Baqaa Refugee Camp

One of the most emotional experiences happened today when the Global Exchange delegation visited the Baqaa Palestinian Refugee Camp in Jordan. The camp is not a camp like you would imagine with tents, but more of a seemingly endless inner-city housing project.  The streets were so narrow that our bus had to squeeze its way through the busy streets. An endless stream of refugees were all walking in many directions. The camp now holds 102,000 people in a 1.4 kilometer area.

As we were getting an orientation at the Baqaa administration office, It just happened that the camp elder showed up to speak. He is 96 years old, tall, thin, and brown, wearing a red and white kefiyah with black knit crown. He bore a wisdom that minimized all our fancy notions of our own civility.

He told us that Palestinian people blame the US for their 61-year plight, being massacred and forced to flee form their homes and villages in 1948. The situation s going from bad to worse. "The [Palestinian] refugees will always want to go back to their homes. How would you like it," pointing to one delegate's backpack, "if I took your bag and would not give it back? Or if I told you that you must give to me your home?"

"I have been a refugee for 61 years," the old shekh continued, "all the western nations that have contributed to this crisis are not taking responsibility. Now the United Nations Relief and Works Agency UNRWA must go begging for resources. You as NGOs have the same responsibility. You have to tell them that we wish to have our right to return to Palestine."

The GX delegates left the office and headed for the clinic. I felt a wave of guilt and emotion rise in me as I saw the misplaced people of Palestine blandly existing in this dusty, crowded, place. We saw many goods for sell in the market area, handicrafts and dry-looking fruits for sale. Then laid out on blankets were broken scraps of shriveled pita bread... for sale! "What have we done?" I thought, "in our unwavering blind support for the brutal Occupation of Palestine that causes this unforgivable hardship?"

 I thought of the people in Gaza, under Israeli siege, without food, electricity or any goods going in or out, right now; Gazans, who are making their bread from the throw-away part of the wheat so they can fill their children's bellies with something.

 

The tour took us to a women's empowerment and vocational center. Then the  final stage of our tour was the elementary school. Thank goodness for this. The teachers at this school are miracle workers, keeping the children busy with learning English, math, kindness and songs.

The GX delegation was graced with the innocent joy of these children who have nothing but love. And they insist on giving all of what they have to the visitors from the West.

US Missile Landed in His Bedroom

GLOBAL EXCHANGE; WAR AND DISPLACEMENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Status of Forces Agreement is product of bribes and deceit

A missile fired into Miqdad Baghdadi's bedroom one night. In fact, the missile landed right in the bed where he and his wife lay. His leg was burned and he saw his wife's hair on fire. Her chest was burned as well. Fortunately their injuries were not life-threatening.Mr Baghdadi found wire and fragments with the identifying markings of "USA." They did not file an incident report, because to be seen going into the US headquarters, could put a mark on you, as a collaborator.

The US headquarters, AKA the Green Zone, "is half the size of the city of Damascus and sustains 3000 employees." Mr. Baghdadi was finally forced to enter the Green Zone when his nephew was kidnapped in 2006. The abduction was conducted by the Iraqi Ministry of Health. Two police cars and four unmarked Hum V's pulled up to his house and ushered the nephew away. He is still missing. 

Mr. Baghdadi, a prominent member of the community with an established family name in Baghdad, went to to the Green Zone with his niece to speak with President Malaki. They were escorted through many layers of security personnel, the first being contracted soldiers from the Fiji Islands, with guard dogs. "The walls [around the Green Zone] are thirty feet high." Mr. Baghdadi told the Global Exchange delegation. They went through five check points and then were separated and searched. Even their military escorts were searched. After a long wait, they finally met with President Malaki. The dialogue was tense and the two men argued. Bagdadi and his niece left with no hope of finding her husband.

Our GX delegates heard more stories of disrespect towards Iraqis by the US soldiers. President Malaki's number #2 man was seen being knocked down by US soldiers and his head stepped upon. Another time,  a presidential consultant and his wife were forced out there house into the street, the middle of the night, in their pajamas, while soldiers searched their house.

Mr. Baghdadi also had a surprise visit. One night he was on the phone and suddenly felt someone behind him. A US soldier had a gun pointed at him. More soldiers appeared. They had come in through the roof, which was common practice. His wife and daughter were also held at gunpoint while their home was searched. Mr. Baghdadi was asked about any guns in the house. One gun is allowed. He was told to his gun. 

Soldiers customarily confiscate personal  items, i.e. gold, money and cell phones. When Baghdadi went upstairs to retrieve his gun, there was a soldier in his bedroom. He decided to get all of his rings and put them on his fingers so they would not be stolen by the soldiers. When Baghdadi got back downstairs, a soldier intrusively asked him, "why are you wearing so many rings?" 

Mr. Baghdadi replied, "this is my hobby."

Another soldier saw the beautiful family garden and said he did not know that there were gardens in Iraq. Baghdadi replied, "we are not all Bedouins." 

A new Status of Forces agreement that mandates a 2011 pullout of troops has little public support,  GX was informed on numerous occasions that the cosignatories of the SOF were all publicly bribed, received diplomatic passports for themselves and their families, and were given armored cars to ward off assassination attempts.

Miqdad Baghdadi worked in the Iraqi government for 29 years in the Ministry for Mosques and Restoration and the Ministry for Information. He belongs to an international organization for the conservation for museums and heritage. His family is the eldest in Baghdad. 

Jordanian Democratic Popular Party on Palestine

On November 27 Global Exchange (GX) Middle East War and Displacement Delegation met with members of the Jordanian Democratic Popular Party in Amman, Jordan, including journalist, Ahmed Abu Shawar, and General Secretary Ahmed Yusif.

Ahmed Abu Shawar welcomed us, and said, "we are thankful for your presence and interest in Palestine. Solidarity is the tool to solve humanitarian problems in the world."

We learned that 60% of Jordanians are Palestinian. The "right of return" to Old Palestine is of utmost concern to the party, its members and most Jordanian Palestinians.

Ahmed Abu Shawar started his story discussing the Balfour Declaration of 1917. "The British mandate was used to extend influence in this area of the world, [the Middle East]. Palestine was important to Britain, geographically and militarily." Mr. Shawar continued, "The British Empire organized with Zionists to move Jewish people from around the world."

Mr. Shawar indicated that the British government tried to diminish the viability of the Palestinians by manipulating the prices of their crops; when there was a high yield, prices would be driven upwards. When there was a low yield, prices would be lowered. This is the opposite of normal market trends. Palestinians who opposed these policies were punished.

General Secretary Ahmed Yusif explained that there were three revolutions: 1921, 1936, and 1939. These revolutions were crushed by surrounding them with troops.

Palestine was an advanced society and highly productive since the 1920's. They had an active textile industry and leather works. At one time Palestine was the sixth largest producer of citrus fruits.

Palestinians continually support peoples' revolutions against dictators and for international workers' rights, i.e. opposition to Spain's Franco, supporting oilworkers' strikes in Iran in the 1930s-50s, and opposition to the Nazis.

Before 1948 Jews and Palestinians lived side by side in the neighborhoods where Israel now stands. our GX group leader and interpreter, Khalid Jarrar, said his Palestinian grandmother still remembers the songs she learned in Hebrew as a child, playing with her Jewish neighbors.

In 1948, Palestinians called for a multi religious state with Jews, Christians and Muslims. the British stopped this. Instead, something changed, said journalist Shawar, "Zionist gangs, armed by the British Empire, massacred Palestinian civilians."

"British planes and tanks helped Zionists destroy 531 villages. About 800,000 Palestinians were forced to flee. The United Nations resolved to divide Palestine: 47% for Palestinians, 53% for Jews. The Jewish people comprised 6% of the population at this time."

Mr. Shawar and Mr. Yusif cited many examples of massecres on Palestinians in the farm fields during Ramadan, in the mosque, and in their villages. This was a systematic ehtnic cleansing of the Palestinians.

To Be Continued

What happened in Fallujah

Our Global Exchange delegation, now in Damascas Syria met with Mr. Makki Nazzal, a late-middle-aged journalist who spoke openly and passionately about the two battles in Fallujah, Iraq in 2003 and 2004. He lived through the bloody battles in this city of just 9km in diameter.

In April, 2003, US forces began the tactic of stationing themselves on rooftops and spying on the women in their homes. In Fallujah, there was strong objection to this because the women were not properly dressed for the eyes of strangers. Hundreds marched peacefully to the US headquarters in a local schoolhouse to ask US forces to end this obtrusive practice. The US responded with gunfire, killing 17 Fallujans and wounding another 70.

Reistance fighters began to battle US forces. The US seemed to enjoy the challenge because it would legitimized their violence against the people of Fallujah. The US was soon surprised at the huge resistance. Fighting continued through the summer of 2003.

On June 30, a huge explosion at a mosque killed Sheikh Laith Khalil and eight others. The US eventually pulled back forces and totally withdrew by the end of 2003.

The following April '04, two four-wheel drive SUVs entered Fallujah. Mr Nazzal said that the people were surprised because US forces had withdrawn from Fallujah and there was no justification for this intrusion. The vehicles were identified as Blackwater, US military contractors. Unidentified gunman ambushed the vehicles killing four contractors.

US General Paul Bremer vowed vengence. Mr. Nazzal assured us that the killers were outsiders, not Fallujahns. 1,250 people of Fallujah were killed for the deaths of these four soldiers.

In June of 2004 Makki Nazzal was part of a negotiating team with the US. In the agreement the US agreed not to bomb private homes. The agreement was broken the next day by US bombs.

Throughout his experience with soldiers, Mr. Nazzal was surprised by the general lack of respect from the US soldiers even before violence broke out. He would walk by them and greet them in the Arabic word for hello, "Marhaba." The soldiers would reply, "Yeah, Fuck you too." They may have not known he could understand English.

War-related birth defects in Fallujah 
http://www.presstv. com/detail. aspx?id=57875& sectionid= 351020201

Meeting with UN High Commissioner Office on Refugees

The 2003 Invasion of Iraq by the US and UK was well announced, giving the UNCHR time to prepare for the expected outflow of Iraqi refugees into Jordan, Syria, and Turkey. The expected migration into Jordan did not occur in great numbers in the immediate aftermath of the invasion. Jordon saw only a few hundred refugees. The UNHCR scaled back its preparations.

Until 2006, refugees crossed the border into Jordon in an orderly fashion, with proper visas, according to Arafat Jamal, deputy representative of the UNHCR. In 2006, when sectarian violence flared up refugee outflow into Jordan increased dramatically.

It has been estimated that there are one million Iraqi refugees in Jordan, however, Deputy Jamal only referred to those 450,000 who have registered with the nation of Jordan.

Deputy Jamal stated in strong terms that resettlement into Iraq is NOT recommended at this time. Only a few hundred have returned to their homes in Iraq from Jordan.

[blogging is highly restricted from our current location - I will continue this tomorrow, inshaallah]

Nov. 26, AM

This day at 12PM a driver for Global Exchange would pick me up and take me to the Amman Inn Hotel. I took a short walk from my current hotel. I would only walk a few blocks on the meandering streets for fear of getting lost. Then I heard, the Call to Prayer, typically heard throughout Muslim areas. I had heard it the morning also, shortly after I woke up at about 3AM. If you have not heard this religious chant, it is a most beautiful sound.  On my late morning walk, I then heard another sound. A flute maybe; a child practicing perhaps, in one of the apartments overhead. I recognized the song as "Fur Elise," but just the first few bars of Beethoven's masterpiece. I walked, and the song seemingly followed me. My mystery was finally solved when a truck came up the road filled with propane gas tanks and piping out Fur Elise over and over again. It seemed out of character to see this in an Arab country; but then again, why not, who really owns the great composers? 

Nov. 26, PM  

I finally met the other members of the Global Exchange (GX) delegation as they appeared from many places. Maruko, Jenny and David all came from San Francisco, independently, a paralegal, in advertising, and an arborist, respectively. Peter, a computer analyst from Ontario, Canada; Richard, an Episcopal minister and Anthony, both from Chicago; Lisa, a travel agent and significant other, Bill, a non-practicing physician (Calif?); Kendall, a psychologist from Reno, Nevada;  Nuriya, a Stanford University professor; and me, a letter carrier from Cleveland, Ohio comprised the delegation. We also finally met our group leader Khalid, an environmental engineer from Amman, Jordan.

Khalid Jarrar, GX group leader is originally an Iraqi Palestinian. He left Iraq in 2005. He was kidnapped in Iraq and released __ months later. Khalid was one of the first bloggers after the US invasion of Iraq. His now famous blog is www.secretsinbaghdad.blogspot.com.

Nov. 27, AM

Today we met officials from the UN High Commissioner's Office on Refugees and a Jordanian, Palestinian journalist who remembers the Nakba, the displacement of Palestinians, of 1948. This will be detailed tomorrow, inshaallah.

Our GX Delegation

Nov. 26, AM

This day at 12PM a driver for Global Exchange would pick me up and take me to the Amman Inn Hotel. I took a short walk from my current hotel. I would only walk a few blocks on the meandering streets for fear of getting lost. Then I heard, the Call to Prayer, typically heard throughout Muslim areas. I had heard it the morning also, shortly after I woke up at about 3AM. If you have not heard this religious chant, it is a most beautiful sound. On my late morning walk, I then heard another sound. A flute maybe; a child practicing perhaps, in one of the apartments overhead. I recognized the song as "Fur Elise," but just the first few bars of Beethoven's masterpiece. I walked, and the song seemingly followed me. My mystery was finally solved when a truck came up the road filled with propane gas tanks and piping out Fur Elise over and over again. It seemed out of character to see this in an Arab country; but then again, why not, who really owns the great composers?

Nov. 26, PM

I finally met the other members of the Global Exchange (GX) delegation as they appeared from many places. Maruko, Jenny and David all came from San Francisco, independently, a paralegal, in advertising, and an arborist, respectively. Peter, a computer analyst from Ontario, Canada; Richard, an Episcopal minister and Anthony, a real estate agent, both from Chicago; Lisa, a travel agent and significant other, Bill, a non-practicing physician from Sacramento CA, Kendall, a psychologist from Reno, Nevada; Nuriya, a web designer at Stanford University; and me, a letter carrier from Cleveland, Ohio comprised the delegation. We also finally met our group leader Khalid, an environmental engineer from Amman, Jordan.

Khalid Jarrar, GX group leader is originally an Iraqi Palestinian. He left Iraq in 2005. He was kidnapped in Iraq and released 2 weeks later. Khalid was one of the first bloggers after the US invasion of Iraq. His now famous blog is www.secretsinbaghdad.blogspot.com.

Nov. 27, AM

Today we met officials from the UN High Commissioner's Office on Refugees and a Jordanian, Palestinian journalist who remembers the Nakba, the displacement of Palestinians, of 1948. This will be detailed tomorrow, inshaallah.

Arrival in Amman

November 25, PM

I have joined a Global Exchange Delegation; War and Displacement in the Middle East.

Post by Don Bryant 

I arrived in Amman, Jordan at 7PM, Tuesday, November 25. First you must exchange $20 to Dinars and pay tax. $20 = 13 Dinars, and the tax costs 10 Dinars.

Then you must get your passport stamped. Then go to baggage claim. All the while I was my friend from Cleveland, Mai's, brother n 'law. Husam would take me to the hotel. I held up a paper with my name printed in large letters. Husam would also hold up a sign with his name and my name on it. I did not see him, so I went to baggage claim. An airport worker immediately wanted to help me locate my luggage, two large suitcases. One was filled with things for Teeba's family in Dialya Province, Iraq and the other for Husam's family in Amman.

The luggage was not there, the Jordanian airport worker told me. It was left in the Paris, France airport. Good thing I had most of my things in my carry-on bag. Another airport worker spoke up , asking if I was going to Baghdad. Why would he ask me this? I never said I was going there, but Teeba's family's things were eventually headed there. I never officially claimed this to any airport personnel. I did post this fact on my blog and emailed our group leader, Khalid, asking him if the suitcase could be delivered there for Teeba's family to pick up. Hmm? 

Teeba sends package home

After being injured by an explosion in Iraq, six-year old Teeba came to the US in 2007 to receive care at University Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio. Her sponsor, Barbara Marlowe (right), brought Teeba to meet me and to bring goods to be delivered to her family near Baghdad.  On my upcoming trip to Amman, Jordan, we will make arrangements to have the items shipped to her family.

Teeba will remain in Cleveland until her surgeries are completed.   For more information, go to http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20179769,00.html

Palestinians flee Iraq

At least 729 Palestinian refugees who have fled Iraq are stranded in appalling conditions in al-Tanf camp in the no-man's land on the Iraq-Syria border, as of 2 April 2008. The narrow strip of land, wedged between a concrete wall and the main transit road from Baghdad to Damascus, is dry and dusty. Temperatures soar to 50> degrees C in summer and plunge to below freezing in winter. Overcrowded tents are the only protection from the heat, the snow and the blinding sandstorms. Danger is everywhere, especially for the children. The land is infested with scorpions and snakes. The school tents are unprotected from the busy highway, which has already claimed the life of a boy knocked down by> a truck. Heating and cooking systems in the tents regularly cause fires that destroy tents – 42 tents in all, according to residents who spoke to Amnesty International delegates visiting the camp in March 2008. A fire in April 2007, said to have been started by a spark from an electric cable, engulfed much of the camp. Three people were severely burned and 25 others, mostly children, suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation. Many people had their few possessions destroyed. An official from UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, told Amnesty International that it was the second major fire in the camp: 'It is an example of how inappropriate and dangerous this place is for humans to live in and underlines the need to move these refugees to an appropriate and safe place.' Despite the unsafe and harsh conditions at al-Tanf, the population> of Palestinian refugees from Iraq in the camp is growing. The camp was initially established in May 2006 when a group of 389 Palestinians fleeing persecution in Iraq went to the Syrian border but were refused entry by the Syrian authorities. The Syrian authorities have allowed in over 1 million refugees fleeing Iraq bu> are generally not willing to accept Palestinian refugees. The camp continues to expand as some of the approximately 4,000 Palestinians who used forged passports to enter Syria are being picked up by Syrian security forces and deported to the camp on an increasingly regular basis. Access to services UNHCR is the main agency helping refugees fleeing Iraq and provides food, water and fuel to those at al-Tanf. UNHCR staff in Syria visit the camp daily. UNRWA, the agency that has been helping Palestinian refugees since 1950, provides basic health, education and social services. Other UN agencies have also assisted at al-Tanf, including UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, which has set up a child-friendly space for the camp's children, 18 of whom were born after their families arrived in the camp and have known no other life. UNRWA and UNICEF have established a school in al-Tanf, and teachers from the camp now educate more than 150 children. However, olde students forced to quit university in Iraq are unable to continue> with their education. Basic medical care is provided in al-Tanf, but people needing emergency treatment are taken to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society hospital in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Al-Tanf residents say the size of the camp's population demands full medical services on site. In 2007, a man died of kidney failure – he had initially been treated in Damascus, but when his condition suddenly deteriorated the camp could not give him the necessary emergency care and he died. Trauma and despair Many camp residents described to Amnesty International the horrific events that prompted them to flee Iraq and have left them traumatized. Some had been kidnapped and tortured. Others had relatives who had been abducted, mutilated and killed. Others spoke of armed militia cutting off ears, gouging out eyes, pouring acid over the head of captives. Mas'ud Nur al-Din al-Mahdi and 'Adnan 'Abdallah Melham, both now living in al-Tanf, were among four Palestinians arrested in May 2005> and detained by the Iraqi security forces. They were tortured and paraded on television 'confessing' to a bomb attack. The four were released in May 2006 after a court ruled that there was no evidence that they had been involved in bomb attacks. Mas'ud Nur al-Din al- Mahdi told Amnesty International that the torture he suffered> included being suspended upside-down for a long time and having a large stone put on his genitals. Members of one family now at al-Tanf described to Amnesty International the murder of two of their brothers in Baghdad –> Mohammad Hussain Sadeq in March 2006, and 'Omar Hussain Sadeq a year later. The people in al-Tanf are also traumatized by the conditions> in the camp and their fear that they may be stuck there for many more years. One resident pleaded with Amnesty International> delegates to 'save us from this hell'. He added: 'A human being doesn't live just to eat.' Another said: 'We regret that our plight depends on political decisions rather than humanitarian> considerations. ' UNHCR believes that resettlement in third countries is the only> possible durable solution for these Palestinians at the present time. It told Amnesty International that the Chilean government offered to> resettle an initial group of 116 Palestinians from al-Tanf; their departure is expected in April 2008. A number of other governments> outside the Middle East have reportedly said they will resettle some. of al-Tanf's residents, but their plight is desperate and safe resettlement cannot come quickly enough

Iraq Border Action and Refugee Crisis / World Ceasefire

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EXTREME PEACE opposses the US/UK-led occupation of Iraq, the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and any potential US-allied attack on Iran or other nations or people.


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Iraq casualties rise again after Qaeda bombs

Iraq casualties rise again after Qaeda bombs
Sat Mar 1, 2008 3:26pm EST

By Paul Tait

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Violent civilian deaths in Iraq rose 36 percent in February from the previous month after a series of large-scale bombings blamed on al Qaeda, Iraqi government figures showed on Saturday.
A total of 633 civilians died violently in February, compared with 466 in January, according to figures released by Iraq's interior, defense and health ministries. It was the first increase after six consecutive months of falling casualty tolls.
Despite its sharp rise, the February 2008 figure was still dramatically lower than the 1,645 civilians who died violently in the same month a year ago. A total of 701 civilians were wounded, compared with 2,700 a year ago.
Declining civilian casualties have been hailed by Iraqi and U.S. military officials as proof that new counter-insurgency tactics adopted last year have been working and Iraq is safer.
February's casualty figures spiked after female bombers killed 99 people at two pet markets in Baghdad on February 2 and a suicide bomber killed 63 people returning from a Shi'ite religious ritual south of Baghdad on February 24.
Both attacks were blamed on al Qaeda, which U.S. commanders says has been resorted to new tactics, particularly the increased use of women in suicide attacks.
U.S. military officials said the suspected leader of a group that planned suicide bomb attacks had been detained in an operation on Friday near Khan Bani Saad, north of Baghdad. They said he was suspected of trying to recruit women, including his wife, to carry out bombings.
Officials say attacks across Iraq have fallen 60 percent since last June, when an extra 30,000 U.S. troops became fully deployed as part of the new counter-insurgency strategy, which included moving troops out of large bases and into smaller combat outposts.
ABDUCTED AT GUNPOINT
However U.S. commanders say al Qaeda and other insurgents remain dangerous enemies especially in Iraq's north where they have regrouped after crackdowns on former strongholds in western Anbar province and around Baghdad last year.
In northern Mosul, police were searching for Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic archbishop snatched at gunpoint after he left a church on Friday. His driver and two guards were killed in the attack.
Police and representatives of the Chaldean church, a branch of the Roman Catholic Church which practices an ancient Eastern rite, said nothing had been heard about Rahho's fate.
Christians make up about 3 percent of Iraq's 27 million mainly Muslim population and have been targeted several times in recent years. A Catholic priest and three assistants were killed in ethnically and religiously mixed Mosul last June.
"The situation for Christians is like that for other people in Iraq. We live in the same society and we are sharing the same suffering," Andraws Abuna, an assistant to the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, told Reuters.
U.S. military deaths fell after a spike in January. So far 29 U.S. soldiers have been reported killed in February, compared with 40 in January.
Both figures are much lower than a year ago, when 81 and 83 were killed in February and January 2007 as Iraq teetered on the brink of all-out sectarian civil war between majority Shi'ites and minority Sunni Arabs.
A total of 3,973 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Britain's Ministry of Defense said a British airman had been killed late on Friday in a rocket attack on its military base in the southern city of Basra. The victim was the 175th British serviceman to be killed in Iraq since 2003.
The latest Iraqi data showed 65 policemen and 20 Iraqi soldiers were killed, compared with 132 and 28 respectively in January, and that 235 insurgents had been killed and 1,340 detained.
Another factor in improved security has been the six-month ceasefire announced in August of the Mehdi Army militia of anti-U.S. Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. That ceasefire was extended by another six months last month.
(Additional reporting by Michael Holden in Baghdad; Editing by Richard Balmforth)