Amnesty International Reports 88 Palestinian Refugees, Including 42 Childr

[Judi Lynn]

Amnesty International Reports 88 Palestinian Refugees, Including 42 Children, Stranded at Iraqi-Jordanian Borders

GAZA, Palestine, March 28,2006 (IPC) - -

Eighty-eight Palestinian refugees, including 42 children, have been stranded near the Iraqi/Jordanian border since 19 March. They have fled the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, where many of the group had lived for decades, following an increase in killings and "disappearances" of Palestinians living there, Amnesty International (AI) disclosed Monday.

The right group, said in an appeal, a copy of which made available to IPC, that Jordan has denied the Palestinian refugees entry to Jordanian territory, in violation of its obligations under international law.

Under the internationally-recognized principle of non-refoulement, Jordan has an obligation not to reject individuals at its borders if they are fleeing a country where they risk persecution or where their life or freedom is at risk.

The fled Palestinian refugees are currently living in tents in the desert on the Iraqi side of the Iraqi/Jordanian border. The group is dependent for food and water on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Iraqi Red Crescent Society.

IA report figured out that 12 Palestinians have been killed in Baghdad during the first three weeks of March, and an unknown number have "disappeared". These killings and "disappearances" have reportedly increased since the invasion of Iraq in April 2003.
(snip/...)

http://www.aljazeerah.info/News%20archives/2006%20News%20Archives/March/28%20n/Palestinian%20Citizen%20Killed%20and%20Another%20Wounded%20in%20Jenin%20and%20Jerusalem,%20as%20IOF%20Locks%20Down%20the%20Occupied%20Palestinian%20Territories.htm

[LynnTheDem]

1. "Baghdad, where many of the group had lived for decades" Now if they'd

been mistakenly rounded up and Abu Ghraibed, the US would call them "FOREIGN FIGHTERS".

360 of them "foreign fighters" caught in Iraq so far; 70-90% of them "innocent of any wrong-doing". And in the one-horse town in Texas I lived in until 2 weeks ago, we had far more foreigners than that living there.

Amazing, really, that not only can the rightwingnuttery NOT figure this kinda shit out for themselves (no surprise there, being the stupidest MFers on the planet), but that our so-called MEDIA can't.