Trapped in No Man's Land
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Sean wrote the following post about his and Kristele's visit to the Syria-Iraqi border last week.
We started our day driving at 165 km/hour down a shoddily paved road in the middle of the desert going from Damascus to Baghdad. We were heading to the border, where a group of 340 Palestinians are stranded in a No Man's Land between the two countries, with little hope of leaving any time soon.
The drive there was a bit surreal. The desert is camel beige and flat as a sheet of paper. There were small pools of water alongside the highway from recent heavy rains, but it would be otherwise dry. Covering the sand was a chunky layer of black rocks and a few low scrub bushes. To make the situation even more bizzare, it seems a truck had recently dropped half its cargo along the highway and the entire way there (about 250 kilometers), the highway was splattered with a trail of squashed and rotting tomatoes. Don't know what the symbolism of that was, but it was slightly disquieting.
It took us about three hours to get to the border post, where we saw the first signs of life. This one was truly depressing. The highway is sealed off on both sides by a concrete wall topped with barbed wire beginning about a kilometer before the actual post and heading towards Iraq as far as the eye can see. This was to keep people from evading the official entry. But it was the complete lack of life anywhere that made it bleaker than usual.
When we got to the Syrian customs point, we saw the first sign of Iraqi refugees. They come to Syria in hired taxis - the taxis being huge American-made suburbans. They came with suitcases, carpets, and other personal effects lashed to the roofs of the cars, and the trunks and back seats brimming with whatever else fit. There were probably about thirty of these SUVs waiting in the parking area (the parking area being a huge chunk of the middle of the highway) while their passengers cleared customs and immigration. We could see the families coming in and out, and they were mainly women and children. The Syrian authorities wouldn't allow us to talk to the refugees, so we weren't able to get a sense of their immediate situation. I will say that one family who was crying and hugging as they got out of their car pretty much summed up the situation.
About two kilometers from the Syrian border post, we saw a tent camp literally crammed between the highway and the concrete wall that contained people from escaping. As we entered, children were playing alongside the highway, and people were taking care of mundane tasks such as keeping their tents firmly staked into the ground.
We were able to spend about three hours in the camp, which was set up for Palestinians fleeing Iraq. There was a small community of Palestinians in Iraq (about 20,000 - 30,000), who have been there for two to three generations now. Saddam Hussein treated them well as a political gesture against the Israeli occupation of their lands. As a result, when Saddam fell, the Palestinians were seen as his allies and uniformly terrorized by local militias as the enemy. Every family that we spoke to had suffered threats, bombings of their homes, kidnappings, murders, or other violence that forced them to leave Iraq. Militias in Iraq have proclaimed death for any Palestinian that remains in the country.
When they reached the Syrian border, they were surprised to find they were not welcome, as Syria is already host to half a million Palestinian refugees. Syria is unofficially afraid that if they accept Palestinians from Iraq, it will act as a pull factor for more Palestinians to come. (To put this in perspective, Syria is a country of 18 million people - it now hosts 500,000 Palestinians and around 700,000 Iraqis, plus a range of other refugees from various other countries - almost 10% of their population is refugees). As a result, Syria has forced them to set up a tent camp in the no man's land, under the protection of the United Nations, while they wait for a permanent solution. Unfortunately, the permanent solution involves, A) going back to Iraq; B) being sent to the Occupied Territories in Israel; or C) being resettled in a third country. Most people we interviewed said they would rather die in the camp than return to Iraq. Israel refuses to let them into their territory, and most countries in the world refuse to accept Palestinian refugees, believing that their fate needs to be decided in political negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel. As a result, there is no forseeable escape for these people.
The conditions in the camp were depressingly bleak. They have lived in tents for 7 months now, despite summer temperatures around 110F and winter temperatures that are now regularly below freezing at night. They do not have enough food, and are surviving by trading jewelry and even clothing with passing cargo trucks for fresh vegetables. Though their potable water has improved, for many months it was making them sick.
We are off tomorrow to meet with the Embassies of the US and European nations to urge them to do something to help not only these Palestinians, but all the Iraqis that are suffering from a war waged from outside the region.
We started our day driving at 165 km/hour down a shoddily paved road in the middle of the desert going from Damascus to Baghdad. We were heading to the border, where a group of 340 Palestinians are stranded in a No Man's Land between the two countries, with little hope of leaving any time soon.
The drive there was a bit surreal. The desert is camel beige and flat as a sheet of paper. There were small pools of water alongside the highway from recent heavy rains, but it would be otherwise dry. Covering the sand was a chunky layer of black rocks and a few low scrub bushes. To make the situation even more bizzare, it seems a truck had recently dropped half its cargo along the highway and the entire way there (about 250 kilometers), the highway was splattered with a trail of squashed and rotting tomatoes. Don't know what the symbolism of that was, but it was slightly disquieting.
It took us about three hours to get to the border post, where we saw the first signs of life. This one was truly depressing. The highway is sealed off on both sides by a concrete wall topped with barbed wire beginning about a kilometer before the actual post and heading towards Iraq as far as the eye can see. This was to keep people from evading the official entry. But it was the complete lack of life anywhere that made it bleaker than usual.
When we got to the Syrian customs point, we saw the first sign of Iraqi refugees. They come to Syria in hired taxis - the taxis being huge American-made suburbans. They came with suitcases, carpets, and other personal effects lashed to the roofs of the cars, and the trunks and back seats brimming with whatever else fit. There were probably about thirty of these SUVs waiting in the parking area (the parking area being a huge chunk of the middle of the highway) while their passengers cleared customs and immigration. We could see the families coming in and out, and they were mainly women and children. The Syrian authorities wouldn't allow us to talk to the refugees, so we weren't able to get a sense of their immediate situation. I will say that one family who was crying and hugging as they got out of their car pretty much summed up the situation.About two kilometers from the Syrian border post, we saw a tent camp literally crammed between the highway and the concrete wall that contained people from escaping. As we entered, children were playing alongside the highway, and people were taking care of mundane tasks such as keeping their tents firmly staked into the ground.
We were able to spend about three hours in the camp, which was set up for Palestinians fleeing Iraq. There was a small community of Palestinians in Iraq (about 20,000 - 30,000), who have been there for two to three generations now. Saddam Hussein treated them well as a political gesture against the Israeli occupation of their lands. As a result, when Saddam fell, the Palestinians were seen as his allies and uniformly terrorized by local militias as the enemy. Every family that we spoke to had suffered threats, bombings of their homes, kidnappings, murders, or other violence that forced them to leave Iraq. Militias in Iraq have proclaimed death for any Palestinian that remains in the country.
When they reached the Syrian border, they were surprised to find they were not welcome, as Syria is already host to half a million Palestinian refugees. Syria is unofficially afraid that if they accept Palestinians from Iraq, it will act as a pull factor for more Palestinians to come. (To put this in perspective, Syria is a country of 18 million people - it now hosts 500,000 Palestinians and around 700,000 Iraqis, plus a range of other refugees from various other countries - almost 10% of their population is refugees). As a result, Syria has forced them to set up a tent camp in the no man's land, under the protection of the United Nations, while they wait for a permanent solution. Unfortunately, the permanent solution involves, A) going back to Iraq; B) being sent to the Occupied Territories in Israel; or C) being resettled in a third country. Most people we interviewed said they would rather die in the camp than return to Iraq. Israel refuses to let them into their territory, and most countries in the world refuse to accept Palestinian refugees, believing that their fate needs to be decided in political negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel. As a result, there is no forseeable escape for these people.
The conditions in the camp were depressingly bleak. They have lived in tents for 7 months now, despite summer temperatures around 110F and winter temperatures that are now regularly below freezing at night. They do not have enough food, and are surviving by trading jewelry and even clothing with passing cargo trucks for fresh vegetables. Though their potable water has improved, for many months it was making them sick.
We are off tomorrow to meet with the Embassies of the US and European nations to urge them to do something to help not only these Palestinians, but all the Iraqis that are suffering from a war waged from outside the region.
Labels: Iraqi Refugees
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