Saddam Is Gone, But Palestinians Left on the Streets of Bagdat

Seventy-five-year-old Hidal Muhammed, who had to leave his one-story, three-room-house in Baghdad’s Cemile district because of pressure from armed Iraqis, came to Iraq as a refugee in 1948. "The state gave — and three-armed bandits took — our house from us," he said, adding that he now understood the difficulties of Palestinians who had lived in tent cities for years. There are 35 infants between one and four months of age among the 600 people struggling for life in tents that were pitched a week ago on the Hayfa Club’s Palestinian Youth Football Field.

Hayri Vakai, another resident of the tent city, said, "Saddam did not leave Palestinian refugees homeless, but everybody behaved with hostility towards the Palestinians and took our houses from us after Saddam was toppled." A woman who spoke with fear in her eyes explained how she had left her home and added: "They threatened us, telling us to go back to Palestine. This hurt our feelings the most."

Fatih Ugur / Bagdat (Baghdad) / IRAQ