdad.org
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