One last thing about refugees

I was focused the other day not the only on the destruction that had taken place in the Gaza refugee camps, as a result of the Israeli military operation, but on some interesting commentary that has come out in the papers since then. There was the example a picture of an old man sitting on his lonesome with a green flag unfurled above his head. What was he doing there on his own? Simple, he had responded to a call for Hamas supporters to demonstrate on the streets of Gaza. Why were there no others with him? That's not really a question that I can answer from here in Australia, however there are people in the Middle East with far more local knowledge of the subject than I, suggesting that while the armed Hamas supporters are now claiming a victory in the midst of the death and destruction that has taken place, there is some recognition by the general population that if he destruction that has taken place is seen as a victory it would be interesting to see what a loss would look like.

Policemen are reappearing on the streets wearing their weapons, Hamas fighters are also appearing with their arms and this has set people to wondering where they were when the fighting was going on. They seemed to have melted into the background at that point, and the general population in Gaza seems to be voting with its feet when a called upon to congregate in celebration of the great "victory" that was won over the last few days. Hence the lonesome old man with his green flag unfurled perhaps.

At the same time as all this was going on in Gaza there was also a meeting of the Arabic countries of the Middle East to see what they would think they could or would be able to do to support the Palestinians.

Saudi Arabia was at the forefront of trying to mend fences and bring unity to the representatives surrounding the conference table. A Syrian representatives apparently was interested only in trying to label " the Israeli entity" as a terrorist organisation rather than discuss what if any needs the Palestinian refugees had in Gaza.

What the Syrian representatives did not mention, I suspect, was the way in which Palestinian refugees are being treated within Syria and elsewhere in Arabic countries - this story from the archives about Iraq is just one example.

BBSNews 2007-04-24 - RAMADI, (IRIN) -- Palestinians living in Iraq's Anbar province have come under increasing pressure from militants to leave or be killed, NGOs and Palestinians say.

The remaining displaced from Ramadi still receive assistance from aid agencies but many have returned to the city. [Date picture taken: 11/13/2006] Image Afif Sarhan/IRIN

Palestinians in the capital, Baghdad, have long been threatened by armed groups and harassed by authorities but threats to them in other provinces are a new development, aid workers say. Sunni-dominated Anbar used to protect Palestinians, who are predominantly Sunni too, but times have changed.

"Palestinians had been looking for safety and had found it in Anbar province but now they are being targeted [there also]. The threats they have received are an effrontery against the feelings of Muslim Arabs. They have nowhere to go and might be killed if they try to go to another place," Mahmoud Aydan, a media officer for the Ramadi council, said.

"We believe that there are about 150 families taking refuge in different cities of Anbar province but they haven't been registered with the National Food Programme which makes it harder to know their exact location," Aydan said.

A spokesman for the Baghdad-based Palestinian Muslims Association (PMA) said he was concerned about the fate of Palestinians in Anbar governorate after militants left threatening notes on the doors of Palestinians taking refuge in the area.

"At least 17 families have fled Ramadi [capital of Anbar and about 100 km west of Baghdad] after militants gave them a week to leave their homes or become the next victims of violence in Iraq," Ahmed Muffitlak, a spokesman for PMA, said.

Palestinians have nowhere to go

"But they don't have anywhere to go. Some families told me they are going to try to reach the al-Waleed camp near the Syrian border. Others expect to be accepted in Baghdad's Sunni neighbourhoods," he added.

In Baghdad, Palestinians - especially those in the mainly Palestinian neighbourhoods of Baladiat, Hurriyah and Iskan - continue to be discriminated against and continue to receive threats to leave the country.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a press statement in March that at least 186 Palestinians have been murdered in Baghdad between April 2004 and January 2007, while about 15,000 Palestinians remain in Iraq, fewer than half the number who had lived there previously.

Muffitlak reiterated the PMA's call for the protection of Palestinian refugees in Iraq and has urged the Iraqi government and international NGOs to assist the threatened families in Anbar.

"They should do something before more Palestinians are killed. It is the minimum they can do to save so discriminated against a community, which cannot even return to its original land," added Muffitlak, who is in Ramadi trying to persuade the local authorities to protect Palestinians.

Ahmed Raki, a 43-year-old Palestinian father of three lives in Ramadi. He is looking for a place at al-Waleed camp on the Syrian border, which has become a makeshift home for hundreds of Palestinians fleeing violence.

"There are dozens of [Palestinian] families living with Iraqis in Ramadi, Fallujah and al-Qaim and the threats have been delivered to their homes. We don't have money, goods and some elderly people are very sick, requiring urgent medical assistance. But they will be forced to flee the area to save their lives," said Raki.

"Two girls from our community were raped last week by militants who told them that it was a message to the Palestinians in Anbar to leave the area," Raki added. "I have to leave before my two daughters meet the same fate."

In 2006 the UNWRA produced a publication that shows that there were over 119,000 registered Palestinian refugees in Syria in that year. What is shameful about this is that it supports the reality that the Syrian population has not absorbed these people since 1948 in some cases and 1967 in others. Why they have not been assimilated into the general population is not a question I can answer, but it may be something the Syrian government can and perhaps should be asked.

Similarly there are other Arab countries around the Middle East who will accept Palestinian refugees, but who have not accepted that these same people should become part and parcel of their citizenry and lose their status of refugee over time.

Australia has accepted refugees from all sorts of countries over the years including no doubt some from the former Palestine. Have these people being put into refugee camps and forced to stay there? I think not. They have been integrated into the communities into which they were eventually settled and have become part and parcel of the Australian way of life. They have retained the right of return to their country of origin and some have no doubt taken up this option. For most others though, Australia is a country that has accepted people from everywhere in the world and actually spent loads of resources helping them to settle in this country. This investment in human beings from all over the world has been repaid many fold by well integrated citizens who have participated with gusto in the life of Australia and have indeed made their unique contributions from within their cultures to the developing Australian culture that today people find both interesting and welcoming when they visit or as they grow up in it.

Australia is today a truly multicultural society thanks to all of those people who have come to our shores regardless of their condition at the time.

I suspect that many countries in the world could learn from what has been achieved in Australia

As I reminisce about the past I look at what is being provided to refugees elsewhere in the world today and think that many of the services that were pioneered in this country could perhaps be mentioned in discussions with representatives of those countries and that some of the lessons that have been learned "along the way" passed on to them as a way of trying to assist them by providing opportunities to learn from the difficulties as well as the successes of our past.

There appear to be certain countries in the world who are not dealing successfully with their refugees, if by "success" we mean the successful integration of refugees into the host population. If we do not mean success in these terms, then I for one would be interested in finding out what the meaning is in those places. Where we have successive years of countries that open their doors to refugees, presumably they mean to give them refuge and then allow them to make the choice of staying in the host country or returning to their home country as and when conditions change. Maintaining their refugee status for decades at a time is not what I would consider as being the goal of a refugee policy.

Still, what would I know, I am just an arm chair blogger after all.