IRAQ: LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ACTIVISTS BEGIN HUNGER STRIKE IN BAGHDAD TO PROTEST AGAINST EVICTION OF PALESTINIAN FAMILIES FROM THEIR HOMES FOLLOWING THE FALL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN'S REGIME

Record ID: 342239

  • Title: IRAQ: LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ACTIVISTS BEGIN HUNGER STRIKE IN BAGHDAD TO PROTEST AGAINST EVICTION OF PALESTINIAN FAMILIES FROM THEIR HOMES FOLLOWING THE FALL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN'S REGIME
  • Date: 12th July 2003
  • Summary: (EU) AL-BALADIYAT, OUTSKIRTS OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JULY 12, 2003)(REUTERS) 1. PAN: TENTS OF THE CAMP 0.12 2. SLV: TWO WOMEN WALKING INSIDE THE CAMP 0.16 3. CU: IRAQI AND PALESTINIAN FLAGS FLYING 0.23 4. SCU: MAP ON WALL 0.26 5. SV: PALESTINIAN WOMEN INSIDE TENT 0.32 6. VARIOUS OF OLD WOMAN CHATTING WITH ACTIVISTS (3 SHOTS) 0.48 7. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Arabic) FATMA A PALESTINIAN WOMAN (ONE OF THE REFUGEES) "We want the United Nation Works and Relief Agency gets acquainted with our conditions, we want a solution for our problem. The Palestinians in Iraq are here for along time, they are actually not Palestinians but in name." 1.03 8. WIDE OF ACTIVISTS WITH PALESTINIAN WOMEN 1.08 9. VARIOUS OF FEMALE ACTIVISTS CHATTING WITH PALESTINIAN WOMEN AND KIDS (2 SHOTS) 1.21 10. SV: PALESTINIAN WOMAN CARRYING CHILD 1.26 11. CU: BANNER READING: 'WE CALL ON U.N. HUMANITARIAN COMMITTEES AND ORGANIZATIONS TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF THE CAMP QUICKLY' 1.31 12. SV: (SOUNDBITE) (English) EWA JASIEWICZ, MEMBER OF 'VOICES IN THE WILDERNESS' AND ACTIVIST SAYING: "We are holding a seven-day hunger strike in solidarity with the 350 or so families that have been displaced from their homes following the fall of Saddam and have been living here in these canvas tents in soaring temperatures reaching 55 degrees, next month reaching 60 degrees, for the past three and a half months." 1.48 13. VARIOUS OF THE CAMP (2 SHOTS) 1.57 14. VARIOUS OF WOMAN MAKING BREAD (4 SHOTS) 2.19 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 27th July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: AL-BALADIYAT, OUTSKIRTS OF BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA62Y4FAT711HG4AYKTU3K2UNQF
  • Story Text: Local and international activists have begun a hunger
    strike in Baghdad, protesting against the eviction of
    Palestinian families from their homes following the fall of
    Saddam Hussein's regime. The strike, which will last a week,
    is taking place in Haifa Camp soccer field where these
    families are now living.


    Activists began a hunger strike at the Haifa Sports
    Club in al-Baladiyat, on the outskirts of Baghdad, where
    Palestinians, evicted from their homes, are now living.

    The hunger strike aims at attracting the attention of the
    international community to the poor living conditions of the
    Palestinians since the fall of Baghdad to the coalition forces
    on April 9.

    Hundreds of Palestinian refugees were driven out of their
    homes in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was ousted. According to
    the landlords, the Palestinian families were evicted for
    paying insufficient rents during Saddam's era. Some Iraqis
    resented
    Saddam's treatment of Palestinians, a matter that prompted
    Iraqis to throw them out of their homes.

    Activists from Ireland, Lebanon, Iraq, Poland, Australia,
    Britain, France, the U.S and Italy will be maintaining a
    seven-day solidarity tent and fast in an attempt to draw
    international attention to the deteriorating conditions of the
    camp.

    The 300 Palestinian families, who have become refugees
    once again, are living in a Palestinian sports ground in
    al-Baladiyat east of Baghdad. The U.N. refugee agency has
    given them tents, and the Red Cross and Arab charities provide
    food and water. But many of the refugees are desperate.

    So many Palestinians in Iraq have complained that the
    United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine has not
    registered them as refugees -- in contrary to other
    Palestinians living in other countries in the Middle East.

    "We want the United Nation Relief and Works Agency gets
    acquainted with our conditions, we want a solution for our
    problem. The Palestinians in Iraq are here for a long time. We
    are Palestinians but have been forgotten" said Fatma, a
    Palestinian living in the camp.

    Ewa Jasiewicz, an activist from pressure group 'Voices in
    the Wilderness' said, "We are holding a seven-day hunger
    strike in solidarity with the 350 or so families that have
    been displaced from their homes following the fall of Saddam
    and have been living here in these canvas tents in soaring
    temperatures reaching 55 degrees, next month reaching 60
    degrees, for the past three and a half months."
    The future of Palestinians living in the tent city is
    unclear, while the club is receiving aid and medicine from the
    International Red Cross and various NGOs, there is no United
    Nation Works and Relief Agency for Palestinians refugees in
    Iraq. While there are no figures available, estimates of the
    Palestinians population in Iraq range between 35,000 and
    90,000. Of those who came to Iraq in 1948, none were
    registered as Palestinian refugees with UNRWA.



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