NGO delegation to Palestinians November 2008

Gloria Nafziger represented the Canadian Council for Refugees on the international NGO delegation to the camps on the Syria-Iraq border where Palestinian refugees are trapped.
Unlike other Iraqi refugees, the Palestinians have not been granted residence or entry to Syria. They are now confined mainly to three camps (Al Waleed, in Iraq, Al Tanf no man’s land, and Al Hol in the north). Approximately 3000 Palestinians live in these camps
The conditions in the camps are severe. They are all located in hard to reach and barren desert regions.
Al Waleed, in Iraq and a few kms away from the Iraq/Syria border is the most difficult camp to access. The UNHCR and partners administer the camp but due to security problems can rarely send staff to visit..about once/month.
Conditions in Al Waleed are the harshest of the three camps. The residents face an ever present risk of outbreak of fire, sand storms, infestations of snakes and rates, extreme temperatures (+50 to sub zero), rains causing floods, and snow storms causing tents to collapse. The camp grew spontaneously and has no proper sanitation or hygiene facilities.
Al Waleed houses about 1700 residents. 12 refugees in the camp have died since January 2007, and two children have been hit by trucks on the road which borders the camp.
Hygiene in the camp is poor, with open sewage pits near tents and cooking facilities.
The medical clinic in the camp sees an average of 120 patients daily. The nearest medical facility is 400 km away in Baghdad.
They are in the midst of moving the camp a few hundred metres across the highway to a new location with better facilities; although harsh weather conditions will prevail. The residents will still need to cross the highway to attend school and attend the medical clinic.
Approximately 34,000 Palestinians lived in Iraq at the time of the US invasion; less than half remain in Iraq today. In Iraq they have been arrested, detained, kidnapped, tortured and killed causing them to flee to the border regions with Syria and Jordan.
The camp has few proper services for refugees who have been injured, traumatized by violence, and has limited educational facilities for school age children.
El Hol is in northern Syria; about 5 hours from Damascus. Of the three it is in the best condition. Canada took 4 private sponsored cases from the camp in 2007. It is hoped that Canada will take another 50 cases from this camp in 2009.
Of the three camps, the residents have been in this camp the longest, since 2005. Prior to that they were stranded in a camp at the Iraq-Jordan border. Canada resettled 17 families from the Jordanian camp in 2006. A woman’s committee is elected by camp residents.
There are 336 people in this camp. They can only leave the camp with special permission and travel to Damascus on certain conditions (ie medical needs). There is no hope for local integration, and they can only reside in the camp.
The majority residing here fled Iraq on short notice, carrying only a suitcase, leaving behind homes, cars, possessions.
Al Tanf is located in a no man’s land between the borders of Syria and Iraq. The camp is in a trench between the highway on the left and retaining wall on the right.
Trucks are constantly passing on the highway; all day and all night. The smell of diesel fumes from the trucks permeates the camp.
This young man recently married in the camp and proudly showed us his new matrimonial home.
There are no playgrounds for the children.
They do attend school up to grade 9. Books are provided by UNRWA and the teachers come from among the camp residents.
The ‘main street’ of Al Tanf camp.
The camp is dense, with little space between tents, and offers little personal privacy.
The families work incredibly hard to maintain some sense of normality. Here a woman displays her ‘kitchen’ inside her tent.
All of the families in the camp had stories of family members having been killed and receiving death threats. Here a man shows a picture of his son who was murdered in Iraq.
The majority of families in Iraq were comfortably middle class and well educated.
Children in the camp send this message to the western world “make our happiness forever”..”make our dreams truth forever”
Another woman proudly showed off her garden.