IRAQ: Palestinians flee to borders amid ongoing violence

BAGHDAD, 5 June (IRIN) - "Tell the Palestinians in your neighbourhood to leave Iraq or you'll all be killed," said one of Luai Sulaiman's captors after beating him severely and dumping him in the street.

On 28 May, 25-year-old Sulaiman, a football player, was on his way back home after training at a sports club in Baghdad's western Mansour district when three gunmen in a black BMW abducted him. He was tied up and blindfolded before being taken to an unknown location where he was beaten up by his captors.

After that experience, Sulaiman's choice was easy: "We'll leave next week with ten other families," he said. "Twenty families already left two weeks ago for the Syrian-Iraqi border."

Along with physical intimidation, leaflets have also been scattered in Palestinian neighbourhoods of Baghdad, warning Palestinians to leave the country in ten days or face death. "Two weeks ago, I saw unidentified militants in five cars roaming the neighbourhood and scattering leaflets warning us to leave," said Salih Abu al-Feilat, a 65-year-old mukhtar, or local dignitary, in one such neighbourhood. "They said we had ten days to get out, and if we failed they would kill us."

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/6c7a9b5f5f28ad0da01544dfe06cc470.htm

did you post this in I/P or was it moved here?

It probably could be posted in GD or something - but I thought it was interesting to the I/P discussion. Esp. since I know of people who think that the answer to the whole Palestinian question is for them to go live in other countries. And then this happens to them.

Why do you think this is happening? Because of the way they were treated by Saddam? It seems like things just keep getting worse and worse in Iraq, what a mess.