US to admit Palestinian refugees from Iraq

Approximately 1,350 Palestinian refugees from Iraq are being considered for resettlement in the U.S. after being referred to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Programme by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). "Really for the first time, the United States is recognising a Palestinian refugee population that could be admitted to the U.S. as part of a resettlement programme," Bill Frelick, refugee policy director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) in Washington, told the Christian Science Monitor last week. A State Department spokesman said that the resettlement process for the group actually began in 2008, and so far 24 Palestinians from Iraq have arrived in the U.S. It will be the largest-ever resettlement of Palestinian refugees into the U.S. It accepted seven Palestinians in 2007 and nine in 2008. "UNHCR says third-country resettlement is the best answer for this group," the spokesman said, and UNHCR has referred 1,350 of the Palestinians to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Programme. Thousands of Palestinians fled to Iraq after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Other waves of Palestinian migration to Iraq took place after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and after the 1991 Gulf War, when thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave Kuwait. The Palestinians were treated well under Iraqi President Saddam Hussein but were also used to attack Israeli policies, and their presence was resented by many Iraqis. After Hussein was deposed in 2003, sectarian violence intensified, and the mostly Sunni Palestinian refugees were targeted by Shiia militias for their ethnicity and for receiving preferential treatment under Hussein's regime.